3/21 GPT coal, Samish fecals, Lummi oil, BP Gulf oil, wolves, Elwha Love, bag monster, killing sea lions

Nutria (WDFW)

Cliff Mass asks— then answers: “Does it warm up faster or slower here compared to the rest of the country?  What states warm up the most?” A New View of Seasonal Changes

If you like to watch: Drew Christie on Washington’s ‘invasive’ nutria. ‘Hi! I’m a Nutria’

About 800 people packed the Bellingham High School theater Tuesday, March 20, to learn how they can make their voices heard during the lengthy environmental review process for the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal coal and bulk cargo pier proposed for Cherry Point. Meeting on Gateway Pacific coal terminal process draws 800 people   See also: Controversy continues over proposed coal export terminals  See also: Environmental Review Process Kicks Off For Gateway Pacific Terminal In Bellingham

SSA Marine has provided Whatcom County with more details on its plans for the Gateway Pacific Terminal coal and bulk cargo pier the firm hopes to build at Cherry Point. The documentation submitted March 19 to the Whatcom County Planning Department contains few, if any, surprises. The basic outline of the project is the same as the one that has been a focal point for public debate since it was announced. SSA adds details to Gateway Pacific Terminal proposal for Cherry Point    See also: Coal port advocates narrow the range of environmental impacts  Download the permit application (14.49 MB PDF) here. 

“We’re not getting the big high hits we used to. It’s not to say we won’t have them again, but this is encouraging,” Rick Haley, water quality analyst with Skagit County, said of data showing decreasing fecal coliform levels taken recently from the Skagit River. Skagit Conservation District invited cattle farmers and horse owners to discuss solutions to pollution in Samish Bay Monday night in what may become a series of future discussions among those involved in the Clean Samish Initiative. Concerns, solutions explored at Clean Samish meeting

No signs of oil have been observed since state inspectors noticed a spill last week near two sunken barges in a cove off the Lummi Island quarry. One barge has been removed. The second barge, 120 feet long, had heavy oil trapped in sediment in the bottom of the hull and in foam pads used to plug holes in the side of the barge.  No oil visible as crews remove source of Lummi Island spill  

Since the explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, scientists have been working to understand the impact that this disaster has had on the environment. For months, crude oil gushed into the water at a rate of approximately 53,000 barrels per day before the well was capped on July 15, 2010. A new study confirms that oil from the Macondo well made it into the ocean's food chain through the tiniest of organisms, zooplankton.  Oil from Deepwater Horizon Disaster Entered Food Chain in the Gulf of Mexico  

Residents and tourists in Tofino and Ucluelet, on Vancouver Island, are being warned to keep a close eye on their children and pets after two dogs were killed during the night, possibly by wolves. Vancouver Island wolf attacks prompt warnings for pets, children

Elwha Love: After more than a decade, Elwha Dam is gone and Glines Canyon Dam is mostly gone, reopening a river that once was home to all five species of Pacific salmon. Rush of freedom for Elwha as dam comes down

An effort to ban plastic shopping bags in Port Townsend received a monster-sized boost earlier this week with a presentation to the City Council dramatizing the effect of the ubiquitous receptacles on the local ecology. Port Townsend resident Jude Rubin arrived at Monday's council meeting dressed up as a “Bag Monster,” wearing a suit made of plastic shopping bags that made her look like a cross between a Yeti and a landfill.  ‘Bag Monster' invades Port Townsend City Hall in support of plastic bag ban

Plans to resume killing California sea lions that eat endangered salmon at Bonneville Dam are on hold again.  The states of Oregon and Washington had been set Tuesday to resume trapping and lethally injecting sea lions that eat salmon at the dam, but they agreed to hold off pending a federal court hearing Thursday in Washington, D.C. Plans to kill salmon-eating sea lions held again

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 240 AM PDT WED MAR 21 2012
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM PDT THIS MORNING
 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM PDT THIS MORNING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING
TODAY
SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT EARLY EASING TO S 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 21 FT AT 15 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 17 FT AT 14 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. SHOWERS.
TONIGHT
W SWELL 12 TO 14 FT AT 13 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 10 TO 12 FT AT 12 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. E WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SE 5 TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. RAIN LIKELY.

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