1/3 Idle No More, Elwha mud, GMO label, flood insurance, tsunami debris

Idle No More at Waterfront Station (Vancouver Sun)

Climate scientist Cliff Mass announces: "Today, January 3, is climatologically the COLDEST DAY OF THE YEAR in Seattle (actually the airport).  Here is the proof, based on the period 1948-2012.  The average maximum temperature drops to 43F and the minimum temperature to 33.  Then then warming begins!" The Coldest Day of the Year

Idle No More protesters filled Vancouver's Waterfront Station on Wednesday afternoon in an effort to draw more attention to their concerns. While the protest made it difficult for people to move through the busy transit hub, the protesters did not block access or stop any transit vehicles at the station. The protest wrapped up by 4 p.m. PT. The protesters, who are part of a loosely-organized nationwide First Nations movement, are attempting to draw attention to conditions on native reserves and federal legislation that they say violates treaty rights and weakens environmental legislation. Idle No More protesters fill Waterfront Station  See also: B.C. First Nations leader looks to border rally, predicts more rail blockades  

It turns out the dam-removal project on the Elwha River — already the biggest anywhere in the world — is even larger than originally thought. In the project, long predicted to affect more than 24 million cubic yards of sediment, the amount of sediment once impounded by the dams is actually about 34 million cubic yards, said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for the National Park Service. Dam removal has been put on hold for at least a month, beginning in January, as contractors work to modify an industrial water treatment plant built as part of the dam removal project to protect the quality of water used in a new tribal hatchery, a state salmon rearing channel, and water used by a Port Angeles paper plant. Lynda Mapes reports. Elwha dam-removal project held back as silt estimate too low  

A legislative initiative that would require food companies to label products containing genetically modified organisms is set to be filed Thursday with the Secretary of State's office in Olympia. A similar measure was defeated by California voters last fall in a battle that pitted big and small businesses against each other. Monsanto, Nestle, Hershey and others raised $46 million against organic food companies and other groups, which raised $9.2 million. Melissa Allison reports.  Initiative to require labeling GMO food to be submitted  

Following up on Lisa Stiffler's report on building in the floodplain and reader Jerry Parker's questioning of federal flood insurance in yesterday’s posting: "The federal government's mandatory flood insurance program will exhaust its borrowing authority and run out of money to pay claims from Hurricane Sandy sometime next week, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Wednesday. The Senate passed a $60.2 billion storm relief bill last week that included $9.7 billion for federal flood insurance, but House leaders unexpectedly failed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote Tuesday night, saying the bill would be taken up by the new Congress..." John Rudolf reports. FEMA Says Flood Insurance Program Will Be Broke By Next Week Without New Aid Bill

With more than a million tonnes of debris from the Japanese tsunami floating toward North American shores and beaches, a new app is encouraging members of the public to become “citizen scientists” and help track the wreckage as it arrives. Some of that debris, washed out to sea in March 2011 after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake triggered a massive tsunami, has already washed up along the West Coast of Canada and the U.S., but the bulk of the wreckage is yet to come. Smartphone app aims to track tsunami debris heading for West Coast And, from Ashley Ahearn: EarthFix Conversations: Patrolling Washington’s Roadless Coast By Kayak For Tsunami Debris

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 700 AM PST THU JAN 3 2013
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH NOON PST TODAY
 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
TODAY
E WIND 25 TO 35 KT...BECOMING SE 20 TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 4 TO 6 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 13 SECONDS. SLIGHT
 CHANCE OF RAIN.
TONIGHT
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS. RAIN.

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