1/19 Puget Sound 2020, KM on MLK Day, Tarboo Bay forest, hot earth, Rick Perry, cleaner cars

Lingcod, Ophiodon elongates (University of Washington)

Lingcod
Lingcod are common on or near reefs or kelp beds. In winter the female lays eggs on or under rocks in shallow water. Male guards, fans and cleans pink egg masses for about 7 weeks. Juvenile feeds on plankton; adult is voracious predator on many fishes, crabs, octopus and smaller lingcod. Lingcod are sought by anglers and scuba divers and catch is regulated. Grows to five feet, over 80 pounds. (Marine Wildlife of Puget Sound, the San Juans, and the Strait of Georgia)

Report: It's time to shift the deadlines for Puget Sound restoration
Restoring Puget Sound to a healthy condition by the year 2020 is an unrealistic goal that needs to be addressed by the Puget Sound Partnership, according to the latest performance audit by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee…. Puget Sound Partnership, the organization created by the Legislature to coordinate the restoration of Puget Sound, is on the right track in many ways, according to the preliminary audit report. But the Partnership needs to address several “structural issues” — including coming up with realistic goals for restoration. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

San Juan Islanders protest Kinder Morgan on MLK Day
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, protests against the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline took place on Lopez, Orcas, Shaw and San Juan Islands. Liza Michaelson and Mara Lawrence organized the event, and Friends of the San Juans contributed. The Canadian government approved the expansion in November. Friends of the San Juans members previously told The Journal, the expansion will increase the number of ships carrying crude oil past the San Juan Islands, as well as the possibility of spilling a heavy, sinkable oil that is almost impossible to clean up. Haley Day reports. (San Juan Journal)

DNR buys forested slopes above Tarboo Bay for long-term conservation
The Dabob Bay Natural Area has been expanded by 159 acres. Pope Resources sold 159 acres to the state Department of Natural Resources for $899,000 on Dec. 29. The area is now part of a state-managed conservation area above Tarboo Bay. “This parcel is an important addition to the natural area and will help provide long-term protection to Dabob Bay’s water quality, shellfish beds and wildlife habitat,” said Peter Bahls, a biologist and director of the Northwest Watershed Institute, a conservation group that helped with the acquisition. (Peninsula Daily News)

Earth sets hottest year record for third-straight time
Earth sizzled to a third-straight record hot year in 2016, government scientists said Wednesday. They mostly blame man-made global warming with help from a natural El Nino, which has since disappeared. Measuring global temperatures in slightly different ways, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that last year passed 2015 as the hottest year on record. NOAA calculated that the average 2016 global temperature was 58.69 degrees (14.84 degrees Celsius) — beating the previous year by 0.07 degrees (0.04 Celsius). NASA’s figures, which include more of the Arctic, are higher at 0.22 degrees (0.12 Celsius) warmer than 2015.  Seth Borenstein reports. (Associated Press)

‘Learning Curve’ as Rick Perry Pursues a Job He Initially Misunderstood
When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state. In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States’ nuclear arsenal. Two-thirds of the agency’s annual $30 billion budget is devoted to maintaining, refurbishing and keeping safe the nation’s nuclear stockpile; thwarting nuclear proliferation; cleaning up and rebuilding an aging constellation of nuclear production facilities; and overseeing national laboratories that are considered the crown jewels of government science. Coral Davenport and David Sanger report. (NY Times)

Trump EPA could thwart West Coast climate action
Efforts to rein in planet-warming pollution in Washington state could be hindered by federal officials once Donald Trump becomes president. At his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, declined to say whether he would let individual states, led by California, continue to require cleaner cars…. Washington and Oregon are among the 12 states that have adopted California's stricter vehicle-emission standards. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

Dozens Of False Killer Whales Mysteriously Strand Themselves In Florida
Scientists are trying to determine why a group of at least 95 false killer whales stranded themselves on a remote coast in Florida's Everglades National Park. At least 82 of the animals have died, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "This is the largest mass stranding ever for this species in the United States," NOAA Marine Biologist Erin Fougères said, "And one of the largest mass strandings we've ever had in the southeast."   Merrit Kennedy reports. (NPR)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  300 AM PST THU JAN 19 2017  

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE  TONIGHT  
TODAY  SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SW IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND  WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 12 FT AT 12 SECONDS. SHOWERS.
TONIGHT  SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING E 10 TO 20 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. SW SWELL 13 FT AT 14 SECONDS.  SHOWERS LIKELY.

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