4/24 Fred Hill, Ludlow mining, dead gray whale, Swinomish salmon, Skagit water

Long Beach, Tofino B.C. (Photo: Jonathan Hayward)

If you like to watch: The Pull Focus Film School-- Georgia Strait Alliance - caring for our coastal waters

Concrete-supplier Fred Hill Materials, a three-generation company, shut down all operations for good Monday, laying off 42 employees.... The company owns concrete plants in Poulsbo, Bremerton, Port Townsend and Sequim and operated a gravel pit near Shine until it was sold to Miles Sand & Gravel in 2009. Alex Hill said at the time that the sale was designed to help the company weather the slump in construction.... The pit-to-pier project remains an active proposal under a spinoff company called Thorndyke Resource with Alex Hill at the helm. As planned, the project would move sand and gravel by conveyor belt from a massive pit near Shine to a 1,000-foot-long pier on Hood Canal. Environmental studies are under way for the project, which must be approved by the Jefferson County hearing examiner. Chris Dunagan at the Kitsap Sun reports. Fred Hill Materials closes after 66 years

The Jefferson County Department of Community Development has decided that a proposed quarry will have no significant environmental influence and will not require an environmental impact statement. The determination of nonsignificance issued by the county includes 35 mitigation measures to address effects on surface water, air quality, environmental impacts, critical areas, plants and animals and noise, according to the county.... The company’s proposal includes mining in some of the 12 wetland and wetland buffers areas on the property, and landowner Pope has proposed compensation by deeding more than 55 acres of property it owns along Shine Creek. Quarry near Ludlow wins county approval  

Scientists are working to determine what caused the death of a gray whale found floating off of Camano Island over the weekend. Cascadia Research Collective, state wildlife officials and others are conducting a necropsy on the marine mammal Monday. The gray whale was spotted early Sunday morning off the west Camano Island, about 60 miles north of Seattle. Dead Gray Whale Spotted In Puget Sound  

For the Swinomish Tribe, the battle to protect salmon is about culture and livelihood — and it hasn’t been easy. In 1974, Brian Cladoosby and his father had just set a net for king salmon in the Samish Bay. It was a nice summer day, Cladoosby said, and they had planned to stay all day when a man pulled up alongside their 18-foot wooden boat. He pulled out a gun and told them to leave.  The connection between salmon and the Swinomish  

While the issue of how much water is available for development in Skagit County is hotly contested, the real dispute boils down to how that water is parceled out. That issue has culminated in decades of political wrangling, pitting county interests against state and utility demands and the local Swinomish Indian Tribal Community against the county and state, all the while racking up millions of dollars in legal costs and dragging in state lawmakers — even the Governor’s office.  Skagit’s water rights showdown

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE APR 24 2012
TODAY
SW WIND 5 TO 10 KT...BECOMING W 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A
 CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
TONIGHT
NW WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SE AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 2 TO 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT AT 9 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SHOWERS LIKELY.

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