9/30 Salish Sea News & Weather: Hood Canal, Dick Goin, spotted frog, orca rules, Moving Planet, climate & jobs, Brightwater, BC critters, fishy news, ESA condoms

PHOTO: Pat Lynch/Kitsap Sun

Thirty days hath September...and here we are at the 30th. Come Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 3 and 4, the Puget Sound Partnership begins public meetings on revising its Action Agenda in Mill Creek and Poulsbo, respectively.  Schedule here.

Chris Dunagan in the Kitsap Sun reports that, for now, we’ve dodged the bullet of a massive fish kill as oxygen levels have improved in the upper levels of Hood Canal. Oxygen conditions improve in Hood Canal

Dick and Marie Goin were honored yesterday by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center as this year’s winners of the Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award, but it just wasn’t the kind of attention Dick likes to be the center of and he chose not to attend. But he was celebrated anyway for his “significant contributions in the protection and stewardship of the North Olympic Peninsula's natural environment.” Port Angeles couple receive environmental award

More heroes: John Dodge in The Olympian reports on yesterday’s helping hands provided to imperiled Oregon spotted frogs by students enrolled in the New Market Skills Center’s Environmental Explorations program. The students worked at Salmon Creek north of Littlerock to kill invasive reed canary grass and to set traps for non-native bullfrogs. Students aid endangered Oregon spotted frog

How did the first summer of enforcing rules about boats maintaining increased distance from orca whales in the San Juans go? Sgt. Russ Mullins speaks. Orca enforcement officers witness violations of new federal law, no citation issued; Department of Fish & Wildlife says it wanted to take an educational approach this season

Last weekend thousands of King County residents came together to demonstrate local alternatives in the worldwide effort to wean the planet off fossil fuels. Martha Baskin of Green Acre Radio reports on the local aspect of the “Moving Planet” international event organized by ‘350.org’ Listen to Moving the Planet Beyond Fossil Fuels

My friend Colin Wagoner of Ridolfi, Inc., wrote a thoughtful piece in the Daily Journal of Commerce about how we can turn the lemons of climate change into the lemonade of reviving our economy. Our changing climate can be a job generator; More scientists, engineers, planners and contractors will be needed to address rising sea levels and diminishing snowpacks. 

Seattle Times editorial writer Lance Dickie likes the Brightwater sewage-treatment plant and heralds it as a “testament to the vision, tenacity and talents of elected King County officials, employees and citizens who recognized the need, and the contractors who designed and built it.” Brightwater sewage-treatment plant more than a passing fancy

From the not-so-far North: On Vancouver Island, Four cougar sightings in capital region in two days  and, in the resort land of Whistler, Black bear burglarizes Whistler pizza parlour   What are we doing to our wildlife?

Friday fish news: Dr. Giacomo Bernardi at UC Santa Cruz has a video showing a tuskfish digging up a clam out of the sand, carrying it to a rock, and repeatedly throwing the clam against the rock to crush it. Fish Uses Tool to Dig Up and Crush Clams   Jonathan Armstrong, a UW doctoral student, finds fish able to expand their gut capacity in order to eat enough during good times to grow and build energy reserves to survive the bad times. Binge-eating fish with 3x the guts

Marketing Ploy of the Month: Grist reports that the Center for Biological Diversity is promoting its ‘ 7 Billion and Counting’ campaign about how population growth threatens species by giving away 100,000 Endangered Species Condoms. Come and get your Endangered Species Condoms            
   
Now, your weekend tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT FRI SEP 30 2011
  TODAY
 W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 11 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN.
 TONIGHT
 NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT IN THE EVENING... BECOMING LIGHT...THEN BECOMING E 10 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W
 SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 SAT
 SE WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 9 SECONDS. SCATTERED SHOWERS.
 SAT NIGHT
 W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT.
 SUN
 E WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 3 FT.

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9/29 Salish Sea News & Weather: Sound & Vision, dog poop, monitoring & research, Trident Seafoods, coho run, Frankenfish, rainwater, Arctic ice

IMAGE: Laura James/Sound & Vision

Eric Becker’s killer documentary premiers at the NW Film Forum in Seattle at 7 PM on Monday. Sound and Vision captures the stories of people working to make Puget Sound’s estuarine waters a better place. Tickets here.  On Tuesday, Ashley Ahearn hosts Becker on a live chat at 2:30 PM. Details at Join us for a live chat with Eric Becker

Pick up the poop. A campaign that meets dog owners and their dogs at neighborhood dog parks is under way to educate pet owners in the Henderson Inlet and Nisqually Reach watersheds.  If you don't clean up after dogs, you contribute to pollution, residents told

Join Chris Bauer on a video voyage doing the important job of monitoring marine protected areas established off the California coast. One Fish Two Fish: Monitoring Marine Protected Areas  Locally, Kim Todd blogs on the importance of monitoring how well the Elwha dams removal restores wildlife and fisheries. Will the Elwha's model for dam removal be validated?  And, in a larger context, Bill Stafford addresses the local “industry” of research— and our strategic shortcomings. Losing ground in the research race

Trident Seafoods of Seattle will pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle an EPA charge that it violated Clean Water rules in Alaska— as well as invest $30 million in waste controls. Major seafood processor agrees to civil penalty

Fishing moves north to the Straits, according to Seattle Times fisher-reporter Mark Yuasa. Coho salmon should be best in northern Puget Sound

From Grist: AquaBounty Technology's genetically modified salmon just got a hefty financial boost from the USDA: On Monday, the agency awarded the Massachusetts-based company $494,000 to study technologies that would render the genetically tweaked fish sterile. This would reduce the likelihood they could reproduce with wild salmon, should any escape into the wild -- a scenario that has many environmentalists concerned. Feds help GMO salmon swim upstream    

