6/6 Oil pipes, Cherry Pt, air guns, seals & salmon, Ginny Broadhurst, pollinator survey

Earwig [Orkin]

What’s in Your Garden?
The earwig Forficula auricularia is a ground insect, although some can fly. Most earwigs frequent moist mulch and areas beneath leaves. These bugs have what appear to be pincers extending from their abdomens and jutting out on the opposite end from their heads. These pincers, also called forceps, are not used to aggressively attack people. And, relax, it is a myth that earwigs can burrow into your ears while you are sleeping. (orkin.com)

An Oil Pipeline Expansion in Washington?
…. Kinder Morgan, an energy goliath with a checkered past, owns the Trans Mountain as well as the connected Puget Sound Pipeline, which runs through Whatcom and Skagit Counties in northwestern Washington State. The company is planning to begin construction this year on a near-tripling of its Canadian Trans Mountain Pipeline’s capacity—adding a new 590,000-barrel pipe alongside the existing pipe. The resulting “twinned” line would be bigger than the planned Keystone XL Pipeline. And south of the border, new financial disclosures indicate that Kinder Morgan may also be planning to more than double the size of the Puget Sound Pipeline, boosting its capacity from 240,000 to 500,000 barrels per day. Eric de Place reports. (Sightline)

This Small U.S. County Just Became a Major Roadblock for Unrefined Fossil Fuel Exports in North America
Unrefined fossil fuels won’t be shipped out of a small Washington State export facility at Cherry Point any time soon, due to a temporary moratorium imposed by the Whatcom County Council. The moratorium positions Cherry Point as a major roadblock for both U.S. and Canadian companies scrounging for export facilities to ship unprocessed oil, gas and coal to overseas markets…. Amid dwindling community-level support for fossil fuel infrastructure and after the U.S. lifted a 40-year old oil export ban, Cherry Point has been flooded with export permit applications for LNG, propane, coal and bitumen. The idea of becoming a new outpost for fossil fuel exports has also taken on new significance in light of President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, a global climate treaty. Judith Lavoie reports. (DeSmog)

Trump Administration Seeking Permits For Seismic Air Gun Surveys In Atlantic
The Trump administration is taking steps to allow five energy companies to use seismic air guns for oil and gas exploration off the U.S. Atlantic coast even though they would incidentally harass marine mammals. Environmental groups and some coastal communities object. "The testing would take place over a huge area ranging from the Delaware Bay, south to Cape Canaveral in Florida," NPR's Jeff Brady reports. "Ships would crisscross the ocean shooting loud bursts of sound underwater to map the geology." Merrit Kennedy reports. (NPR)

Harbour seals selectively eat juveniles of salmon species most at risk
Harbour seals in the Strait of Georgia may be eating millions of juvenile sockeye, coho and chinook salmon as they transition from fresh to salt water, according to a new study that sheds new light on poor salmon survival rates. Seals appear to be selectively consuming young fish — the species that are of the most conservation concern — just as they’re ready to begin adult life in the ocean, said supervising author Andrew Trites, director of the Marine Mammals Research Unit at the University of B.C. Randy Shore reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Western Hires Ginny Broadhurst as the New Director for its Salish Sea Studies Institute
Western Washington University has hired Ginny Broadhurst to be the new director of its Salish Sea Studies Institute, an interdisciplinary center for collaboration, education, research and community involvement established in 2015 focused on the health of the Salish Sea and its environs. Broadhurst start[ed] at Western on June 5…. Broadhurst worked at the Northwest Straits Commission from 2003 to February 2017, first as its Marine Program manager then for the last 10 years as its executive director. She has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Conservation from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree from the School of Marine Affairs at the University of Washington. (WWU Office of Communications and Marketing)

Citizen scientists busy as bees surveying pollinator populations in Kamloops
The iridescent green mining bee excels at camouflage and often goes unnoticed by the casual observer, but some citizen scientists in Kamloops are becoming experts at recognizing the little insect. The amateur entomologists are all participating in a public pollinator survey that aims to collect data on the different types of organisms responsible for helping the plants in the B.C. city to reproduce. Bethany Lindsay reports. (CBC)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  244 AM PDT Tue Jun 6 2017  
Today  Light wind becoming NW 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 4 ft at 10 seconds.
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming SW to 10 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less after  midnight. W swell 6 ft at 11 seconds.

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