7/30 Geoduck rules, Elwha Love, Marysville stink, Enbridge spill, Arctic drilling, PA wetlands, JeffCo landfill, green wine, bird news

Geoducks (WDFW, Dan Rothaus)

The extreme summer weather in B.C.’s southern Interior — from landslides and floods to wind storms — has become the norm, according to experts. Destructive weather now the norm, say experts

Donald Hansen said permitting more geoduck farming on Henderson Bay between Purdy and Key Peninsula will put a “septic dump” in front of his home and create safety hazards for those using the water for recreation. Hansen is not alone. He’s among people raising objections to proposed changes in policies regulating shorelines in Pierce County.... The county says it aims to tighten rules on commercial growers of the Puget Sound’s famously large bivalve – even going beyond state Department of Ecology standards.  Pierce shoreline policy changes fuel geoduck-farming concerns   

Just months after the 108-foot tall Elwha Dam was removed, salmon and steelhead are already returning to the restored habitat.  Part of the restoration process includes releasing tagged fish into the river above the lower dam to jump-start the recolonization of the habitat that has been cut off from migratory salmon for almost 100 years. Some of these fish are already spawning.  Spawning fish already returning to reopened Elwha River habitat    And, if you like to watch: Divers literally look into silt coming out of mouth of freed Elwha River

A planned study of odors in the Snohomish River delta could finally get at the heart of a sour smell that's plagued Everett and Marysville neighborhoods in recent years, proponents say.  Others -- including the city of Marysville and the Tulalip Tribes, and most of the people who attended a meeting on the subject this week -- don't believe it. They note that the odor has been traced multiple times to Cedar Grove Composting on Smith Island by inspectors for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, and not to any other operation.  Bill Sheets reports.  1-year odor study met with objections in Marysville  

Canada’s Enbridge Inc. raced on Sunday to repair a major pipeline that spilled more than 1,000 barrels of oil in a Wisconsin field, provoking fresh ire from Washington over the latest in a series of leaks. The spill on Friday, which comes almost two years to the day after a ruptured Enbridge line fouled part of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, has forced the closure of a major conduit for Canadian light crude shipments to U.S. refiners and threatens further reputational damage to a company that launched an over $3 billion expansion program just two months ago. Enbridge working fast to contain Wisconsin oil spill, restart pipeline

Shell Oil is scaling back its plans for drilling in the Arctic Ocean this year. Icy conditions in the far North and construction problems in Bellingham have delayed the company's efforts. John Ryan reports. Delays In Bellingham Curtail Arctic Oil Drilling  

Sprint boat race organizers Kelie and Dan Morrison say they expect their upcoming sprint boat races will proceed as planned in August and September despite what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says is a wetlands violation on property that includes the sprint boat race course.... Corps’ Seattle district Engineer Bruce Estok told Dan Morrison, and the Morrisons’ A2Z Enterprises, that Dan Morrison had committed “a knowing and willful violation of federal law” by not obtaining a permit to deposit material that was excavated to build the track, access roads and a utility line into 1.44 acres of wetlands. Paul Gottlieb reports. Sprint boat organizers aim to resolve wetlands issue with Army Corps of Engineers  

A showdown that may come to a head in September is brewing between Jefferson County Public Health Officer Tom Locke and Port Townsend Paper Corp. over a permit for the 3-acre landfill in which the company deposits biomass ash. Locke, who is also Clallam County’s health officer, is requiring the company to upgrade its landfill permit to include a groundwater-monitoring plan, a guarantee the company will pay for future landfill closure costs and a pledge it will conduct more detailed tests on what’s contained in the ash and how often it’s put into the company’s dump. Paul Gottlieb reports.  Port Townsend Paper, county health officer square off over permit for landfill containing biomass ash

Does it matter whether the grapes that go into that wine you love come from vineyards where butterflies thrive and birds sing from oak trees? At Klickitat Canyon Winery in the Columbia Gorge that’s what winemaking is all about. Here, the ecosystem - the nuthatches and bush grasses - are just as important as the grapes. Martha Baskin reports.  Klickitat Canyon Winery  

It seems like everybody has an opinion on what to do with the shuttered Kimberly-Clark paper mill -- including the birds. Hundreds of Caspian terns -- almost 1,000 by one count -- have made the mill their new home, laying eggs and raising chicks en masse atop the flat-roofed warehouse on the waterfront. Debra Smith reports. Terns flock to Everett mill after it closes  

At West Sound Wildlife Shelter, we have the privilege of saving the lives of bald eagles each year....One of the bald eagles in our care right now was severely injured in a fight. A fight with a dog? No. An osprey? No. A coyote? Nope. It was a fight with another eagle. Eagles are the top of their food chain; other than humans, the only animal eagles have to fear are eagles themselves. Kol Medina writes: Our national symbol can put up a heck of a fight | ISLAND WILDLIFE  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 248 AM PDT MON JUL 30 2012
TODAY
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 1 FT AT 6 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN OR DRIZZLE.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF LIGHT RAIN OR DRIZZLE.

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