10/10 Salmon woes, Lorraine Loomis, SRKW, hypoxia, fish farm flaws, Pt Wells condo, SuperFund cleanup, Sally Jewell, coal rules

Black huckleberry [NativePlantsPNW]

Black Huckleberry Vaccinium membranaceum
Black huckleberries are among the most delicious of all our Vanccinium species, and they are produced in great abundance on some sites, especially old burns that have only sparse tree regeneration. In parts of the Cascade Mountains, the berries are picked for sale… In Nuxalt taxonomy, this berry is the type species of fruits and its name translates as 'berry/fruit.' The Kwakwaka'wakw cooked the berries with salmon roe, and the Schelt smoke-dried them using the plant's own branches as fuel. (Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast)

Acidic oceans, warm rivers threaten Northwest salmon
What is the future of the Columbia River and its salmon? Look to 2015. That year’s extraordinary combination of overheated river water and low flows killed hundreds of thousands of returning sockeye salmon, devastating a run that had rebounded from near-extinction. Millions of new sockeye and steelhead smolts migrating the opposite way, to the Pacific, died throughout the river system; only 157 endangered sockeye made it back to the Sawtooth Valley this year. By the middle of this century, scientists suggest, the temperatures we saw in 2015 will be the norm. The low snowpack and streamflows were examples of what the Pacific Northwest should expect at the end of this century due to rapid climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, climatologists say. Rocky Barker reports. (Idaho Statesman)

Empty nets signal trouble for Columbia River salmon
Scientists have been hauling survey nets through the ocean off the coasts of Washington and Oregon for 20 years. But this is the first time some have come up empty. “We were really worrying if there was something wrong with our equipment,” said David Huff, estuarine and ocean ecology program manager in the fish ecology division at NOAA Fisheries. “We have never hauled that net through the water looking for salmon or forage fish and not gotten a single salmon. Three times we pulled that net up, and there was not a thing in it. We looked at each other, like, ‘this is really different than anything we have ever seen.’ “It was alarming.” Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Buoyed by the legacy of Billy Frank Jr., Lorraine Loomis continues the fight
Lorraine Loomis’ office resides just a short walk from the Swinomish Channel in Skagit County. Across the waterway, with its fishing vessels awaiting their next adventure, sits quaint La Conner. Across the street is the Swinomish Fish Company. Seagulls cackle as they fly above the water. The air is pungent with sea salt…. Now pollution, loss of habitat and urban growth are wreaking havoc on sea life and the environment. At age 77, Loomis is taking on those challenges and uncertainties of the salmon’s future as chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC), a position once held by the late Billy Frank Jr. Mark Yuasa reports. (Crosscut)

Experts gather in Vancouver to brainstorm on southern resident whale recovery
With only 77 orcas remaining, scientists, Indigenous groups, industry and government look for answers. The latest endeavour for the recovery effort of the whales — listed as endangered in the United States and species at risk in Canada — comes this week to Vancouver where scientists, industry, Indigenous groups, government officials and others meet Oct. 11-12 in a symposium looking for solutions. The symposium is being held as part of the federal government's Oceans Protection Plan that was announced last November. Terri Theodore reports. (Canadian Press)

Coastal Researchers, Fishermen Concerned About More Frequent Low Oxygen Zones
Scientists in Oregon and Washington are noticing a disruptive ocean phenomenon is becoming more frequent and extreme. It involves a suffocating ribbon of low oxygen seawater over our continental shelf. The technical term is hypoxia, sometimes called "dead zones," It's an unwelcome variation on normal upwelling of cold, nutrient rich water from the deep ocean. When the dissolved oxygen drops too low, it drives away fish and can suffocate bottom dwellers such as crabs and sea worms who can't scurry away fast enough. Tom Banse reports. (NW News Network)

State gives fish farm operator 60 days to fix flaws in Puget Sound net pen
The operator of a salmon farming operation in Puget Sound has been given 60 days to fix flaws in its Rich Passage net pen facility or face possible closure, state officials said Monday. The order comes after an inspection by the state Department of Natural Resources found problems with Cooke Aquaculture’s Atlantic salmon net pens in Rich Passage. Cooke Aquaculture's other net pens off Cypress Island collapsed Aug. 19, releasing tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound, and now the company wants to transfer about 1 million juvenile Atlantic salmon from a hatchery near Rochester to the Rich Passage net pens…. On Monday, DNR issued a "letter of default" to Cooke Aquaculture, which gives the company 60 days to make repairs to the Rich Passage facility. If the company cannot make those repairs in that time, its lease for the state-owned aquatic lands on which the facility sits can be terminated. (KOMO)

