4/17 BC pipe, mammals and birds, Salish Cliffs GC, coal health, Padden Trails, salmon virus, HI snails

Steller sea lions (National Geographic)

If you like to watch:  KCTS 9 and EarthFix on Wednesday at 7 PM chronicle the historic removal of two dams from the Elwha River, and show how it will impact people, salmon and the environment for years to come. Undamming the Elwha  

Kinder Morgan's proposal to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline operation will bring more oil from Alberta tar sands to the Salish Sea for export through the straits. It's not, however, your familiar crude oil. Washington Not Ready For Implications Of B.C. Pipeline Expansion  See also: B.C. mayors steel themselves for fight against Kinder Morgan pipeline  

Larry Pynn in the Vancouver Sun writes: “The shared inland waters of Juan de Fuca Strait, B.C.’s Strait of Georgia, and Washington state’s Puget Sound may once again approach its former greatness. Steller sea lions have thrived since the federal government afforded them protection in 1970 — with new abundance estimates pegging their population at 48,000 animals in winter on the B.C. coast. The breeding population had dipped to an estimated 3,400 animals before their protection. Similarly, harbour seals today total an estimated 105,000 animals, one of the densest such populations on earth, compared with fewer than 15,000 in the late 1960s.” Marine mammals coming back to the Salish Sea  

However: To the untrained eye, there is nothing remarkable about the loose knot of waterbirds bobbing innocently just offshore, south of the Tsawwassen ferry terminal.  To biologist Pete Davidson, however, they are signs of trouble brewing in the Salish Sea. Coastal waterbirds in B.C. slipping away  

Salish Cliffs Golf Club in Shelton, Wash., has become the first "Salmon-Safe"-certified golf course in the world. The certification came after the course successfully passed an exhaustive assessment verifying the Squaxin Island Tribe's commitment to protecting native habitat, managing water runoff, reducing pesticides, and advancing environmental practices throughout the region.  Salish Cliffs Becomes World's First 'Salmon-Safe' Course  

The Environmental Protection Agency wants a thorough review of the consequences of coal export through Northwest ports, saying the first project in the pipeline -- at Oregon's Port of Morrow -- "has the potential to significantly impact human health and the environment." Northwest coal export projects could have 'significant' public health impacts, EPA says

A divided Bellingham City Council voted 6-1 Monday, April 16, to send the Padden Trails rezoning proposal back to committee, after council members spent about an hour trying to reconcile the preservation of single-family neighborhoods with the need for more homes and apartments within the city limits Padden Trails project headed back to council committee

Tests on supermarket salmon, that found evidence of piscine reovirus (PRV) and then linked it to heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI), were unscientific and designed to sensationalize information and cause unfounded concern, said Mary Ellen Walling, B.C. Salmon Farmers Association executive director.  B.C. government officials, salmon farmers contradict claims of disease in farmed salmon  

Alexis Rudd blogs (wonderfully) on Hawaiian snails and Puget Sound whales. Singing Snails and Killer Whales: Parallels in Conservation

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE APR 17 2012
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
TODAY
W SWELL 10 FT AT 13 SECONDS. SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT...BUILDING TO 2 TO 5 FT. W SWELL 9 FT
 AT 13 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE EVENING...THEN RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to: msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.  

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told