3/13 Samish Bay, dirty gas, tricky ad, Puget prairie, sonar testing, tsunami debris

Tuesday, 8:35 AM, @680'

Our Lady of the Slough asks: “Do any of you still play Clue?” Mrs. Peacock in the Library with the Candlestick

Again: The state Health Department closed Samish Bay Monday to commercial shellfish harvesting due to high levels of fecal bacteria. State and local officials say failing septic tanks and farm animals are among the sources of the bacteria. Samish Bay closed to shellfish harvesting

Dirty gas: California is suing BP for delivering to the state tens of millions of gallons of gasoline that did not meet California's clean fuel specifications. BP had submitted documents saying that gasoline which was refined in Washington and shipped to Contra Costa County contained permissible levels of toxic and cancer-causing compounds, including benzene, when, in fact, the fuel failed to meet state standards. Oil giant BP sued over dirty gas sales shipped to Martinez

Tricky ad: ARCO, a BP subsidiary, last December saturated the Puget Sound market with commercials lauding the end of the 45-cent fee for using debit cards at area Arco stations. Those same ads also told customers the company had ended its policy of refusing credit cards for payment of gasoline purchases. The asterisk, however, on the bold-face message bidding “Goodbye to the 45-cent fee” led to a fine-print footnote: “At participating Arco stations, only.” Which stations? ARCO can’t say.  Ads about Arco ending 45-cent fee might be misleading

Only about 3 percent of South Puget Sound’s native prairies – about 150,000 acres overall – remains, according to county data. Last weekend, Thurston County commissioners and residents got together at a public hearing earlier delayed by weather to discuss renewal of an interim ordinance to help protect prairie and Oregon white oak habitats. Prairie ordinance debated

Whale watchers and tour-boat operators are concerned about the effect the latest round of sonar testing at Naval Station Everett could have on marine mammals. The testing was first heard Feb. 29 and has been heard several times since. It originated on the USS Shoup. The Shoup was at the center of a sonar controversy in 2003. The ship was testing its mid-range sonar in Haro Strait between Vancouver Island and San Juan Island. At least 11 porpoises stranded themselves and died on a nearby beach at the time. Sonar testing raises whale worries

Remnants from shattered lives are likely to wash up on the west coast of Vancouver Island over the next year, and one problem will be determining which bits of Japanese tsunami debris are meaningful and which are garbage. If something can be identified as belonging to a particular person, the consul general will contact Tokyo. If it is wanted, it will be sent back to Japan. Island towns work out what to do with meaningful tsunami debris  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE MAR 13 2012
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
TODAY
S WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 2 FT IN THE
 AFTERNOON. SW SWELL 9 TO 12 FT AT 10 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED TSTMS.
TONIGHT
SW WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S 15 TO 25 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 3 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
 SHOWERS LIKELY.
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