5/31 Duwamish cleanup, Enbridge pipe, scotch broom, tree roots, ISAV, Willow Cr., Tesoro air, Vic sewage

Ag apocalypse? (BLM)

If you like to watch: I-5 at Skagit River Bridge DOT cameras

Coming up: The Whale Trail hosts a presentation by noted author, whale researcher and marine conservationist Erich Hoyt, author of Orca: The Whale Called Killer, on Saturday, June 8, at 7 PM at The Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Ave. SW in Seattle. Hoyt discusses "Adventures with Orcas in the North Pacific — From A1 Stubbs to Iceberg, the White Russian Bull." Suggested donation is $5, kids free; Brown Paper Tickets

The final hearing Wednesday on a cleanup plan for one of the Northwest’s most polluted rivers brought out concerns that it doesn’t do enough to protect fish, wildlife and human health. More than 300 people came out to learn about the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed cleanup plan for the Duwamish River. There were presentations and posters detailing the techniques that will be used to clean up the river. The plan will involve a combination of capping off contaminated areas and removing hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of polluted muck. Cleanup could last 17 years and cost $305 million. But here’s the central question on people’s minds, asked by a member of the audience after the presentations were over: When the cleanup is finished will residents be able to regularly eat fish and shellfish from the river and its mudflats? Ashley Ahearn reports. EPA’s Duwamish Cleanup Plan Draws Skepticism

Friday is one of the final chances for Enbridge Inc., the British Columbia government and other stakeholders to pitch their arguments to a National Energy Board review panel on the Northern Gateway oil pipeline project. But for John Carruthers, president of Northern Gateway, it will be simply another day in the long effort to convince an often skeptical public that the $6-billion project moving Alberta crude across B.C. for export to Asia should proceed. The company was heartened by the re-election earlier this month of the Christy Clark Liberals, despite Premier Clark’s insistence that the project must meet five conditions before the provincial government would consider supporting Northern Gateway, Carruthers said Thursday during an event in Richmond. Scott Simpson reports.  Enbridge aims to meet with Premier Christy Clark to discuss concerns

If scotch broom, the invasive weed, is not curtailed, it will spread into the equivalent of an agricultural apocalypse, according to a Kala Point man who has started an online petition for statewide mandatory control of the weed.  “Scotch broom’s growth has exploded in Washington,” said David Tonkin, a retired technology worker. “If we don’t control it, in five or 10 years, it will choke out all the other vegetation,” he said. Charlie Bermant reports. Not so mellow about this yellow: Peninsula petition urges mandatory control of scotch broom

When you think of a tree, you probably think of the trunk and all those parts you see above ground. But there’s a whole lot more going on under the soil than meets the eye. Scientists are now digging into the hidden world of tree roots in an effort to illuminate some unexplained mysteries. Sarah Waller reports.  Scientists Peek Into The Hidden World Of Tree Roots

Recent tests of salmon from Washington’s waters show no signs of a fish virus that can be deadly to farm-raised Atlantic salmon, state, tribal and federal resource managers announced today. Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISAV) was not detected in tissue samples taken from more than 900 wild and hatchery-produced Pacific chinook, coho, sockeye, chum and steelhead, as well as farm-raised Atlantic salmon. ISAV is not harmful to people. Specific strains of the virus have caused a deadly disease in farm-raised Atlantic salmon. Outbreaks with significant losses have occurred in farmed Atlantic salmon in Maine, Eastern Canada, Chile and several European countries. ISAV has not been documented in farmed, wild or hatchery salmon in Washington. Tests show no signs of ISA virus in Washington’s salmon

Jerry Schuster, stormwater engineering program manager for the City of Edmonds, brought some potentially good news on salmon habitat when he made a presentation to the City Council on the results of a “Willow Creek Daylight Early Feasibility Study” for the Edmonds Marsh. The study shows that by “daylighting” Willow Creek, the Edmonds Marsh would become more salty by allowing more saltwater into part of the marsh during high tides. That in turn would encourage juvenile salmon to escape into the marsh to live in greater safety as they grow. Daylighting of Willow Creek means removing drainage pipes and creating an open-air creek to allow fish from Puget Sound easier and more natural passage into the marsh. Pat Ratliff reports. Fix the marsh and you stop the flooding  

Tesoro has agreed to pay a $1.1 million penalty to resolve violations of federal air pollution laws at its four refineries, including one in Anacortes, Wash. The Environmental Protection Agency reached the agreement with Tesoro over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at four refining facilities that produce gasoline. EPA accused Tesoro of failing to comply with record keeping, reporting, sampling and testing requirements under the agency's fuel program. It said the violations also occurred at facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah; Mandan, N.D. and Anacortes. Tesoro to pay $1.1 million for clean air violations at refineries

Leading world climate change experts have thrown cold water on the idea that planting trees can offset carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. Professor Brendan Mackey of Griffith University Climate Change Response Program is the lead author of an international study involving researchers from Australia and the U.K. Their findings are reported in "Untangling the confusion around land carbon science and climate change mitigation policy," published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change. Land-Based Carbon Offsets: False Hope? Forest and Soil Carbon Is Important, but Does Not Offset Fossil Fuel Emissions

Greater Victoria’s commission of sewage experts got an earful from angry taxpayers who called Thursday for the megaproject to be paused and independently reviewed. Representatives of the Sewage Treatment Action Group, a community group of concerned citizens, called on the commission to halt work on the sewage project and launch an arm’s-length examination into the $783-million project’s full life cycle costs over 50 years. The group also sent a letter to B.C.’s auditor general, asking the office to audit the project to see if it’s in the best interest of taxpayers. Rob Shaw reports.  Sewage project pause sought by Greater Victoria citizens group

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT FRI MAY 31 2013
TODAY
W WIND 10 KT...BECOMING NW IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS THIS MORNING.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT...EASING TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FT OR LESS AFTER MIDNIGHT. W
 SWELL 4 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
SAT
LIGHT WIND. WIND WAVES LESS THAN 1 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
SAT NIGHT
LIGHT WIND...BECOMING W TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
SUN
W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

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