Plan for 3,080 waterfront condos still lacking, county says
A developer needs to address lingering questions about plans to build 3,080 waterfront condos at Point Wells, including parking, landslide hazards and cleaning up industrial contamination, Snohomish County staff said Friday. Blue Square Real Estate has until Jan. 8 to supply missing information, according to a letter from county planners. The deadline is intended to give county staff time to review the information before BSRE’s permit applications are set to expire in mid-2018. The next step in the approval process would be a draft environmental impact statement. Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)

Portland Harbor Superfund Site Cleanup Could Be Delayed By EPA
The Trump administration has a new plan for the Portland Harbor Superfund site that Oregon officials say could reverse progress toward cleaning up toxic pollution in the Willamette River. Oregon environmental regulators and officials with the city of Portland have sent letters to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expressing their concerns about a draft agreement between the EPA and some of the companies responsible for cleaning up the site. The agreement would require redoing complicated environmental studies and investigations, they say, which would delay a process that has already taken more than 16 years. Furthermore, they say the EPA left key state and tribal leaders out of the negotiations and may have violated previous agreements. Cassandra Profita reports. (OPB/EarthFix)

Sally Jewell on what’s at stake in Trump’s Interior Department
Sally Jewell was Interior secretary under President Barack Obama from April 2013 until his term ended in January 2017. At the department, the former CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc. undertook a “forward-looking reform agenda,” emphasizing science-based land and water conservation, renewable energy development on public land, and better relations with Native American tribal nations. Brian Calvert reports. (High Country News/Crosscut)

EPA Chief Announces Reversal Of Obama-Era Curbs On Coal Plants
The Trump administration will scuttle an Obama-era clean power plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, made the announcement in Hazard, Ky., on Monday, saying the rule hurt coal-fired plants. “The EPA and no federal agency should ever use its authority to say to you we are going to declare war on any sector of our economy,” Pruitt said, speaking at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “That rule really was about picking winners and losers,” the EPA administrator said. According to The Associated Press, the EPA is “expected to declare the Obama-era rule exceeded federal law by setting emissions standards that power plants could not reasonably meet.” Scott Neuman reports. (NPR) See also: Trump killing the Clean Power Plan does little for Montana coal energy  Tom Lutey reports. (Billings Gazette) And also: 'I just couldn't do it:' The ambassador who quit over climate change  Ashley Ahearn reports. (Terrestrial)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  247 AM PDT Tue Oct 10 2017  
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM PDT THIS MORNING  THROUGH THIS EVENING  
TODAY  W wind 10 to 20 kt rising to 20 to 25 kt by late this  morning. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft, building to 3 to 5 ft. W swell 6  ft at 13 seconds. Rain likely in the morning.
TONIGHT  W wind 15 to 25 kt easing to 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft subsiding to 2 ft or less after  midnight. W swell 8 ft at 12 seconds. A slight chance of showers.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/9 Sound state, no-discharge, martens, big dock, Gorst Cr., paper sale, Shina Wysocki, Navy dolphins, summer chum

Water jellyfish [Wikipedia]

Water Jellyfish Aequorea victoria
Our largest hydrozoan jelly, up to 5 inches in diameter. Transparent bell is thick and gelatinous; underparts are lined with 50 to 150 radial canals. An equal number of long slender tentacles hang from margin of bell. Perhaps the most luminescent of our larger jellyfishes; glows in the dark when touches. (Marine Life of Puget Sound, the San Juans, and the Strait of Georgia)

New blog: Little Progress Made Towards A Puget Sound "Fishable, Swimmable, Diggable," Says Partnership After 10 Years
Governor Christine Gregoire 10 years ago coined the awful clunky phrase "fishable, swimmable, diggable" to describe the progress to be made to Puget Sound recovery by the year 2020. Sadly, the next State of the Sound Report presented to the Partnership’s Leadership Council late last month pretty much tells the same story of previous progress reports: "We have done many good things, but the system has not yet responded positively." Why not?…

Should boats be prohibited from dumping sewage in Puget Sound?
A proposed rule that would ban boats from dumping raw or treated sewage in Puget Sound is available for public comment. The Department of Ecology has proposed the Northwest’s first no discharge zone, which would span 2,300 square miles from the Canadian border to the Discovery Island Lighthouse and waters east of the New Dungeness Lighthouse. It also would include Lake Washington, Lake Union, and connecting waters to Puget Sound. A no discharge zone is a designated body of water where boats are not allowed to discharge sewage. The Environmental Protection Agency approved the state’s plan earlier this year, finding that there were enough facilities nearby where boats could pump out sewage. There are 90 no discharge zones in 26 states. The draft is available for comment through November 30. Allison Sundell reports. (KING)

