9/9 Humpies, Targa oil, coal EIS, BC boom, BC LNG pipe, Graham Cr., Elwha salmon, Skagit salmon, seal art, community shellfish, Clean Samish, tsunami debris, Growler EIS, driftwood

Dungeness pinks (John Gussman/Peninsula Daily News)

The biggest run of pink salmon in the Dungeness River since 1963 is underway. The biannual summer run of pink salmon, also known as humpbacks or humpies, has filled the river with spawning fish so full that people easily can see the fish just about anywhere in the Dungeness River, said Scott Chitwood, natural resources director of the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe. Arwyn Rice reports. Dungeness River has biggest salmon run in a half-century  

Targa Sound Terminal’s plan to build a $150 million bulk liquids distribution facility at the Port of Tacoma died Friday. The company told the port in a formal termination letter that its studies over the past seven months showed that a new tank farm wouldn’t be economically viable. Targa President Troy Goodman told port Chief Executive Officer John Wolfe that the company’s plans for a long-term lease of the port-owned site of the former Kaiser Aluminum smelter wouldn’t be moving forward. John Gille reports. Tank farm, rail yard fall through See also: Planned Crude-by-Rail Terminal in Tacoma Scrapped

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington State Department of Ecology will conduct separate reviews of proposals to expand state coal exports  – not the joint reviews that had been planned, both agencies announced Friday. The decision to separate the reviews is in some ways not surprising, since the agencies have staked out different criteria in determining whether to approve a proposed export terminal at Cherry Point, near Bellingham... Supporters of the proposals praised the separation of reviews, framing it as an indication of the inappropriateness of the state’s broad review, which is unprecedented in scope... Opponents, on the other hand, said it is in the state’s interest to conduct as broad a review as possible. Brian Rosenthal reports. Feds, state to conduct separate reviews of coal train proposals   Meanwhile, in Longview: The state’s decision to include greenhouse gas emissions and train traffic concerns in the environmental review of a proposed Whatcom County coal terminal has caused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a separate review of Longview’s proposed Millennium coal export dock, federal officials said Friday. Barbara LaBoe reports. Federal regulators to write separate review of Millennium coal dock

The B.C. government is staking the province’s future on a resource boom across B.C.’s north — potentially hundreds of billions of dollars worth of activity and proposals in mining, hydro, port expansions, industry upgrades, and liquefied natural gas. Premier Christy Clark has said that LNG on its own could single-handedly get the province out of debt, and her government has clear plans to fast-track the industry....How many of the current LNG proposals will actually be supported by markets and investment is an open question, but Clark’s B.C. Jobs Plan envisions three LNG plants operational on the coast by 2020. Bill Metcalf reports. The North: B.C.’s economic frontier

The company proposing to build a liquefied natural gas pipeline through a grizzly bear sanctuary near Prince Rupert has already been warned twice about “non-permitted access” to the environmentally sensitive area, and BC Parks is investigating a third possible transgression. A subcontractor of pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. received a verbal warning from BC Parks after the first incident in the Khutzeymateen Inlet Conservancy on June 16 and a written warning after the second on June 28, according to the provincial environment ministry. A third incident under investigation occurred in the past week. Possible B.C. pipeline route crosses grizzly bear sanctuary

The province has identified the globs of black stuff gumming up parts of Graham Creek in Central Saanich as an asphalt-type product of low toxicity. The Environment Ministry identified the source as Island Asphalt’s facility in the Keating Industrial Park... An Island Asphalt spray truck sprung a leak Thursday, said Cory Sangha, assistant general manager of OK Industries Ltd., Island Asphalt’s parent company, but the company was confident it had been contained. Cindy Harnett reports. Spill in Central Saanich's Graham Creek traced to paving facility

For the second year in a row, salmon are swimming in streams above the site of the former Elwha Dam. The Peninsula Daily News reports last summer's return of salmon to the Elwha River above the former dam's site were the first in 100 years. Olympic National Park spokeswoman Rainey McKenna says biologists have counted at least 500 adult chinook in the river, as well as a few pink salmon and coho. Salmon heading to spawn past Elwha Dam site  

