10/5 Gas tax, White House coal, Seattle trees, Oly restoration, RIP Theo, WQ grants, Shell drilling

Coastal Ballet (Laurie MacBride)

Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "I’ve cut my feet on them way too many times, and every spring we have to scrape them off the hull of our boat. Still, I can’t help but appreciate barnacles: they’re at the same time wonderfully simple and ever so complex. Simple, because they have few internal organs and, aside from their larval stage, spend their entire lives in a single place, upside-down inside their calcite shell. Complex, because they must withstand such a wide range of conditions, all the way from fully immersed in the saltchuck to high and dry for hours at a time...." Coastal Ballet: Barnacles at Work  

If you like to watch: check out Alan Berner's photos of Chinook and Coho returning to Issaquah Creek. Hatchery homecoming

The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that a tax on gasoline to pay for toxic cleanup is constitutional. The decision came in a case testing the state’s 18th Amendment, which restricts gas taxes to “highway purposes” such as road maintenance and construction. At stake was tens of millions of dollars that go each year to removing toxic pollutants from places like Seattle’s lower Duwamish Waterway. The Automotive Trade Unions Organization and California-based Tower Energy Group challenged the tax as unconstitutional because money raised by the tax wasn’t going to roads. AUTO filed the lawsuit after a few years in which the state Legislature diverted millions from the tax to backfill the state’s general fund. Scott Gutierrez reports.  Supreme Court says pollution tax on gasoline is constitutional

The White House has intervened in an interagency review of industry proposals to ship millions of tons of coal to Asia through planned export terminals in the Pacific Northwest. The White House Council on Environmental Quality convened a meeting of senior agency staff in August to discuss the proposals, which come in the midst of a presidential campaign in which Republicans and business groups have tried to focus attention on what they assert is the Obama administration's “war on coal.” With the election looming and what appears to be conflict between the corps and EPA over the export terminal EIS process, the administration has declined to publicly define its position.  Paul Shukovsky reports. White House Intervenes in Dispute Over Plans To Export Coal to Asia Through Northwest

For the past two years the City of Seattle has worked to update its Tree Protection Ordinance. Last year the proposed ordinance was sent back to the drawing board by the City Council because it lacked even basic protections for trees. A new version was sent to the City Council this week. What’s the fuss? Green Acre Radio's Martha Baskin reports.  If Trees Like the Pacific Madrone and Zebra Cedar Could Talk, What Would They Say About Seattle’s Proposed Tree Protection Ordinance?

Coho, cutthroat trout, steelhead and other fish will have an easier time migrating in a small stream that flows out of Capitol Forest to the Black River, thanks to a state program that aids small-forestland owners with removal of barriers that block fish. The $130,000 project this week to replace a fish-blocking road culvert with a small bridge across Goliath Creek frees up more than four miles of upstream fish habitat. It’s a prime example of the kind of work the state Department of Natural Resources and its partners are poised to do. Since 2003, some 232 fish barriers – usually road culverts – have been eliminated on nonindustrial timberland, returning some 500 miles of stream habitat to migrating salmon and trout through the state Department of Natural Resource’s Family Forest Fish Passage Program.  Another fish barrier removed

A harbour porpoise that was rescued from a Vancouver Island beach has lost his fight for survival. The young porpoise — which rescuers named Theo — was found stranded and in grave condition in Esquimalt in July. Crews from the Vancouver Aquarium's rescue centre spent more than two months giving Theo around-the-clock care. Rescued B.C. harbour porpoise dies


Public entities have until Nov. 2 to apply for state Department of Ecology funding for water-quality projects. Ecology expects to offer about $138 million in grants and loans to local governments, public utility districts, federally recognized Indian tribes, conservation districts, universities, health departments and other eligible groups. Projects that might qualify for such funding include sewage system improvements, water re-use facilities, stormwater and groundwater projects, stream-side protection and restoration, and public education about clean water.  Funding available for water-quality projects

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has started drilling a well in the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska, making good on exploration plans that had been stalled by floating ice, technical delays and problems with meeting oil spill-preparation requirements. Shell said it started drilling late on Wednesday at its Sivulliq prospect after getting clearance from Inupiat Eskimo whalers, who had just completed their autumn bowhead whale hunt. Under the plans, operations must cease by the end of October. As with the well it began last month in the remote Chukchi Sea off northwestern Alaska, Shell is permitted by federal authorities to drill only to shallow depths that are far short of oil-bearing reservoirs. The permits issued by the U.S. Bureau of Environmental Safety and Enforcement allow only "top-hole" drilling because Shell has not yet met oil-spill regulations. Shell begins drilling well at Beaufort Sea prospect  

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 PM PDT THU OCT 4 2012
FRI
E WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
FRI NIGHT
E WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS.
 SAT
E WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 2 FT.
SAT NIGHT
E WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 3 FT.
SUN
E WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT.

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