3/3 Primrose, Cooke net-pen, low-carbon fuel, BC LNG, Arctic sea ice, BC herring, Sound water quality, geoduck sales

Primrose

Primrose Primula polyantha
Primrose flowers bloom in early spring, offering a variety of form, size, and color.They are suitable for use in garden beds and borders as well as in containers or for naturalizing areas of the lawn. In fact, when given the proper growing conditions, these vigorous plants will multiply each year, adding stunning colors to the landscape. (Gardening Know-How)

Court upholds termination of Cooke Aquaculture net-pen lease in Port Angeles
Termination of the lease for a fish-farming operation in the harbor at Port Angeles has been upheld in Thurston County Superior Court. Cooke Aquaculture Pacific said it would appeal the ruling. Kurt Grinnell, a member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council and CEO of Jamestown Seafood, said he’s hopeful something can be worked out to keep afloat a partnership with Cooke to farm black cod and steelhead at the site. The tribe has no interest in using any of Cooke’s farms in other locations, Grinnell said, so the Port Angeles lease is a make or break for the joint venture. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Gov. Jay Inslee's low-carbon fuel standard faces tough road ahead in Washington state
Gov. Jay Inslee’s campaign to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s transportation fuels, a high-profile goal throughout his two terms in office, faces a difficult road as the Washington state Legislature heads into the final two weeks of its session. Legislation passed by the House of Representatives calls for a 20% reduction of the carbon intensity of these fuels by 2035 over 2017. The bill is being championed by a coalition of Inslee allies that includes many statehouse Democrats, environmental groups, health care workers, the Port of Seattle and some local governments...But for a second year in row, the House legislation risks dying in the state Senate Transportation Committee, where the chairman, state Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, has been hostile to this clean-fuels standard. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

Coastal GasLink pipeline construction resumes with draft accord set between chiefs, ministers
Work has resumed on a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia at the centre of protests that have disrupted both rail and road traffic across the country, but questions remain about how opponents to the project will react to workers and the RCMP re-entering Wet'suwet'en territory. The RCMP, which is under contract provincially in B.C., has resumed patrolling the area and is once again monitoring an access road that leads to the work site for the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline. (Canadian Press)

Draft agreement between governments, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs offers hope and uncertainty
No details of accord made public, but it's known that there's still no agreement on Coastal GasLink pipeline Yvette Brend reports. (CBC) Horgan maintains Wet’suwet’en deal marks no change for Coastal GasLink  
Premier John Horgan remained adamant on Monday that the agreement between the province, federal government and Wet’suwet’en First Nation over Aboriginal rights and title won’t affect the $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink project. Derrick Penner reports. (Vancouver Sum)

Arctic sea ice: Summers could be ice-free in as few as 15 years
Climate change is taking its toll on one of the world's coldest places. A study suggests that the Arctic "may be essentially ice-free during summer within 15 years." The study used statistical models to predict the future amount of Arctic ice, which suggested that the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer during the decade of the 2030s – most likely in the year 2034. Doyle Rice reports. (USA Today)

Wildlife advocacy groups upset herring fishery forging ahead
Wildlife advocates are speaking out, with this year’s Salish Sea herring fishery on the horizon. They say coastal British Columbia’s herring stocks are collapsing and the fishery is only making matters worse. Advocacy groups including Conservancy Hornby Island are calling for a moratorium on the province’s last remaining herring fishery. It claims that with less than 56,000 tonnes of herring, it’s the lowest numbers since the industrial collapse of the herring fishery in the 1950s, adding that the Department of  permits a quota “unchanged since 1983.” Troy Landreville reports. (My Campbell River Now)

McMorris Rodgers requests EPA look into Puget Sound water pollution in Washington
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should look into water pollution occurring in her home state of Washington to help recover endangered salmon and orcas, said U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA). EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler specifically should consider the lack of action under Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, regarding Puget Sound, McMorris Rodgers said during a Feb. 27 hearing on the fiscal year 2020 EPA budget held by the U.S. Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment and Climate Change. “For too long, Governor Inslee and others have turned a blind eye to the issues in their own backyard, and instead pointed a finger to eastern Washington as the source of all their problems and how we save salmon,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers told Wheeler during the hearing. “But yet nearly every week we have to defend our dams from those who refuse to look at the science and the facts.” (Ripon Advance Mews Service)

Coronavirus hits a WA geoduck industry already struggling with tariffs
In the muddy tideflats of South Puget Sound, geoduck farmer Jim Gibbons was gearing up for a banner month in January. Each day, up to 6,000 pounds of orders were pouring in to his company, Seattle Shellfish. Geoducks make up 85 percent of the company’s revenue, and most of those orders come from Asia, mostly China, where the uniquely Salish Sea shellfish is a popular delicacy for Lunar New Year celebrations. Until Thursday, Jan. 23, the day before the new year. “That was the day Wuhan shut down,” Gibbons told Crosscut via phone. “And we haven’t sold any to China since then.” Gregory Scruggs reports. (Crosscut)




Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  257 AM PST Tue Mar 3 2020   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING   
TODAY  SW wind 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 8 ft  at 14 seconds. Rain likely in the morning then rain in the  afternoon. 
TONIGHT  W wind 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 9 ft  at 14 seconds. Rain in the evening then a chance of rain after  midnight.



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