Pacific martens are missing from all over the Olympics. What's going on? 
Once common here, martens — sleek, bright-eyed mammals less than half the weight of a small house cat — appear to have virtually disappeared from their mountain redoubts. Or have they? Scientists are trying to find out what is going on with the elusive native of these mountain forests, and why. In the past 16 years, in remote camera surveys in which hundreds of thousands of images of animals were snapped by wildlife cameras all over the Olympics, only two stations caught a photo of a marten. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Chip Wilson begins building huge dock after 2-year fight with neighbours
After more than two years of trying to stop or alter Lululemon founder Chip Wilson's plans to build a huge dock at his B.C. Sunshine Coast property, neighbours say noisy construction has now begun on the project…. Construction plans show the dock's deck will be 448 square metres, but the project's footprint will be more than a quarter of an acre, including berths capable of fitting at least two 50-foot yachts. There are no local regulations on the size of docks. The dock will extend about 90 metres — almost the length of a football field — directly out from the shoreline. Plans show a ramp and large floating dock that jut away from Wilson's property and toward [next door neighbour Arnhild] Hognestad's. Rafferty Baker reports. (CBC)

Gorst creek reborn after $30 million cleanup of Navy dump
…. Since April 2016, the EPA has led a nearly $30 million effort that's not only dredged about 1,000 feet of Gorst Creek of nearly 340,000 tons of rubbish but has rebuilt and restored a fish-bearing Puget Sound stream. The change in its landscape, just off Highway 3 and about 5 miles from the creek's mouth at Sinclair Inlet, is something to which project staff is continually acclimating…. More than 10,000 truckloads of trash were hauled away, the remnants of a dump site used by the Navy and residents of the area for about 25 years beginning in the 1960s. Josh Farley reports. (Kitsap Sun)

Skagit Valley Herald among group of newspapers to be bought by Adams Publishing Group
The Skagit Valley Herald and other Skagit Publishing newspapers are being sold to family-owned Adams Publishing Group as part of a purchase of Pioneer News Group Co.’s media division…. Adams Publishing Group, based in Minneapolis, owns and operates 100 community newspapers in 11 states, including the acquisition of five newspaper publishing companies in 2016. In addition to its community newspaper company, the Adams family owns radio stations, outdoor advertising companies, a wine distribution business, label printing companies and a large interest in Camping World Holdings, a publicly traded national network of RV dealers, affinity programs, the Good Sam Club and other RV-related products and services…. Pioneer newspapers in the sale include The Skagit Valley Herald, The Anacortes American, The Argus of Burlington, The Courier-Times of Sedro-Woolley, The Stanwood Camano News (and others)… (Skagit Valley Herald)

Return to the Salish Sea: Olympia Oyster Grower Shina Wysocki
The ocean is becoming more acidic and fossil fuel emissions are making it worse. That can be lethal for oyster larvae because it inhibits their ability to form shells. But there is one variety of oyster that seems to be more able to adapt to that change. A small, family-run growing operation in Olympia has made growing it a priority. “The Olympia Oysters are more resilient to ocean acidification, which is strange because they seem to be hypersensitive to pollution in general,” says Shina Wysocki, the farm manager at Chelsea Farms who decided to start growing the smaller native species when the opportunity arose a couple years ago. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

Navy dolphins to help in fight to save porpoises from extinction
U.S. Navy-trained dolphins and their handlers arrived in Mexico Thursday to participate in a last-ditch effort to catch, enclose and protect the few dozen remaining vaquita porpoises to save them from extinction. Mexican authorities and an international group of experts say they will set out on Oct. 12 in a fleet of small boats to find the critically endangered and elusive marine mammals with the assistance of the dolphins. Mark Stevenson reports. (Associated Press)

Summer chum return in record numbers to Union River
This year, summer chum returned to the Union River to spawn and die in record numbers, signaling the health of the Union River estuary. Volunteers with the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group’s annual summer chum monitoring program recorded nearly 5,600 summer chum from Aug. 15 to October in the Union River, the third highest number recorded since 1975. Aria Shephard Bull (Mason County Life)

Now, your tug weather--
 West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  256 AM PDT Mon Oct 9 2017  
TODAY  Light wind becoming NW to 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 12 seconds. Patchy fog in the  morning.
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5  ft at 12 seconds.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/6 Gumboot chiton, Zinke, Trump's Interior, Trump's coal, Colstrip shutdown, methane rule

Gumboot chiton [Jerry Kirkhart/Flickr]

Gumboot Chiton Cryptochiton stelleri
The gumboot chiton (aka the giant western fiery chiton) is the largest of the chitons, growing to 36 cm (14 in) and over 2 kg (4.4 lb). It is found along the shores of the northern Pacific Ocean from Central California to Alaska, across the Aleutian Islands to the Kamchatka Peninsula and south to Japan.[2][3] It inhabits the lower intertidal and subtidal zones of rocky coastlines…. Unlike most chitons, the gumboot's valves are completely hidden by its leathery upper skin or girdle, which is usually reddish-brown, brown, and occasionally orange in color. The gumboot chiton's appearance has led some tidepoolers to fondly refer to it as the "wandering meatloaf." (Wikipedia)