Katie Campbell of EarthFix reports on folks gathering in Portland this week for the national rainwater harvesting conference. No kidding. Rainwater Industry Goes Beyond the Barrel in Portland

Canada’s Arctic ice shelves, formations that date back thousands of years, have been almost halved in size over the last six years, researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa, say. Arctic Shelves Have Lost Half Their Size in Six Years   A Canadian federal panel reports in the study, “Paying the Price: The Economic Impacts of Climate Change for Canada,” that Canada can expect to pay between $21 billion and $43 billion each year by 2050 if it doesn’t plan to tackle climate change. Climate change could cost Canada billions
        

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT THU SEP 29 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM PDT THIS AFTERNOON
  TODAY
 E WIND 15 TO 25 KT EASING TO 10 KT EARLY AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
 TONIGHT
 W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 10 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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9/28 Salish Sea News & Weather: Elwha flowing, Tethys, Dabob restoration, raingardens, shoreline planning, state budget, food costs and security, global warming

Elwha Love. Lake Aldwell is now flowing over the portion of the dam removed. Watch on the National Park Service webcams.  Elwha River flows freely past destroyed dam portion

The city of Anacortes gave Everett-based Tethys Enterprises Inc. rights to 5 million gallons per day of water for a proposed food and beverage plant contingent on the company finding a suitable site. The decision caused deep community divisions, and this week the city council finally had a public hearing on the proposal but gave Tethys more time to find a site. Anacortes City Council gives Tethys contract extension

Reporter Martha Baskin’s radio feature examines the restoration of the largest intact salt-marsh in all of Hood Canal and Strait of Juan de Fuca. Listen to Restoring Dabob Bay & Tarboo Creek: Can it Serve as a Model for Saving Puget Sound? 

Last weekend’s raingarden demonstration in north Everett featured installations at seven homes that will have an additional benefit of alleviating the risk of basement flooding. Raingardens will help prevent flooding in basements http://www.snoho.com/stories_2011/09_september/092811_raingarden.html  Down Sound in Belfair, the WSU Mason County Extension gives a free workshop tomorrow on reducing drainage and runoff pollution problems. Free Rain Garden How-to Workshop http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/local-events/15222-free-rain-garden-how-to-workshop

Balancing pubic and industry uses along Tacoma’s waterfront continues as the Tacoma City Council wrestles with updates to the city’s Shoreline Master Program. Many support the status quo of a working, industrial waterfront along Schuster Parkway and many support a long-envisioned public esplanade from the Tacoma Dome to Point Defiance. Waterfront rules remain divisive in regards to industrial or public uses http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/09/28/1842912/waterfront-rules-remain-divisive.html

Tomorrow in Tumwater, the public gets to talk about shoreline regulations proposed for the shorelines of the Deschutes River, the Black Lake drainage ditch, portions of Percival Creek and Barnes, Black, Capitol, Munn, Susan and Trosper lakes. Input sought on Tumwater shoreline regulations http://www.theolympian.com/2011/09/27/1817347/input-sought-on-tumwater-shoreline.html

Yet to be determined is how the next round of state budget cuts will affect public programs. Two-thirds of the $35 billion state budget is restricted so the cuts have to come from the $10 billion available. One proposal from the state Fish and Wildlife Department would direct state-run hatcheries to cut costs by collecting less Chinook salmon eggs. Issaquah hatchery could collect fewer salmon eggs as cost-cutting measure    State parks, with the new Discover Pass fee schedule, are meant to become fully self-sustaining but the interim funding to get there may be cut. State Parks faces new round of budget cuts

Paul Epstein blogs in The Atlantic on what might be the true costs of climate change and emerging weather changes: food availability and food security. Food Security and Climate Change: The True Cost of Carbon Tom Laskey in Grist takes another slant on what drives food prices: speculators. U.S. government gives food speculators the thumbs up

Joel Connelly issues an invitation to all global warming skeptics to join him in the Canadian Rockies to hear the mountains’ message: “Climate change is not a theory, not a debate, in these mountains. It is there for your eyes to witness. The glaciers are shrinking rapidly and changing appearance, even from when I first hiked there as a 10-year-old.” Icing the case for global warming 

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT WED SEP 28 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR WINDS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING
  TODAY
 W SWELL 11 FT AT 12 SECONDS. LIGHT WIND BECOMING SE 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 1 TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
 TONIGHT
 E WIND 10 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

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9/27 Salish Sea News & Weather: Stormwater, Hood Canal fish kills, LOTT, Wild Olympics, deer cull, foggy weather

PHOTO: Lee First

Lee First at RE Sources was doing her water sampling yesterday and was pretty excited. “Yes,” she wrote. “It’s the opening day of stormwater season!   After looking at all the fisherman standing along the shore of Whatcom Creek just now and thinking about the upstream stormwater pipes, I'm inspired.”

