10/2 Land & Water fund, BC pipe, BC Conservancy, water regs, wetland farm, Snake flotilla, stink beach

Kelp greenling (Joe Tomelleri)

“Fishes of the Salish Sea: A compilation and distributional analysis”
(The new report) published online Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, includes a full taxonomic list as well as an analysis of geographic distribution and relative local abundance, along with common and scientific names and key references to learn more about each species. Some of the fishes are depicted in hand-drawn images by artist Joe Tomelleri, so accurate and life-like that they are easily mistaken for photographs. Michelle Ma reports. (UW Today)

Congress lets Land and Water Conservation Fund expire; it has protected Washington places low and high
The U.S. House of Representatives has put it all together this year, finding ways to hurt nature conservation as well as the country’s export industries. It allowed the U.S. Export-Import Bank to expire last summer, leaving hundreds of large and small businesses without export guarantees.  And this week, it has failed to reauthorize the 50-year-old Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has used a small chunk of federal oil leasing revenues to support land conservation projects. Joel Connelly reports. (SeattlePI.Com)

Kinder Morgan pipeline suggestion from Rachel Notley 'completely inappropriate'
Elected officials in British Columbia say they were caught off-guard by a suggestion from Alberta Premier Rachel Notley to shift the Trans Mountain Pipeline terminal to Delta, B.C., instead of Burnaby. ​Notley made the comment at a Bloomberg Live conference in New York on Wednesday. She said Kinder Morgan, the company building the expanded pipeline, may need to move the proposed terminal to win support for the project…. Vicki Huntington, the independent MLA for Delta South, also rejected Notley's suggestion. "I'm sure the Premier of Alberta doesn't understand that the Fraser River delta is probably the most critical habitat in Canada," said Huntington. (CBC)

Land Conservancy transfers properties for $1.5 million
A major transfer of ecologically significant properties from The Land Conservancy — announced in July — has now become official. Twenty-six properties around B.C., including nine on Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island, have been transferred to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, said Nature Conservancy spokesman Tom Swann. Included on the list are Kindwood in the Highlands, Lohbrunner Woods in Langford and the Clare Winnett Copeland property at Shawnigan Lake. The Land Conservancy, which at one point had 51 properties, now has fewer than 10. The organization went into creditor protection in 2013 as it dealt with debt and an array of mortgages. Jeff Bell reports. (Times Colonist)

Gov. Inslee sounds off on federal water regulation
Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday he doesn’t want the federal government writing clean water rules for the state and will offer his own regulatory approach to “improve human health” in the near future. “We would lose control of our pollution control system,” he said. “I am very concerned about that because frankly I don’t think it would be the right thing for the state to lose control of our own fundamental destiny.” But Inslee didn’t elaborate on what he might offer in the way of tougher standards for the discharge of pollutants into the state’s waterways. Jerry Cornfield reports. (Everett Herald)

Lynden wetlands cleared for blueberry farm to be restored
The Environmental Protection Agency has settled with the owner of a Lynden blueberry farm who will need to restore wetlands that were cleared on the property. Suellyn Rader Blymyer, on behalf of herself, her late husband Lyle Rader’s estate, and their company Uptrail Group LLC, will pay $210,000 in civil penalties for clearing and grading wetland on their property off Halverstick Road. Samantha Wohlfeil reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Free the Snake: A 150-Boat Flotilla Takes to the River on Oct. 3 to Advocate Against Dams
"People are coming from California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and the San Juan Islands," said Sam Mace, the Inland Northwest Director for Save Our Wild Salmon. "It'll be the biggest gathering of various salmon and orca experts and constituencies that care about the Snake River in more than a decade." For more than a decade, environmental advocates have pushed to get the four lower Snake River dams removed, which would help salmon more easily navigate the river to get to their original spawning grounds. This year, only 45 sockeye salmon survived the 900-mile journey from the ocean to Redfish Lake, due to elevated water temperatures in the river. A news release on the event, called Free the Snake Flotilla, partially blames the dams for the hotter temperatures. When water just sits still instead of moving in a current, it heats up significantly faster.  Jessica Murri reports. (Boise Weekly)

Northern coal project gets B.C. government approval
A Chinese-owned mine in northeastern British Columbia has passed another hurdle toward opening its controversial coal project. British Columbia’s government has granted an environmental assessment certificate to HD Mining International Ltd. for the Murray River Coal project, near Tumbler Ridge. (Canadian Press)

Neighbors plagued by stinky beach have few options
Waterfront living is hard to fully enjoy when a sunny day is marred by a stench that smells nothing like the sea…. Complaints to the King County Wastewater Treatment Division over the past few weeks led to an investigation that just concluded. County experts have determined the odor is not coming from the sewer system. The odor is coming from rotting sea lettuce, a type of seaweed that commonly washes on shore. This year's unusually warm weather is believed to be contributing to much more sea lettuce than usual and the odor when it rots in the hot sun. Mark Miller reports. (KOMO)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 425 AM PDT FRI OCT 2 2015
TODAY
W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 11 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SE AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 8 FT AT
 10 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
SAT
SE WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT
E WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
SUN
E WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING SE TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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