4/20 Methanol, salmon season, Vic sewer, salt marsh, giant octopus, dead whale, Wolf Bauer, 520

(PHOTO: Kate Martin/Tacoma News Tribune)

Tacoma methanol project canceled
A proposal to build the world’s largest methanol plant at the Port of Tacoma is dead. Amid widespread public criticism of the project and several port commissioners’ signals it had lost their support, the China-backed company behind the $3.6 billion project on the former Kaiser smelter site said Tuesday it had canceled the proposal, just days ahead of a key port vote on its lease. Murray “Vee” Godley, the president of Northwest Innovation Works, cited regulatory issues for the cancellation. The company’s proposals to build smaller gas-to-methanol facilities at the Port of Kalama and near Clatskanie, Oregon, remain alive. Kate Martin and Derrick Nunnally report. (Tacoma News Tribune)

State and tribal fishery managers at an impasse on Puget Sound salmon fishing season
For the second time in less than a week, state Fish and Wildlife and tribal fishery managers failed to come to an agreement on further discussing Puget Sound sport, non-tribal and tribal salmon fisheries for the 2016-17 seasons. Both parties met at the Little Creek Casino in Squaxin on Tuesday, but talks came to an impasse after constituents couldn’t resolve what harvest cuts to make or what marine and river areas needed to see closures or cutbacks, and by whom, to protect the weak wild coho runs as well as chinook runs listed under the federal Endangered Species Act…. The suspended negotiations during the meeting, puts this year’s Puget Sound sport, tribal and non-tribal commercial salmon season at risk once again. Mark Yuasa reports. (Seattle Times)

Federal government sticks to 2020 sewage deadline, despite questions
The federal government has made it clear Greater Victoria needs to treat its sewage by 2020. On Friday, in a letter to Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, Jonathan Wilkinson, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Environment and Climate Change Department, confirmed Greater Victoria’s wastewater systems at Macaulay Point and Clover Point are still well above the “high-risk” designation threshold and require treatment by 2020…. The points system assesses level of risk based on effluent quality and quantity and the water body that receives the sewage. Louise Dickson reports. (Times Colonist)

New Brighton Park salt marsh given the green light
The Vancouver Park Board has approved a concept plan for a $3 million salt marsh on the east side of New Brighton Park. The project — which will reverse the work that went into creating an artificial shoreline at the park — is part of the city's on-going biodiversity strategy to restore fish and wildlife habitat in the city…. The park board has partnered with Port Metro Vancouver to restore Burrard Inlet's intertidal wetlands. Margaret Gallagher and Tina Lovgreen report. (CBC News)

Is there really a giant octopus under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
Douglass Brown was 15 when he saw a giant tentacle emerge from Puget Sound. He was in Tacoma, walking down the beach with a girl he liked. Then he looked out at the water. “I see this arm come out of the water. It was 10, 15 feet in the air,” Brown says. “It looked like an octopus or something like that, and I just took off running.” Was it a trick of imagination, or should Douglass have been afraid? His mom asked Local Wonder to investigate. “The big octopuses, they’re around,” says commercial diver Kerry Donahue. Donahue’s company helped build the newer, eastern span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Cathy Duchamp reports. (KUOW)

Whale that was in Ballard Locks found dead near Vashon
A dead gray whale was found off the northwest side of Vashon Island, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The whale was spotted by a boater early Tuesday in the area of north Colvos Passage. Cascadia Research is responding on behalf of NOAA and will tow the whale to shore to be examined. A necropsy to determine its cause of death will be performed Wednesday or Thursday. This is the same gray whale that was spotted April 6 in the Ballard Locks. NOAA said it was under-nourished. (KIRO)

The Life and Times of Wolf Bauer
Al Bergstein presents a  one-hour radio documentary on the life of the most extraordinary modern outdoorsman, who died in January at 104. Pioneering mountain climber, mountain rescue founder, ceramics engineer, kayak pioneer, coastal geologist, environmentalist. Featuring new interviews with Jim and Lou Whittaker who Wolf mentored, George Yount who flew and kayaked with Wolf, and Jim Johannessen who worked with Wolf on his pioneering shoreline restorations. Tune in to KPTZ 91.9 or stream at KPTZ.ORG Thursday at 12 Noon and Saturday at 3PM.

What It Takes to Keep a 7,700-Foot Floating Bridge From Doom
Washington now holds the title for the world’s longest floating bridge. Again. As with the three other longest and heaviest floating bridges on the planet, the colorfully named SR 520 Bridge makes its home in the Seattle area. SR 520, which cost $4.5 billion and replaces an aging bridge spanning the same stretch of Lake Washington, recently opened to westbound traffic on State Route 520 (the other side opens soon). It’s more than 7,700 feet long, which raises two questions: Why span a lake with glorified pool noodles? And how do you make all that concrete float reliably enough to carry cars and even trains? Aarian Marshall reports. (Wired)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  210 AM PDT WED APR 20 2016  

TODAY  LIGHT WIND...BECOMING NW 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.  WIND WAVES LESS THAN 1 FT...BECOMING 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT  12 SECONDS. PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING.

TONIGHT  W WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING NW AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND  WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 16 SECONDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF  SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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