In the West Seattle Blog... Laura James, our favorite diver/videographer, sent in her latest piece documenting the runoff entering the waters off Alki Beach. What comes down, must go out – into Puget Sound, off Alki

Other SCUBA divers are documenting the latest development in Hood Canal where deep-water fish are suffering from oxygen depletion. The Kitsap Sun’s Chris Dunagan reports. Creatures stressed in Hood Canal; fish kill possible

Budd Inlet wastewater treatment will get a long overdue upgrade when two sedimentation basins will be replaced. These have been in service since the plant opened 60 years ago. LOTT to kick off $50 million basin work

According to a Port of Port Angeles commissioned report, the Wild Olympics Campaign to add private lands to federal wilderness in Olympic National Park would cost jobs and wages. The full study will be available on the Port of Port Angeles website on Wednesday, commissioners said. Port-sanctioned study sees job loss if Wild Olympics plan goes through 

Bambi grows up. BC municipalities are facing an explosive issue as deer suddenly have lost their fear of humans and have been attacking pets and even people in rural B.C. “Cranbrook is the first B.C. community to receive provincial approval to cull problem deer in its downtown area, and Kimberley and other B.C. towns are lining up for the right to curb the huge increase in the deer population.” Deer cull key issue at Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting

Meanwhile, down south on Vashon, the issue is how to give both hunters and pedestrians access to an island resource. Anyone ask the deer? County gives a tentative nod to 17-day hunting season in Island Center Forest

Finally, Vincent Pica writes in Three Sheets Northwest about what to worry about if the rains stop this winter. “There are three different types of fog. There’s fog that forms when water is warmer than the air, called “steam” fog (think of a boiling pot of spaghetti). Fog that forms when the water is colder than the air is called “advection” fog. The third type, called “radiation” fog, is formed by cooling of the land after sunset by thermal radiation. But fog is fog. You can’t see land or buoys or, worse, your bow! What to do?” How to handle that dreaded weather condition – fog

No fog but here’s your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE SEP 27 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
  TODAY
 W SWELL 14 FT AT 13 SECONDS. SW WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. SHOWERS LIKELY EARLY...THEN CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 TONIGHT
 W SWELL 18 FT AT 13 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 12 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE EVENING.

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9/26 Salish Sea News & Weather: Nisqually, potatoes & polenta, Hood Canal oysters, Strait netpens, Tiqa, Tulalips, Wild Olympics, ban the bag, Pacific Raceways, ocean fisheries, population growth

The late beluga, Tiqa

Stormy weather: power outages in Puget Sound caused by heavy winds; flood dangers recede on BC central coast. Cliff Mass shows how the new coastal radar system observed the oncoming storm beginning to end. The New Radar Documents A Frontal Passage

Big day down Sound at the annual Nisqually Watershed Festival on Saturday, Visitors get a look at changes at Nisqually Delta,  and on Sunday at the annual Hudson Bay Day and Salmon BBQ in Dupont, Annual event celebrates pioneer life where Fort Nisqually once stood

Big day as Mount Vernon cooked 15,000 pounds of potatoes au gratin to enter the Guinness Book of Records. “"This event is to bring the community together and celebrate the diversity of local farming," said volunteer Barbara Jackson. "We are known for our tulips, but potatoes are Skagit Valley's largest crop." MV sets world record for potatoes au gratin 

Meanwhile, In Windsor, Ontario, the new world record (6,150 pounds) set a new world record for the heaviest polenta. World's Biggest Polenta. Seriously

Seriously. The Washington State Department of Health says don’t sell or eat oysters from Hood Canal beaches north of the Hamma Hamma River due to the bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which is found naturally in the water and can multiply in shellfish under warm conditions. The area to the south was also closed earlier due to vibriosis. Hood Canal shellfish closure extended

Our Man on the Peninsula writes that Pacific Seafood has proposed a sea cage operations of 180 acres on the Strait of Juan de Fuca 20 miles west of Port Angeles. The site is proposed to produce up to 5,000 pounds of steelhead or Atlantic salmon. New Net Pen Aquaculture Proposed on Strait near Twin & Lyre Rivers

According to the Vancouver Aquarium, necropsy confirmed that their three-year-old beluga whale died last week due to heart failure. Tiqa the beluga died from heart failure: Vancouver Aquarium

An autopsy after the Montana grizzly attack earlier this month when a hunter was killed has determined that the grizzly didn’t kill him. Victim in grizzly attack was shot by friend trying to save him

And Port Alberni is safer after a resident struck a cougar with his car after seeing it on top of one of his neighbor’s cats. “The cougar, it turns out, was ill. After conservation authorities located the injured animal, it was destroyed and sent away for an autopsy.” Port Alberni driver kills cougar attacking pet cat

The Tulalip Tribes have been generous in giving away a record $5.5 million worth of grants this year to more than 300 nonprofit organizations. Tulalip Tribes donate record $5.5 million in grants

If thousands of acres of timber were transferred to Olympic National Park, how would that affect jobs on the Olympic Peninsula? The Wild Olympics Campaign and a coalition of conservation and recreation groups propose purchases that could add 37,000 acres of wilderness areas, 450 miles of wild and scenic-designated rivers, and 134,000 acres of other wilderness additions to the Olympic Peninsula. Port Angeles port to hear Wild Olympics economic study

Ban the bag. Mukilteo city council members have been discussing banning plastic bags in the city and city staff are drafting an ordinance. Mukilteo considers plastic bag ban

Pacific Raceways in Kent is “Where The Excitement Is Accelerating For The Whole Family.” The racetrack owners want to upgrade the old track to stay in business; neighbors are concerned about impacts on the adjacent Soos Creek watershed. Racetrack’s expansion plans have enviros, neighbors worried
 

Coming up: Bainbridge islanders can hear Curtis Tanner, project manager of the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project and David Bricklin, a land use attorney and one of the fathers of the Growth Management Act, at the 11th annual Bainbridge Island Environmental Conference on Oct. 4. Bainbridge conference focuses on shoreline protection

Dan Chasen in Crosscut asks University of Washington professor of aquatic and fishery sciences  Ray Hilborn, and the associate director of the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre, Villy Christensen, about the state of our ocean fisheries— and gets two different answers. Time to suspend all deep-ocean commercial fishing?

