11/26 More oil, natural gas pipe, coal comments, Partnership, Elwha salmon, Victoria sewage, pteropods, shellfish test, Stillaguamish restoration, fish virus test, Gangnam Style

(PHOTO: Scott Terrell / Skagit Valley Herald)

The arrival in Tacoma last week of a 103-car train from North Dakota was a sign of just how swiftly the sudden abundance of oil in this country is shifting business even 1,200 miles away from the booming oil fields. That BNSF Railway train was the first of what will ultimately become weekly trains bringing oil to Tacoma from the new oil fields opened up by hydraulic-fracturing technology in the country's northern Great Plains. John Gillie reports. Oil boom resonates in South Sound    And: Premiers of Quebec, Alberta to discuss moving oil east  

TransCanada’s planned 650-kilometre natural gas pipeline to Kitimat would cross about 320 watercourses including the habitat of more than 100 species at risk, such as white sturgeon, woodland caribou and marbled murrelet, company documents show. But under Conservative government changes to environmental laws, there’s no guarantee the Coastal GasLink project will undergo a federal environmental assessment. Larry Pynn reports. Gas pipeline may sidestep review

Remember the Gateway Pacific Coal Terminal project proposed to be built in the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve? Your next chance to comment in person and show your support for a comprehensive environmental impact statement is at the Ferndale public meeting on Thurs., Nov 29, 3-7 PM, Ferndale Events Center, 5715 Barett Road, Ferndale. Wear red to show your colors. And on Dec. 4: Questions surround coal terminal’s impact on Spokane   And more: Public Comment Period Added For Columbia Coal Export Plan  

In 2006, Gov. Chris Gregoire threw down the gauntlet on behalf of a degraded Puget Sound. The governor declared that future generations need to have a Puget Sound that is "swimmable, diggable and fishable." Now, as Gregoire prepares to leave office, she confronts questions about progress by the Puget Sound Partnership — the agency she created in consultation with the Legislature to coordinate efforts to restore Puget Sound. "Things have not moved as quickly as I had hoped," Gregoire said in interview. "I thought we got off with a bang, including public engagement. Now, we are into the tough stuff." Chris Dunagan reports. Human values count in Puget Sound recovery

Wild Fish Conservancy, The Conservation Angler, the Federation of Fly Fishers Steelhead Committee and the Wild Steelhead Coalition have ramped up their efforts to prevent the releases next spring of hatchery-bred steelhead and coho salmon smolts during the ongoing $325 million Elwha River salmon restoration project. The groups filed requests last week in federal District Court in Tacoma for a preliminary injunction and a partial summary judgment to prevent the releases, saying the plans should be reviewed for compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act, or ESA, and that they would harm species listed as threatened under the act.  Paul Gottlieb reports. Groups go to court to fight release of Elwha River hatchery fish

Until 1958, the City of Victoria, Oak Bay and Esquimalt dumped municipal garbage into the ocean. ....as late as March 1957, the City of Victoria’s Public Works Committee recommended “that Victoria’s garbage continue to be disposed of at sea.” A year later, the City of Victoria would abandon the practice and move toward the landfilling of garbage. Victoria City Councillor and Regional Director Ben Isitt blogs. Taking responsibility for our sewage  See: Critical vote Tuesday on next step for sewage treatment in Greater Victoria  And see: David Suzuki says the ocean is not a garbage can, he hasn't endorsed Green candidate Galloway  And, hooray: Sewage-dumping hurts region's image: tourism group

Arguing recent events like hurricane Sandy can't be ignored, Victoria, Saanich and the Capital Regional District will team up to assess, map and start to prepare to manage effects of rising sea levels brought on by climate change. Bill Cleverley reports. Sandy spurs Saanich, Victoria to talk sea change

Scientists years ago figured out that a group of tiny snail-like sea creatures crucial to marine food webs may one day be an early victim of changing ocean chemistry. Researchers predicted that pteropods, shelled animals known as sea butterflies, could begin dissolving by 2038 as human-caused carbon-dioxide emissions begin souring the seas in a process known as ocean acidification. But new research by Seattle scientists concludes that corrosive seas are damaging pteropods right now — decades earlier than expected. And that damage was recorded in the south Atlantic Ocean, where surface pH doesn't dip as low as it has off the Washington coast or in Puget Sound. Craig Welch reports. Sea changes harming ocean now could someday undermine marine food chain  

State shellfish inspectors have armed themselves with new equipment to reduce future outbreaks of an "emerging" illness caused by poisonous shellfish. Increasing attention is being focused on a toxin known as diarrhetic shellfish poison, or DSP. The toxin is produced by a type of plankton and becomes concentrated in filter-feeders, such as clams, oysters and mussels. Illnesses from DSP were never documented in Washington state until last year, but now officials are racing to catch up with this growing health concern. Chris Dunagan reports. New state equipment tests for 'emerging' shellfish toxin  

The Nature Conservancy recently completed a $4 million project to restore 150 acres of former tidelands north of the mouth of the Stillaguamish River. The work involved breaching an old dike to allow in salt water and reinforcing another dike to protect farmland. Snow geese are wintering in the newly flooded area. Bill Sheets reports. Nature reclaiming marshlands after dikes breached  

A lab that revealed the first evidence of an infectious virus in British Columbia salmon should be stripped of its international credentials, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. In a letter to the World Organization for Animal Health, the CFIA urges the international agency to accept the findings of an independent audit that recommends “suspension of the reference laboratory status,” of the facility. Mark Hume reports. Ottawa moves against PEI lab that reported virus in B.C. salmon

Some marine-life experts want transient killer whales to be declared their own species, and they want them to have a new name: Bigg's killer whales, in honor of Michael Bigg, the researcher whose observations off British Columbia and Washington state led to the identification of transients. They're mammal-eaters, a way in which they differ from resident orcas. Dan Joling reports. Mammal-eating 'transient' orcas may be named after researcher  

Now, that’s viral: Gangnam Style, the dance track by South Korean pop phenomenon Psy, has become YouTube's most-watched video of all time. It has notched up more than 808m views since it was posted in July. Gangnam Style becomes YouTube's most-viewed video

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST MON NOV 26 2012
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING
TODAY
E WIND 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

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