Interior Department whistleblower resigns, calling Ryan Zinke’s leadership a failure
An Interior Department executive turned whistleblower who claimed the Trump administration retaliated against him for publicly disclosing how climate change affects Alaska Native communities resigned Wednesday. Joel Clement, a scientist and policy expert, was removed from his job by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke shortly after the disclosure and reassigned to an accounting position for which he has no experience. Clement was among dozens of senior executive service personnel who were quickly, and perhaps unlawfully, reassigned in June, but he was the only person who spoke out. Darryl Fears reports. (Washington Post) See also: Interior Department rejects 25 endangered species petitions, including several linked to climate change  Chris Mooney and Dino Grandoni report. (Washington Post)

Trump Nominates a Coal Lobbyist to Be No. 2 at E.P.A.
President Trump on Thursday nominated Andrew R. Wheeler, a coal lobbyist with links to outspoken deniers of established science on climate change, to help lead the Environmental Protection Agency. In announcing Mr. Wheeler, a former aide to Senator James M. Inhofe, to be deputy administrator of the agency, the White House tapped an experienced legislative hand reviled by environmental activists but hailed by industry as having the know-how to dismantle Obama-era fossil fuel regulations. Lisa Friedman reports. (NY Times)

$10M to help with Colstrip power plant shutdown is too much, Washington State council says l
Not everyone is sold on a $10 million golden parachute pledged to Colstrip to help the community adapt to the eventual closure of the West’s second-largest coal-fired power plant. Washington State’s Public Council argues that the $10 million Colstrip transition package is too much and that customers of Colstrip co-owner Puget Sound Energy shouldn’t have to pony up. Public Council represents Washington consumer interests. Council’s Regulatory Analyst Carla Colamonici tells Washington utility regulators that Puget’s stockholders should pick up the tab…. Washington’s Utility and Transportation Commission is considering a legal settlement that would resolve several rate issues for Puget Sound Energy, while also setting terms for the utility’s exit from Colstrip power plant. Puget owns the largest share of Colstrip, which is co-owned by six utilities. Tom Lutey reports. (Billings Gazette)

Federal judge reinstates Obama-era rule on methane emissions
Rebuffing the Trump administration, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Interior Department to reinstate an Obama-era regulation aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands. The order by a judge in San Francisco came as the Interior Department moved to delay the rule until 2019, saying it was too burdensome to industry. The action followed an earlier effort by Interior to postpone part of the rule set to to take effect next year. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the Northern District of California said Interior had failed to give a “reasoned explanation” for the changes and had not offered details why an earlier analysis by the Obama administration was faulty. She ordered the entire rule reinstated immediately. Matt Daly reports. (Associated Press)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  258 AM PDT Fri Oct 6 2017  
TODAY  SW 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 6 ft at 13 seconds. A chance of rain in the morning then  rain likely in the afternoon.
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 6 ft at 12 seconds. Rain  likely in the evening then a chance of rain after midnight.
SAT  W wind to 10 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 8 ft at 10 seconds. Showers likely in  the morning then showers in the afternoon.
SAT NIGHT  W wind 15 to 25 kt becoming NW 10 to 20 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 11 ft at 12 seconds.
SUN  NW wind to 10 kt in the morning becoming light. Wind waves  1 ft or less. W swell 11 ft at 14 seconds.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/5 Frog danger, BC pipe, Fraser salmon, John Fabian, Carpenter Cr., SJ deer, bag ban, Energy East

African clawed frog Xenopus laevis [Columbia Univ.]

Lacey kills invasive species known as the African clawed frog
This is no innocent frog. The frog, known as the African clawed frog (yes, it has claws) is predatory, invasive, reproduces quickly and tested positive for a virus. And a whole bunch of them had settled into a stormwater pond system near Saint Martin’s University in Lacey. The city of Lacey, which updated Lacey City Council last week on efforts to eradicate the critter, worked with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to come up with a plan to trap, test, contain and eliminate thousands of the amphibians from three ponds at the College Regional Stormwater Facility, which collects stormwater from Saint Martin’s and Lacey’s Woodland District, City Manager Scott Spence said Tuesday. Rolf Boone reports. (Olympian)

Oil vs orcas: Trans Mountain opponents tell federal court tanker traffic endangers whales
Opponents of the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion are in the Federal Court of Appeal arguing that risks to endangered orcas were ignored when the project was approved. The pipeline expansion, which will pump oil from Alberta to B.C. and offer access to global markets, is expected to potentially increase coastal tanker traffic seven-fold, according to Vancouver's mayor. Conservation groups say that could push southern resident orcas — the estimated 76 remaining — to the brink of extinction. Opponents have formed a consortium to fight the project, arguing First Nations and environmental concerns were ignored. Yvette Brend reports. (CBC)

