3/11 Silver pine, tsunami, Michael Regan, oil tanker threat, youth climate suit, land use climate, Powell River sewage, Site C dam

Silver pine [WSU]

 
Silver pine Pinus monticola
Silver pine, also called Western white pine and California mountain pine, in the family Pinaceae, is a species of pine that occurs in the mountains of the western United States and Canada, specifically the Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and the northern Rocky Mountains. (Wikipedia)

Ten years after Japanese tsunami, B.C. coastal cleanup remains fresh in minds
Among the trash that regularly washes up on British Columbia's rugged shorelines,  Karla Robison still keeps her eyes peeled for pieces of humanity lost a world away. "We don't call the tsunami debris, garbage," she says, reflecting on the 2011 Japanese disaster. "We were finding bits of people's homes or buildings, that had floated all the way over to our shoreline." Robison, the District of Ucluelet environmental service manager, has spent much of the past decade coordinating efforts to clean up Vancouver Island's western coastline. (CBC)

Senate Confirms Biden’s Pick to Lead E.P.A.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Michael S. Regan, the former top environmental regulator for North Carolina, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and drive some of the Biden administration’s biggest climate and regulatory policies. Lisa Friedman reports. (NY Times)

Oil tanker traffic could endanger Indigenous way of life
While most protests against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion are happening on the land, the federal government has recognized that some of the project’s greatest risks concern potentially catastrophic spills on the water. That’s because the expansion is expected to spur at least a sevenfold increase in the number of oil tankers plying the waters of the Salish Sea, the body of saltwater shared by British Columbia and Washington state. Braela Kwan reports. (Investigate West) See also: Fighting British Columbia’s pipelines to the last mile  Braela Kwan reports. (Investigate West)

Youth climate activists try to bring back federal lawsuit
Youth climate activists are attempting to bring back their suit against the federal government. They filed a motion Tuesday in federal court in Eugene to amend their lawsuit, Julianna v. United States, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. A three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year found a federal judge lacked the power to order or design a climate recovery plan in the high-profile climate change lawsuit. They noted that such a remedy should be made by the nation’s politicians or voters. Twenty-one young people sued the government six years ago, arguing a constitutional right to a sustainable climate and asked the federal court to order the United States to prepare an energy plan that moves the country away from fossil fuels. Now, their lawyers are asking a U.S. District Court judge to allow them to change their suit to seek a different ruling: that the nation’s fossil fuel-based energy system is unconstitutional. (Associated Press)

Bill would add climate-change factors to state planning law
Climate change is the second-most-common problem that state Rep. Davina Duerr hears about from her constituents...Those woes inspired the Bothell Democrat to co-sponsor House Bill 1099, which would update Washington’s Growth Management Act (GMA). The 30-year-old law was designed to limit growth beyond city boundaries. Among other significant changes, the bill would require that the 10 largest counties plan for climate change by reducing greenhouse gases and vehicle miles traveled, and that all counties prepare for climate impacts such as increased fires and floods... Republicans testified that it wasn’t the right tool to address climate change, or they doubted the climate is changing, or they feared it would worsen the housing crisis. Julie Titone reports. (Everett Herald)

City of Powell River to examine tertiary treatment addition for wastewater plant
City of Powell River Council has directed staff to explore expanding the level of treatment at the consolidated wastewater treatment plant, which is under construction. At the March 4 city council meeting, council carried a motion to direct staff to explore funding opportunities to support detailed design and construction of phase one of a tertiary treatment system, and opportunities for piloting an advanced oxidation process system or other advanced treatment system for removal of contaminants of emerging concern. (Powell River Peak)

Site C: 10 things you need to know about the dam’s latest review now that B.C. is forging ahead
Here’s what we know (and what we still don’t) about Site C’s ballooning costs and the Milburn report, which flagged an ongoing lack of oversight at what is now the most expensive dam project in Canadian history. Sarah Cox reports. (The Narwhal)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  244 AM PST Thu Mar 11 2021   
TODAY  SE wind 10 to 20 kt. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 3 ft  at 11 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 11 seconds.

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