2/5 Pacific yew, TMX ruling, Hamilton flooding, WA Clear Air Rule. protect WA water rights

Pacific yew [Jason Hollinger]

Pacific Yew Taxus brevifolia
The Pacific Yew (Pacific Yew) is found from British Columbia to Northern California from the coast to the Cascades, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas and the western slope of the Rockies in B.C., Idaho and Montana.  Rarely ever numerous, it is usually found as an understory tree in moist old growth forests growing beneath other larger trees such as Western Hemlock and Douglas Fir. Brevifolia means short leaves. (Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest)

With its legal hurdles all but cleared, TMX’s challenges move to different court — the street  
With the last legal challenge to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project all but eliminated, experts say opposition to the pipeline now will move from the courts to the streets. “We always said we’d do what it takes to stop this pipeline,” said Rueben George, manager of the TWN Sacred Trust and a member of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, one of three First Nations that filed the legal challenge. Geoffrey Morgan reports. (Canadian Press) See also: First Nations respond to Trans Mountain appeal decision  Chantelle Bellrichard reports. (CBC)

Hamilton might be the most flooded town in Washington. Why won't anyone move? 
A Seattle nonprofit invested in a $1 million effort to provide the 300 residents of Hamilton with a route to higher ground. But some residents insist, ‘We're not relocating.’ Levi Pulkkinen reports. (Crosscut)

Bill seeks to fully reinstate Clean Air Rule
A House bill seeks to fully reinstate Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan to cap carbon pollution in the state by giving additional authority to the state Department of Ecology on who they can regulate. The proposal is a response to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that said the state’s Clean Air Rule cannot apply to companies that sell or distribute petroleum or natural gas because they don’t make their own emissions. In a 5-4 ruling last month, the state’s high court said that the Department of Ecology only has the authority to regulate “actual emitters.” Rachel LaCorte reports. (Associated Press)

Lawmakers want to protect water rights in Washington from Wall Street speculation
Worries that moneyed interests could control Washington’s water have sparked a push in Olympia to cut Wall Street bankers and international investors out of the state’s convoluted water rights system. Competing bills introduced during this legislative session take aim at the state’s water banks, which collect untapped water rights and sell water to users in need. Although the proposed legislation has received only tepid support, a consensus is emerging that action is needed to keep speculators from using water banking, as one state senator puts it, to “strangle” Washingtonians. Water banks collect water rights from rural landowners who have permission to take more water than they need. The banks then sell access to water to customers whose water rights are either too new or too small to meet their needs. Levi Pulkkinen reports. (Investigate West)


Now, your tug weather--West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  843 PM PST Tue Feb 4 2020   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT   
WED  W wind 10 to 20 kt. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 13 ft at  15 seconds. Rain in the morning then rain likely in the  afternoon. 
WED NIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  12 ft at 14 seconds. A chance of rain in the evening then rain  after midnight.




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