11/16 Inslee & Puget Sound, Bellingham waterfront, Peninsula clean air, P-8A jets, sea lice

Governor-elect Jay Inslee

Small change: BP made a net profit of $5.5 billion in the third quarter of this year. BP agrees to pay $4.5B; 3 employees charged   And breaking news: Oil rig explodes in Gulf of Mexico

New blog: “It might be instructive to take a look at the successful Obama campaign playbook when pondering how to build a constituency around restoring Puget Sound to health....” Electing Obama, Saving Puget Sound  

Gov.-elect Jay Inslee says he has no plans to overhaul the Puget Sound Partnership, but he wants to make sure the agency chooses restoration projects based on sound science. Inslee said he has no plans to propose a permanent funding source for Puget Sound, as various state officials have mentioned from time to time. Inslee says restoring Puget Sound to health and addressing climate change at the state level will remain high priorities during his administration. Chris Dunagan reports. Inslee maintains commitment to working for a healthy Puget Sound

The latest plan for the city's waterfront confirms the shift toward long-term industrial usage for much of the old Georgia-Pacific Corp. pulp and tissue mill site now owned by the Port of Bellingham. The new draft of the waterfront plan released Thursday, Nov. 15, outlines development goals for the 137-acre G-P property as well as surrounding port and city-owned lands, for a total of 237 acres. Since at least 2010, port and city officials have made it clear that the southwestern portion of the mill site and the port's adjacent shipping terminal acreage probably would remain industrial for the foreseeable future, while development activity focuses on the waterfront areas closest to Old Town and downtown. John Stark reports. Port, Bellingham release long-awaited waterfront plan  

The Olympic Regional Clean Air Agency has approved a budget that funds an air-quality study in Clallam and Jefferson counties. Four temporary air-quality monitors will be used in a two-year saturation study that will gauge emissions from the biomass expansion projects in Port Angeles and Port Townsend. Rob Ollikainen reports. ORCAA funds air-quality monitors for Peninsula

The Navy is considering an increase in the number of P-8A Poseidon aircraft squadrons planned for Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. The P-8As, which are modified 737s assembled in Renton, are scheduled to replace the older Orion P-3s, as the propeller planes are phased out of service. The Navy is studying three alternatives for the assignment of Poseidon squadrons, all of which would mean additional aircraft at Whidbey Island. The Navy plans to schedule public hearings during the 45-day public comment and agency review period that will follow the summer 2013 release of the draft supplemental environmental impact statement. Navy may add up to 49 737-based P-8As to Whidbey  

Treating B.C.'s farmed salmon for sea lice at a different time of year improves the fish's health, says a research team led by University of Alberta academics. But a pathologist at the B.C. agriculture ministry says the study is based on incomplete data. The paper published in the journal Ecological Applications argues that in the past decade, salmon farmers began treating their fish with a product known as SLICE, an anti-parasitic chemical, in the fall and winter months. As a result, researchers have found fewer sea lice in coastal waters around the Broughton Archipelago. The timing of the treatments is important because it means in the spring, when juvenile pink salmon travel to the sea through the archipelago, the sea lice numbers have dropped. The fish are most susceptible to the parasites at that time. Gary Marty, a fish pathologist for B.C.'s Ministry of Agriculture, said he doesn't dispute that the SLICE treatments and their timing are important. But he said the paper's researchers base their conclusions on the belief that sea lice numbers are harmful to wild salmon, and Marty questioned whether that's a given. Sea lice strategy could help save salmon

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 AM PST FRI NOV 16 2012
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM PST THIS EVENING GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM PST THIS EVENING THROUGH
 SATURDAY AFTERNOON
TODAY
E WIND 10 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 17 SECONDS. A CHANCE
 OF RAIN. PATCHY MORNING FOG.
TONIGHT
E WIND RISING TO 25 TO 35 KT...THEN BECOMING SE AFTER MIDNIGHT. COMBINED SEAS 6 TO 9 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF 10
 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY.
SAT
SE WIND 25 TO 35 KT...EASING AND BECOMING S IN THE AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 7 TO 10 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF 9 SECONDS. RAIN.
SAT NIGHT
SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING. W SWELL BUILDING TO 12 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
SUN
SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 12 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
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