5/9 Spring coral, nixing LNG and methanol, tsunami, Enbridge, gas price, orca bills, Everett cleanup, BC salal

Northwest spring coral [Wikipedia]

Northwest spring coral Ramaria rasilipora
This is one of the common spring corals. Its fruit bodies grow on the ground in coniferous forests. Fruiting occurs in spring and summer. The species was first described scientifically in 1974 by American mycologists Currie Marr and Daniel Stuntz. The specific epithet rasilispora is derived from the roots rasil- (shaved, scraped, or worn smooth) and spora (spore). It is commonly known as the "yellow coral". Common in western North America,its range extends south to Mexico. Edible but some people are adversely affected and suffer gastrointestinal upset. (Wikipedia, The New
Savory Wild Mushroom)

Gov. Jay Inslee speaks out against LNG plant in Tacoma, methanol facility in Kalama
Washington’s governor is changing course on his support of two fossil-fuel projects in the state. Following a bill signing Wednesday banning hydraulic fracking for oil and natural gas within Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee spoke out against projects tied to fossil fuels, including Puget Sound Energy’s liquefied natural gas site under construction in Tacoma and a methanol production facility in Kalama, which had been previously proposed for Tacoma. Inslee said emerging science on the rapid pace of climate change and the environmental effects of natural gas now mean the “state’s efforts and future investments in energy infrastructure should focus on clean, renewable sources rather than fossil fuels,” according to a news release Wednesday issued from his office. Debbie Cockrell reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

The oral history wasn't a myth. Tsunamis hit this tribal village five times, new study shows
A legend about a great flood has been passed down through the centuries among the Klallam people on the north side of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. As re-told by Klallam elder Ed Sampson on a recording preserved by a University of North Texas linguist, the people noticed the fresh water turning salty -- a detail from which we infer a tsunami. In the story, a wise man warned the people to get ready. They scrambled into canoes provisioned with food and water. The survivors rode out the flood by tying cedar ropes to the tops of the tallest mountains of the nearby Olympic Range. Lower Elwha Klallam tribal chairwoman Frances Charles said now there's proof this story "is not a myth." tom Banse reports. (NW News Network)

Enbridge has no plans to resurrect Northern Gateway project, says CEO
The new government in Alberta wants Enbridge to bring back its proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline, but the company's chief executive said there is little chance that will happen. In the campaign platform of the newly elected UCP government, the party vowed to fight for the re-start of the project, in addition to TransCanada's Energy East project. TransCanada has already said it has no plans to revisit its project. On Wednesday, Enbridge's CEO Al Monaco poured cold water on reviving Northern Gateway. Karl Bakx reports. (CBC)

B.C. drivers filling up jerry cans in the U.S., despite safety risks
B.C. drivers facing sky-high gas prices are not only filling their tanks stateside, but also filling containers to bring back with them, although one expert said the practice is potentially dangerous because gas is so flammable. Motorists tired of paying almost $1.70 a litre are flocking to the U.S. to pay as little as $1.13 Cdn a litre at Costco. That works out to more than $25 in savings on a 50-litre fill. One gas station employee said on Wednesday about half the Canadians who come for a top-up also fill extra containers to take home. There is nothing illegal about the practice because individuals are allowed to transport up to six jerrycans under an exemption in Transport Canada’s transportation of dangerous goods regulations. Susan Lazaruk reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Gov. Inslee signs range of bills aimed at helping orcas
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed several bills Wednesday designed to help the Pacific Northwest's endangered orcas, measures that he said gave him hope the species might be saved. The measures include requiring more oil shipments near the San Juan Islands to have tugboat escorts to prevent spills, allowing anglers to catch more walleye and bass that prey on young salmon, and giving state agencies the authority to ban toxic chemicals in consumer goods. Other important parts include improving the state's ability to enforce permit requirements for work that hardens shorelines, such as by installing bulkheads near homes, and making vessels stay farther away from orcas and go slower when they're near them. Gene Johnson reports. (Associated Press)

