10/5 Arum, BP biofuel, PA stormwater, Pipeline Safety Trust, GasLink protest, Yukon salmon, Skagit salmon, coral reef kill, prize in physics

Italian arum [NWCB]

Italian arum Arum italicum
Italian arum is poisonous, harms riparian and other sensitive habitats, and is extremely difficult to control. It has escaped in several counties in western Washington and is invading more areas rapidly. Originally cultivated as a garden ornamental, Italian arum grows in partial to full shade. Although it prefers moist, humumsy soils, Italian arum can grow in nearly any soil and can tolerate drought once established. Italian arum has been escaping cultivation and is now establishing in forests, in disturbed urban areas, near streams and rivers, and in wetlands. Although the noxious weed control community is working hard on a solution, so far infestations around Washington and Oregon have proven nearly impossible to kill. For example, a 2-acre infestation on Lopez Island actually worsened after it was repeatedly mowed, dug, torched (in winter), and then covered with a heavy tarp. (Washington Noxious Weed Control Board)

BP to more than double renewable diesel production at Cherry Point refinery
BP will spend $269 million at the Cherry Point refinery in Whatcom County to produce more renewable diesel, a biofuel, and make other improvements that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 7%, according to a corporate statement. The investment comes as BP, one of the world’s largest oil companies, has been under increasing scrutiny for its historic role in producing, refining and marketing fossil fuels that drive climate change. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

Port of Port Angeles accused on EPA rules
The Port of Port Angeles is entering into settlement talks with the Environmental Protection Agency over alleged stormwater-related Clean Water Act violations, some of which port officials say have been addressed. Port commissioners, citing potential litigation at the end of their regular meeting Sept. 28, went into executive session before emerging and unanimously approving, without discussion, Commissioner Connie Beavuais’ motion to reach a resolution without going to court. Paul Gottlieb reports.(Peninsula Daily News)

This Bellingham-based nonprofit getting a ‘transformative’ grant from the U.S. government 
On Wednesday, Sept. 29, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration announced that it would award $1 million in grant funding to the Pipeline Safety Trust. The trust was founded in the aftermath of the deadly 1999 Olympic gas pipeline explosion in Bellingham’s Whatcom Creek. It has been fighting for over a decade to make sure similar incidents don’t happen. Ysabelle Kempe reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Pipeline Standoff: Wet’suwet’en Block Effort to Tunnel under Morice River
On Sept. 24, protesters used Coastal GasLink’s own machinery to dig up the rough resource road that connects this junction to a worksite two kilometres beyond. A camp was established at the site and a school bus used to block access. The school bus has since been removed — twice — by RCMP and Coastal GasLink before being returned to its place in the road, which has been roughly repaired by the pipeline company. Amanda Follett Hosgood report. (The Tyee)

Alaska’s vanishing salmon push Yukon River tribes to brink
Two salmon species have all but disappeared from Alaska’s Yukon River this year, prompting the state to shut down fishing in an effort to save them. Nathan Howard and Gillian Flacccus report. (Associated Press)

Salmon fishing seasons extended on Skagit, Cascade rivers
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has extended salmon fisheries on the Skagit and Cascade rivers. The agency announced in news releases Friday that the number of coho salmon returning to the rivers is “sufficient to allow for the recreational salmon season to extend” and make up “for some opportunity lost during the conflict-avoidance closures.” Those closures occur when tribes conduct their fisheries. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Climate change killed 14% of the world’s coral reefs in a decade, study finds
Climate change will kill even more coral reefs if oceans keep getting warmer, scientists warn in a far-reaching study. Ellen Francis reports. (Washington Post)

Nobel Prize in Physics Honors Work on Climate Change
Three scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for work that “laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it.” The winners were Syukuro Manabe of Princeton University, Klaus Hasselmann of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and Giorgio Parisi of the Sapienza University of Rome. The work of all three is essential to understanding how Earth’s climate is changing and how human behavior is influencing those changes. Cade Metz, Marc Santora and Cora Engelbrecht report. (NY Times)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  214 AM PDT Tue Oct 5 2021   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM PDT THIS MORNING  THROUGH THIS EVENING   
TODAY  E wind 5 to 15 kt becoming S 15 to 25 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less building to 2 to 4 ft in the  afternoon. W swell 4 ft at 11 seconds. Rain in the morning then a  chance of rain in the afternoon. 
TONIGHT  S wind 10 to 20 kt becoming SE to 10 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less after  midnight. W swell 4 ft at 10 seconds. Rain likely in the evening  then showers and a slight chance of tstms after midnight.

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