Fraser River salmon impacted by floodgates, according to new SFU study 
Faulty floodgates along the Fraser River are having harmful effects on salmon stocks, according to a new SFU study. "What we've found is a problem," said study co-author Jonathan Moore. "Many of these floodgates just don't open ... and in those locations there were fewer native fish and the water quality was poor. Floodgates are small dams located along tributaries which close in order to protect fields and homes in the area, when water levels rise. Karin Larsen reports. (CBC)

John Fabian wins Eleanor Stopps award for Hood Canal Coalition work
Retired astronaut turned activist John Fabian of Port Ludlow was awarded the Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award from the Port Townsend Marine Science Center for his efforts to protect Hood Canal. Fabian is the co-founder of the Hood Canal Coalition, a citizens group that rallied in 2002 to fight a proposal known by many as the “pit-to-pier project.” The proposed project from Thorndyke Resources was to build a 4-mile conveyor belt and 1,000-foot pier that would move gravel from the former Fred Hill Materials Shine pit to barges in Hood Canal. Cydney McFarland reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Carpenter Creek culvert is gone, as bridge work pushes to meet schedule
An old five-foot culvert where Carpenter Creek passes under West Kingston Road is now down to its last bit of concrete plus a wedge dirt, with final removal awaiting completion of a new 150-foot-long bridge.... Massive amounts of earthen fill and have been removed since the project started about six months ago. All that remains is the wedge of dirt that still supports pipes and utilities, which will be attached to the bridge during construction. After that, the last fill material will be removed, leaving a wide-open estuary flowing under the bridge. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

San Juan Islands are overrun by deer
If you’re familiar at all with the San Juan Islands, you’re aware that there is no lack of small black-tail deer bounding around, or standing dangerously close to the side of the road…. In the decades since settlers eliminated the predator population to help protect livestock, the deer population has grown an estimated 10 times larger than it was then…. Cougars, wolves and bears once provided a balance to the deer, but by the late 1800s, predators no longer roamed the archipelago…. WDFW regulates hunting in the state, and hunting as a means of population control is usually the first thought that humans have…. One reason the state doesn’t allow unlimited hunting by a landowner on their own land is because legally, deer are public property regardless of where they may be standing.  Mandi Johnson reports. (Islands Weekly)

Saanich moves closer to banning plastic bags 
Saanich has taken a step toward banning plastic bags, a move being considered by several B.C. municipalities in an effort to reduce pollution in the ocean and waterways. Council expressed unanimous support Monday night for a bylaw that would ban single-use plastic bags, but the issue will be considered by two committees and go through public consultation before being made law. Retailers would be required to charge for plastic bags to encourage shoppers to switch to reusable cloth shopping bags or paper bags. Katie DeRosa reports. (Times Colonist)

TransCanada won't proceed with Energy East pipeline
ransCanada says it won't proceed with its Energy East pipeline and Eastern Mainline proposals. Russ Girling, the Calgary-based energy company's CEO and president, said in a statement that National Energy Board and Quebec officials will be informed TransCanada won't go forward with the applications…. The proposed Energy East project would have carried more than one million barrels of oil every day from Alberta and Saskatchewan across the country to be refined in New Brunswick. It would have added 1,500 kilometres worth of new oil pipelines to an existing network of more than 3,000 kilometres, which would have been converted from carrying natural gas, to carrying oil. (Canadian Press)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  254 AM PDT Thu Oct 5 2017  
TODAY  Light wind. Wind waves less than 1 ft. W swell 3 ft at  11 seconds.
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  5 ft at 13 seconds.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/4 More farm fish, defending Trans Mountain, cetacean ban suit, Scott Pruitt's EPA

Atlantic salmon [Robert F. Bukaty & Jason Leighton/AP]

Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar
Atlantic salmon are important world-wide in commercial aquaculture and recreational fisheries and are cultured commercially in marine net pens in Puget Sound.... Atlantic salmon are preferred over Pacific salmon for commercial net pen aquaculture. Virtually all of the production in Washington and 80% of the production in British Columbia is Atlantic salmon. Over 10 million pounds of Atlantic salmon are produced annually in Washington. The total economic value to the state is estimated at over $40 million. About 100 million pounds of salmon (80% Atlantic salmon) are produced in B.C., annually. (WDFW)

State approves 1 million more farmed fish for Puget Sound, despite escape 
After one of the largest fish-farm escapes in history, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved a permit for Cooke Aquaculture to rear another 1 million Atlantic salmon in Puget Sound. The approval stoked outrage still simmering after the catastrophic failure in August of one of Cooke’s eight Puget Sound facilities that sent a cascade of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound waters. The permit for the company corporation was approved even as the more than 100,000 fish that escaped from Cooke’s pen at Cypress Island in the San Juan Islands continue to infiltrate Puget Sound rivers and beyond.... Gov. Jay Inslee has directed that no new permits be issued for new pens in Washington waters while the incident is being investigated. “However current laws and administrative rules do not give state regulators the authority to deny Cooke’s permit to move healthy fish into an existing net pen,” the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) stated in a Tuesday news release. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