State commits $16M to clean former mill site of contaminants
One day, cargo ships stretching 1,000 feet in length could berth at Port of Everett’s South Terminal, where workers would unload shipments of large airplane parts destined for the Boeing factory. But first the port must deal with thousands of tons of contaminated sediment, a legacy of a century of sawmill and pulp mill operations, as well as enlarge the existing berth by 30 percent. While a little of the work is done, it’s going to cost in the neighborhood of $105 million and take three to five years to finish it all. Port officials don’t have all the money in hand. They did receive good news in April as lawmakers earmarked $16.25 million for the project in the next state capital budget. Those dollars will come out of the state’s Model Toxics Control Account, which was reformulated this year to enable the state to pledge bigger sums to larger cleanups — like this one. Jerry Cornfield reports. (Everett Herald)

B.C.'s salal shrubs are dying and extreme weather could be the culprit
One of B.C.'s most abundant plants is in trouble: patches of hardy salal plants are turning up brown, crispy and dying. Richard Hamelin, a professor of forest pathology at UBC's Faculty of Forestry, knew something was seriously wrong when he started getting reports — from people in the Sea to Sky corridor, Vancouver Island, the Fraser Valley, and beyond — about the dying salal. "We thought right away that something really unusual is happening when we were getting calls from a lot of different areas of the province," Hamelin said. The evergreen, shrub-like plant is widespread across the province's forests and is known for its hardiness. That's partly why the sight of the dried, brown leaves was so noticeable and surprising, Hamelin said. Clare Hennig reports. (CBC)

Washington, Federal Officials Sign Agreement To Protect Forests
State and federal officials signed an agreement Wednesday to protect Washington’s forests and wildlife. The plan would combine resources to fight destructive wildfires, threats to forest health and challenges faced by salmon and orcas. “If we’re going to prevent the Evergreen State from turning brown, we must begin to coordinate, collaborate and work tirelessly to change the trajectory of these forests as one team,” said Hilary Franz, Washington’s lands commissioner and head of its Department of Natural Resources. The Shared Stewardship Agreement was signed by officials from DNR, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Forest Service and the regional forester. Courtney Flatt reports. (NW Public Broadcasting)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PDT Thu May 9 2019   
TODAY  E wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5 ft  at 9 seconds. 
TONIGHT  NW wind to 10 kt in the evening becoming light. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft at 12 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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5/8 Jaeger, WA clean energy, EU climate, Oly Mtn snow pack, Growler suit, food chain study, BC gas price

Parasitic jaeger [Glenn Bartley]

Parasitic jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus
At sea, the parasitic jaeger does much of its foraging by chasing other birds and forcing them to drop their catch then dipping down in flight to catch fish at the surface. On breeding grounds, it also hovers and swoops down to catch prey, and feeds while walking. Its diet ncludes fish, birds, rodents. Diet at sea and at coastal nesting areas is mostly fish stolen from other birds. On land, also eats many birds and their eggs, rodents, insects, berries. Less dependent on lemmings and other rodents than the other jaegers. (Audubon Field Guide)

Inslee signs bills bringing Washington state closer to zero-carbon electricity
Gov. Jay Inslee signed a package of bills Tuesday to combat climate change headlined by legislation to rid Washington’s electric grid of fossil-fuel-generated power by 2045, a move that makes the state a leader in the national clean-power movement. Other parts of the green agenda now embedded in state law create new conservation standards for energy use in large new buildings, require new efficiency standards for appliances and phase out “super pollutant” hydrofluorocarbons used as refrigerants.... Even with these bills’ passage, Washington still is projected to fall short of the emission targets set by state law. Hal Bernton and Jim Brunner report. (Seattle Times) See also: Jay Inslee hopes new clean-energy laws will recharge his presidential bid  Melissa Santos reports. (Crosscut)

Proposal to spend 25% of EU budget on climate change
Eight European countries have called for an ambitious strategy to tackle climate change – and to spend a quarter of the entire EU budget on fighting it. The joint statement says the EU should have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 "at the latest". It was signed by France, Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. The group says their plan can "go hand in hand with prosperity" and "set an example for other countries to follow." (BBC)

Olympic Mountain snowpack melting fast
Olympic Mountain snowpack has slipped well below normal and will melt rapidly as temperatures climb this week, a water supply specialist said. Snowpack was 72 percent of normal Tuesday as measured at two snow telemetry sites operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Normal is defined as the median snowpack from 1981 to 2010. A more comprehensive monthly snowpack measurement revealed a 61 percent snowpack in the Olympics on May 1, said Scott Pattee, a water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Mount Vernon. Rob Ollikainen reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

