2/6 Giant docks, oil train leak, GOP carbon, Vic sewer $s, Fraser dump, whale jail ban, robot researcher

Octopus (Associated Press)

If you like to watch: Volunteers dive into Puget Sound in search of giant octopuses
More giant octopuses are calling the Puget Sound home. The Seattle Aquarium counted 28 this year — up from 17 last year. (KCPQ)

Gulf Island dwellers hope to stop the giant docks
For 35 years, Margery Cerezin has enjoyed the ocean view from her home on Galiano Island. But now when she looks over the water, all she sees are six giant pilings, the early markings of a 217-foot dock slated for the foreshore in front of her home…. Cerezin is among a growing number of island dwellers who are finding themselves faced with giant docks — pitched by billionaires, developers or private homeowners — on their pristine waterfronts, which are often spawning grounds for herring or home to rockfish, eelgrass and kelp beds. Kelly Sinoski reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Officials say oil train leaked as it crossed Washington state
A train loaded with Bakken crude oil needed to have more than a dozen leaking tank cars removed at three separate stops as it traveled through Idaho and crossed Washington state in mid-January. The leaking train, which was headed from North Dakota’s Bakken region to the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes on Jan. 12, was detected just two months after an oil-stained rail tank car was discovered at BP Cherry Point. Loaded with roughly 100 cars of crude oil, the train was “found to have a very small amount of oil leaking from the top of a total of 14 cars,” according to BNSF spokeswoman Courtney Wallace. BNSF reported that a total volume of less than 25 gallons of oil from all 14 cars was found only on the tops and sides of tank cars, and no oil was found on the ground. Samantha Wohlfeil reports. (Bellingham Herald)

New blog: Walk To Work, Eat Fish, and Wash Your Hands
This week on changing the world, eating and health: Potential world changer James Robertson walks 21 miles round trip to work, food for thought about halibut and how it’s caught, and whose health is this anyway?

GOP senators offer options on energy and carbon reductions
Some state senators want to tweak Initiative 937 to encourage new efforts at reducing carbon emissions in Washington. The proposed change to the 2006 voter-approved measure on the use of alternative energy sources by electric utilities is one part of GOP-originated proposals on energy and carbon-reduction unveiled at a Wednesday press conference in Olympia. John Stang reports. (Crosscut)

Sewage fund millions seen to be at risk
Millions of dollars in federal cash are at risk as local politicians scramble to reinvent Greater Victoria’s stalled sewage treatment program…. The project has a budget of $788 million. The federal government has committed $253 million coming out of three pots: $120 million from the Building Canada Fund toward the treatment plant; $50 million from the Canada Green Fund for pipes, pump stations and tanks, and $83.4 million from PPP Canada for a biosolids plant. Building Canada and Canada Green Fund grants carry 2019 project completion deadlines. PPP Canada funding calls for work on the plant to begin between fall 2014 and fall 2017, and be operational by March 31, 2018. Bill Cleverley reports. (Times Colonist)

New tool monitors effects of tidal, wave energy on marine habitat
Researchers building a new underwater robot they’ve dubbed the “Millennium Falcon” certainly have reason to believe it will live up to its name. The robot will deploy instruments to gather information in unprecedented detail about how marine life interacts with underwater equipment used to harvest wave and tidal energy. Researchers still don’t fully understand how animals and fish will be affected by ocean energy equipment, and this instrument seeks to identify risks that could come into play in a long-term marine renewable energy project. Michelle Ma reports. (UW Today)

First Nation wants say on proposed hazardous waste site near Fraser River
The province should not approve a proposed hazardous waste site near the Fraser River in Chilliwack without taking aboriginal rights into account, says a group representing eight Sto:lo communities in the Fraser Valley. And any consideration of the project should reflect last year’s Supreme Court of Canada decision on aboriginal title, the Sto:lo Tribal Council says in a recent letter to B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak. Wendy Stueck reports. (Globe and Mail)

SeaWorld testifies against measure banning whale captivity in state
Long before the 2013 anti-whale-captivity movie “Blackfish” and Thursday’s hearing on a proposed bill to ban whale captivity, Washington has been home to opposition of using wild whales for display and entertainment in aquariums. Walker Orenstein reports. (Seattle Times)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PST FRI FEB 6 2015
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM PST THIS MORNING THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
 GALE WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
TODAY
S WIND 25 TO 35 KT...EASING TO 15 TO 25 KT EARLY IN THE MORNING. WIND WAVES 4 TO 6 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. SW SWELL 13
 FT AT 12 SECONDS. RAIN.
TONIGHT
S WIND 20 TO 30 KT...RISING TO 25 TO 35 KT. SEAS 11 TO 13 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF 12 SECONDS. RAIN.
SAT
SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING S 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FT OR LESS IN THE AFTERNOON.
 SW SWELL 11 FT AT 11 SECONDS. RAIN.
SAT NIGHT
SW WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING SE 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
SUN
SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
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