9/20 Ocean acid, Bob Peart, coal power, climate rally, big ships, mystery kelp, butts, Lolita, Moran Park

Free Lolita (Wikimedia)

Ocean health is at stake as Congress decides whether to confirm the next head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The nominee faced tough questions from Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, about funding for research of and adaptation to ocean acidification.... In the confirmation hearing, Senator Cantwell grilled the nominee, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, about proposed cuts to a monitoring program. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. Cantwell Grills NOAA Nominee on Ocean Acidification Funding 

Victoria’s Bob Peart is the new executive director of Sierra Club B.C., replacing George Heyman who was elected a member of the legislature. Peart is well known for his role in the establishment and management of B.C.’s park system and the designation of land-use plans throughout the province. He has been the Canadian leader in a movement to get children and families outdoors, into nature. Victoria’s Bob Peart new executive director of Sierra Club B.C.

Linking global warming to public health, disease and extreme weather, the Obama administration pressed ahead Friday with tough requirements to limit carbon pollution from new power plants, despite protests from industry and from Republicans that it would mean a dim future for coal. The proposal, which sets the first national limits on heat-trapping pollution from future power plants, would help reshape where Americans get electricity, moving from a coal-dependent past into a future fired by cleaner sources of energy. It's also a key step in President Barack Obama's global warming plans, because it would help end what he called "the limitless dumping of carbon pollution" from power plants. Gina Cappiello reports. Obama takes on coal with first-ever carbon limits  

This Saturday, environmental activist and author Bill McKibben will lead a rally against fossil fuel exports and the Keystone XL pipeline in Seattle.  Known as one of the first voices to warn of the dangers of global warming, McKibben is on tour with his new book, Oil and Honey. He is also the founder of an international organization called 350.org, which he created to fight climate change. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. Bill McKibben of 350.org to Lead Climate Change Rally in Seattle  

In July, the Port of Tacoma’s Washington United Terminal was host to the largest ship ever to call in Tacoma, the Zim Djibouti, a 1,145-foot vessel carrying more than 10,000 container units. But the port could be seeing even larger vessels calling at its Blair Waterway terminals now that a new study has shown the waterway can safely handle them. That $40,000 study, paid for by the port and the Puget Sound Pilots organization, set firm conditions for allowing the so-called Ultra Large Container Ships to transit the Blair. John Gille reports. Port of Tacoma ready for ultra large ships, study says

An uncommon species of kelp was found last week off the Elwha River mouth — possibly a species that has not been seen there before. A team of scientists found the kelp, thought to be Laminaria ephemera or Laminaria yezoensis, during a survey of the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the Elwha River mouth and brought it to the Feiro Marine Life Center on City Pier for temporary safekeeping. “There is something strange going here, something different,” said Steve Rubin, a fishery biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Arwyn Rice reports. Mystery kelp found in Strait at Elwha River mouth  

Millions of cigarette butts, bottles and bags, hundreds of thousands of cans, caps and straws - this is not a count of items found in the landfill - these are the things showing up in the ocean, the Puget Sound and along Washington shorelines. "It's a pretty shocking statistic," says Kathryn Davis, stewardship coordinator with the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. "It really lets people know marine debris is a problem and continues to be a problem." For more than 10 years the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance has participated in a global volunteer effort to help collect and record the trash found in local waterways, including the Sound. Kiersten Throndsen reports. No 'butts' about it, cigarettes are No. 1 item along local shorelines

Forty-three years ago, Lolita the orca and more than 40 other killer whales were herded into Penn Cove off Whidbey Island, captured and taken to marine theme parks. Lolita, performing in a tank at the Miami Seaquarium since her capture, has been the lone survivor of that group since 1988. In the mid-1990s, local whale activists started a movement to return Lolita to the wild. Members of her immediate family still swim the waters of Western Washington, according to orca watchers. Now, two high school girls are renewing the campaign to have Lolita released. Bill Sheets reports. Killer whale captured off Whidbey Island lives at Florida theme park  

Ocean beauty, beaches and boating? You won’t even miss them at Washington’s Moran State Park. The park is in the San Juan Islands, where saltwater recreation and views usually are the big visitor draws. Yet Moran, which covers a 5,252-acre, thickly forested swathe of Orcas Island, has no ocean access. Kristin Jackson reports. Moran State Park is an island treasure  

David Holub in Orion Magazine offers 10 Clichés in Need of Updating  Mine? "There's always tomorrow." Until, you know what.

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 453 AM PDT FRI SEP 20 2013
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
TODAY
E WIND TO 10 KT THIS MORNING...BECOMING LIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS THIS MORNING. W SWELL 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN THIS MORNING...THEN WIDESPREAD RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
LIGHT WIND...BECOMING W TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 11 FT AT 13 SECONDS. RAIN...THEN
 NUMEROUS SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
SAT
LIGHT WIND. WIND WAVES LESS THAN 1 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
SAT NIGHT
LIGHT WIND...BECOMING SE TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 8 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
SUN
SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
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