1/11 Salmon virus, whale poop, shrimp toxin, BC oil pipes, lege talk, Dupont pollution, KPLU campaign

(PHOTO: CBC)

Deadly salmon virus may be in B.C. waters, study suggests
Evidence of a deadly virus that has caused severe damage to the Atlantic salmon farming industry has been discovered in some farmed and wild B.C. salmon, according to a new study. Biologist Alexandra Morton of the Raincoast Research Society worked with statistician Richard Routledge of Simon Fraser University and other researchers to test for the virus in more than 1,000 farmed and wild salmon of varying species. The study published Jan. 6 in the peer-reviewed Virology Journal, found genetic matches for the European variant of the infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) virus in 79 cases. (CBC)

Killer whale fecal-matter study shows importance of salmon to orcas’ diet
Scientists who spent five years collecting and analyzing fecal samples from endangered killer whales near Seattle and Victoria found their diet consists almost solely of chinook salmon in the summer, confirming the deep connection between them and salmon fishing’s trophy catch. Scientist Michael Ford of the Seattle-based Northwest Fisheries Sciences Center says DNA analysis of killer whale fecal matter confirmed more than 98 per cent of the July and August diet of the southern resident whales is salmon, particularly the Chinook salmon bound for British Columbia’s Fraser River and its tributaries. Dirk Meissner reports. (Globe and Mail)

Willapa Bay Oyster Farmers Ask State Again For Permission To Use Neurotoxin 
Oyster farmers in Willapa Bay are asking the Washington State Department of Ecology for permission, again, to use a neurotoxic chemical to get rid of native shrimp. Large numbers of the burrowing shrimp are turning the tide flats into quicksand, making the land unusable for growing oysters. The chemical, imidacloprid, would paralyze the shrimp. They would suffocate and die. Jennifer Wing reports. (KPLU)

Province of B.C. formally opposes Kinder Morgan expansion
The B.C. government will formally oppose the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion in a written submission to the National Energy Board on Monday. Environment Minister Mary Polak told The Vancouver Sun that the government believes that pipeline proponent Kinder Morgan has failed to provide the NEB with an adequate plan to prevent or respond to an oil spill…. The B.C. government laid out in five conditions in 2012 that it said all oil pipeline projects would have to meet before they would be allowed in the province. The second and third conditions require “world-leading” prevention and response plans if a pipeline fails on land or if oil is spilled into any rivers, lakes or the ocean. Rob Shaw reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Olympia politicians: Avoid these clichés like the plague
There’s nothing reporters love more than half-answered questions. Fortunately, there were plenty of those to go around at The Associated Press Legislative Preview on Thursday (Jan. 7). For two hours, Washington state lawmakers evaded questions such as, “Why aren’t you going to fix education funding this year?” by leaning on many of the convenient political platitudes that we’ve all heard before. It was a grand trotting-out of clichés to start the new year right — and reminded me why, every year, I make a list of the most overused phrases in Washington politics, hoping that they’ll never be used again. Melissa Santos reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Enbridge says it will meet regulatory deadlines for Northern Gateway
Enbridge says it has a plan to meet regulatory deadlines on its $7.9-billion Northern Gateway pipeline despite the looming expiry of National Energy Board approval this year. Among deadlines in the 209 conditions the project must meet, NEB approval expires if construction has not started before the end of 2016. And the Calgary-based company must have signed commitments from oil producers to ship crude on the pipeline, making up at least 60 per cent of line capacity, six months before construction starts. Gordon Hoekstra reports. (Vancouver Sun)

The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare
Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he took on an environmental suit that would upend his entire career —and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution. Nathaniel Rich reports. (New York Times)

KPLU mounts campaign to buy its independence amid UW offer
Nine weeks ago, KPLU learned it might be sold to the University of Washington — so the public-radio station started a fundraising campaign to buy its autonomy. Brendan Kiley reports. (Seattle Times) See also: Saving KPLU; Our Defining Moment http://www.kplu.org/post/saving-kplu-our-definining-moment (KPLU)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  254 AM PST MON JAN 11 2016  

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING  

TODAY  E WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 20 SECONDS...  BUILDING TO 12 FT AT 18 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN LIKELY IN THE  MORNING...THEN RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT  E WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 14  FT AT 16 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 12 FT AT 16 SECONDS AFTER  MIDNIGHT. SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE EVENING...THEN A CHANCE OF RAIN  AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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