1/21 Piggyback plant, Biden's orders, climate accord, Keystone XL, AnWR leases, BC salmon farms, chlorpyrifos, fish DNA

Piggyback Plant [Dan Legler]

 
Piggyback Plant Tolmiea menziesii
Piggyback Plant’s mounds of scalloped leaves make it a handsome semi-evergreen ground-cover in shade or part sun. Slender flower stalks in April to June grow one to three feet tall, and sport small, odd, chocolate-purple flowers. Piggyback Plant grows from spreading underground stems, and it’s happiest in shade. Piggyback Plant is what botanists call monotypic. They mean that in the scientific genus Tolmiea, there’s only one species, Tolmiea menziesii. Named after two early botanical collectors in the region, William Fraser Tolmie of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and Archibald Menzies of Vancouver’s expedition, Piggyback Plant is native to only one part of the world—western North America. (Sarah Gage/WNPS)

President Biden's 17 Executive Orders in Detail
Among executive orders signed on his first day in office, President Biden:
-signed a letter to re-enter the United States in the Paris climate accords in 30 days;
-revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline;
-reversed the rollbacks to vehicle emissions standards;
-undid decisions to slash the size of several national monuments;
-enforced a temporary moratorium on oil and natural gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;
-re-established a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gasses;
-and issued a freeze on all new regulations put in motion by his predecessor to give his administration time to evaluate which ones it wants to move forward. (NY Times)

Biden rejoins Paris climate accord, works to overturn Trump’s climate policies
President-elect Joe Biden plans to sign a slew of executive orders Wednesday afternoon aimed at unwinding President Trump’s environmental legacy, from restoring boundaries to national monuments to rejoining the Paris climate accord to reviving the government's role in protecting the air, water and endangered species. Juliet Eilperin, Steven Mufson and Brady Dennis report. (Washington Post)

Keystone Rejection Tests Trudeau’s Balancing Act on Climate and Energy
One of President Biden’s first acts upon taking office was to cancel the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, the long-debated project to transport crude from Canada’s oil sands to the United States. But Canadian officials, notably in Alberta, the province where the pipeline originates, are not giving up so fast...Days before Mr. Biden’s official announcement, the premier of Alberta had issued a statement vowing legal action. On Wednesday, Jason Kenney, the premier, demanded that Mr. Trudeau also bring trade sanctions against the United States if he is unable to persuade the American president to reverse course. Ian Austen reports. (NY Times)

Trump administration issues most leases sold for ANWR oil and gas development
The Trump administration on Tuesday issued 10-year leases on nine tracts in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, teeing up a last-minute effort to allow oil and gas drilling there that will likely soon be opposed by President-elect Joe Biden and the newly Democratic-led Congress. Two of the tracts that received bids in the lease sale will not be issued, after the Alaska state agency that bid on them decided not to pursue the leases, an official confirmed Tuesday. Alex DeMarban reports. (Anchorage Daily News)

Discovery Islands salmon farms seek judicial review of federal phase out
Two salmon farming operations have applied to the Federal Court of Canada in Vancouver for a judicial review of a decision made by Fisheries Minster Bernadette Jordan to phase out fish farms on B.C.'s Discovery Islands. The decision, released on Dec. 17, 2020, states all 19 farms have to be free of fish by June 30, 2022, when their renewed 18-month licences expire and that no new fish can be brought in. (CBC)

Toxic Pesticide Faces New Scrutiny From Biden Administration
President Biden's initial wave of planned executive actions includes an order to reexamine one controversial, but widely used, pesticide called chlorpyrifos. The Trump administration had stepped in to keep the chemical on the market after Obama-era officials tried to ban it. It's just one in a long list of science-related Trump administration actions that the incoming Biden team will now revisit. In a statement, Biden promised to take a close look at all policies "that were harmful to public health, damaging to the environment, unsupported by the best available science, or otherwise not in the national interest." Dan Charles reports. (NPR)

Decades of DNA in the Ocean Depths Could Help Track Fish Populations
There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but how many did there used to be? The answer to that question is lurking in DNA hidden at the bottom of the ocean. Japanese scientists who analyzed DNA trapped in seafloor sediments have now shown, for the first time, how this preserved genetic material can be used to chart changes in fish populations over centuries. The new technique, reported in a recent study, could be used to help understand population dynamics of marine species. Mara Johnson-Groh reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Now, your tug weather--West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  227 AM PST Thu Jan 21 2021  
TODAY  E wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5 ft  at 12 seconds. A slight chance of rain in the morning. TONIGHT  E wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  5 ft at 14 seconds.

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