National parks group sues U.S. Navy in pursuit of information on Growler jet training
A national parks organization filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy last week, related to jet training at Air Station Whidbey Island. The nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association sued the Navy to get more information about the exercises, which are planned for one of the quietest places in the lower 48. The association submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in 2016, to learn more about the impacts of noise from Growler jets. The Navy says the training exercises with the aircraft could increase to as many as 5,000 a year over the Olympic Mountains. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

Saving our salmon: Searching for answers in the depths of Puget Sound
King County is pulling up creatures from the depths of Puget Sound in hopes that what they learn from the bottom of the food chain can help predict the future success of salmon runs -- and in turn -- the endangered southern resident orcas that eat them. Twice a month every month, King County Environmental Laboratory takes out the SoundGuardian boat for its marine ambient survey, which has about 20 stations around the Sound. At each station, scientists cast over the edge of the boat an instrument they call CTD, which stands for conductivity, temperature and depth. Simone Del Rosario reports. (KCPQ)

B.C. premier calls for independent investigation into high gas prices
After being politically hammered over the issue for weeks, B.C. Premier John Horgan has asked the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) if the body will consider investigating why gas prices in the province have soared in comparison to the rest of the country. In a letter sent to the regulator on Tuesday, Horgan said British Columbians — particularly those in Metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island — are used to higher gas prices compared to other provinces, but not to this extent. Gas prices have been hovering around a record-high of $1.70 in Metro Vancouver since mid-April. (CBC)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  239 AM PDT Wed May 8 2019   
TODAY  SW wind to 10 kt in the morning becoming light. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 8 seconds. Patchy fog in the  morning. 
TONIGHT  W wind to 10 kt becoming SE after midnight. Wind waves  1 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 8 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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5/7 Salmonberry, Bigg's orcas, boat noise, teen climate march, Green Party win, gas car phase-out, Jordan Cove, Northern pike, dead whale

Salmonberry [Wikipedia]

Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis
Salmonberries are found in moist forests and stream margins, especially in the coastal forests. In open areas they often form large thickets, and thrive in the open spaces under stands of red alder (Alnus rubra). Both sprouts and berries were eaten by all northwest coastal peoples....Some groups mixed the berries in oolichan grease or dried salmon spawn, the berries were often eaten with salmon. Salmonberries are one of the earliest berries to ripen. (Wikipedia, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast)

Reader Charlie E writes regarding the Nuttall's cockle featured yesterday: "The amazing thing about Nuttall’s Cockle is its escape response to potential predators. The very muscular foot is used like a kangaroo’s tail to hop away from danger. This allows the cockle to occupy very shallow burrows, whereas other bivalves must dig deeper and invest in long siphons to avoid predators... the strategy doesn’t seem to work against gulls…only sea stars, crabs and moon snails. When I was giving the tours at the [Friday Harbor] labs, I would always end with an escape response finale….putting a small sunflower sea star in a tank with an abalone, a cockle, a sea urchin and a giant sea cucumber. The responses were dramatic to say the least."

And reader Alan F sent some beautiful pictures of Trillium from Lost Lake and Lower Salal trails in the Chuckanuts with the note: "images from last week’s hike in the Chuckanuts in which I counted 175 of these spring treasures.  On the Cedar Lake trail I’ve counted as many as 300 on the way up the trail that also spends its way on the north slope of the Chuckanuts."

Bigg’s orcas in the Salish Sea point to shifting habitat of resident killer whales
To the untrained eye, the orcas socializing in the Salish Sea on Friday could have been the resident whales that many Islanders know and love. But those who know, like Stephen Pincock, owner of Ocean EcoVenture in the Cowichan Valley, recognize the significance of seeing Bigg’s orcas – slightly larger, mammal-eating killer whales – in the endangered Southern residents’ long-time habitat. “We’ve seen [resident orcas] shift to the outer coast more…because there’s more salmon out there for them than in the inner waterways,” Pincock said. “It’s kind of opened the door for the mammal-eaters to come in and take their place.” Nina Grossman reports. (Oak Bay News)

