Tuesday, October 15, 2013

10/15 No pipe, emission goals, sardine collapse, toilets, sewage, BC farms, metalworks, oil spill, Samish hatchery

(CBC News)
B.C. First Nation protests Kinder Morgan pipeline
The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation and environmentalists have crossed Burrard Inlet in traditional canoes to protest U.S. oil giant Kinder Morgan's $5B plans to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline. Protesters dodged tankers as they sailed close to the Westridge Marine Terminal, in a bid to stop Kinder Morgan nearly tripling the capacity of the pipeline, which carries crude oil from the Alberta oilsands to tankers in Vancouver.

Climate change: Gov. Inslee favors pollution cap, other steps to meet state emissions goals
Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday he supports an absolute cap on carbon-fuel emissions in Washington as one of a half-dozen ideas he thinks can get the state closer to reaching goals set in 2008 for cutting the greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. The cap was one of a half-dozen ideas Inslee floated during a meeting Monday of the Climate Legislative Executive Workgroup that the Legislature created in response to his request this year to bring greenhouse gas emissions back on the state’s political agenda.  Brad Shannon reports.

Sardine fishery along B.C. coast collapses
A $32-million commercial fishery has inexplicably and completely collapsed this year on the B.C. coast. The sardine seine fleet has gone home after failing to catch a single fish. And the commercial disappearance of the small schooling fish is having repercussions all the way up the food chain to threatened humpback whales. Jim Darling, a Tofino-based whale biologist with the Pacific Wildlife Foundation, said in an interview Monday that humpbacks typically number in the hundreds near the west coast of Vancouver Island in summer. They were observed only sporadically this year, including by the commercial whale-watching industry. Larry Pynn reports.

Amusing Monday: the true meaning of toiletry  
Chris Dunagan at the Kitsap Sun dives deep: 'In this country, we generally call them public “restrooms,” these places to go for relief involving bodily excretions. I’ve heard them called “washrooms” in Canada. Some people call them “bathrooms,” even when they have no tubs. But, obviously, their primary function is neither resting, nor washing, nor bathing...'

Hollywood Beach given all-clear sign  
An advisory against contact with the waters of Port Angeles Harbor, including the waters off Hollywood Beach, has been lifted following tests showing reduced levels of potentially harmful bacteria. The initial advisory came Oct. 4 after heavy rains between Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 sent an estimated 8 million gallons of diluted untreated sewage and stormwater into Port Angeles Harbor through the city’s four combined sewer overflow, or CSO, outfalls. Jeremy Schwartz reports.

New Device Harnesses Sun and Sewage to Produce Hydrogen Fuel
A novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment. A research team led by Yat Li, associate professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz, developed the solar-microbial device and reported their results in a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

B.C. farmers less likely to join environmental farm plan  
B.C. farmers have the lowest participation rate in Canada in the Environmental Farm Plan program, which promotes sustainable practices and identifies potential risks to air, water and soil. Only 21 per cent of farms in this province have a formal environmental plan, compared with 72 per cent in Quebec, 53 per cent in the Maritimes and 38 per cent in Ontario. The national average is 35 per cent, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.

Hemmed in by development, metal plating firm leaving Seattle  
One of Ballard’s oldest manufacturers is leaving town, the latest in a string of defections that are transforming the traditionally maritime industrial area of Seattle. Scott Galvanizing Co. is spending about $10 million to build a 30,000-square-foot factory in the Snohomish County town of Arlington that will be nearly twice the size of its current Ballard plant. The company is making the move out of Ballard largely due to the pressures of gentrification. Steve Wilhelm reports.

Broken hose causes diesel spill at Fisherman's Terminal
At least 30 gallons of diesel have spilled at Fisherman's Terminal in Seattle after a hose in the engine room of a fishing vessel reportedly broke. The sate Department of Ecology, U.S. Coast Guard, Port of Seattle and a private cleanup contractor responded to the spill Monday morning. According to the Department of Ecology, the spill has been contained within the terminal. Kiersten Throndsen reports.

Samish hatchery keeps Chinook salmon viable
Salmon are a huge part of the community in Skagit County, with commercial fishing that plays a role in the local economy, recreational fishing that draws locals and tourists alike and tribal culture. Over the years, native Chinook salmon populations have declined, and some are now protected under the Endangered Species Act, which bans their catch. In northern Puget Sound, two Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife hatcheries produce supplementary Chinook populations. The Samish hatchery, with holding ponds on the Samish River and a main facility on Friday Creek, is the largest. Kimberly Cauvel reports.

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 236 AM PDT TUE OCT 15 2013
TODAY
E WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
LIGHT WIND...BECOMING W TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 11 SECONDS. PATCHY FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.
--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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