7/11 BEACH funding, emissions poll, BP dock, false killer, Tim Egan, beer sewage, Garry oaks, sea rise, BC LNG

(PHOTO: Laurie MacBride)

Time for a Weather Eye
Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "The past week has brought plenty of sunshine along with the strong and steady northwest winds that generally predominate here in early July. Right now the seas are nowhere near as calm as they were on the spring day when I took this photo of Entrance Island lighthouse and the Strait of Georgia (taken from Orlebar Point on Gabriola Island). Those relentless northwest winds can wreak havoc with boaters’ plans to cross the Strait and they inevitably slow any northward progress. So it’s just as well we’re not going north this year and instead, will be taking our little boating holiday very close to home, in the Gulf Islands...."

Bay View beach monitoring may lose funding
For the popular saltwater beach near the Bay View State Park campground, some weeks are better than others as far as water quality goes. Since 2000, some water samples collected from the beach have shown unacceptable amounts of fecal coliform bacteria, while others are well below state standards for human contact. Whether or not swimming should be allowed during the summer months is a gamble with the ever-changing numbers. For now, a group of volunteers is equipped with the knowledge, equipment and money to collect samples regularly during camping season. If they detect a problem, they alert the Skagit County Health Department to close the beach to swimming, and warning signs are posted to notify visitors. But the federally funded BEACH Program that allocates money to coastal and Great Lakes states to coordinate volunteer sampling efforts like those at Bay View may be eliminated from the federal budget next year. Thanks to Pete Haase for the link. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

New Polling Shows Support In Northwest For Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A new survey finds most Northwestern residents think addressing climate change should be an urgent priority. The survey was conducted for EarthFix by the independent and nonpartisan firm, DHM Research. A representative sampling of 1,200 residents of Washington, Idaho and Oregon participated and 62 percent of them said they consider it an urgent priority for state and local governments to address global warming. A majority of respondents also registered support for specific proposals to reduce the emission of carbon that contributes to climate change. Ashley Ahearn reports. (EarthFix)

Environmentalists want limits on BP Cherry Point dock
After an 8-year process, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could recommend that part of an oil-shipping dock that has been used at BP Cherry Point refinery since 2001 remain in use. The Corps will solicit public input on its draft environmental impact statement for the dock at a 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 16, hearing in the Shuksan Middle School gym, 2717 Alderwood Avenue. An open house will start at 6 p.m. The draft explores the possible impacts of operating the north wing of a Y-shaped dock at the refinery. The two-wing dock was first permitted and partially constructed by the then-ARCO-owned refinery in 1971. Construction of the north wing wasn't started until 1996, after the Corps issued a permit. Samantha Wohlfeil reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Howard Garrett at Orca Network writes to take exception to the recent Associated Press article posted in our 7/7/14 edition about the longevity of marine mammals in captivity as misleading and self-serving. He suggests reading How long do orcas live?

Rare false killer whale rescued on B.C. coast
A rare false killer whale calf that washed up on a beach near Tofino has been rescued by a team from the Vancouver Aquarium. The young female whale was found Thursday morning in poor condition on North Chesterman Beach, and staff from the aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre were sent to the scene, according to a press release. The small cetacean was transported back to the rescue centre in Vancouver for treatment Thursday evening, and arrived in critical condition. Bethany Lindsay reports. (Vancouver Sun)

A reader of yesterday's posting about objections to the Partnership's dog poop video writes: "About Freedom Foundation's bitch, pun intended: they've been publishing dog shit for so long they think they have proprietary control. The problem the video deals with is a real one. [We] did a story on the research that has resulted in the PPS video that caused Freedom Foundation to quiver like a dog doing you know what. The numbers might surprise you. Like having a city of 30,000 flush directly into the Sound. No one would tolerate that, not even Freedom Foundation (well...maybe). Here's a link." The animal-waste problem is, and is not, a load of crap

Let ’Em Eat Dirt http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/opinion/timothy-egan-let-em-eat-dirt.html
In the tardy twilight of a Puget Sound evening, we caught a glimpse of a boy, maybe 6 or 7, playing in mud exposed by low tide. Ankle-deep in vibrant muck, he called out a discovery to his father. “I found a bunch of baby crabs,” he said. “A jillion of them.” From there, he slipped into the woods, chasing some other curiosity of the natural world. A butterfly, I think. He disappeared for some time, without a word of concern from his parents. “You don’t see much of that anymore,” a friend said. Timothy Egan writes. (New York Times)

Craft beer breweries straining Vancouver sewage system
Trouble could be brewing for the B.C. Lower Mainland's burgeoning craft beer industry, as Metro Vancouver claims microbreweries are overwhelming the sewage system. The region wants bylaw changes that could force brewers to pay to deal with organic matter produced through fermentation, saying many of the new businesses are pumping out more than just great suds. (CBC)

Victoria Harbour’s last Garry oak meadow rescued
The last Garry oak meadow on Victoria’s harbour is quietly protected by a small group of volunteers who pull and lop invasive plants in the Matson Conservation Area near the Westsong Walkway. “Garry oaks are among the most endangered ecosystems in Canada,” said Lesley Marian Neilson, from the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which helps facilitate conservation activities around the region — though rarely in the urban areas....About a dozen volunteers in garden gloves and boots hacked at English ivy and Himalayan blackberry roots in the tall, dry grass and tree savannah below the Swallow’s Landing condominiums in Esquimalt on Wednesday. Sharon Petrescu reports. (Times Colonist)

If B.C. is latecomer in race to build LNG plants, it will lose out: report
If B.C. does not act quickly and aggressively to enter the market to export liquefied natural gas overseas to Asia, it will be beat out by competitors, warns a University of Calgary report. Those competitors include global-heavyweights Qatar and Australia, but also new entrants to the LNG market such as the U.S. and Mozambique in East Africa. Gordon Hoekstra reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Students calculate future sea-level rise in Olympia
Many scientists are working to establish what we can know about future climate. One statistician is focusing on what we can’t know – gauging the uncertainties around projections of climate change. That professor helped eight University of Washington students do a detailed study of the rising level of south Puget Sound in Olympia, the state capital, and the uncertainties around those estimates. All are co-authors on a paper to be published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Hannah Hickey reports. (UW News)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 PM PDT THU JUL 10 2014
FRI
LIGHT WIND BECOMING NW 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
FRI NIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 7 SECONDS.
SAT
NW WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 15 SECONDS.
SUN AND SUN NIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 15 SECONDS.
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