5/28 BC pipe, oil trains, Vic sewage, good coal, beluga breeding, Hoh mercury, landslide buyout

(PHOTO: Bill Evans @BillEvansPhoto)

If you like to watch: Bill Evans @BillEvansPhoto does very nice work. "Morning Run on @wsferries from #LopezIsland #Travel" See Bill Evans Photography.

Kinder Morgan blueprint for Trans Mountain pipeline allows for another 240,000 barrels a day
Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. is designing its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion with room to significantly boost capacity even as the company seeks approval to nearly triple oil deliveries on the existing system. The expansion scenario, which would add 240,000 barrels a day to the existing proposal, is buried near the end of a response the company filed with regulators this month as part of an ongoing review of a $5.4-billion plan to increase capacity of the Edmonton-to-Vancouver oil pipeline to 890,000 barrels a day, from 300,000 barrels today. Jeff Lewis reports. (Financial Times)

Sharp Rise in West Coast Oil Trains, Fears Abound
Residents along the scenic Columbia River are hoping to persuade regulators to reject plans for what would be the Pacific Northwest's largest crude oil train terminal — the proposed destination for at least four trains a day, each more than a mile long. The increasing numbers of trains, each carrying tens of thousands of barrels of potentially volatile crude from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota, have raised concerns around the country after nine accidents in the past year, including one last month in Virginia.... The fight over the terminal underscores a new reality on the West Coast: The region is receiving unprecedented amounts of crude oil by rail shipments, mostly from the oil boom in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada. More than a dozen oil-by-rail refining facilities and terminals have been built in California, Oregon and Washington in the past three years. As a result, long oil trains are already rolling through rural and urban areas alike — including along the iconic Columbia. Another two dozen new projects or expansions are planned or in the works in those three states. Gosia Wozniacka reports. (Associated Press)

New blog: Commencement 2014: Thinking About What Sally Jewell Didn’t Say At Whitman College
First, a loud shout out to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell for a fine commencement address at Whitman College’s commencement this past Sunday. She talked salmon and she talked about and quoted Billy Frank, Jr., who is on his way to an iconic, mythic stature. I just hope the graduates really listened and heard Billy’s words....

Victoria sewage plant won't get provincial push
B.C.'s Environment Minister Mary Polak says she will not intervene in the fight over where to put Victoria's new sewage treatment plant. "After giving the request due consideration, the province will not attempt to override the zoning decisions of the duly elected Esquimalt council, said Polak in a statement issued on Tuesday morning. The Capital Regional District asked Polak to step in last month, after the Township of Esquimalt refused to rezone land at McLoughlin Point, which the CRD purchased last year at a cost of $4.6 million. The move, which effectively blocks plans to build on the site, leaves the CRD without a location for the plant, after eight years of planning. The CRD has been ordered by the provincial government to have a plant up and running by 2016. The federal government has set its own deadline of 2020. Mike Laanela reports.  (CBC) See also: CRD drops plan to build sewage plant in Esquimalt, next step unclear  Bill Cleverley and Lindsay Kines report. (Times Colonist) And watch: Dumping Raw Sewage is Not Okay

Coal industry highlights economic contributions to B.C.
The Coal Alliance is combating growing public opposition to expanded coal shipments through the Lower Mainland with claims its area terminals directly pump tens of millions of dollars into cities throughout B.C. annually. B.C.’s coal industry ­— including the Lower Mainland’s three main shipping terminals, its mines and transportation sector — collectively spent more than $584 million buying goods and services in B.C. since 2009, according to the Alliance. Matthew Robinson reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Vancouver Aquarium's beluga breeding 'indefensible' says Jane Goodall
Renowned conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall has entered the growing controversy over the Vancouver Aquarium's beluga  program, penning a letter to the park board saying that on-site cetacean breeding is "no longer defensible by science." In her letter, Goodall says the high mortality rates of such programs and the complex social and sensory lives of the animals are reasons to end the program. (CBC)

Seattle Fishermen Mark 100 Years Of Toil (And Fabulous Fall Paydays)
You know it's the start of the fishing season at Fishermen's Terminal in Seattle when a familiar smell is in the air: coconut-scented sunscreen. The Alaska salmon fishing season is about to start its 100th year in operation out of Fishermen’s Terminal in the Interbay area of Seattle. The terminal was an early creation of the Port of Seattle, which recognized the need to create a snug harbor for the city’s growing fishing fleet. Today, many of the vessels operating there start by heading to Alaska, and by early fall they are fishing salmon in Puget Sound. Carolyn Adolph reports. (KUOW)

High levels of mercury found in fish at Olympic National Park's Hoh Lake
High levels of mercury have been found in fish from a lake in Olympic National Park and in remote areas of other Western national parks, proving that even the most isolated lakes and streams in the U.S. aren't immune to mercury pollution. The finding was included in a recently published study by the U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service. (Peninsula Daily News)

One County’s Controversial Move To Protect Homeowners From Landslide Risk
Canyon Creek comes plunging fast and steep down the Cascade Mountains near Mount Baker.It rushes past the community of Glacier Springs before meeting the Nooksack River 25 miles east of Bellingham. When landslides upstream induce big floods, the river has been known to take some homes with it. Since the March 22 Oso landslide killed 42 people, county governments in the Northwest have been thinking more about how to plan for and mitigate the risk of landslides. There may be some lessons to be learned from Whatcom County, which bought out 31 property owners in the Glacier Springs flood zone. Ashley Ahearn reports. (EarthFix)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 246 AM PDT WED MAY 28 2014
TODAY
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
TONIGHT
SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

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