Finally, if you like to watch: Science pulled the key elements of its series on population into a short video. 9 Billion? A Whirlwind Trip Through Population Trends

Now, thank-goodness-for-tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT MON SEP 26 2011
  GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING
  TODAY
 SE WIND RISING TO 30 TO 40 KT THIS MORNING...THEN BECOMING SW 20 TO 30 KT LATE. WIND WAVES BUILDING TO 5 TO 7 FT IN THE MORNING...SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 5 FT LATE. W SWELL 7 FT AT 9 SECONDS. RAIN.
 TONIGHT
 SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

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9/23 Salish Sea News & Weather: Partnership criticized, FEMA salmon, Chinook return, Brightwater costs, Clayoqout plastics, Trans Mountain oil, mean fish

It’s Fall; can you feel it?

Chris Dunagan of the Kitsap Sun reports on a preliminary audit by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee that found the Puget Sound Partnership didn’t do a very good job in following its legal mandate in carrying out its 2008 Action Agenda. But things will get better, the Partnership promises.  Legislative audit criticizes Puget Sound Partnership

Yesterday’s deadline came and went for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure that 122 Puget Sound communities met minimum building standards that don’t harm fish habitat. FEMA says it’s doing just that; the National Wildlife Federation says it isn’t and will sue them.  Group: FEMA policies in Puget Sound harm salmon
 
Colleen Armstrong at the Islands Sounder reports that Orcas Island’s Glenwood Springs Hatchery has a record Chinook return this year despite a glitch last week of some fish dying because of the planned overnight power outage in the islands. Record number of chinook salmon returning to Glenwood Springs hatchery this year

Uh, oh. The grand celebration for the Brightwater sewage-treatment plant is scheduled for Saturday but there’s dispute over how much exiting customers pay versus new customers throughout King County pay. Brightwater costs debated

Plastics everywhere. Yasmin Aboelsaud reports that University of Washington Tacoma researchers collecting microplastic debris in Clayoqout Sound found more polystyrene in the surface of the water compared to areas in Puget Sound. American researchers study microplastic debris in Clayoquot

Moving oil. The Trans Mountain pipeline moves crude oil  and refined products to the western coasts of the U.S. and Canada, and is expected to carry in its mainline 281,000 barrels a day in October and 140,855 barrels a day in its Puget Sound section. Kinder Trans Mountain Oil pipeline exceeded capacity by 52% in October

Mean fish. “An angry glare from the family goldfish might not be the result of a missed meal, but a too-humble abode. Fish in a cramped, barren space turn mean, a study from Case Western Reserve University has found. Ornamental fishes across the U.S. might be at risk, all 182.9 million of them.” Aquarium Fishes Are More Aggressive in Reduced Environments, New Study Finds

Now, your weekend tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT FRI SEP 23 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
  TODAY
 S WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING LATE. W SWELL 8 FT AT 11 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG EARLY IN THE MORNING. CHANCE OF RAIN.
 TONIGHT
 S WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 11 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN. PATCHY FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.
 SAT
 SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS. PATCHY MORNING FOG.
 SAT NIGHT
 LIGHT WIND BECOMING SE 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 7 FT.
 SUN
 SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...THEN BECOMING SW LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 8 FT.

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9/22 Salish Sea News & Weather: Lenticular clouds, special session, Duwamish fish, brownfields, Action Plan, Salmon SEEson, Kitsap shellfish, coal export, Moving Planet, ferry fares, Orcas runoff, dam film, penguin smell

KOMO-TV: diaztony

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...but it sure helps to have them explain the clouds. Scott Sistek at KOMO-TV explains the clouds you might have seen yesterday afternoon over the Olympics and Mount Rainier. Puget Sound puts on incredible display of lenticular clouds
 
Excited? Yes. Cliff Mass blogs: “Today I received a wonderful email from Brad Colman, head of the Seattle National Weather Service Forecast Office: the new coastal radar, located just north of Hoquiam, is now fully operational and the data is flowing to the outside world.” The Big Day Arrives. The Washington Coastal Radar is Operational!

Another chance to show what it takes to govern this state with its large budget shortfall. Governor to call 30-day special legislative session

Here’s a look at what we face to restore Puget Sound’s waters to health. Is Fishing Making You Sick? A Look at the Duwamish River

Benfield on Brownfields: Kaid Benfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council blogs on the EPA’s report that demonstrates how redevelopment of contaminated industrial sites in inner cities bring big environmental benefits. Seattle was one of the six cities studied. How cleanup and redevelopment of city brownfields reduces pollution

Action, not talk. The Puget Sound Partnership has a draft regional plan to restore the Sound to health and wants you to tell them what top actions need to be taken to accomplish that task. Meetings in Sequim (9/27), Mill Creek (10/3), Poulsbo (10/4), Mount Vernon (10/10), Olympia (10/11), and Friday Harbor (10/19). Public Invited to Help Update the Plan for Puget Sound Recovery

Yesterday’s item about living beyond our ecological means (Humanity falls deeper into ecological debt: study) brought the following comment from Our Man of the South Sound: “Other ecologists say the we have slipped over the edge years ago.  EO Wilson thinks it was about 1972.  Wackernagle says it would take 3 earths to be sustainable.  If all were at US standard of consumption, it would take 10 earths.”

