6/12 Springer, Vic sewer, shellfish closure, CO2 cuts, California trains, Enerson & Stark

Springer and calf (Cetacean Research/DFO)

Springer, Orphaned Orca, Reappears Off B.C. Coast With Family
An orphaned killer whale who made headlines around the world when she was reunited with her pod off the coast of British Columbia has re-appeared — with her own thriving calf in tow. Whale researchers spotted Springer this week in the Inside Passage off B.C.'s North Coast. "They appear to be healthy and robust ... normal in every way," Lance Barrett-Lennard from Vancouver Aquarium's Marine Mammal Research Program, wrote in an email from the field. "Great stuff." (Canadian Press)

In Washington state, Victoria sewage hits the fan
Washington Governor Jay Inslee and King County Executive Dow Constantine sent a strongly worded letter to Canadian authorities over a yet to be stemmed flow of raw sewage into Puget Sound waters. “As the Governor of the state of Washington and the Executive of King County, we are very concerned by the lack of progress in treating wastewater and protecting the health and habitat of  Puget Sound,”  they said in the letter sent to British Columbia Premier Christy Clark. The letter comes in response to an announcement last week that a deal for a new sewage treatment plant to be built to serve the rapidly growing Victoria area had fallen apart. That announcement comes 20 years after Canadian officials first announced plans to build a facility. Gary Chittim reports. (KING) See also: Washington governor urges action on capital region sewage plan  Lindsay Kines and Bill Cleverley report. (Times Colonist)

Northern Whatcom County beaches closed to recreational shellfish harvest
The state Department of Health has closed beaches in northern Whatcom County to recreational shellfish harvesting because tests showed unsafe levels of the biotoxin that causes diarrhetic shellfish poisoning. The closure, which was announced Wednesday, June 11, is from Point Whitehorn north to the Canadian border. Kie Relyea reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Under New EPA Rules, Washington To Face Deepest Mandatory Cuts In CO2 Emissions
Under the new rules released by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, each state has a specific percentage by which it has to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. The average of all the individual state-level cuts will be CO2 emissions from power plants 30 percent below 2005 levels.... “It’s a goal that we can, should and will meet, in part because we’ve already taken early action in our state,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee told EarthFix. Inslee’s confidence comes, in part, from the fact that his state has already finalized plans to phase out Washington’s only remaining coal fired power plant by 2025. Ashley Ahearn reports. (EarthFix)

Oil by rail — how to keep California safe
California needs more inspectors, more hazmat teams and more information from railway companies to protect against accidents involving trains carrying crude oil, according to a state report issued Tuesday. The report, from the state’s Interagency Rail Safety Working Group, follows a surge in the amount of oil imported into California by train, with shipments rising more than 500 percent in 2013. And while the state has experienced nothing like last year’s deadly explosion of an oil train in Quebec, which killed 47 people, California has seen an increasing number of oil spills from trains. According to the report, the state recorded 182 such spills in 2013, most of them minor, compared to 98 in 2010. David Baker reports. (SF Chronicle)

And, as the river runs to the sea: Jean Enersen ending 42 years as KING 5 news anchor and John Stark to retire as Bellingham Herald reporter


Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 230 AM PDT THU JUN 12 2014
TODAY
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 15 SECONDS. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTMS IN THE
 AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT...EASING TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 10 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF
 SHOWERS.

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