11/18 Salish Sea News & Weather: BC snow, state budget, bag ban, rain gardens, Tesoro, cruise ships, Kitsap farms, SF marshes, fir fungus, green jobs

PHOTO: Vancouver Sun

Ready for winter’s first blast? Snow, icy winds hit Metro Vancouver, expect slower commute
 
Washington state economist Arun Raha projects that state revenues will drop by $122 million over the next two years. State faces nearly $1.4B deficit    Robert Graef in a Marysville Globe editorial closely reads Governor Gregoire’s proposed list of program budget cuts down into the bone of our state’s social fabric. Blood on the budget axe

Do it; don’t chew on it. The Seattle City Council has the chance to ban single-use plastic shopping bags. Will they— or will they talk it to death? Environmentalists ask Seattle to ban plastic bags    Much of the research that supports banning plastics has been done locally. Port Townsend research provides data for statewide report urging ban of plastic bags

Kathleen Cooper at Tacoma’s News Tribune blogs on whether the rain gardens proposed for Pacific Avenue in Tacoma will turn out to be stinky messes like the ones that went bad in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Will rain gardens on Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma be sidewalk swamps? Designers say no

Tesoro is planning a $60 million rail shipping project to move 30,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude oil from western North Dakota to its refinery in Anacortes, Wash., beginning in late 2012. Tesoro plans to ship N.D. crude to Anacortes refinery 

Greater Victoria Harbour Authority officials anticipate that 476,000 passengers will arrive during the 2012 Alaska cuise-ship season, the most of any year thus far.  Cruise-ship tourists may top record

Kitsap County is looking to amend its county comprehensive plan by including a new goal that would “retain and preserve land suitable for agricultural production and encourage the continued practice of farming within the county through regulatory and non-regulatory means." Chris Dunagan in the Kitsap Sun explains. New farm policies proposed for Kitsap's rural areas

In The Chronicle: The critical tidal marshes of San Francisco Bay - habitat for tens of thousands of birds and other animals - will virtually disappear within a century if the sea rises as high as some scientists predict it will as a result of global warming. Climate change: Sea rise could kill vital marshes

From EarthFix: A native disease caused by a tiny fungus has spread into an epidemic in coastal Douglas fir forests. The disease can dramatically slow tree growth and hurt the bottom line of private forest landowners. Many scientists think warmer winters are helping the disease spread. How A Tiny Fungus is Starving Coastal Douglas Fir Trees
And, from Sue Sturgis in Facing South and Grist: The GOP says constantly that environmental regulations kill jobs. These numbers prove the opposite. By the numbers: The myth of ‘job-killing’ regulations

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST FRI NOV 18 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
  TODAY
 W SWELL 16 FT AT 13 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 13 FT AT 13 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. E WIND 10 KT RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 TONIGHT
 W SWELL 12 FT AT 12 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. E WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 SAT
 E WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING LIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 SAT NIGHT
E WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 6 FT.
 SUN
 SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING 10 TO 20 KT IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT.

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