NDP to defend Trans Mountain pipeline approval in B.C. Supreme Court
The B.C. government will be in court next month defending its approval of the expansion of the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline – even though it will seek, in another courtroom, to force Ottawa to withdraw its consent for the project. Environment Minister George Heyman said in an interview on Tuesday his government will fight the Squamish Nation in B.C. Supreme Court over the provincial certificate of approval the BC Liberals granted. It is an uncomfortable position for Mr. Heyman's NDP government, but he said he has no legal avenue to avoid defending a decision made by the previous cabinet. Justine Hunter reports. (Globe and Mail) See also: Federal government keen on seeing Trans Mountain pipeline built: Carr  Fred Chartrand reports. (Canadian Press)

Legal challenge to overturn Park Board ban on cetaceans begins in B.C. Supreme Court
The Vancouver Aquarium's legal challenge to keep cetaceans in captivity hopes to prove that the Vancouver Park Board does not have the legal power to enact a ban and that a bylaw amendment made some whales homeless. The case, in B.C. Supreme Court, began Monday, with about a dozen protesters watching from the gallery. Before the proceedings started, protesters placed cardboard tombstones outside the courthouse that bore the names of cetaceans that had previously died at the aquarium. (CBC)

E.P.A. Chief’s Calendar: A Stream of Industry Meetings and Trips Home
For lunch on April 26, Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, dined with top executives from Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest coal-burning electric utilities, at Equinox, a white-tablecloth favorite of Washington power brokers. That evening, it was on to BLT Prime, a steakhouse inside the Trump International Hotel in Washington, for a meal with the board of directors of Alliance Resource Partners, a coal-mining giant whose chief executive donated nearly $2 million to help elect President Trump. Before those two agenda items, Mr. Pruitt met privately with top executives and lobbyists from General Motors to talk about their request to block an Obama administration move to curb emissions that contribute to climate change. Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman report. (NY Times)

Now, your tug weather--
 West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  254 AM PDT Wed Oct 4 2017  
TODAY  NE wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 2 ft  at 10 seconds.
TONIGHT  W wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 2 ft  at 10 seconds.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

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10/3 Sea stars, Trans Mountain challenge, WA layoffs, Big Oil $, NW recycling, Pig Nose

Ochre sea stars [Jeff Rotman/Minden Pictures/Hakai Mag]

Mutant Sea Stars Can Take the Heat
Sea stars are basically nature’s own X-Men. Some species have the ability to regenerate, growing a whole new body from a severed limb. But on the west coast of North America, a newly identified mutation is giving some sea stars a whole new power—one that may help them survive long into the future.  Starting in 2013, sea stars off the west coast of North America began to die in huge numbers. A warm water blob was sitting off the coast, throwing the ecosystem into turmoil. Among the victims, sea stars from 20 different species were melting into goo. Researchers believe that the unusually warm water makes them more susceptible to a virus that has been affecting the animals—though to a far lesser degree—for at least 72 years. In some areas that had been heavily populated by sea stars, the animals were pushed to the edge of extinction. The epidemic was named sea star wasting disease, and as it spread, it soon became the largest marine animal die-off in recorded history. Four years later, the epidemic is waning. The disease persists, though to a lesser degree, and at most sites populations have yet to recover. Chris Iovenko reports. (Hakai Magazine)

First Nations begin court challenge against Trans Mountain pipeline
First Nations, environmental groups and local governments appeared in the Federal Court of Appeal in Vancouver Monday continuing their fight against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish First Nation says the federal government failed to consult or gain consent of First Nations for the expansion of the oil pipeline, so they have little choice but to try to protect their land and water in the courts…. Seven First Nations, the cities of Burnaby and Vancouver, and two environmental groups are asking the court to overturn the federal government's decision to approve the expansion of the $7.4-billion pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby. (CBC) See also: Feds ’never did the work’ to understand Indigenous concerns on pipeline: lawyer  (Canadian Press)

Layoffs hit state parks department because of budget impasse
Barbara Alten, a construction coordinator for Washington State Parks in Burlington, watched news of the state’s legislative session closely this year to see whether projects she was working on would get money in the construction budget. Unfortunately for Alten, more than just construction projects ended up without money when that budget never materialized, thanks to a legislative battle related to a 2016 state Supreme Court ruling on water usage. She was laid off Saturday along with nine others at the Parks department as part of what officials believe is the biggest wave of layoffs so far related to the lack of a construction budget. Walker Orenstein reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Oil Terminal Backers Give Big To Vancouver Port Commissioner Candidate Kris Greene
Big money is pouring into the Port of Vancouver commissioner race from backers of a proposed oil terminal. On Monday, state election filings showed Vancouver Energy has put an additional $150,000 into the race. It’s the largest single contribution made to any candidate running for office in the state of Washington this cycle.  It is the second large donation from Vancouver Energy made to candidate Kris Greene, who has publicly supported the terminal project. Last month, the company gave $75,000 to Greene’s campaign and has spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on the race so far. Molly Solomon reports. (OPB)