Salish Sea boat noise hurts orca hunting ability
The Salish Sea is like a water highway with all kinds of traffic creating all kinds of noise, and because Southern Resident killer whales use sound to locate their food, all the boat noise makes it hard for them to hunt. Killer whales echo-locate their prey, using sonar to find fish and capture it. Any loud noise can interrupt that signal. "What we are finding is that Haro Strait and the Salish Sea are noisy enough that whales are losing 62 percent of their opportunities to communicate over the background noise on a typical day," said Oceans Initiative Founder Rob Williams. "And on a really busy day, they can actually lose up to 97 percent of their opportunities to communicate over meaningful ranges." Williams, a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, has been studying the Southern Resident killer whales since 2003 and admits there is no easy fix for the orcas, who are facing extinction. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Teens march to Seattle's City Hall to demand action on climate change
Hundreds of youth marched from Occidental Park to City Hall on Friday to try to pressure legislators to do more to limit the use of fossil fuels and move toward renewable energy. The Seattle march was part of a global movement in which young people are skipping school on Fridays to ask politicians to prioritize climate change. In the U.S., their demands include ending the creation of new fossil fuel infrastructure, moving toward a 100 percent renewable economy and passing the "Green New Deal," a set of legislative proposals aimed at addressing climate change. Eilis O'Neill reports. (KUOW)

Green Party wins federal byelection in Nanaimo-Ladysmith
Green Party candidate Paul Manly has won the federal byelection in the B.C. riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith. Manly is the second Green candidate elected to a federal seat after the party's leader, Elizabeth May, the sole elected Green MP in the House of Commons since 2011. With almost 99 per cent of polls reporting, Manly had 37.3 per cent of the vote. Conservatives captured 24.8 per cent, and the NDP 23.1 per cent. The Liberals lagged behind with 11 per cent. Michelle Ghoussoub reports. (CBC)

B.C. bill to phase out gas vehicles by 2040 spurs debate
When Travis McKeown considered getting rid of his 2007 Honda Civic recently, the high price of gas and the abundance of government rebates made the idea of switching to an electric vehicle too good to pass up.... The B.C. government is counting on motorists like McKeown to sort out the details and make the switch from gas to electric vehicles as part of its aggressive target to require all new car, SUV and light-duty trucks sales be zero-emission by 2040. The idea to phase out gas vehicles as part of the NDP’s Clean B.C. climate-change-pollution reduction goal is attracting both criticism and praise as the legislation winds its way through debate at the legislature. Opposition Liberal MLAs have raised concerns about so-called “range anxiety” on the travel distance of electric vehicles, the lack of available charging stations, battery-replacement costs of up to $8,000 exceeding the value of the vehicle, pollution caused from battery recycling, the high cost of retrofitting charging stations into existing strata buildings, and the need in some parts of rural B.C. to continue to use more-powerful gas and diesel-powered heavy duty trucks. Rob Shaw reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Key State Certification Denied For SW Oregon's Jordan Cove Natural Gas Export Project
Oregon environmental regulators delivered a blow Monday to a controversial energy export proposal on Oregon’s south coast, saying the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas pipeline and terminal project falls short of meeting clean water standards. The state Department of Environmental Quality announced in a press release its decision that Jordan Cove doesn’t meet standards required under the 401 Water Quality Certification program, which regulates the extent to which projects like this can pollute or otherwise degrade waterways. For Jordan Cove, this would include impacts to rivers and streams from pipeline crossings, dredging, filling in wetlands and stormwater runoff. Jes Burns reports. (OPB)

It's 'All Hands On Deck' To Protect Columbia River Salmon From Invasive Northern Pike
Northern pike are some of the most troubling aquatic invasive species in the Northwest. So far, they haven’t made it past Washington’s Lake Roosevelt. Two dams stand in their way. And lots of people trying to stop them. If the fish make it past Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River, they could greatly harm imperiled salmon downstream. Courtney Flatt reports. (NW Public Broadcasting)

A dead gray whale has washed up on an Everett beach
Beachgoers gathered around a 43-foot-long gray whale Monday, examining the barnacles on its back and the scars in its rubbery skin. The creature washed ashore Sunday near Harborview Park. The Everett Police Department and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife are planning to have the carcass towed at high tide on Tuesday to Camano Island, where it will be left to decompose, said Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He did not know the exact destination on Camano. Julia-Grace Sanders reports. (Everett Herald)



Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  253 AM PDT Tue May 7 2019   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING   
TODAY  W wind 5 to 15 kt rising to 15 to 25 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 1 to 2 ft building to 2 to 4 ft in the  afternoon. W swell 4 ft at 8 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 15 to 25 kt easing to 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft subsiding to 2 ft or less after  midnight. W swell 5 ft at 8 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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5/6 Cockle, Vic sewer, watching whales, Snake dams, killing sea lions, Whatcom rivers, Pebble Mine, Squamish housing, Everett riverfront, SJ spill threats, oil drilling safety, nature crisis, Sen. Doug Ericksen

