1/25 BC coal, BC marine areas, Shell drill, BC toilets, Fish Tale Brew Pub

BC Neptune Terminals (Wayne Leidenfrost)

NEXT FRIDAY, Feb. 1: At exactly 12:30 PM in Port Townsend, Sound Experience will recognize the  exact day a century ago that the historic schooner Adventuress “splashed” in E. Boothbay, Maine. You're invited to come aboard for a "Flash Shanty" to sing the shanty "Paddy Lay Back" filmed for YouTube-- or to post your own singing of the shanty on YouTube. For more, visit Sound Experience.

Port Metro Vancouver has approved a $200 million expansion project at North Vancouver’s Neptune Bulk Terminals that will double the terminal’s coal export capacity. The decision, announced on the port’s website Jan 23, is the first of two applications before the port authority that will help secure Metro Vancouver’s role as North America’s largest coal export hub. It comes at a time when public awareness is growing over coal exports, the role coal plays in global warming, and the port’s procedure in approving the expansions in-house. Neptune proposes doubling its capacity from 8.5 million tonnes of coal a year to 18.5 million tonnes. The terminal exports metallurgical coal – used in steelmaking – but it has become caught up in the controversy over thermal coal exports generated by an application from Fraser Surrey Docks to establish a terminal on the Fraser River for exporting American thermal coal to Asia. Port Metro Vancouver has yet to rule on that application. The two proposals, coupled with Westshore Terminal’s coal exporting capacity, would push total coal exports from the region to over 50 million tonnes a year. Gordon Hamilton reports. Port Metro Vancouver approves first of two controversial coal export projects  See also: Vancouver coal-shipment permit rocks environmentalists

Federal promises to create a network of marine protected areas are progressing at a snail’s pace, and there are fears that federal cutbacks will slow the process even further, says a report by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. Canada made a commitment in 2010 to protect at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas by 2020, but, with only one per cent protected so far, there is a long way to go, said Sabine Jessen, the conservation group’s national oceans manager. Judith Lavoie reports. Federal government promise to protect marine areas is way behind target

A Shell drilling rig that ran aground near Alaska's Kodiak Island remains anchored in a nearby sheltered bay three weeks later, and its fate is as unknown as whether the oil company will be able to drill in waters off the state this year. The damaged Kulluk drillship is a key part of Royal Dutch Shell's ambitious plan to drill for oil in two parts of the Arctic Ocean. Beyond its work last year in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's northern coast, it serves as a required backup for Shell's contracted rig, the Noble Corp-owned Discoverer. Yereth Rosen reports. Shell Arctic plans anchored with its Alaska drillship

A number of B.C. public agencies say their composting toilets are not working as advertised. Metro Vancouver and B.C. Parks are retrofitting units built with the once-celebrated green technology. And UBC is re-evaluating five high-profile composting toilets in the CK Choi building after testing revealed problems with the by-products. Jason Proctor reports. Composting toilets not working as advertised

The Fish Tale Brew Pub, an Olympia area gem, will be featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" next month. Food Network host, Guy Fieri, brought the TV show’s video crew to the Olympia area favorite for filming last October, in conjunction with his appearance at a Saint Martin’s University special event.  Fish Tale Pub goes national on TV

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST FRI JAN 25 2013
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM PST EARLY THIS MORNING
TODAY
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT EARLY...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 15
 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN.
TONIGHT
E WIND 15 TO 20 KT...BECOMING SE 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 18 SECONDS. SHOWERS.
SAT
S WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SW. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 16 SECONDS. RAIN.
SAT NIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 14 SECONDS.
SUN
SW WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

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