4/9 Vendovi Is, BC pipe halted, Tacoma LNG, Everett settlement, paying for oil, Pruitt's EPA, 9th Circuit, Dungeness oyster farm

Vendovi Island

Vendovi Island
Vendovi Island lies across Samish Bay from mainland Skagit County, between Guemes Island and Lummi Island. The San Juan Preservation Trust purchased the island for $6.4 million in 2010. Vendovi Island was named after a Fijian High Chief Ro Veidovi who was captured by Charles Wilkes and brought to North America. The prisoner, held in low esteem by Wilkes's me, in turn viewed the local natives with utter contempt. By the time Wilkes's expedition returned to the East Coast in 1842, Vendovi was ill and died in New York. (Wikipedia, Washington State Place Names)

Kinder Morgan Trans-Canada Pipeline on ice due to British Columbia opposition
Kinder Morgan announced Sunday it is suspending the cross-Canada Trans Mountain Pipeline except for “essential” spending, pending a decision by May 31 to kill or proceed with the controversial project. The Houston-based energy firm has proposed a more-than-700-mile-long pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., intended to nearly triple the transport of bitumen oil from Canada’s interior to the coast to 890,000 barrels a day. But the company in a statement Sunday said opposition to the project, particularly by the government of British Columbia, has put completion of the project in doubt. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times) See also: Notley demands 'concrete action' from Ottawa to get Trans Mountain pipeline moving  Says Rachel Notley to B.C.: 'You can mess with Texas, but you can't mess with Alberta' (CBC) And also: See also: B.C. Trans Mountain opposition remains steadfast as Kinder Morgan suspends 'non-essential' pipeline work  (Canadian Press)

Puget Sound Energy, Puyallup Tribe in showdown over LNG plant on Tacoma tideflats
What started out as a proposal by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to build a liquefied natural-gas plant, to provide cleaner fuel for transportation and natural gas to its customers, has turned into a waterfront battle more bitter than anything this city has seen in years. So bruised is Tacoma, the city has reworked its tribal consultation policy to ensure and improve early contact with tribal leaders, and banned any future fossil-fuel development on the tideflats while it undertakes a full-on planning review for its most important industrial area. Opponents have taken up a battle cry of “No LNG in the Salish Sea,” and have turned out to show PSE just how contentious building a new fossil-fuel project in the region can be. Lynda Mapes report. (Seattle Times)

3 companies to pay $4M for old Everett waterfront pollution
A federal judge in Seattle has finalized a nearly $4 million settlement with three companies over habitat damage caused by mill and manufacturing operations in Everett that date to the early 1900s. Weyerhaeuser Corp., Jeld-Wen Inc. and Kimberly Clark Corp. have operated pulp and paper mills, machine shops, casket builders and other endeavors in the Port Gardner area near the mouth of the Snohomish River. The federal government and Washington state filed a complaint against them in U.S. District Court in Seattle in January, on behalf of the Tulalip and Suquamish tribes. The tribes blame the companies for pollution, including from oil, heavy metals and PCBs, that damaged shellfish beds and other natural resources. (Associated Press)

Oil companies asked to pay their fair share of climate-related costs
Devastating droughts, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, freak snowstorms and sea-level rise linked to climate change have already exacted staggering costs, with billions more to come as land and sea temperatures continue to rise. If Surrey doesn’t upgrade its dikes and improve its flood-control measures, for example, it’s estimated that climate change-related flooding could cause more than $1 billion worth of property damage, affect more than 1,500 residents, hundreds of jobs and more than $25 billion in truck and rail traffic. Surrey’s Mayor Linda Hepner called those costs “jaw-dropping.” So too are the mitigation costs. Preventing flooding in Surrey is estimated at $1.5 billion, but across Metro Vancouver the estimated cost is $9 billion and that doesn’t begin to address the other climate-related issues. Daphne Bramham reports. (Vancouver Run)

In His Haste to Roll Back Rules, Scott Pruitt, E.P.A. Chief, Risks His Agenda
As ethical questions threaten the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Scott Pruitt, President Trump has defended him with a persuasive conservative argument: Mr. Pruitt is doing a great job at what he was hired to do, roll back regulations. But legal experts and White House officials say that in Mr. Pruitt’s haste to undo government rules and in his eagerness to hold high-profile political events promoting his agenda, he has often been less than rigorous in following important procedures, leading to poorly crafted legal efforts that risk being struck down in court. The result, they say, is that the rollbacks, intended to fulfill one of the president’s central campaign pledges, may ultimately be undercut or reversed. Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman report. (NY Times)

Judge’s Death Gives Trump a Chance to Remake a Vexing Court
In the spring of 2014, a friend tried to nudge Judge Stephen Reinhardt, then an 83-year-old liberal stalwart on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, into stepping aside from full-time duties so President Barack Obama could nominate a successor. The friend, Erwin Chemerinsky, now the dean at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said he had gently suggested to Judge Reinhardt that he and another longtime liberal figure on the San Francisco-based court make way while Democrats still had the power to assure that jurists with a similar philosophy would take their place. Judge Reinhardt swiftly rejected that notion and stayed on. Now Judge Reinhardt, who died this past week at age 87, could very well be replaced by a nominee chosen by President Trump. The president suddenly has a chance to seat a judge with a markedly different judicial outlook, giving conservatives a greater voice on the liberal-leaning court, which has been a particular thorn in Mr. Trump’s side. Carl Hulse reports. (NY Times)

Comment period extended for tribe’s oyster farm plans in Dungeness refuge
The Clallam County Hearing Examiner has extended the comment period for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s plans to re-establish an oyster farm within the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. Hearing Examiner Andrew Reeves decided Thursday to allow public comments through April 27. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe will have until May 18 to respond to public comments and the county Department of Community Development will provide a staff report by May 31. The hearing will continue June 7. Jesse Major reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  240 AM PDT Mon Apr 9 2018  
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH LATE  TONIGHT
GALE WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY  AFTERNOON  
TODAY  SE wind to 10 kt becoming E in the afternoon. Wind waves  2 ft or less. W swell 8 ft at 10 seconds.
TONIGHT  SE wind 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell  5 ft at 9 seconds.

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