8/7 Kavna, Sound Encyclopedia, Trans Mountain, ferry woes, biomass, wastewater heat, Bainbridge rats, fish counts

Kavna the Beluga (Vancouver Aquarium)

Washingtonians— Last day to mail in your primary election ballots. Vote today.

The oldest beluga whale at the Vancouver Aquarium, also believed to be the oldest at any other accredited aquarium in North America, has died. Kavna, 46, died at about 3 p.m. PT Monday afternoon. The aquarium says she had been behaving differently in recent days, and they believe she may have been nearing the end of her life. News video: Beluga whale dies at Vancouver Aquarium

Have a look at the new Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. A trove of scientific papers, species information, news, maps and photos, it's a new online product published by the Puget Sound Institute, a cooperative venture of the U.S. EPA, University of Washington and Puget Sound Partnership.  Lynda Mapes reports: Take a look: A new online Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

It is a sunny Sunday and Vancouver is doing what it does best: looking pretty and post-industrial. Morning lights up the downtown’s glass horizon. A half-dozen scooters rip down the road in a platoon. Cyclists swish past Zipcar lots, kayakers and stand-up paddle surfers ply the waters. But just a few kilometres away, an oil tanker is preparing to raise anchor and slide into port. Soon, it will open its holds, with a total capacity of 650,000-barrels, to a flush of Alberta oil. After 30 hours of pumping, it will slip away to Long Beach, Calif. Oil tankers are, for now, relatively rare here. A tanker sails into the Vancouver harbour about once a week, docking at the Kinder Morgan-owned Westridge Terminal to accept Alberta crude flowing across the Rockies in the Trans Mountain pipeline. Trans Mountain: The other Pacific pipeline  

Sunday proved a long wait for would-be ferry riders at the Friday Harbor ferry terminal, as Saturday's breakdown of the inter-islander boat, the Evergreen State, caused widespread delays for weekend travelers in the San Juans. Scott Rasmussen reports. Ferry fails, tempers rise on hottest day of the year  

The US Forest service recently announced $4-million in grants to support projects that convert wood to energy. It's part of a program that's meant to support small businesses that create jobs while encouraging alternatives to fossil fuels. More than a quarter of the 20 grantees this year are in Washington and Oregon. Six projects here are receiving more than $1.3 million for final design, permitting and cost analysis. The basic idea is to create markets for low-value trees and other scraps of woody biomass that could fuel wildfires if left on the forest floor. It might be beetle-infested or too skinny to mill. Bellamy Pailthorp reports.  Funding for an untapped renewable resource: woody biomass on public lands  

The Department of Energy estimates that 350 billion KWH of energy are flushed down drains in the form of heated water. King County is one of the first counties in the nation to try to do something about all that wasted heat energy. Ashley Ahearn reports. King County Opens The Door For Heat Energy From Wastewater  

To hear some say it, rats are overrunning Bainbridge Island. While there's no scientific evidence to back that up, West Sound Wildlife Shelter nonetheless says it's received a 75 percent increase in the number of phone calls from islanders who have rats and don't know what to do. Some have dropped off nests with babies. Rachel Prichett reports.  With predators absent, more rats finding a home on Bainbridge  

If you like a lot of numbers and dates, check out Mark Yuasa's Lake Washington chinook counts near 16-year average, and sockeye numbers are decreasing

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 229 AM PDT TUE AUG 7 2012
TODAY
SW WIND 10 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING NW 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 2 FT AFTER
 MIDNIGHT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF DRIZZLE AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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