1/23 Hemlock, Cooke steelhead, Puget Sound health, Trump's clean water, oil spill cost, coal terminal suit, BC LNG protest, chemical pollution, Guemes Is water

Western hemlock [Tree A Day]

Western hemlock  Tsuga heterophylla
A large evergreen coniferous tree native to the west coast of North America, the western hemlock tree is the largest species of hemlock (growing an average of 50 - 70 meters tall, and sometimes to 78 meters) with a trunk diameter of up to 2.7 meters. The western hemlock lives a long life (trees over 1200 years old are known). Washington's abundant evergreen forests are the basis for its unofficial nickname; "The Evergreen State." Washington designated the western hemlock as the official state tree in 1947. State Symbols USA)

Cooke Aquaculture gets approval from state wildlife agency to farm steelhead in Puget Sound
Cooke Aquaculture Pacific has been granted a five-year permit to farm steelhead in Puget Sound. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) approved the company’s permit Tuesday, allowing Cooke to transition its net pens from Atlantic salmon to all-female, mostly sterile steelhead. After hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped a Cooke net-pen structure in 2017, the company faced some $332,000 in fines over water quality. Following the escapes, the Legislature in March 2018 voted to phase out farming of nonnative fish — including Atlantic salmon — in Washington waters. The company’s pivot to steelhead could allow it to continue operating in Washington waters, something opponents of the fish-farming industry have promised to fight. Evan Bush reports. (Seattle Times)

Partnership explores revised measures of Puget Sound health, as 2020 deadline arrives
Chris Dunagan in Our Water Ways writes: "It is the year 2020. You could say that the time has run out for restoring Puget Sound to a healthy condition. But time marches on. When the Legislature created the Puget Sound Partnership in 2007, lawmakers included this sentence in state law: “It is the goal of the state that the health of Puget Sound be restored by 2020.” The Partnership then proceeded to establish “Vital Signs indicators” to measure progress along the path to restoration, along with “targets” that describe the conditions that should be observed by 2020. While a healthy Puget Sound is still a distant goal, restoration work continues throughout Puget Sound. Today, scientists better understand what it will take to achieve a healthy ecosystem, and they will soon unveil some new ways of measuring progress — which I will touch on later in this blog post..."

Trump rolls back US water pollution controls
The Trump administration is set to scrap protections for America's streams and wetlands, repealing Barack Obama's Waters of the United States regulation. The move, expected Thursday, will dismantle federal protections for more than half of wetlands and hundreds of small waterways in the US. The White House says the change will be a victory for American farmers. But critics say the change will be destructive - part of Mr Trump's wider assault on environmental protections. (BBC)

The Cost of a Salish Sea Oil Spill? We Still Don’t Know
An oil spill in the Salish Sea could be ecologically devastating. That’s widely accepted. But how much would it cost? Apparently, no one knows...[A] November 2019 study commissioned by California’s Office of Spill Response and Prevention....finds that a spill of heavy persistent oil—the type of crude that is often transported in the Salish Sea—could cost up to $70,386 per barrel for spills between 100 and 10,000 barrels, which works out to a potential cost of more than $700 million for a 10,000-barrel spill. Eric de Place and Paelina DeStephano report. (Sightline)

Wyoming asks Supreme Court to decide challenge to blocked Washington coal terminal
Gov. Mark Gordon announced Tuesday that Wyoming will take legal action against Washington state over its blocking of a key coal export terminal, a decision long awaited by state lawmakers who see the west coast terminal as crucial to bringing Powder River Basin coal to international markets. Wyoming has joined Montana in asking the U.S. Supreme Court for a hearing on the dispute. By blocking the construction of the largest coal export terminal on the west coast, Washington sought to regulate interstate commerce and thereby violated the Dormant Commerce Clause and Foreign Commerce Closure of the U.S. Constitution, the two coal-producing states allege.  Camille Erickson and Nick Reynolds report. (Casper Star-Tribune)

12 arrested in Victoria during occupation of provincial government offices over Coastal GasLink pipeline
Victoria police say its officers took 12 people into custody following an occupation protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline project. The group had started a sit-in in the lobby at 11 a.m. PT at the provincial government building in the 1800-block of Blanshard Avenue on Tuesday. The youth are supporting Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose the 670-kilometre LNG pipeline project from B.C.'s northeast to Kitimat on the coast. Coastal GasLink has signed benefit agreements with all 20 elected band councils along the route. But the hereditary chiefs argue band councils only have jurisdiction over reserve lands, not unceded territories. (Canadian Press)

What’s in Puget Sound? New technique casts a wide net for concerning chemicals
The waters of Puget Sound support many species, including mussels, salmon and killer whales. But researchers know that runoff from land in the urbanized areas might contain chemicals that could harm these creatures, even if it’s not always clear which chemicals are the most harmful. Existing methods track specific chemicals of known concern. Until recently, however, there was no way to find out what other potentially harmful compounds might be present in the water. Using a new “non-targeted” approach, researchers at the University of Washington and UW Tacoma screened samples from multiple regions of Puget Sound to look for other concerning chemicals. The team identified 64 chemicals never detected before in this waterway. Eight chemicals were at potentially hazardous concentrations that will need further investigation. The team published these results Dec. 30 in Environmental Science & Technology. Sarah McQuate reports. (UW News)

Planning commission hears arguments on Guemes Island water issues
Advocates of changes to water policy on Guemes Island spoke Tuesday evening during a public hearing in front of the Skagit County Planning Commission.  Because of the increasing threats of limited groundwater and seawater intrusion in wells, members of the Guemes Island Planning Advisory Committee has proposed amendments to the county's comprehensive plan to relax regulations on using rainwater as a domestic water source and to enforce county code that requires pre-approval to dig new wells. In late December, county planning staff recommended against approving the two proposed amendments, instead suggesting tweaks or re-interpretations of existing code. Brandon Stone reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  229 AM PST Thu Jan 23 2020   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST THIS MORNING   
TODAY  S wind 15 to 25 kt easing to 10 to 20 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. SW swell 10 ft at 10 seconds.  Rain in the morning then rain likely in the afternoon. 
TONIGHT  E wind 5 to 15 kt becoming SE after midnight. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 10 ft at 14 seconds. Rain.



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