6/28 Lege score, BC flood, Arctic drilling, Cherry Pt reserve, state beaches, POST, cruise ship air, Tsilhqot'in land, Samish Bay

Shell Oil drilling platform (AP/Elaine Thompson)

Do you know the score? Check out how your state legislator rates in Washington Conservation Voters' 2011-2012 Legislative Scorecard

As flood conditions improve in the province’s Interior, high water and a collection of derelict vessels on the swollen Fraser River continue to threaten communities in the Lower Mainland. As of late Wednesday, Transport Canada, the coast guard, the District of Mission and the provincial government had developed a plan to deal with the seven vessels, which include the 102-metre former B.C. ferry, the Queen of Sidney. Derelict vessels still a threat on Fraser

Listen up: As oil giant Royal Dutch Shell prepares to start drilling in the Arctic, environmentalists are stepping up their campaign to protect this natural resource. Greenpeace, the Yes Men, and Occupy activists recently carried out an elaborate hoax at Seattle's Space Needle which generated a buzz and drew attention to deepwater drilling safety. Now a Greenpeace ship is headed toward the Arctic to keep the pressure on Shell. Martha Baskin reports.  Greenpeace Heads to the Arctic While Shell Finalizes Preparations to Drill  

Our Man of the South Sound commented on yesterday’s NY Times story about Interior Secretary Salazar’s confidence in Shell Oil’s ability to clean up an Alaska drilling spill: “Huh?  Anybody else who believes any oil company can collect 90% of the oil spilled in a marine environment like Alaska please raise your hand!  Apparently Salazar wasn't paying attention to the Gulf spill.  And I am so glad they tested a spill containment device in Puget Sound, makes me feel so much better that it worked once in PS in a test, not on a spill or blow out.”

Seattle-based People for Puget Sound (PPS), through a grant from the Washington departments of natural resources (DNR) and fish and wildlife (WDFW), is spearheading an effort to create stewardship committees for five of the state’s seven aquatic reserves, including the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve just south of Birch Bay. PPS is partnering with RE Sources for Sustainable Communities in Bellingham to get the stewardship committee up and running. Group to organize committee for Cherry Point reserve

My favorite candidate in this year’s 42nd legislative district election took a look at the video of the orcas chasing dolphins in Hyacinthe Bay and had a much more benign commentary: “I like to think they were playing tag.”

Water quality at public marine beaches in Washington ranked 10th in 2011 among the 30 states with saltwater beach access, according to a national beach-pollution report released Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.  The state reported having 1,371 coastal beaches in 2011 but only had funding to regularly monitor 76 of the 200 more widely used beaches through a program administered by the state departments of Health and Ecology.  Water quality at state's beaches ranked 10th out of 30 in 2011  

The Vancouver Aquarium is shutting down a program used to monitor marine life on the west coast, citing lack of funding, including from the federal fisheries department. The Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) program has six ocean-based acoustic receiver lines and one in the Fraser River. Over the past 12 years, scientists have used the lines to track the movements of marine life fitted with transmitters along the west coast from central California to Prince William Sound, Alaska.  Vancouver Aquarium forced by lack of funds to disband marine life tracking program  

The cruise industry opposes international air-quality regulations that will come into effect in North America in August, write local environmental advocates Fred Felleman and Marcie Keever. They urge the industry and Congress to resist efforts to weaken the new rules.  Cruise industry should comply with new air-quality regulations

A fight over aboriginal title and rights that began when natives blockaded a logging road in the Chilcotin region of British Columbia 20 years ago appears headed for the Supreme Court of Canada.  The Tsilhqot’in First Nation, which represents six bands in central B.C., won partial victories when both the Supreme Court of B.C. and the Court of Appeal confirmed their traditional rights to use the land. But the decisions failed to give the Tsilhqot’in what they really want – a clear declaration that they hold aboriginal title over more than 4,000 square kilometres of land west of Williams Lake.  Aboriginal land rights upheld by B.C. Court of Appeal

Samish Bay was reopened to shellfish harvest Wednesday by the state Department of Health.  The shellfish beds had been closed as a precaution June 17 because of high river levels and the associated risk of pollution. Health officials closed the bay when unsatisfactory levels of fecal coliform, a type of bacteria present in human and animal waste, were detected in water samples.  Samish Bay reopened to shellfish harvest  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 239 AM PDT THU JUN 28 2012
TODAY
SE WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
S WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. SW SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS. RAIN.

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