12/6 Salish Sea News and Weather: Air quality, BC pipe, Lake Union cleanup, Helena Star, Budd Inlet orcas, Anacortes cleanup, science ed

NELSON MANDELA: 1918-2013
(Greg Bartley/Camera Press, via Reduxjpg via NYTimes)

As Air Quality Dips, a Warning for Your Health
The spectacular sunsets we've been enjoying recently have a downside: they’re indicators of increasing air pollution. Pollution has risen to unhealthy levels around Puget Sound this week. State health officials say pollution often goes up in the winter... That pollution is particularly bad for people with lung conditions, including asthma. Ed Ronco reports.

Energy workers union backs First Nations against Northern Gateway
Canada’s largest private-sector union has thrown its support behind First Nations in opposing the Northern Gateway pipeline project, vowing to hit picket lines in solidarity if the project goes ahead. Unifor, formed on Labour Day weekend with the merger of the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, now has more than 300,000 members across the country. Andrea Woo reports.

Property owners funding Lake Union clean-up
Workers began removing 12,000 cubic yards of arsenic-contaminated sediment in Lake Union on Thursday. It's a first-of-its kind clean-up program launched after many years of planning by the Washington State Department of Ecology. And with the first load of gunk hauled up by an enormous crane, an important chapter begins. The owner of the Northlake Shipyard bought the property years ago at a discount with the understanding he'd pay into a fund each year for many years. Now that fund is removing arsenic-laced sand blasting sediment put there in the 1960s and 1970s by the former owner, who is long since out of business. The dredging will remove 8,000 tons in 25 truck loads. It'll be hauled to a specially licensed landfill. It's the state's first legal agreement of its kind works. Jeff Burnside reports.

Workers begin to raise derelict Tacoma ship Helena Star
A crane with enough muscle to lift up to 700 tons pulled a sunken freighter to the surface of the Hylebos Waterway on Thursday, then set it back on the bottom again. It’s part of the painstaking process of ridding the Tacoma waterway of the Helena Star, a 167-foot ship that sank in January. Crews resume work Friday with the goal of raising the ship and eventually towing it to Seattle to be dismantled. Jordan Schrader reports.

Orcas pay rare visit to Budd Inlet
A handful of orcas paid a rare visit to Budd Inlet on Wednesday. After receiving multiple calls from residents in the Boston Harbor area, Erin Keene of Cascadia Research Collective was able to snap photos of three orca whales as they headed south.... Keene said the orcas were feeding, splashing and showing their tail flukes before they took off to the north. Research group Orca Network was unable to identify any of the whales that showed up in Budd Inlet, Keene said. Andy Hobbs reports.

Port, state plan to clean old Anacortes fuel depot
The state Department of Ecology and the Port of Anacortes are accepting public comment today through Jan. 8 on proposed cleanup activities for the petroleum-contaminated former Shell Oil Tank Farm site on Fidalgo Bay... The port uses the 0.6-acre site, which is east of Commercial Avenue between 13th and 14th streets, as a place to park vehicles and boat trailers for use at a nearby boat launch. Shell Oil and other companies formerly used it as a distribution site for gasoline, diesel, oil and other chemicals that leaked from underground tanks and pipes over the years, Ecology spokesman Seth Preston said. Kimberly Cauvel reports.

Your weekend ‘must read’: The Science of Citizenship
Bella Boggs in Orion Magazine makes the compelling case for why science education matters.

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 302 AM PST FRI DEC 6 2013
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING
TODAY
E WIND 25 TO 35 KT. COMBINED SEAS 4 TO 5 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF 14 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
NE WIND 25 TO 35 KT...EASING TO 20 TO 30 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. COMBINED SEAS 4 TO 6 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF 15
 SECONDS.
SAT
NE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT
N WIND 10 KT...BECOMING W AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 2 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
SUN
SW WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 2 FT AT 15 SECONDS.
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