2/15 Coal export, gravel mining, piers and docks, salp, GMO foods,tsunami designed buildings

Salp, Thalia rhomboides

Last day to pre-register for the 2013 Environmental Lobby Day in Olympia February 19.  Pre-register today: Environmental Priorities Coalition

A Wyoming mining company has signed an option agreement allowing it to ship up to 16 million tons of coal a year through Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point — if that project can get the regulatory approvals it needs. Cloud Peak Energy said Wednesday's deal involving Gateway Pacific Terminal, proposed by SSA Marine of Seattle, will allow it to expand overseas sales amid weak domestic demand. The company has mines in Wyoming and Montana. It shipped 4.4 million tons of coal to Asian customers in 2012. In 2011, coal industry giant Peabody Energy made a similar deal with SSA, declaring an intent to export as much as 24 million tons of coal per year via the Cherry Point facility. Wyoming coal company strikes export deal to use Cherry Point terminal

A new Sightline report paints Ambre Energy, a large owner in the proposed coal port at Longview, in a less-than-flattering financial light. Floyd McKay explains. Ambre Energy: The big bad coal wolf?  Read the report, Ambre Energy: Caveat Investor

In a Feb. 13 print edition article by Allison Arthur of the Port Townsend Leader, John Fabian of the Hood Canal Coalition describes several new permits submitted to Jefferson County by proponents of a project to barge gravel from Shine through the Hood Canal Bridge. In December proponents submitted a new noise study and a new traffic impact analysis. The project was originally proposed by Fred Hill Materials in 2002 and is now called T-ROC, an acronym for Thorndyke Resources Operation Complex, an offspring of Fred Hill Materials which is going through Chapter 7 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Within a week, there’ll be no trace of the dock that attracted Mosquito Fleet steamers, car ferries and fishermen for more than a century. Workers from Seattle’s Pacific Pile & Marine last week sawed Harper Pier’s deck and railing into large pieces, chained them to a crane and hoisted them onto a barge. On Thursday, they logged the old wooden pilings. Two men in an aluminum boat set chokers, and the supports were plucked one, two or three at a time from Puget Sound. Ed Friedrich reports. Splash down: Harper Pier disappearing quickly  But: Key Peninsula dock with ties to Mosquito Fleet gets a facelift

Meanwhile: A new dock approved by the Kitsap County hearing examiner could become the first overwater structure along an undeveloped stretch of Hood Canal shoreline near Stavis Bay. The dock, proposed by Tim and Brenda Berg, would be built at 18174 Stavis Bay Road. The 480-square-foot structure would include a grated deck to allow light to penetrate, and it would be built on eight centerline pilings to reduce the impacts. Chris Dunagan reports. First dock near Stavis Bay approved

It started with a few sightings here and there. Now a strange sea creature, a salp, is showing up on beaches and in crab pots up and down the Washington Coast, raising curiosity and concerns.  Marine expert Alan Rammer said he's received several calls from people asking what they are. He told us they are members of the tunicate family called 'salps' and are a harmless visitor from the South. Gary Chittim reports. Odd creature showing up on Washington's coast

Anyone wanting to get to the bottom of the debate about genetically modified foods will have a long wait. One side says there is no meaningful evidence that GMOs are harmful, and that forcing food companies to label them would be expensive and cumbersome, especially on a state-by-state basis. They say the debate should be at the national level. The other side says consumers have a right to know whether foods contain GMOs, particularly because the Food and Drug Administration allows companies to mostly self-regulate their safety. Melissa Allison reports. Initiative to require labels on GMO foods debated

Building codes cover fire prevention, energy efficiency, and seismic safety among other things. Now a group of civil engineers from around the West is developing additions to the code to cover the threat of a tsunami. Kent Yu of Degenkolb Engineers in Portland is one of the members of an American Society of Civil Engineers subcommittee drafting standards for "tsunami loads and effects." Tom Banse reports. Structural Engineers Developing Tsunami Design Code For Coastal Buildings

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 251 AM PST FRI FEB 15 2013
TODAY
SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 14 SECONDS. PATCHY MORNING FOG.
TONIGHT
E WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING S 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 15 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN.
SAT
SW WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 17 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 9 FT AT 16
 SECONDS. RAIN IN THE MORNING...THEN SCATTERED SHOWERS.
SAT NIGHT
NW WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 14 SECONDS.
SUN
NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT IN THE MORNING...BECOMING LIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT IN THE MORNING...THEN LESS THAN 1 FT. W SWELL 9 FT
 AT 14 SECONDS.

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