11/15 Net pens, BP fined, gas prices, WA budget, orcas & turbines, Duwamish sensors, Vic sewage, Elwha Love, BC wolves, Chas Darwin

Deepwater Horizon (BP)

The B.C. government was urged Wednesday not to renew leases for open-net salmon farms on the coast. Aboriginals and environmentalists demonstrated outside Premier Christy Clark’s constituency office in Point Grey at noon and delivered a petition with more than 11,000 signatures opposing the renewal of salmon-farm leases in B.C. Larry Pynn reports. B.C. urged to not renew leases for open-net salmon farms

Oil giant BP has agreed to pay the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history, totaling billions of dollars, for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a person familiar with the deal said Thursday. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the deal, also said two BP employees face manslaughter charges over the death of 11 people in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the massive spill. The person said BP will plead guilty to obstruction for lying to Congress about how much oil was pouring out of the ruptured well. The person declined to say exactly how much the fine in the billions of dollars would be. BP made a net profit of $5.5 billion in the third quarter, it reported last month. Michael Kunzelman reports. BP gets record fine in Gulf oil spill

West Coast gasoline price spikes in May and October were widely blamed on refinery outages, but new research to be released at a California hearing Thursday, Nov. 15, shows that refiners continued to produce gasoline in periods when the public was told the contrary.  The information, shared exclusively with McClatchy, comes from Oregon-based McCullough Research, which combed through thousands of pages of environmental documents to conclude that refineries were in fact operating during supposed outages and maintenance shutdowns. Kevin Hall reports. California refineries operated during periods blamed for gas price spikes, study says  

Gov.-elect Jay Inslee will take office in January facing a projected $900 million deficit for the next two-year budget ending in mid-2015, not counting money lawmakers will need to spend to improve funding for education as directed by the state Supreme Court earlier this year. A four-year outlook released Wednesday by the Washington state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council showed that the projected revenue shortfall for the following biennium ending in 2017 would be even larger, at $1.1 billion. Rachel La Corte reports. State revenue prediction remains grim  

Scientists and whale-protection groups are sending a resounding message to the province that it is unacceptable to consider energy-generating tidal turbines in critical habitat for threatened northern resident killer whales. The outcry may change plans by SRM Projects Ltd. of Nanaimo to investigate putting tidal turbines in Blackney Passage near the entrance to Johnstone Strait, proponent Scot Merriam said Tuesday. Judith Lavoie reports. Scientists say turbines would put whales at risk  

Parts of Seattle’s Duwamish River are so toxic, they add up to form of an EPA Superfund Site. That’s why EPA divers chose those places to install some new pollution testing devices Wednesday. During the pre-dive meeting, the divers discuss the hazards, including working in a current, poor visibility and exposure to hazardous levels of PCBs and other dangerous chemicals. When it’s time to splash, they prepare arrow-shaped sensors they will bury in the sediments on the river bottom. Gary Chittim reports. Watch EPA tracking Duwamish River contamination with river sensors  

Dozens of Greater Victoria citizens packed a regional district meeting Wednesday demanding a challenge to the federal government's order to build a secondary sewage treatment plant. They say the billion-dollar project is not based on any scientific evidence to prove discharging screened sewage is harming the environment. Saanich director Vic Derman and Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins put forward a motion to suspend the project, but time ran out before regional district directors could vote.  Victoria citizens oppose secondary sewage treatment plan

Congratulations! Lynda V. Mapes, Steve Ringman and Genevieve Alvarez of The Seattle Times won in the online category for a richly detailed package of stories, videos, graphics and photographs on the removal of two old dams on the Elwha River in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and efforts to restore the ecosystem. Winners Named in 2012 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award Competition

The B.C. government has released its draft plan managing the province's grey wolf population, which calls for wolf hunting to continue and even culling the animals in some areas. The document says B.C.'s wolf numbers are relatively stable, rising from an estimated 8,100 20 years ago to about 8,500 now. But it also finds that in some parts of the southern Interior wolves are killing livestock and endangered mountain caribou. B.C. considering wolf culls in new management plan  

Not the last word: There's a certain discernment to the voters of Georgia. They don't want some old politician all over again. Indeed, almost 4,000 voted for Charles Darwin. Yes, that Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin gets thousands of votes in Georgia

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST THU NOV 15 2012
TODAY
E WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG IN THE MORNING.
TONIGHT
E WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

--
"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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.  

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told