9/25 Tethys, toxic shellfish, children's toxins, oil spill, stormwater appeal, orcas, Burien shores, Lie Factory

(Laurie MacBride)

Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "Were they a form of news reporting? A historical record? Public art for creativity’s sake? What stories are behind the fading images found along the sheer granite walls of Alison Sound and Belize Inlet? Numerous pictographs, painted with red ochre on mostly south-facing white rock, can be found along these spectacular inland waterways..." The Walls Tell a Story: Alison Sound's Pictographs  

New blog: Many readers received Washington Environmental Council executive director Joan Crooks’ gracious message yesterday announcing the transition of People For Puget Sound’s policy, advocacy and grass roots work to WEC upon the shut down of the once-preeminent Puget Sound conservation organization...  WEC: “Holding Ourselves and Public Officials Accountable for Carrying Out Commitments and Enforcing Laws and Regulations”  

If you like to watch and listen: Dana Lyons has launched The Great Coal Train Tour which features his song, “Sometimes (Coal Train Song)”

The Anacortes City Council Monday night approved moving forward with the city’s application to expand its urban growth area. The OK means the county process can begin. The property, about 11 acres on the south side of Stevenson Road off Reservation Road, is being eyed by Tethys as a potential piece of a property puzzle to build a proposed bottling plant there. The council made its decision after more than an hour of discussion in front of a standing-room only crowd. Councilman Ryan Walters voted against the motion. Kimberly Jacobson reports. Council OKs moving forward with urban growth expansion process

Seven vacationing family members were hospitalized, one so severely that she was placed on a ventilator, after eating mussels tainted with a potentially deadly marine biotoxin that they had harvested from Discovery Bay over the weekend, health officials said. The woman placed on a ventilator Sunday was taken off it Monday but remained at Jefferson Healthcare Hospital in Port Townsend for observation. Rob Ollikainen reports. Seven persons hospitalized after eating toxic Discovery Bay mussels  

Parents wanting to find out more about whether children's products contain specific toxic chemicals can check reports now public on the state Department of Ecology's website.  The Children's Safe Product Act, signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire on April 1, 2008, required manufacturers to report the presence of certain chemicals in children's products, including toys, cosmetics, jewelry and baby products. Reports now public on toxic children's products  

The Coast Guard and Washington Department of Ecology responded Monday morning to an oil spill from a sunken 71-foot fishing vessel near Twin Bridges Marina on the Swinomish Channel. An oil sheen was on the surface of the water above the vessel, which sank at a small dock on the west side of the channel almost below the Duane Berentson Bridge. The Coast Guard contracted Global Diving and Salvage Company to contain and clean up the spill. Boom was placed around the sheen and divers were expected to plug and patch the source of leakage. Joan Pringle reports. Cleanup of oil spill in Swinomish Channel under way

Sammamish will join more than a dozen other Western Washington cities in appealing a new set of storm water guidelines issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology. The Sammamish City Council approved spending $20,000 on the appeal as part of their consent agenda at a Sept. 17 meeting. City stormwater manager Eric LaFrance said the new regulations, which are meant to guide the storm water policies of individual cities through 2018, shift additional regulatory responsibility on cities and extend onerous and sometimes expensive storm water requirements to even small developments. Caleb Heeringa reports. Sammamish to appeal state stormwater guidelines

An exhibit about ocean pollution and orcas, dominated by the skeleton of an orca found beached at Dungeness Spit, will open at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center at noon Saturday, with free admission offered all weekend. “Learning from Orcas — The Story of Hope,” which has been in preparation since 2010, will be the centerpiece of the marine science center's natural history exhibit in Fort Worden State Park. Leah Leach reports. The clue to the stranded orca: New Port Townsend exhibit

And, Judith Lavoie writes: There's a direct link between Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and a oneyear-old killer whale often seen around Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget Sound. Ripple is one of three young southern killer whales given names this week by The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor. ‘Ripple's mother is Deadhead, who was named to honour Jerry Garcia, and Ripple is a Grateful Dead song,’ said Connie Domenach, The Whale Museum's orca adoption co-ordinator. Grateful Dead fans cause a Ripple in local orca pod  

A working group of Burien residents has come up with a compromise Burien Shoreline Master Program that they say is likely to be approved by the state Department of Ecology (DOE). Burien established a 20-foot setback between the ordinary high water mark and development. But DOE is insisting on a 50-foot buffer and an additional 15-foot setback along the developed shoreline. Michael Noakes, chair of the working group, told Burien City Council members Sept. 17 that his committee is suggesting that the developed areas along the Sound be split up into zones. Eric Mathison reports. Compromise shoreline plan presented to Burien council

Good read: Jill Lepore in The New Yorker writes about how politics became a business. The Lie Factory

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE SEP 25 2012
TODAY
S WIND 10 KT...BECOMING W IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 KT...BECOMING LIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

--
"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