Chinese Ban On Waste Imports Puts Northwest Recycling In Limbo
Apparently, we haven’t been doing a very good job of sorting our trash from our recycling — and the Chinese government has noticed. China doesn’t want loads of our paper and plastic waste that often have contaminants like dirty diapers inside. So, the government is cracking down on the shipment of recyclable material from the U.S. By the end of the year, much of the mixed plastic and paper in our recycling bins will be banned from China. That leaves companies in the Northwest without buyers for much of the material they collect from curbside bins, which could mean our recyclables will end up in a landfill. Cassandra Profita reports. (OPB/EarthFix)

Guide catches 'Pig Nose' the 700-pound sturgeon — 2 years in a row
Nick McCabe says Pig Nose is a "special" fish — which is hardly a surprise, considering they're practically old pals at this point. The fishing tour guide caught the 700-pound, 10-foot-long sturgeon on the Fraser River, near Lillooet, for the second year in a row on Thursday. McCabe caught him in the same place in August 2016. (CBC)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  249 AM PDT Tue Oct 3 2017  
TODAY  E wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 3 ft  at 7 seconds.
TONIGHT  Light wind becoming SE to 10 kt after midnight. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 2 ft at 11 seconds.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/2 BC pipe, pollution suit, prairie restoration, Baynes Sound, land conservation, kelp, Navy seals, acid oceans, EPA climate, energy policy

Merlin [Gregg Thompson/BirdNote]

Here Come the Merlins
Smaller than a pigeon — but fierce enough to knock one from the air — are the powerful, compact falcons known as Merlins. Climate change is pushing ranges of many birds farther north, but more and more Merlins have been nesting farther south, in towns and cities across the northern United States. Merlins will take over old crow nests, especially in conifer trees, in parks, cemeteries, and neighborhoods. (BirdNote)

First Nations, environmental groups to voice Trans Mountain pipeline opposition at hearings
Several First Nations, municipalities and environmental groups that are opposed to the approval process of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in British Columbia will be arguing their position in the Federal Court of Appeal over the next two weeks. The hearing beginning Monday in Vancouver consolidates numerous lawsuits filed by seven First Nations applicants, the cities of Burnaby and Vancouver, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Living Oceans Society, which claim the National Energy Board's approval process was flawed and First Nations weren't adequately consulted. (Canadian Press) See also: Lawyer explains B.C.'s strategy to quash Kinder Morgan pipeline approval  Mike De Souza reports. (National Observer)

Kinder Morgan asks for relief on pipeline condition to avoid project delay
Kinder Morgan Canada has asked the National Energy Board to waive an approval condition of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion because it might delay completion of the project. Shawn Denstedt, a lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt representing Kinder Morgan Canada subsidiary Trans Mountain, said in a letter to the NEB that it needs to be allowed to install mats to deter fish spawning as soon as possible to have them in place before spawning season. The NEB told the company last week that it had to stop installing the deterrent mats because they're considered construction activity, and the company does not yet have all conditions approved for pipeline construction. (Canadian Press)

Environmental Groups Sue Oregon Over Industrial Water Pollution
Environmental groups are suing Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality over its regulation of stormwater pollution from over 900 industrial sites like lumber yards, scrap metal yards and truck depots. Columbia Riverkeeper and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center claim the state’s permit for stormwater pollution allows for pollution levels that violate the Clean Water Act and imperil public health and salmon.… Facilities in Washington, and those regulated directly by the EPA, are required to report their monitoring results four times per year, while Oregon’s DEQ requires that reporting once per year. Washington’s Department of Ecology is also currently facing legal challenges over its regulation of stormwater pollution into Puget Sound. Nationally, stormwater runoff is a leading cause of water pollution. Tony Schick reports. (OPB/EarthFix)

Return to the Salish Sea: Prairie Restoration Expert Robert Pelant
When you think of the Salish Sea, the image that first comes to mind probably doesn’t include grassy plains and meadows. But, in fact, the concept of this shared ecosystem that unites the U.S. and Canada extends to the entire basin of the watershed. A small nonprofit on Whidbey Island is working to restore 175 acres of prairie lands that were once farmlands in the center of the Salish Sea. One technique they use was shunned for centuries. “The loss of fire here was one of the critical, if not the most critical factor in the degradation of our ecosystems,” says Robert Pelant, Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Rim Institute in Coupeville. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

