1/11 Lichen, A5 return, HEAL Act, Trump's climate, chafer, Trump's lending rule, OR Dungeness crabs, Site C dam

Lichen [Laurie MacBride]

 

I’m Lichen the Diversity
Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "A silver lining of sticking close to home is having more time to notice and appreciate the beautiful little details that are often right in front of one’s nose. Such was the case when I picked up the alder branch in these photos, which had fallen across one of our trails. I intended to toss it aside, but instead, I looked more closely, and found it interesting enough to carry to our patio table to photograph." (Read more)

Whale families bring calf along on return trip to traditional feeding grounds in B.C.
Two northern resident killer whale families brought along a baby as they returned for the first time in 20 years to their traditional winter foraging grounds in British Columbia waters. Jared Towers, a scientist with the Fisheries Department, said he spotted the group, collectively known as A5, this week in the Broughton Archipelago, where they once fed on chinook salmon before being driven out by deafening acoustic "harassment devices'' installed by fish farms. Camille Bains reports. (Canadian Press) See also: First orca baby of the year in B.C. named Ne’nakw  Zoe Ducklow reports. (Saanich News)

Push for climate reparations, environmental justice continues this session with HEAL Act
As state lawmakers gear up for the new legislative session, advocates for environmental justice are urging them to pass the HEAL Act of 2021. The acronym stands for “Healthy Environment for All.” It aims to target state investments into areas that have suffered the worst effects of pollution. Many of those places have already been pinpointed in the Washington Health Disparities Map that was launched by the state Department of Health in January 2019. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

TRANSITION: Biden climate team says it underestimated Trump's damage
Potentially lowering expectations for the incoming president's early climate efforts, Biden officials say their agency review teams have found deeper budget cuts, wider staff losses and more systematic elimination of climate programs and research than they realized. Some climate moves can't happen until Biden officials remedy those deficiencies, a senior transition official said, because "those have been very carefully directed budget cuts to the very parts of the [EPA] that are going to be necessary to get rid of [Trump's] outrageous rollbacks." Adam Aton reports. (E&E News)

Move over murder hornets: There's a new bug in town — and it's coming for your lawn
....The grubs are the larvae of the European chafer, a nonnative scarab beetle first spotted in Washington state in 2008. By 2016, the chafer had taken up permanent residence near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. “It’s just been exploding since we first found it,” said Todd Murray, director of Washington State University’s Puyallup Research and Extension Center. The beetles’ initial proximity to the airport suggests they may have hitchhiked on cargo planes, but multiple routes are possible including overland shipments of agricultural products. They’ve now spread as far south as Puyallup and as far north as Kirkland and aren’t about to stop, Murray said. Sandi Doughton reports. (Seattle Times)

Trump Regulator's Rule Would Force Banks To Lend To Gun-Makers And Oil Drillers
The Trump administration is trying to push through a last minute rule that could force banks to offer loans to gun-makers, oil exploration companies, or to finance high-cost payday lenders. The move follows announcements by the biggest U.S. banks that there are some industries and activities they don't want to finance, such as drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or making loans to gun manufacturers who make assault-style weapons. Some major banks have sworn off making those loans. Now, a Trump-appointed banking regulator is pushing for a rule that considers that an unfair discriminatory practice. Chris Arnold reports. (NPR)

Oregon Dungeness crab vessels are finally headed to sea
Three-and-a-half weeks into Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab season, crab boats are finally heading out to sea. Haggling over the opening price was the sticking point between processors and fishermen.  An agreement on $2.75 per pound was announced Friday night. Brian Bull reports. (KLCC)

Site C dam takes staged return to work, cabinet ponders project fate
Provincial health orders aimed at controlling COVID-19 slowed work on dam, but it does continue as cabinet reviews independent assessment of its future. Derrick Penner reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Jellyfish Build Walls of Water to Swim Around the Ocean
Locomotion through the seas can be arduous. Water is more viscous than air, and so underwater creatures must overcome strong frictional resistance as they swim. To make things more difficult, liquid water provides nothing solid to push off against. But lowly jellyfish, which have swum in the world’s oceans for half a billion years, have come up with an elegant, efficient means of propulsion. Kenneth Chang reports. (NY Times)

Now, your tug weather--West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  320 AM PST Mon Jan 11 2021   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT   
TODAY  S wind 10 to 20 kt becoming SE to 10 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less in the  afternoon. W swell 13 ft at 13 seconds. Rain in the morning then  a chance of rain in the afternoon. 
TONIGHT  E wind 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell  12 ft at 13 seconds. Rain.

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