Thank goodness for returning fish. King County celebrates Salmon SEEson with viewing opportunities along creeks and streams in the Lake Washington, Cedar River and Lake Sammamish drainage basins. Opportunities abound to see migrating salmon

Paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) levels have declined enough in Kitsap County for the health department to lift its advisory not to harvest shellfish along the eastern side of the county. You are still advised not to harvest butter clams from Point Jefferson near Kingston south to the Pierce County line — including Bainbridge and Blake Islands and all the bays connecting to Puget Sound. Got it? Kitsap health district revises shellfish advisory

Floyd McKay in Crosscut details the latest developments in the battle over coal export and the coal export facility proposed for the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve. Coal-export plans turn into a running battle

Want to see Cherry Point? Come on a ride this Saturday to Bellingham City Hall and Cherry Point as part of Moving Planet, a worldwide rally to push leaders to do more about climate change. Bicyclists to ride from Bellingham to Cherry Point during climate change event

What’s it take to live on an island in the Salish Sea? Trustees from BC’s Island Trust unloaded on BC Ferry Commissioner Gord Macatee last week about cultural, social and economic hardships faced by island communities in the wake of ever-increasing ferry fares. Fares on Gulf Island routes have risen between 60 and 125 per cent since the provincial government committed to the semi-privatization of BC Ferries in 2003, 10 times the rate of increase in the province’s Consumer Price Index. Ferry fare ‘vicious spiral’ affects all 

Meredith Griffith of the Islands Sounder reports on construction underway to create a wetland to filter Orcas Island’s Eastsound runoff. About 6,000 plants will treat 40 percent of Eastsound’s runoff, with a treatment capacity of 370,000 gallons or 1.13 acre-feet at a time. It will be finished in October, and monitored by the county as it matures over the winter. Eastsound's new constructed wetland will filter town's runoff

If you like to watch: The first of six episodes of the Elwha Dam removal is online on the Olympic National Park Elwha River website.  Filmmakers document dams removal

Amazing. Research with captive Humboldt Penguins at Brookfield Zoo near Chicago proved, for the first time, that the birds use scent to discriminate between close relatives and strangers. Penguins identify mates, kin by smell 

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT THU SEP 22 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM PDT THIS MORNING
  TODAY
 SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...THEN BECOMING S 10 TO 20 KT BY MIDDAY. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FT IN THE
 AFTERNOON. W SWELL 12 FT AT 13 SECONDS. RAIN AT TIMES.
 TONIGHT
 S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 12 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE EVENING...THEN
 CHANCE OF DRIZZLE AFTER MIDNIGHT. PATCHY FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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9/21 Salish Sea News & Weather: Cherry Point coal, Brightwater, San Juans protection, save SF Bay, captive orcas, Cisco Morris, Dungeness River pinks, BC dogfish, water plan, ecological debt

Brightwater

Couple more days of summer, officially. Climate scientist Cliff Mass writes about the vast range of temperature differences we find around what we call “Puget Sound.” Microclimates

John Stark of the Bellingham Herald blogs on an unannounced meeting yesterday of Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark and opponents of the Cherry Point coal export facility proposal. Lands commissioner visits Bellingham to talk about Cherry Point 

Bob Simmons of Crosscut blogs on the weird world of land use permitting which allows the coal export project proponents to get a permit for work they should have gotten a permit for if they restore the damage they did without having gotten a permit. Duh. Permissive outcome on coal port land-clearing violations

After five years of construction, King County’s Brightwater plant is ready to start discharging treated sewage into Puget Sound. Brightwater Treatment Plant Has Its Grand Opening on Saturday
 
Last week Senator Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, with Senator Patty Murray cosponsoring, introduced legislation that would turn federal land in the San Juan Islands into a National Conservation Area, aiming to boost protection and accessibility as the number of visitors to the islands increases. National Conservation Area for the San Juans in congressional hands

Can we do it here? Paul Rogers of the San Jose Mercury News writes that Andrew Gunther, an environmental scientist and chief author of the "The State of San Francisco Bay 2011” reports that “The bay's health is definitely getting better. We're making progress.” The report comes out every two years in advance of the biennial State of the Estuary Conference, a scientific and public policy meeting that began yesterday. San Francisco Bay getting healthier, not in the clear yet

Brandon Keim reports in Wired that this week’s federal hearing on trainer deaths associated with keeping killer whales in captivity brought testimony from former SeaWorld trainer Jeff Ventre that the whale attacks were manifestations of stress, even madness, in animals forced into miserable, unnatural conditions.  Former Trainer Says Killer Whale Captivity Causes Attacks

Maybe this will make ‘rain gardens’ a household word. Show up in Everett at 10 AM on the corner of Lombard Ave. and 14th St. Ooh, la, la: Gardening guru Ciscoe Morris to pitch rain gardens at Everett show on Saturday

Not bored with fish yet. This weekend’s 12th annual Dungeness River Festival at the River Center (and director Bob Boekelheide’s last) features the biggest pink run in years. Read Jeff Chew’s story and watch the short video. Dungeness River salmon run biggest in 10 years — just in time for river festival

Fish of another kind: Larry Pynn of the Vancouver Sun reports that British Columbia’s spiny dogfish has become the first shark fishery in the world to be deemed sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council of London. B.C.'s spiny dogfish makes history as world's first 'sustainable' shark fishery

Water, the drinking kind: John Dodge in The Olympian reports that, after 15 years in the making, a water plan for Olympia, Lacey and Yelm is nearing approval by the Department of Ecology, after the municipalities have agreed to follow procedures that would assure no damage to stream flows and fish in the Nisqually and Deschutes drainages. Three-city water plan gets final approval by Ecology

Living beyond our means: Not sure how this is calculated but European researchers report we will slip next week into ecological debt, having gobbled up in less then nine months more natural resources than the planet can replenish in a year. At our current pace of consumption humankind will need, by 2030, a second globe to satisfy its voracious appetites and absorb all its waste, the report calculated. Humanity falls deeper into ecological debt: study

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 AM PDT WED SEP 21 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
  TODAY
 SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS BUILDING TO 8 FT AT 17 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF RAIN.
 TONIGHT
 S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 15 SECONDS. RAIN.

