3/13 Minke whale, Helen Engle, clean fuels, Tumwater spill, Heritage Areas, Canadian UN team, Navy Growlers

Minke whale [NOAA]

Minke Whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata
Minke whales are members of the baleen whale family and are the smallest of the "great whales" or rorquals. They are the most abundant rorqual in the world, and their population status is considered stable throughout almost their entire range (especially when compared to other species of large whales). Commercial whaling practices may have reduced minke whale populations in the western North Pacific and the northeastern North Atlantic may have been reduced by as much as half. Commercial whaling’s overexploitation of other larger whale species, however, may have allowed minke whales to prosper from the lessened competition and increased availability of food resources. The scientific names for minke whales translate to: "winged whale," (Balaenoptera) "sharp snout" (acutorostrata). They received their common name from a Norwegian novice whaling spotter named Meincke, who supposedly mistook a minke whale for a blue whale. (NOAA)

Salish Sea Communications: Remembering Helen Engle
Read memorials celebrating the life of activist Helen Engle who died on March 11 2019. Add your memories, too.

Washington House passes clean-fuels legislation sought by Inslee
Washington House Democrats approved clean-fuels legislation Tuesday night after overcoming fierce Republican opposition that was expressed in an hourslong floor debate. House Bill 1110, which would lower the greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels, passed 53 to 43. After the vote, sponsor and state Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, called it “the most important climate bill the House has ever passed.” Geared toward fighting climate change, clean-fuels standards already have been put in place elsewhere on the West Coast, generating intense criticism from the oil industry. (Joseph O'Sullivan and Hal Bernton report. (Seattle Times)

Tumwater brewery oil spill cleanup shifts to Boston Street, focus remains on PCBs
Tumwater Falls Park has reopened, but now Boston Street Southwest, a busy little street that connects Custer Way with Deschutes Way, is the focus of an oil spill cleanup that started in the area more than two weeks ago. Crews removed the sidewalk and part of the road over the weekend, state Department of Ecology spokeswoman Sandy Howard said Tuesday.... Ecology is concerned about a residual amount of PCBs that were found in the oil. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are man-made chemicals that do not break down easily in the environment and are considered harmful. Although banned in the late 1970s, they were often used in transformers, like the one that was damaged at the brewery and spilled oil in late February.... The transformer was damaged on Feb. 25 after some vandals, thought to be after copper wire for its recycling value, created the spill. It contained 677 gallons of oil, although the amount that spilled still isn’t known. Rolf Boone reports. (Olympian)

Federal lands bill creates National Heritage Area from Seattle to Ellensburg 
A 1.5-million acre swath of land surrounding Interstate 90, from Seattle to Ellensburg, is now a National Heritage Area, after the passage of the largest public-lands bill in more than a decade. The wide-ranging, bipartisan bill that President Donald Trump signed into law Tuesday authorizes the Mountains to Sound Greenway as a National Heritage Area, one of dozens of measures in the more than 660-page bill intended to bolster public lands and conservation across the country. The new heritage area spans 2,400 miles and includes 28 cities and 1,600 miles of trails, according to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a lead sponsor of the legislation. A National Heritage designation does not make the land a part of the National Parks system, and private land within the area is not affected. Rather, the designation makes it easier for the area to get technical assistance and federal grants from the National Park Service. David Gutmam reports. (Seattle Times) See also: A new federal law recognizes Washington’s maritime heritage  The Maritime Washington National Heritage Area — which now encompasses about 3,000 miles of saltwater shoreline in Western Washington — was created yesterday within a wide-ranging lands bill signed into law by President Trump. Created to celebrate the maritime history and culture of Puget Sound and Coastal Washington, the Maritime Washington NHA is the first designated area of its kind in the United States to focus entirely on maritime matters. Chris Dunagan reports (Watching Our Water Ways)

UN team devastated by deaths of 4 young environmentalists killed in Ethiopian Airlines crash
A group of four young Canadians hoping to change the world were among those killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash over the weekend, leaving a "gaping hole" in their United Nations team and the wider environmental community. The delegation, which included Micah Messent from Vancouver Island, B.C., was on its way to the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly in Kenya. Danielle Moore, Angela Rehhorn and Stéphanie Lacroix were also part of the group. Clare Hennig reports. (CBC)

Navy to fund historic preservation near NAS Whidbey
In the latest step toward bringing 36 additional EA-18G Growler jets to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, the Secretary of the Navy recently committed nearly $1 million for the preservation of nearby historic sites.... The letter includes the Navy’s responses to several comments from the advisory council regarding impacts to and mitigation of historic properties near NAS Whidbey, which has operations near the communities of Oak Harbor and Coupeville. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald) See also: Navy declines to include Growler monitoring as mitigation for effect on historic districts  The Navy has determined the way it will mitigate the addition of Growler EA-18G jets over historic properties on Whidbey Island and that method does not include noise monitoring. The Navy will provide the National Park Service $887,000 to support Ferry House preservation and to install historical interpretive signs within the Ebey’s Landing area, Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer said in a letter to the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) on Friday. Jeannie McMacken reports. (Peninsula Daily News)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  213 AM PDT Wed Mar 13 2019   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS  AFTERNOON   
TODAY  NW wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 10  ft at 14 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming S to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 9 ft at 14 seconds subsiding to  7 ft at 14 seconds after midnight.



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