4/29 Ocean energy, Charm City, neurotoxin spray, oil future, Shell $, volatile oil, no-drone zone

(PHOTO: Vancouver Aquarium/NOAA)

Ocean-energy project bad for whales, researcher says
A proposed clean-energy project may slow the speed of climate change, but it could also imperil threatened orcas, critics say. Vancouver-based Weyl Power Ltd. — pronounced “wheel,” not “whale” — is eyeing two sites within the Northern resident killer whales’ critical habitat for ocean energy projects. The company has only applied to monitor and investigate the potential of the sites, but a local orca researcher says it has already gone too far. “It shouldn’t even get out of the starting gate — I don’t think the proposal should be considered at all, even at the investigative stage,” said Paul Spong, founder of the OrcaLab whale research station on Hanson Island, near Telegraph Cove. Amy Smart reports. (Times Colonist)

New blog: Last Week in Baltimore, Charm City
"I spent last week in Baltimore, Charm City. I returned home late Friday before the first outbreak of violence on Saturday, for which I would have had a front row seat around Camden Yards. Now more rioting on Monday, National Guard on call, law enforcement moving in from around the region. What does the rioting solve, Baltimore’s mayor asks? What happens to the charm, I ask?…."

Disbelief over state plan to spray neurotoxin into oyster beds
The state has approved plans to spray in Willapa Bay a neurotoxic pesticide that has a warning right on the bottle: “Do not apply directly to water.” What could go wrong? Danny Westneat reports. (Seattle Times)

Are greens picking the wrong oil target?
The major targets of environmental protests against Big Oil have been the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through the Midwest, and Shell Oil’s planned drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Arctic Alaska. Have the green activists wisely picked their targets? A just-released report, “West Coast Tar Sands Invasion” by the Natural Resources Defense Council suggests that the Pacific Coast, including Washington, may feel the greatest impacts from North America’s major new oil production centers. Joel Connelly reports. (SeattlePI.Com)

Shell financial reports about Arctic drilling are too 'rosy,' environmentalists charge
Shell has understated the financial risks of exploring for oil in the Arctic Ocean and federal regulators should investigate possible misrepresentations to investors, critics of the drilling plan said Tuesday. Oceana, an environmental organization, and the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School on Monday petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission for an investigation into what the drilling critics call “material misstatements and omissions” in Shell’s financial filings. Yereth Rosen reports. (Alaska Dispatch News)

Energy, Transportation departments to study volatility of oil moved by rail
The federal government will conduct a two-year study of how crude oil volatility affects the commodity’s behavior in train derailments, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told a Senate panel Tuesday. The Energy Department will coordinate the study with the Department of Transportation, Moniz told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. After a series of fiery train derailments, the Transportation Department concluded early last year that light, sweet crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region is more volatile than other kinds. But derailments involving ethanol and other types of crude oil have cast doubt on whether Bakken is likely to react more severely than other flammable liquids transported by rail. Curtis Tate reports. (McClatchy)

The no-drone zone: How to stop UAVs spying on us from above
…. Two weeks ago, Boston police announced this year's Boston Marathon as a "no drone zone". It might have sounded like an unenforceable plea, but the police had a trick up their sleeves. They had enlisted the help of a company called DroneShield, which supplied acoustic sensors that can detect drones. Chris Baraniuk reports. (New Scientist)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT WED APR 29 2015
TODAY
S WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 1 TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. W
 SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS. SHOWERS LIKELY.
TONIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
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