9/2 Whale protection, Plumper Bay, train spill rule, Hanjin, tribes oil pipe, Tacoma LNG, canary rockfish

Happy orca (Janet Bell-Ulin/KING)

If you like to watch: Happy orca in Port Angeles
Jump if you love Puget Sound! Or in this case, a nice salmon dinner. KING 5 viewer Janet Bell-Ulin got her camera rolling when orcas came splashing into the Port Angeles harbor. Janet says she watched four whales swim into the harbor and spend about an hour there, including two babies. But it appears the orcas had more than playtime on their mind. This is the same location of the salmon fish pens near Ediz Hook. (KING)

WDFW awarded $1.5 million for humpback and killer whale work
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department received $864,473 to minimize disturbance of Southern Resident killer whales in Puget Sound and $626,276 to evaluate increased human interactions with humpback whales off the West Coast. The funding is from the  Species Recovery Grants to States program. Minimizing disturbance to the J, K and L orca pods will be done by expanding outreach and education efforts, analyzing vessel interactions, and improving whale-watching guidelines. (San Juan Islander)

Plumper Bay cleanup completed, coast guard says, but diesel remains
Some diesel still remains at a beach near Esquimalt Harbour, but cleanup efforts are complete, the Canadian Coast Guard says. Plumper Beach, located near Admirals Walk, became the focus of a cleanup after a barge spilled about 30,000 litres of diesel into the harbour in May. The beach, which shared by the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations, remains closed and a fishing ban in effect. Amy Smart reports. (Times Colonist)

State to require railroads to have oil spill response plans
Those who operate railroads that move oil in bulk through the state must be prepared to respond to oil spills starting Oct. 1 under a rule adopted Wednesday by the state Department of Ecology. The rule follows another rule the state agency passed last week requiring operators of railroads and pipelines to report bulk shipments of oil to the state in advance. Both rules are part of the state’s effort to address safety concerns that have grown in recent years in response to an increasing number of trains carrying crude oil through the state. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Hanjin’s collapse ripples into Puget Sound ports
It didn’t take long for Hanjin Shipping entering receivership Wednesday to reach the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which handles seaborne cargo for the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma. Alliance spokeswoman Tara Mattina said this morning that Terminal 46 at the North Harbor (Seattle), Hanjin’s main home here, is not accepting any Hanjin deliveries. Husky Terminal in the South Harbor (Tacoma) is prepared to unload imports but not accepting any exports or empty containers. Both terminals have private operators. No Hanjin Shipping vessel is in port here now, although one was scheduled to arrive Saturday. It might not make it, Mattina said. “We’re hearing reports of ships anchoring in open water because pilots, terminal operators and others along the supply chain are asking for cash upfront before anyone will work the ships or touch Hanjin cargo.” Indeed, reports elsewhere say the company is afraid its ships might be seized by creditors or it’s already happened. Jon Talton reports. (Seattle Times) See also: Giant container vessel stuck in Prince Rupert, company in receivership  Justin McElroy reports. (CBC) And also: Hanjin Shipping crew in limbo but well looked after in Port of Vancouver  Derrick Penner reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Washington tribes stand with Standing Rock Sioux against North Dakota oil pipeline
… Tribes from across Washington and the Northwest have journeyed to remote Cannon Ball, N.D., to join the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in a peaceful occupation of ancestral lands where the tribe seeks an injunction to stop construction of an oil pipeline until its waters and cultural resources are protected. At least eight tribes from Washington state — some have been through or are still engaged in similar battles of their own to block fossil-fuel projects on their own ancestral lands — have traveled to join the occupation. They are Yakama Nation, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Lummi Nation, Puyallup Tribe, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Suquamish Tribe, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Hoh Tribe. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Court, again, orders release of planned PSE gas plant’s safety information
Environmental activists and members of RedLine Tacoma, a group that opposes the planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the tideflats, scored a win of sorts last week when Superior Court Judge Frank E. Cuthbertson ordered the release of safety response studies that Puget Sound Energy submitted as part of the facility’s permit process. This is the same information RedLine Tacoma founder John Carlton sought months ago but has so far been blocked by an appeal. PSE is blocking the release of the information to Carlton and media outlets seeking the information using the legal argument that any release of the detailed safety reports would make the planned facility a target of terrorists. Steve Dunkelberger reports. (Tacoma Weekly)

NOAA recommends de-listing of Canary rockfish
Canary rockfish will be removed from the list of threatened species if a recommendation from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is adopted. Recent studies have shown the Canary Rockfish in the Salish Sea are not genetically different than others on the Washington Coast. According to the NOAA website, not much will change if the Canary Rockfish is delisted…. SeaDoc Society, based on Orcas Island, agrees with the recommendation. Comments are due by September 6, 2016. (San Juan Islander)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  307 AM PDT FRI SEP 2 2016  

TODAY  LIGHT WIND...BECOMING W TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND  WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 7 SECONDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF  TSTMS IN THE MORNING. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS THROUGH THE DAY.  TONIGHT  W WIND TO 10 KT IN THE EVENING...BECOMING LIGHT. WIND  WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 7 SECONDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF  SHOWERS IN THE EVENING.
SAT  LIGHT WIND. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT  13 SECONDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.
SAT NIGHT  W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT  AT 18 SECONDS.
SUN  LIGHT WIND...BECOMING W TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND  WAVES LESS THAN 1 FT...BECOMING 2 FT OR LESS IN THE AFTERNOON. W  SWELL 4 FT AT 17 SECONDS.

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