5/16 Kinglet, Dungeness oyster farm, BC pipe, Tacoma LNG, Seattle waterfront, green crabs

Golden-crowned Kinglet [All About Birds]

Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa
One of our tiniest birds, the Golden-crowned Kinglet is remarkable in its ability to survive in cold climates. Nesting in northern forest, wintering throughout much of the continent, it is usually in dense conifers which undoubtedly help provide shelter from the cold. This choice of habitat also makes the Golden-crown hard to see, but it may be detected by its high thin callnotes, and then glimpsed as it flits about high in the spruce trees. Feeds on a wide variety of tiny insects, including small beetles, gnats, caterpillars, scale insects, aphids, and many others. Also eats spiders. Diet includes many eggs of insects and spiders. Will feed on oozing sap; rarely feeds on fruit. (Audubon Field Guide)

Jamestown oyster farm in wildlife refuge now on hold
Permitting for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s proposed oyster farm at Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is on hold until at least a mid-November hearing after concerns were expressed by the public, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and wildlife refuge officials over the impacts of the 50-acre, inner-tidal project. The Clallam County Department of Community Development withdrew its environmental determination of nonsignificance last Thursday, a day after the county hearing examiner granted the tribe’s request for the six-month permitting-process delay to accommodate a change in permitting by the Army Corp of Engineers. Comments will be accepted on the project until at least mid-November, Greg Ballard, Clallam County senior planner, said Tuesday. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Bill Morneau outlines Ottawa's options on Kinder Morgan pipeline talks Wednesday
Finance Minister Bill Morneau will give an update on the state of negotiations with Kinder Morgan over the Trans Mountain pipeline project Wednesday, setting out in broad strokes what Ottawa is willing to do to help the project go ahead, CBC News has learned. A government official, who spoke to CBC News on condition of anonymity, said Morneau will present a suite of options to help eliminate some of the risk the project is facing after Kinder Morgan suspended spending on it in the face of opposition from the B.C. government. Morneau will explain how the proposed steps will help ease Kinder Morgan's concerns, while also ensuring that Canadians aren't exposed to excessive financial risk, the official said. David Cochrane and Vassy Kapelos report. (CBC)

Tribe Loses LNG Permit Challenge In Wash. Appeals Court
A Washington appeals court on Monday backed a development permit issued for a Puget Sound Energy liquefied natural gas project in Tacoma, Washington, rejecting arguments from the Puyallup Tribe that state shoreline regulators wrongly affirmed the permit issued by the city. The Puyallup Tribe had challenged the findings and conclusions of law by the Shorelines Hearings Board, part of the state's environmental and land use hearings office, that affirmed the shoreline substantial development permit for PSE's project on industrial land owned by the Port of Tacoma near inlets of the Puget Sound's Commencement Bay. The tribe, which owns property along the inlets and has treaty rights to fishing in the inlets, claimed the SHB wrongly backed the city of Tacoma's determination that proposed mitigation efforts wouldn't harm the overall ecology of the waterways, which had previously been classified as Superfund sites, and could ultimately improve water quality. But a Washington Court of Appeals panel said Monday that the SHB's reasoning was sound. Keith Goldberg reports. (Law360)

Seattle's new waterfront design will play to your instincts
The Overlook Walk could very well be the biggest thing in post-viaduct Seattle, a new piece of infrastructure that changes the city. Even though city planners have strived to be process-perfect, few are aware of it. It’s the elephant of the waterfront, with so many pieces it’s hard to envision it as a whole. What is it, exactly? It’s complicated. The Overlook Walk would be a kind of land bridge over the cliff — a deck and pathway of varying widths and slopes, including one bridge span, all laid atop three large new buildings. Taking off from MarketFront, the year-old addition to Pike Place Market, it would land with branching stairways on a plaza in front of Pier 59 (the Seattle Aquarium) and Pier 62. While the new street system takes cars past the waterfront, the Overlook Walk points over streets to the water, the mountains, the Seattle Aquarium and the historic piers. Clair Enlow reports. (Crosscut)

Where did the Puget Sound green crabs come from? We’re still not sure
It is hard to look away from the European green crab invasion in the Salish Sea. When these infamous invaders were first observed in the Sooke Basin, British Columbia in 2012, scientists worried that it was only a matter of time before they entered Puget Sound. Crabs were found off of San Juan Island and in Padilla Bay in 2016, and in Dungeness Spit, Sequim and Whidbey Island the following year. The outer coast was not spared either — the crabs were found in Makah Bay in 2017. Genetic testing shows that invasive European green crabs in Puget Sound likely did not come from the Sooke Basin in British Columbia as previously thought. New findings on the crab's origins were presented at the 2018 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference in Seattle. Scientists are looking at a variety of potential sources. Yaamini Venkataraman reports. (Salish Sea Currents)


Now, your tug weather--

West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  207 AM PDT Wed May 16 2018   
TODAY  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 9 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less after midnight. SW  swell 3 ft at 16 seconds.

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