9/14 Oil train suit, Cherry Point coal, BC LNG protest, LID rules, Fraser pinks, Victoria sewer

Tony Angell & Macaw (Tony Angell/BirdNote)

If you like to listen: Hello, Macaw - With Tony Angell
Artist and naturalist, Tony Angell, describes his communication with Macaw, a raven that came into his life and home. "I would say, 'Hello, Macaw,' and his communication to me was often to lean over for preening. Eventually, the arrangement became so routine to Macaw that something had gone on in his memory to refine my remarks to where he used my greeting to him - 'Hello, Macaw' - as a greeting to me. He was imitating me, but he used that term in the right context." (BirdNote)

Federal judge allows Swinomish tribal lawsuit over oil trains to proceed
A federal judge has allowed a lawsuit by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community to proceed against BNSF Railway over oil train shipments. The tribe sued BNSF in April, alleging the company is violating an agreement that restricts the number of trains that can cross its reservation on Fidalgo Island. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik on Friday denied BNSF’s request to have the case dismissed or stayed. The railway argued the matter should go before the federal Surface Transportation Board. The judge wrote that referring the case is “neither efficient nor necessary.” (Q13 FOX/AP)

Lummi tribe says talk of Cherry Point land grab is a fabrication
A nonprofit with close ties to a proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point is telling local and federal agencies that Lummi Nation plans to take over part or all of Cherry Point in an effort to “de-industrialize” an area that already includes two oil refineries and an aluminum smelter. Lummi Chairman Tim Ballew called the claim a fabrication and a distraction from the tribe’s effort to halt Gateway Pacific Terminal through an exercise of its treaty rights to fish near Cherry Point and elsewhere in north Puget Sound…. Northwest Jobs Alliance wrote to the Whatcom County Planning Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last month, asking them to oppose a tribal takeover of Cherry Point. Ralph Scwartz reports. (Bellingham Herald)

First Nation protesters seek to stop test drilling at proposed LNG site
Northern B.C. First Nation members say they stopped Malaysian state- controlled Petronas, the company behind an $11.4-billion liquefied natural gas terminal, from starting test ocean drilling in northwest B.C. this weekend. The 33-metre Quin Delta drill ship, owned by Gregg Marine in California, and a barge were moved into the waters off Lelu Island near Prince Rupert by Pacific NorthWest LNG early Saturday morning. Some equipment was set up before First Nations went out to the ship and asked the workers to stop, said Joey Wesley, a Lax Kw’alaams First Nation member. The activity ceased, but the workers appeared to have trouble removing equipment from the ocean floor, including heavy concrete blocks with surface markers, he said. The ship and barge remained in their location on Sunday just off Lelu Island, said Wesley. Gordon Hoekstra reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Cleaner water the focus of coming development rules
In an effort to cut down on the leading source of pollution in Puget Sound, development rules will soon change in Skagit County and other areas throughout the state. Low impact development, or LID, which has been optional for years, has been touted for its ability to stop dirty water in its tracks. Now, it will become a requirement for some kinds of construction. The state Department of Ecology hopes the change will reduce the amount of stormwater, which is often laced with oil, fertilizer and animal feces, that gets into the region’s streams — and eventually into Puget Sound. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Fraser River pink salmon run a poor haul for U.S. fishermen
The fishery for Fraser River pink salmon has ended for local U.S. fishermen — one marked by low catches here but another record run in parts of Alaska that helped push down prices…. Fraser River pink runs occur in odd years, and commercial fishermen who went out this year thought they would have a good season, given the Pacific Salmon Commission preseason forecast of 14.4 million. That estimate was based on the abundance of fry that went into the ocean two years ago. Then during the season, the commission downgraded the run size to 6.2 million pinks. Kie Relyea reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Blame it on Rio. Victoria smells like future Olympics contender
Everybody smell it? There’s a hint of something in the air from the north, suggesting that the forces of history are lining up and pointing to a future gathering of the world just off our shores. To wit:
• The Associated Press, issuing the latest in a string of such reports, further documented the truly “medieval” lack of sewage treatment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which nevertheless will host the 2016 Summer Olympics next summer.
• Emboldened by another large municipality’s defiant refusal to enter the 16th century, residents of Victoria, B.C., (motto: “We’re Offal-ly Proud Of Those Baby Orcas!”) continued to enthusiastically flush their daily 20 million gallons of raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, God’s Own Toilet, in what can only be construed as a bold bid for the city’s own future Summer Games.
Inevitable opening-ceremonies motto: “Swifter! Higher! Browner!” Are we the only ones who see a glimmering future for Mr. Floatie as history’s greatest longest, most-fragrant Olympic Mascot? Ron Judd muses. (Seattle Times)

McLoughlin Point sewage plant ruled out, Helps confirms
A final, $750,000 nail has been driven in the coffin of plans to put a sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point. Lisa Helps, chairwoman of the Capital Regional District’s sewage committee, confirmed Saturday that the Esquimalt site has now been formally ruled out. The three firms that presented formal proposals to build a sewage treatment plant there will each be paid $250,000, as previously agreed by contract…. The CRD was forced last year to abandon plans to put a $230-million sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point after Esquimalt refused to rezone the former gasoline tank farm. About $60 million — and nine years — had already been spent on the project, mandated by the provincial government, by that point. The entire project, initially budgeted at $788 million, was to be in operation by 2018. Richard Watts reports. (Times Colonist)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 208 PM PDT SUN SEP 13 2015
MON
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
MON NIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT...EASING TO 5 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A
 SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
--
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