8/2 Lummi coal, Billy Frank Jr., coal EIS, Canada oil, BC swallows, ghost nets, Arctic ice

If you like to watch: Check out a film created by Western Washington University students enrolled in Huxley College of the Environment's SMOCS (Science and Management of Contaminated Sites) course. First in a series of films detailing the cleanup process in WA under MTCA.  Model Toxics Control Act: Envisioning Washington's Future  And, if you're into comic books, check out “The Adventures of the Remediators"

The Lummi Indian Tribe is officially opposing the plan to build a massive coal export terminal near Bellingham. It’s a move that could ultimately terminate the terminal and stop controversial coal trains in their tracks. The Lummi say the terminal would destroy their ability to fish native waters as they've done for thousands of years. Merle Jefferson comes from a long line of Lummi fishermen. His father and grandfather worked the waters around the Strait of Georgia for salmon and crab, as do 60 other families today... Now, the tribe is playing a trump card. They're invoking treaty rights, sending a formal letter to the Army Corps of Engineers that declares they see no workable way to share the waters with coal exporters. In response, the Corps could deny critical permits for the project, essentially killing it.  Eric Wilkinson reports. Tribe plays trump card that could kill coal terminal

Climate change is sweeping indigenous villages into the sea in Alaska, flooding the taro fields of native Hawaiians and devastating the salmon population from which Washington state Indian tribes draw their livelihood, tribal leaders testified Thursday at a Senate hearing. “The ocean is important to all of us,” said Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, a group of 20 Washington state tribes with treaty rights to salmon fishing. “It’s dying. And who the hell is in charge? Nobody that I see.” Frank was among several witnesses at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs who called on the federal government to fight climate change and help tribes cope with its effects. They suggested strategies such as renewable energy programs, land-swap plans for communities displaced by rising sea levels, and better coordination among the government agencies with which they interact. Rebecca Cohen reports. Tribes tell Senate how environmental change, rules affect their lands  


Unprecedented. Both backers and critics of a massive coal-export terminal north of Bellingham used that term Wednesday as a scope of environmental review was announced by federal, state and Whatcom County officials. The results, which will include a look at greenhouse gases, rewarded a grassroots opposition campaign that ranged from the coalfields of Wyoming to the outer islands of Washington. Floyd McKay reports. Coal port faces a new level of environmental scrutiny

Oil firm TransCanada has unveiled plans to build a pipeline from western Canada to the country's Atlantic coast, as its plans for a US pipeline remain stalled. The 12bn Canadian dollar ($11.6bn; £8bn) Energy East line would carry up to 1.1 million barrels of oil per day. That would replace oil imported to eastern Canada, with a leftover surplus to export across the Atlantic. TransCanada in pipeline plan from west to east Canada   See also: Is B.C. rushing headlong into a disastrous liquefied natural gas glut?

Days after a lease was approved for the largest crude oil terminal in the Northwest, the Port of Vancouver on the Columbia River became a hot spot to stop it. "Summer Heat Climate Action," a project of 350.org and local organizations, is committed to keep fossil fuels in the ground and out of the export and domestic markets. If nearly a dozen other terminals go through, the amount of crude being piped by rail into the region would be on par with Keystone XL, over 800,000 barrels a day. Martha Baskin reports. Bakken Crude Oil Heads to Northwest: Climate Action on the Columbia River  

A B.C. ornithologist is warning that swallow populations are declining at an alarming rate and the expert insect hunters could cease to fly over Metro Vancouver’s skies in the coming years. Derek Matthews, chair of the Vancouver Avian Research Centre, says that populations of barn and bank swallows in particular have fallen by up to 98 per cent in Greater Vancouver since 1970 and the decline seems to be speeding up. Matthews characterized the situation as “desperate, really desperate,” and says his research team has noticed a particularly fierce drop off in the last three to five years.  Swallow populations plummeting in Metro Vancouver  

The final push in a decade-long effort to clear Puget Sound of derelict fishing nets within 105 feet of the surface will get under way later this year with funding approved by the Washington State Legislature. The state budget adopted last month provides $3.5 million for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to complete the task in partnership with the Northwest Straits Foundation, which has led the net-removal effort since 2002. Since then, divers working for the non-profit organization have removed 4,437 lost or abandoned fishing nets, 2,765 crab pots and 42 shrimp pots from the waters of Puget Sound. Animals found dead or entangled in that gear include porpoises, sea lions, seabirds, canary rockfish, chinook salmon and Dungeness crab.  Washington Legislature funds final push to rid Puget Sound of derelict fishing nets  

Arctic sea ice is melting at record rates, and the loss of that ice could drive significant degradation of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, according to a researcher at the University of Washington. The researcher, Cecelia Bitz, is part of an international team of scientists whose findings are published this week in the journal, Science.  Scientists have been able to accurately track the rate at which sea ice is melting since 1979, when the satellite era began. In the 35 years since, the ice has retreated by 40 percent. That’s an increase of more than 1 percent a year—two or three times faster than the global mean. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. Mounting Consequences as Arctic Sea Ice Melts

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 PM PDT THU AUG 1 2013
FRI
W WIND 10 KT...BECOMING NW TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS. PATCHY DRIZZLE IN THE MORNING. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
FRI NIGHT
W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 18 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
SAT
NW WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 20 SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT
NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W 5 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 19 SECONDS.
SUN
LIGHT WIND. WIND WAVES LESS THAN 1 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 18 SECONDS.
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