4/8 Vancouver Aquarium captives, Vic sewage, Skagit floodway, BC pipe protesters

Beluga whales, Vancouver Aquarium (Darryl Dyck)

Should Vancouver Aquarium keep whales and dolphins?
More than 11,000 people have joined an online petition to get the issue of whales and dolphins in captivity on Vancouver's municipal election ballot in November. The petition calls on Mayor Gregor Robertson, Vancouver Park Board and City Council to let voters decide in a referendum whether whales and dolphins should be kept at the Vancouver Aquarium. Park Board commissioners Constance Barnes and Sarah Blyth have already signed the petition, stating publicly they want all whales and dolphins at the Vancouver Aquarium phased out. (CBC)

Esquimalt rejects rezoning for sewage plant, aims to block construction
Esquimalt councillors didn’t just turn down the Capital Regional District’s requested rezoning for a sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point Monday, they rubbed the CRD’s nose in it. Not only did councillors unanimously reject height and buffer zone encroachments necessary to build the plant, they asked township staff to prepare a zoning amendment that would prohibit a sewage treatment plant from being built at McLoughlin. Bill Cleverley reports. (Times Colonist)

New blog: Early April 2014: 3 Down, 9 To Go
We’re a fourth of the way through the year and the short list of things I said I’d be looking for in 2014 has gotten shorter, while the verdict’s still out on a few...

Skagit floodway violations threaten federal insurance availability
A federal review of Skagit County’s compliance with flood safety requirements found more than 50 violations in east county that will need to be corrected or risk increased flood insurance rates for county residents. The county participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, which allows property owners to purchase federally backed flood insurance. The county could be dropped from the program if it doesn’t meet state and local safety requirements, meaning property owners in unincorporated Skagit County would have to purchase private-market flood insurance. Private flood insurance can cost four to five times as much as federally backed insurance, said Jack Moore, county building official and floodplain manager. Rachel Lerman reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Pipeline protest leaders vow to maintain right-of-way blockade
Leaders of a small native camp in central B.C. that is blocking the right-of-way of a proposed gas pipeline say they won’t be moving any time soon, even if a court orders them to. Freda Huson and her husband, Dini Ze Toghestiy, who are both Wet’suwet’en members, said they have been dug in so long on the Pacific Trail Pipeline Project route that they consider the camp their home now. Mark Hume reports. (Globe and Mail)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 258 AM PDT TUE APR 8 2014
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
TODAY
SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS. RAIN.
TONIGHT
SW WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS. SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

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