If there’s one thing folks up and down the Skagit River know, it’s salmon. Whether they’re out fishing for them or trying to save the fish’s native habitat, people living along the river are tied to the salmon, according to the folks who organized a festival celebrating the fish. Cory Ertel, co-founder of the Skagit River Salmon Festival and vice president of its board, said the connection with the river and the fish led him to want to create a festival to bring all those groups together. Daniel DeMay reports. Salmon fest swims through Skagit  

With a crowd of more than 200 people on hand, the sculpture Sentinels of the Sound was dedicated on a day declared by proclamations from the city and state to be "Harbor Seal Day," Sept. 8. The bronze sculpture by noted northwest artist Georgia Gerber is of a mother and baby Harbor Seal, placed at a corner near the Alki Bathhouse and made accessible for kids and others to touch and interact with. It is the realization of a long held dream by Seal Sitters' Robin Lindsey whose organization watches over marine mammals around Puget Sound, paying special attention to seal pups who often rest on our shorelines. Patrick Robinson reports. Sentinels of the Sound sculpture dedicated in Alki Beach ceremony

What a difference a day makes. On Thursday, friends and organizers of the Henderson Inlet Community Shellfish Farm gathered in Olympia to ponder the farm’s future, threatened by Washington State University’s recent decision to terminate their access to the Meyer’s Point property owned by WSU and used by the farm the past 10 years. They planned to appeal the university’s decision, search for other ways to access 1 acre of tidelands they lease from the Nisqually Indian Tribe, and possibly move to or expand operations in the Nisqually Reach. On Friday, those same folks were in a celebratory mood, after being notified that morning that officials in the president’s office at WSU had agreed to extend their free public access to the property indefinitely. John Dodge reports. WSU allows shellfish farm on Henderson Inlet to stay

Since a major rainstorm when fecal coliform bacteria in the Samish Bay skyrocketed to 170 times the state water quality standard five years ago, the Clean Samish Initiative has been working to reduce pollution and shellfish harvest closures in the watershed. The good news: Fecal coliform is now five to 10 times lower during heavy rain. However, it is still more than double the state standard, and local shellfish growers still face closures — 13 so far this year. The Clean Samish Initiative, a partnership among more than 20 federal, state, county, tribal, nonprofit and private organizations, says it is slowly but surely making progress using a Pollution Identification and Correction program. Kimberly Cauvel reports. Clean Samish Initiative partners work to keep shellfish safe  

First Nations on British Columbia's north coast will share in $139,000 in funding from the Japanese government to establish a tsunami debris cleanup program. The money comes in response to a successful proposal by the Haida Gwaii Tsunami Debris Committee that includes the communities of Queen Charlotte, Skidegate, Old Massett, Masset and Port Clements... Japan has provided about $1 million in tsunami cleanup money to Canada, with a federal-provincial group deciding how the cash is dispersed. B.C. First Nations group gets $139,000 in tsunami cleanup cash from Japan

The U.S. Navy says it will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement that looks at the potential impact of adding 13 “Growler” fighter aircraft to the Whidbey Island fleet. The Navy this week issued a notice of intent to prepare an EIS assessing current and future operations of the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, including operations at the Coupeville Outlying Field. An environmental group filed a lawsuit against the Navy in July seeking an EIS because of the potential impact on Ebey’s Landing, a National Historic Reserve managed by the National Park Service. Kimberly Cauvel reports. Navy agrees to EIS on Growler jets  

You see them everywhere, time travelers journeying through the brine or lined up on quiet beaches where they form a uniquely Northwest tableau of astonishing depth and variety. Susan Kelleher reports. Driftwood comes and goes, telling stories

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 230 AM PDT MON SEP 9 2013
TODAY
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS. AREAS OF MORNING FOG.
TONIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

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