9/9 Toxic oil, BC pipe redo, Pete Haase, NW glaciers, Seattle hills, counting fish

Purple Martin and meal (Laurie MacBride)

If you like to watch: Here be Dragons Delish!
Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "I love dragonflies – and so, apparently, do Purple Martins. But not in quite the same way as me. At each marina we visited this summer we saw and heard Purple Martins, busy raising their next generation. From the early hours until almost dark, we’d hear the melodious voices of these oversized swallows – their lovely, almost metallic song that reminds me of the twang of halyards against aluminum masts (appropriate for birds that spend their summers hanging around boats)….

Low levels of oil pollution harm herring, salmon, study finds
Federal scientists based in Seattle and Alaska have found that oil — by impairing heart functions — can cause serious harm to herring and pink salmon at far lower concentrations than previously documented. The research, published Tuesday online in Nature’s Scientific Reports, could help unravel the mystery of why herring stocks in Prince William Sound collapsed after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Their work also has implications about the effects of low levels of chronic oil pollution in Puget Sound and elsewhere in the world. “What this study shows is that in very, very low concentration of oil, embryonic fish … get born with a mild heart defect,” said John Incardona, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration toxicologist at a Seattle fisheries science center. He is one of 10 co-authors of the study. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

First Nation, Burnaby seek complete redo on Trans Mountain pipeline review
The Squamish First Nation and the City of Burnaby are urging the federal regulator reviewing Kinder Morgan’s proposed $5.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline to strike a new panel. They made the request to the National Energy Board last week, shortly after the panel heading up an environmental and economic assessment halted the review because a consultant who prepared evidence in favour of the pipeline had been appointed to work for the regulator. While the consultant’s evidence has been struck from the review and Kinder Morgan will provide new evidence on the project’s economic benefits, that does not erase that evidence from the minds of the panel members or cure the perception that the impartiality of the board has been compromised, said lawyer Aaron Bruce in a letter to the NEB on behalf of the Squamish Nation. Gordon Hoekstra reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Avid volunteer from Bow gets regional recognition
Avid volunteer and citizen scientist Pete Haase sees himself as just one of many, something like a soldier in an army working for a healthier Puget Sound. The Bow resident wouldn’t call himself a hero, but RE Sources for Sustainable Communities does. The Bellingham-based nonprofit has chosen Haase as one of its five environmental heroes of the year. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

‘Disastrous’: Low snow, heat eat away at Northwest glaciers
Glaciers across the North Cascades could lose 5 to 10 percent of their volume this year, accelerating decades of steady decline. One scientist estimates the region’s glaciers are smaller than they have been in at least 4,000 years. Sandi Doughton reports. (Seattle Times)

‘Too High & Too Steep’: When Seattle’s hills came falling down
David B. Williams’ new book, “Too High & Too Steep,” chronicles the massive changes wrought on the Seattle landscape in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Williams will discuss his book Sept. 9 at the University Book Store, and at other locations around Seattle. Michael Upchurch reviews. (Seattle Times)

In California's Protected Waters, Counting Fish Without Getting Wet
Using divers to monitor whether life is returning to the 100 or so marine protected areas is pricey. Now, advances in DNA sequencing mean scientists just need a seawater sample to do a marine census. (KQED/NPR)

Now, your tug weather--
 WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT WED SEP 9 2015
TODAY
LIGHT WIND. WIND WAVES LESS THAN 1 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
W WIND TO 10 KT IN THE EVENING...BECOMING LIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
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