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9/20 Salish Sea News & Weather: Barred owls, San Juan shorelines, Ala Spit, big kings, PETA, Monte Cristo, Cosco Busan spill, Shell drilling

PHOTO: Trileigh Tucker

Wake up to the West Seattle Blog... and this morning’s photo by Trileigh Tucker of one of two barred owls: “It’s been quite a few weeks since I’ve seen the Lincoln Park Barred Owl pair, but (Monday) morning (thanks to the loud cacophony of Steller’s Jays announcing them) I saw both owls of the pair, not too far apart. Thought you might like to know they’re here and doing fine!” Lincoln Park’s barred owls, seen again

Today is the first two of four shoreline master program visioning summits held in the San Juan islands this week. Consultant Chris Hoffman describes the importance of this step in the planning process. Determining future of county’s shorelines

Some major restoration work to repair erosion and improve salmon habitat was scheduled to begin yesterday at Ala Spit Park, on the northeast shore of Whidbey Island opposite Hope Island. Ala Spit Park closure is scheduled September 19th – October 31st  The Herald reporter and fly fishing columnist Mike Benbow comments on the work. Saving Ala Spit

Lynda Mapes in The Seattle Times captures the excitement when volunteers released four of 10 large native Elwha Chinooks into Lake Mills above the soon-to-be-removed Glines Canyon Dam. Big kings return to reign in Elwha

Meanwhile, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will protest today on the Elliott Bay waterfront the hooking— and eating— of fish. After that they can go jump in the lake. PETA out to take fish off the hook — and menu

Gale Fiege in The Herald unravels the complications facing cleaning up our toxic past around the abandoned gold and silver mines in the Cascades in east Snohomish County. The mines at the turn of the century placed tailings that contain arsenic, mercury and lead at the headwaters of the South Fork Sauk River. How to fix toxic legacy? Some object to plan to build road to clean up Monte Cristo mine

Justice? The shipping companies responsible for the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill, which polluted San Francisco Bay and killed thousands of birds and fish, have agreed to pay to restore habitat and reimburse the agencies that responded to the disaster. $44 million settles Cosco Busan oil spill in bay

And on it goes. Shell Oil Company now has an air quality permit for its drilling vessel to explore for oil in the Chukchi Sea and for its fleet of support vessels. Shell gets EPA permit for drilling in Arctic

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 245 AM PDT TUE SEP 20 2011
  TODAY
 SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT AT 9 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON.
 TONIGHT
 SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 10 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service.

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9/19 Salish Sea News & Weather: Elwha!, shrinking fish, oily roads, veteran corps, Discover Pass, Jetty Is birds, global heat, alien pix

Photo: David Liittschwager

Much Elwha Love: Big ceremonies on Saturday marked the start to free 70 miles of river and streams. Ceremony marks start of Elwha Dam removal

The Seattle Times shows its love: The grand experiment to tear down two dams and return an Olympic wilderness to its former glory

Christopher Dunagan of the Kitsap Sun reports on what’s ahead: As dams come down, researchers stand by to witness river's restoration

And fish advocates and lawyers get ready to fight over stopping the use of the Elwha hatchery to “jump-start” recovery of wild fish in the river. Wild-fish advocates plan to sue over Elwha hatchery

Meanwhile, BBC News reports that lab scientists are measuring how overfishing of fish stocks, already shown to result in smaller fish over time, also alters fish behavior and their patterns of development. What happens when you constantly remove the largest individuals from populations of lab-bred guppies? Fish shrinkage probed in lab

Rained this weekend, didn’t it? Oil had built up on roadways during the dry spell and when it rained, the oil rose to the surface. That’s a lesson about runoff pollution and driving safety. Caution: Fresh rain brings slick roadways
 

The state Legislature last session created the Puget SoundCorps to help restore the Sound to health and state Ecology and state Veterans Affairs agencies are seeking to hire veterans. State seeks veterans to spearhead Puget Sound cleanup

Veteran or civilian, take a day next Saturday to do some good for the land and waters of Puget Sound. Volunteer help needed for National Public Lands Day on Sept. 24

Is it working? The state Legislature estimated that the $30 annual fee to enjoy state parks that went into effect July 1 would generate $64 million in revenue in two years. Discover Pass for state lands raised $5.2 million in first two months

Nancy (pictures) and Peter (words) blog about the Birds of Jetty Island

In puzzling over why the world temperature hasn’t risen more than it has despite greenhouse gas emission increases in the last decade, scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research have hypothesized that this ‘missing’ heat may be held deep in oceans, temporarily masking climate-warming effects. "Missing" global heat may hide in deep oceans

Finally, “To see a world in a grain of sand /And a heaven in a wild flower...” Greg Hanscom in Grist reports on photographer David Liittschwager’s One Cubic Foot project “which involves dragging a small, green, open-sided box around the globe and setting it up in different places to see what wanders, slithers, swims, or flutters through.” You’d be amazed with what Liittschwager has captured in San Francisco Bay. The aliens have landed!

