7/15 Yellowjacket, BC econ, spot prawns, Biden's climate, Dakota pipe, coastal floods, NEPA, old growth logging, 100 green rules, Trump's birds, GAOA, Colstrip

Yellowjacket [WikiCommons]

Yellowjackets Vespula ssp.
Yellowjackets (including hornets) and paper wasps are the most common types of wasps encountered in Washington. Wasps have slender bodies with a narrow waist and appear smooth and shiny. Their feeding habits differ greatly from bees. Most wasps prey on insects, including caterpillars, flies, crickets, and other pests. Like bees, wasps will sting in defense of its colony or itself. In late summer and fall, yellowjackets become aggressive scavengers, sometimes stinging without being provoked. The wasp's stinger has small barbs which do not embed in the skin. Wasps can sting repeatedly, and will often do so if threatened or protecting their nest. (WA Dept. of Health)

B.C. forecasting 'staggering' $12.5B deficit due to COVID-19 pandemic
The British Columbia government is forecasting a $12.5 billion deficit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, five months after the provincial budget featured a marginal surplus. Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Finance Minister Carole James called the projected scenarios "staggering, but not without hope." "This could be the worst downturn experienced in our province in recent history," she said. Michelle Ghoussoub reports. (CBC)

B.C. spot-prawn market ‘in the toilet’ as Asian glut slashes prices
A glut of spot prawns stockpiled in Asia and export problems caused by the pandemic mean B.C. fishermen will get a lot less for their fresh catch or will store it frozen until markets improve. It isn’t immediately clear if retail prices for the local seafood delicacy will decline. A survey of some retailers show spot prawns are selling for between $20 and $39 a pound. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

Joe Biden Outlines $2 Trillion Climate Plan
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday outlined an updated climate plan, seeking to invest $2 trillion to boost clean energy and rebuild infrastructure. The proposal is the second plank of his new economic agenda called “Build Back Better,” which he first detailed last week in Pennsylvania. Biden’s climate initiative calls to chart the United States on “an irreversible path” to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Alana Wise reports. (NPR)

Court Halts Dakota Access Pipeline Shutdown As Legal Fight Goes Forward
The Dakota Access Pipeline may continue to pump crude oil through South Dakota after a federal appellate court on Tuesday temporarily blocked a shutdown ordered by a lower court that was to begin next month. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an administrative stay that will be in effect at least through next Thursday while the pipeline’s operator, Energy Transfer LP, and its opponents file briefs on whether the shutdown should be reversed. Vanessa Romo and Scott Neuman reports (NPR)

New Data Show an ‘Extraordinary’ Rise in U.S. Coastal Flooding
Parts of the United States saw record levels of high-tide flooding last year as rising seas brought water further into coastal homes and infrastructure, government scientists reported Tuesday.The increase in high-tide flooding along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts since 2000 has been “extraordinary,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported, with the frequency of flooding in some cities growing fivefold during that time. That shift is damaging homes, imperiling the safety of drinking water, inundating roads and otherwise hurting coastal communities, the agency said. Christopher Flavelle reports. (NY Times)

Forest Service Considers Changing Rule That Prevented Logging Of Some Northwest Old-Growth Trees
The U.S. Forest Service is considering changing a rule that prevents logging of large trees on national forestland in parts of Washington and Oregon.  Federal officials say it’s an important update that could help tame large-scale wildfires. Conservation groups worry the amendment process has been rushed and could damage important forest habitat. The land management plans, known as the “Eastside Screens,” came about in 1995 to protect old growth trees east of the Cascades. The rules were meant to be temporary. The Forest Service wants to amend a section of the policy called the “21-inch rule,” which prohibits harvesting trees that are greater than 21-inches in diameter. Courtney Flatt reports. (NW News Network)

Nixon signed this key environmental law. Trump plans to change it to speed up pipelines, highway projects and more.
President Trump plans this week to overhaul a federal law that poor and minority communities around the country have used for generations to delay or stop projects that threaten to pollute their neighborhoods — a law he says needlessly blocks good jobs, industry and public works. The president’s plan to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock environmental law signed with much fanfare by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970, would make it easier to build highways, pipelines, chemical plants and other projects that pose environmental risks. Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis report. (Washington Post)

The Trump Administration Is Reversing 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List
After three years in office, the Trump administration has dismantled most of the major climate and environmental policies the president promised to undo. Calling the rules unnecessary and burdensome to the fossil fuel industry and other businesses, his administration has weakened Obama-era limits on planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and from cars and trucks, and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water and toxic chemicals. Several major reversals have been finalized in recent months as the country has struggled to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Repka and Kendra Pierre-Louis report.  (NY Times)

Bird law’s rollback leaves conservation to states
Migratory birds have been protected for a century under the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), but a rollback of that federal law has turned conservation into a piecemeal network of state laws and regional efforts. To combat shrinking global bird numbers, states and towns are turning to collaborative conservation programs. Jules Struck reports. (Christian Science Monitor) See also: Millions of Birds in Trump’s Crosshairs  What are the implications for the Olympic Peninsula? Karen Sullivan writes. (Rainshadow Journal)

America’s great outdoors is showing its age. Congress is proposing a facelift.
The House is expected to approve a plan next week to invest nearly $2 billion per year to restore national parks, conserve land to ward off the impacts of climate change, and put parks and playgrounds in urban areas that sorely need them. The Great American Outdoors Act, passed overwhelmingly in the Senate by a 73-to-25 vote on June 17, has been called one of the most important environmental bills in history because it could nearly eliminate a $12 billion National Park Service maintenance backlog and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for the first time since it was enacted in the 1960s. Darryl Fears and Dino Grandoni report. (Washington Post)

Regulators pause review of NorthWestern's Colstrip purchase plans
Regulators have hit the pause button on NorthWestern Energy’s proposed purchase of an increased share of Colstrip Unit 4. Citing a lack of detail about how much of Unit 4 NorthWestern is buying, the Montana Public Service Commission voted unanimously to halt the preapproval process. Northwestern had set out last December to buy a 185-megawatt share of CU4 from Colstrip’s largest owner, Puget Sound Energy. Tom Luted reports. (Billings Gazette) Also:  Montana Regulators Drill Down On NorthWestern's Proposed Colstrip Purchase  Kayla Desroches reports. (Montana Public Radio)



Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  323 AM PDT Wed Jul 15 2020   
TODAY  W wind to 10 kt rising to 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 1 ft or less building to 1 to 3 ft in the afternoon. W  swell 5 ft at 11 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 5 ft at 10 seconds.




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