1/8 Partnership director, Goldman Sachs folds, safe geoducks, BP no pay

Puget Sound “dead zones” (World Resource Institute/KPLU)

Puget Sound Partnership gets new director
Gov. Jay Inslee has appointed a new executive director to lead the Puget Sound Partnership, the state agency tasked with cleaning up Puget Sound. Inslee on Tuesday announced the appointment of Sheida Sahandy. She has worked for the city of Bellevue since 2006, where she worked as assistant to the city manager. She'll take over an agency with 47 employees and an annual budget of $9.4 million in state and federal money. She begins her job Feb. 4. Sahandy would be the fifth executive director of the partnership since it was created by the Legislature in 2007.

Wall Street Giant Backs Away From Washington Coal Export Project
A multinational banking giant is backing away from a proposal to build the West Coast’s biggest coal export project near Bellingham, Washington. New York-based Goldman Sachs has sold its stock back to the companies proposing to build the Gateway Pacific Terminal. If built it would transfer 48 million tons of Wyoming coal each year from trains to ocean-going vessels bound for Asia. The move comes less than six months after a Goldman Sachs published a research paper titled, "The window for thermal coal investment is closing." Before the stock transfer, Goldman Sachs had a 49 percent stake in the Gateway Pacific project. The company proposing the project is SSA Marine. Its parent company is Carrix, Inc. David Steves reports.

Wash. Officials Say Shellfish Is Safe For China To Import
Washington state officials said Tuesday they found lower contamination levels when they tested geoduck clams than those alleged by China when it said geoduck imported from Puget Sound had high levels of arsenic. China cited its findings in December when it imposed the largest ban on shellfish imports from Northwest waters — as well as from California and Alaska — in the region’s history. Chinese officials said they found inorganic arsenic levels of .5 parts per million in the shellfish they tested in October. But Washington officials’ tests produced different results. Ashley Ahearn reports.

BP, claiming fraud, wants to stop oil-spill payments
The Deepwater Horizon settlement agreement is in turmoil, with BP attempting to stop the payments and saying money shouldn’t have gone to an adult escort service, a global nuclear consultant and others that haven’t proved the monster 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cost them business. BP is waging an aggressive campaign in the courts and the news media against the settlement it signed two years ago. The company agreed to the settlement under pressure as claims mounted from the oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers, led to the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history and did major economic damage to businesses in the region. Sean Cockerham reports.

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 858 PM PST TUE JAN 7 2014
WED
SW WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING SE 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 14 SECONDS. RAIN.
WED NIGHT
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING SW 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING. W SWELL 4 FT AT 11 SECONDS. RAIN.

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