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 254 AM PDT MON SEP 19 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
  TODAY
 W SWELL 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS. W WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT.
 TONIGHT
 LIGHT WIND BECOMING SE 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

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9/16 Salish Sea News & Weather: Elwha Love, budget woes, coal train blues, fishing facts, Deschutes Chinook, Penn Cove Festival, Nat'l Estuaries Day, Moving Planet Day, islands' orchids

PHOTO BY Rich Murphy

What!?? Snow in forecast for Cascades this weekend

Big time Elwha Love: Whack! Whack! Whack!  Hammer punches a hole in Glines Canyon dam as demolition begins [Video]

Big time celebration on the removal of the dams this weekend. The Seattle Times previews in a video its Sunday special coverage, Removing the Elwha River dams

Sixth and final part of John Kendall’s series on the Elwha,  The secrets beneath the departing lakes

Budget woes: The new projection, combined with a down forecast in June, wipes out the state's reserves and leaves a big hole in the budget. Latest forecast calls for $1.4 billion less; more cuts expected

The full news story from the Skagit Valley Herald on the Port Commission’s  support of plans for a major shipping terminal at Cherry Point, but only if the project's proponents can lessen the impact on Skagit County's transportation system. Port of Skagit supports Cherry Point terminal - but not at their expense

Thank you, Scott North of the Herald for the tutorial on Facts about fishing in Washington — and fishing for votes

Nat Hulings of The Olympian writes about how Chinook salmon have begun their annual return to the Deschutes River through the Fifth Avenue dam, with about 900 already in the hatchery and thousands more expected. For us, it's salmon-watch season. For Sound's seals, it's tasty-snack season 

Save the Penn Cove Water Festival?  Susan Berta of Orca Network and current president of the Penn Cove Water Festival has called for a meeting to discuss whether to continue the 20-year-old festival held in Coupeville. The meeting will be held on Sept. 19, 6 pm, at the Coupeville United Methodist Church. Susan can be reached at info@orcanetwork.org

National Estuaries Day is September 24 and People For Puget Sound celebrates on Orcas Island. Estuary restoration workday at Cayou Lagoon celebrates National Estuaries Day

Sept 24 is also Moving Planet Day, organized by Bill McKibbon, a day to show all the other ways we can move our bodies and our stuff if we begin to leave the car behind. Around the world, “People will be skateboarding and kayaking and marching, and most of all, they’ll be biking.” Stopping bad things and starting good ones

And to end this week, Russel Barsh and Madrona Murphy share some insights about The islands’ native orchids

Now, your weekend tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 244 AM PDT FRI SEP 16 2011
  TODAY
 SW WIND 10 KT BECOMING W IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.
 TONIGHT
 S WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 SAT
 LIGHT WIND BECOMING E 10 TO 15 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 SAT NIGHT
 NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SE AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT.
 SUN
 SE WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6 FT...BUILDING TO 8 FT IN THE EVENING.

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9/15 Salish Sea News & Weather: Elwha, coal export, Bremerton superfund, BP at fault, BC geothermal, Point Wells, flying snails

Glines Canyon Dam

Elwha Love: The Peninsula Daily News is right on top with today’s report on the first chip being removed from the Glines Canyon Dam. Dam removal work begins

If you like to watch, webcams have been placed to monitor habitat changes-- but you can watch the dams being removed as well. Are they dam cams?

If you like to read, here’s part 5 of Port Angeles writer/historian John Kendall Elwha history. Flooding along the Elwha

State revenue forecast is out today. New Wash. revenue forecast to bring more bad news

Whatcom County will issue work permits retroactively if the proponent of a coal export facility at Cherry Point restores the damage they made in clearing land and follows the rules in the future. Anyone wanting to comment on that deal can do so by Sept. 26. Whatcom County orders SSA to repair road work at Cherry Point

Trains, trains: Port of Skagit commissioners on Tuesday conditioned their support of a Whatcom coal export facility only if proponents can lessen impact of trains passing through Skagit County... In Anacortes, many comments have been received in the ESA scoping of Tesoro Refinery’s proposal to move a 100-car unit train with crude oil through the county every day.

Remembering our dirty past: A 3.7-acre waterfront industrial site where Bremerton Gasworks stood will be proposed as a federal Superfund site. West Bremerton site to be proposed as federal Superfund site  In Snohomish and Island counties, Herald reporter Bill Sheets maps out Poisoned ground: Superfund sites in Snohomish County

Hey, guess what? According to the federal investigators, BP gets much of the blame for the Horizon Deepwater rig disaster and oil spill. But the report also faults Transocean and Halliburton and cites factors including poor risk management. BP, contractors violated safety rules, U.S. inquiry finds

News up North: a "massive" store of clean, renewable energy is sitting at Canadians' feet, according to a federal report on geothermal energy. "As few as 100 projects could meet Canada's energy needs," according to the team's findings, to be presented at a geothermal conference in Toronto today Canada sitting on 'massive' store of geothermal energy

Point Wells is back to square one: After suits were filed, “negotiations with Woodway and Shoreline over the Point Wells condo development may have come to an end, according to the developer who hopes to build the 3,081-unit project.” After lawsuit, Point Wells developer won't work with cities; Blue Square Real Estate says it now will only deal with Snohomish County on the proposed Point Wells condo project.

Here’s your science hit for the day: Smithsonian scientists and colleagues report that snails successfully crossed Central America, long considered an impenetrable barrier to marine organisms, twice in the past million years -- both times probably by flying across Mexico, stuck to the legs or riding on the bellies of shorebirds and introducing new genes that contribute to the marine biodiversity on each coast. Hitchhiking Snails Fly from Ocean to Ocean

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 245 AM PDT THU SEP 15 2011
  TODAY
 W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. SW SWELL 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS. PATCHY MORNING FOG OR DRIZZLE. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 TONIGHT
 W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. SW SWELL 5 FT AT 13 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE EVENING.

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9/14 Salish Sea News & Weather: Redistricting, reefnetting, Roundup, Martinac penalty, Elwha, Brackett's landing, climate change PR, rising tides

Booker's moon

Good-bye, Summer; good night, Moon. My photo of the week (thus far): Booker’s view from The Junction on Monday night in West Seattle Blog...