Baynes Sound cleanup highlights concern over B.C. shellfish industry debris 
In a farmer's field on Denman Island, a pile of plastic baskets, rope, netting and buoys stands as tall as Dorrie Woodward. It's all marine debris that has been collected from the beaches around the northern Gulf island. "Most of what you see here, unfortunately, is from the shellfish industry. You don't see a lot of water bottles or chip bags," said Woodward, co-chair of the Association for Denman Island Marine Stewards…. The volunteer group has organized a cleanup of the beaches of the island each year for more than a decade. It has also long been calling on the growing shellfish industry to do more to get a handle on debris that breaks free from tenures. Megan Thomas reports. (CBC)

Guemes Island valley to be preserved
Across the road from Guemes Mountain a valley stretches out to the west. The valley includes farmland where cattle graze, wetlands that feed into Cayou Creek and forest lands that provide a sanctuary for wildlife. The majority of the valley — a 127-acre chunk of it — is now protected under the ownership of the Skagit Land Trust after the land was donated to the trust by Sarah Werner. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Navy, partners conserve 3,100 acres in Chimacum Valley
The U.S. Navy has partnered with the Trust for Public Land and the Jefferson Land Trust to conserve more than 3,100 acres in the Chimacum Valley. The conservation efforts are part of the Defense Department’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program, which sets aside land for preservation, public recreation and naval operations, according to a press release from Phillip Guerrero, a spokesperson for Navy region Northwest. Cydney McFarland reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Neighbors resume 12-year rally cry against Picnic Point Creek development
After fighting a proposed Snohomish County housing development for 12 years, neighbors are resuming their rally cry. The developer of Frognal Estates, Integral Northwest, has asked for a separate permit to start logging even though the development is stuck in appeals court. Along with nearly a thousand petition signatures, the city of Mukilteo as well as the Tulalip Tribes have spoken out in opposition. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Volunteers take to water to survey kelp
With its roots in the seafloor and baseball-sized bulbs that float like buoys, bull kelp and its ribbon-like leaves can be found swaying in the water in many parts of the Salish Sea. On Aug. 23 a three-person team slid its boats into the water at a time when there were no tides and paddled from the shore of Bowman Bay to a kelp bed near Coffin Rocks just outside the bay. Those on the team circled the kelp bed and took notes, photos and GPS coordinates from along its perimeter before making their way back to shore. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Exhibit gives the public a peek into Navy's marine mammal program
The U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Museum-Keyport opened its doors on Friday to a new exhibit that highlights a little-known and little-discussed part of naval history. In 1963, the Navy created the Marine Mammal Program "to see if animals could perform tasks difficult or dangerous to human divers," according to the exhibit. Since then, "marine mammals have performed these missions with better accuracy, greater speed and safety, and lower costs than human divers of undersea vehicles." Navy dolphins and sea lions undertake three types of missions: mine detection, intruder defense and object recovery…. Today, there are about 140 animals in the program — approximately 60 percent are Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and 40 percent are California sea lions. Julianne Stanford reports. (Kitsap Sun)

What Scientists Are Learning About the Impact of an Acidifying Ocean
The effects of ocean acidification on marine life have only become widely recognized in the past decade. Now researchers are rapidly expanding the scope of investigations into what falling pH means for ocean ecosystems. Matthew O. Berger reports. (News Deeply/Oceans Deeply)

An Absent EPA Climate Report, And A Tale Of Two Flooded Superfund Sites
Hurricane Harvey flooded more than a dozen Superfund toxic waste sites when it devastated the Texas coast in late August. An EPA report predicted the possibility of climate-related problems at toxic waste sites like those in Texas, but the page detailing the report on the agency's website was made inactive months before the storm. The Environmental Protection Agency's 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plan warned that those in charge of cleaning up Superfund sites should explicitly plan for more rain, bigger floods and "increased intensity of hurricanes." Based on earlier EPA climate change research, the report authors recommended that the agency change how it protects people from toxic chemical releases as sea levels rise and storms get more severe. The report was removed from the EPA website when President Trump took office in January — it last appeared on the site the day before his inauguration. Rebecca Hersher reports. (NPR)

Rick Perry just proposed a massive change in electricity policy to help coal and nuclear plants
Energy Secretary Rick Perry took sweeping steps on Friday to buttress a pair of financially-strapped nuclear plants under construction and redefine how coal and nuclear plants are compensated for the electricity they provide — a move that, if agreed to by independent federal energy regulators, could tilt some of the nation’s complex power markets away from renewables and natural gas. Perry announced the Energy Department would provide $3.7 billion in loan guarantees to three Georgia utilities struggling to complete a pair of nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle generating plant. These loan guarantees come on top of $8.3 billion in loans the department has already given to the project, but they still might fall short of what will be required to complete the costly reactors. Steven Mufson and Chris Mooney report. (Washington Post)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PDT Mon Oct 2 2017  
TODAY  SE wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 8 seconds.
TONIGHT  NE wind to 10 kt becoming SE after midnight. Wind waves 1  ft or less. W swell 4 ft at 8 seconds.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.
 
Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told