Washington state now has a 10th Congressional district and the political scramble is on for how the districts will be drawn for the 2012 elections. One possibility is a congressional district where racial minorities outnumber whites. Maps would give minorities clout
 
Butter clams are OK. Varnish clams not safe for recreational harvest in Whatcom County

Bob Simmons in Crosscut featured the Lummi Island reefnet operation last week; Lynda Mapes goes to Lopez Island for her Seattle Times story, Low-tech reef netters haul in best salmon catch in years

Bad stuff: Jess Zimmerman in Grist reports that researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey have detected the active ingredient of Roundup, a chemical called glyphosate, in waterways, air, and rain. Roundup weed killer is showing up in air and water

Tacoma shipbuilder J.M. Martinac was originally fined $50,000 by Ecology for violating stormwater discharge standards and repeated noncompliance. Upon complying the penalty was reduced to $17,000. Ecology, Tacoma shipbuilder settle penalty

Part 4 of the history of the Elwha Dams, Klallams' river lifeline severed by dams

If you’re not going to Port Angeles for the Elwha Festival, go to Anacortes for Fidalgo Bay Day where kids of all ages can enjoy an Undersea Zoo, hands-on activities, sample some chowder from local restaurants and more from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Seafarers' Memorial Park. Explore marine life at Fidalgo Bay Day

More history. Larry Vogel blogs in Patch.com to set the record straight about Edmonds history: “Contrary to popular legend, the story of Edmonds does not begin with George Brackett. In 1866, fourteen years before Brackett’s famous landing, Missouri-born Pleasant H. Ewell filed the first claim to the land that would become Edmonds.” Edmonds Before George Brackett

You always suspected it wasn’t a fair game. It wasn’t and it isn’t: According to a report by Mike De Souza in the Vancouver Sun, a major Alberta-based oil and gas company helped to kick-start an elaborate public relations project designed to cast doubt on scientific evidence linking human activity to global warming with a $175,000 donation in 2004 channeled through the University of Calgary. The contribution was part of $507,975 raised to produce a video and engage in public relations, advertising and lobbying activities against the Kyoto Protocol and government measures to restrict fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Talisman Energy kick-started U of C climate skeptic fund

Did it make a difference? Reuters reports that a report by the Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystem Research warns that Europe's seas are changing at an unprecedented rate as ice sheets melt, temperatures rise and marine life migrates due to climate change. New European sea level data stuns researchers 

Now, your tug weather:
TODAY
SW WIND 10 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
 TONIGHT
 W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE EVENING...THEN AREAS OF DRIZZLE AFTER MIDNIGHT. AREAS OF FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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9/19/13 Salish Sea News & Weather: Elwha, Greenpeace, jellyfish, 'sea greens,' orcas, Point Wells, Broadview raingardens, cross-Strait power, boatyard fees, drinking water, phthalates

IMAGE: Laura James

TODAY: Ecology will be conducting an oil-spill response drill in Commencement Bay.

The West Seattle Blog... features two of my favorite people: Laura James and Eric Becker and their videos on working to make Puget Sound clean and healthy. Vivid reasons to learn – today! – how to fight Tox-Ick

Part 3 of John Kendall’s history of the Elwha Dams: Fisheries, dams linked in 1980s 

More history for the young folks: “A simple phone call about dead sea otters washing up on the shores of Alaska after U.S. nuclear tests lead to the birth of environmental organization Greenpeace four decades ago.” Agence France-Presse in the Times-Colonists reports on Vancouver marks birth of Greenpeace 40 years ago

KING5’s Gary Chittim shows us what’s going on with our jellies: Growing jelly fish invasion in Puget Sound

Want to eat off the beach? Take a Chance on Nutrient-Packed “Sea Greens”

Howard Garratt at Orca Network says: “I think there is a desire for that intimacy of a close look to really understand these whales, to just appreciate what they’re all about. People are very curious and that’s a good instinct. But people need to practice patience and let the whales come to them.” Giving orcas room to roam

See you in court: The Town of Woodway and a community group filed a lawsuit Monday to stop county planners from processing Blue Square Real Estate's application to build the 3,081-unit project. Woodway and community group sue over proposed Point Wells condo project
   
Talk first, fight later: Seattle’s proposed natural drainage system in the Broadview neighborhood has spurred a group of residents to hire lawyers and gear up for a fight, nervous the project could ruin their neighborhood.  As city plans new Broadview raingardens, neighbors ready for fight  

I love these company names: Sea Breeze Power and Boundless Energy are still proposing to build a underwater transmission cable between Port Angeles and Victoria. Cross-Strait power cable project still in works

Barbara Bach in Three Sheets Northwest reports on boatyard owners objecting to the state’s proposal to recover all costs associated with administering the General Boatyard Permit. The increase is estimated to be from a total of $29,000 at year to $213,000.  Proposal would mean big fee increase for boatyards

What’s in your drinking water?: Hillary Rosner in the New York Times blogs on how researching the risks posed by pharmaceuticals in the environment has gone nowhere in five years and we are no closer to understanding the problem or whether these contaminants should be regulated under the Clean Water Act. Impasse Persists on Drugs in Drinking Water

What’s in your kid’s body?: “...researchers measured phthalates in the urine of 319 pregnant women, then followed the children born to these women until age 3. The study found that children whose mothers had the highest levels of phthalates had increased rates of behavior problems and decreased skills related to voluntary movement compared to children whose mothers had the lowest levels. Girls whose mothers had the highest levels were also found to have decreased mental development at age 3 compared to girls whose mothers had the lowest phthalate concentrations.” From Environmental Health Perspectives Phthalate exposure in pregnancy shows up in toddlers

And, finally, although you know this, it’s important to know the argument: Don’t buy the job-killing hype: Regulations create jobs, save lives   
       
Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 237 AM PDT TUE SEP 13 2011
  TODAY
 SW WIND 10 KT BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
 TONIGHT
 W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 12 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 5 FT AT 12 SECONDS AFTER
 MIDNIGHT.

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