Nuttall's cockle [Alanah Nasadyk]

Nuttall's cockle Clingocardium nuttallii
Nuttall's cockle (Heart cockle) is found buried just beneath the surface of fine sand-gravel sediment, often among eelgrass beds. It inhabits the intertidal and shallow subtotal of protected shores. It is widespread and common but not usually present in high concentrations. Its range extends from Kamchatcka across the Bering Sea to Alaska and south to southern California. (Biodiversity of the Central Coast)

After decades of debate, Victoria is building a sewage treatment plant
Along the rocky south coast of Vancouver Island, hundreds of construction workers are building a nearly $800 million dollar wastewater treatment facility — a project that has been debated for decades and described as long overdue by some, and completely unnecessary by others.... Wastewater facilities don't typically stoke civic pride, but the project and its history is unique because most of the Victoria area has never treated its sewage. Currently, it is screened and anything larger than 6mm is blocked. The rest flows into two separate outfall pipes, and is then discharged into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The region is the last major coastal community in North America to dispose of untreated sewage into the marine environment, according to the local government. Briar Stewart reports. (CBC)

Whale watching thrives, despite plight of Southern Resident orcas
Whale watching at its best means getting to see the region’s iconic orca whales, or maybe spotting minke, gray or humpback whales. At worst it means scanning the water for hours but seeing no whales. Despite its unpredictable nature, the prospect of seeing some of the Pacific Northwest’s largest wildlife continues to draw boatloads of whale watchers to the region, including those taking tours out of Anacortes. The Pacific Whale Watch Association estimates its members in Washington and British Columbia take about 500,000 passengers out on the water each year. Kimberly Cuavel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Orcas survive on chinook salmon, but dammed Idaho rivers spawn them
How we define our identity in this blessed corner of America's "Left Coast" is influenced by two enduring issues which must be solved -- recovery of salmon runs, and survival of the orcas which eat the salmon. The Pacific Northwest is any place to which a salmon can swim, a memorable thought from author Timothy Egan. With dams having decimated the Columbia River's once-mighty runs, we've spent $16 billion on salmon restoration in the past 20 years. "It's not working," Idaho's U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson said in a seminal speech delivered last month to a conference at the Andrus Center in Boise. Simpson, a Republican, shed light on the one real, long term solution to our problem of endangered salmon runs and the decline of southern resident killer whales. Salmon habitat must be restored. The best place to do it is on the Snake River. Joel Connelly reports. (SeattlePI)

New Rules Make It Easier To Kill Sea Lions On The Columbia River
The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced new criteria for putting California sea lions on the list for lethal removal at Bonneville Dam. The new rules could allow wildlife managers to kill more sea lions to protect salmon on the Columbia River. Under the old rules, before a sea lion at the dam could be killed, it had to be seen eating a salmon or steelhead and be seen in the area for five days. Sea lions were also subjected to hazing with noisemakers meant to scare them off. Cassandra Profita reports. (OPB)

How $6.2 million could be used to help fish, protect Whatcom communities from floods
A $6.2 million infusion of state dollars will allow Whatcom County to move forward on a project to improve habitat in the Nooksack River as well as protect farms and communities from floodwaters. The money is part of the $50.4 million in grants the state Legislature is providing through the Floodplains by Design program, a public-private effort led by the Washington state Department of Ecology, Puget Sound Partnership and The Nature Conservancy that aims to restore the natural functions of the state’s rivers and floodplains. Healthy floodplains are important because they provide opportunities for recreation, help improve water quality, provide rich soil for farms, provide habitat for salmon and offer protection against flooding — provided rivers have a place to go and aren’t tightly constricted, proponents said. Kie Relyea reports. (Bellingham Herald)

‘The Wrong Mine for the Wrong Place’
A proposed Alaskan mine threatens the planet’s largest spawning ground for sockeye salmon and lays bare Trump's gaslighting of American sportsmen. Paul Greenberg, Mark Kurlansky, Carl Safina and John Waldman write about what's wrong with he proposed open-pit copper and gold Pebble Mine. (NY Times Opinion)

Major housing development planned on Indigenous land in heart of Vancouver
Walking along the base of the Burrard Street Bridge that crosses Vancouver's False Creek toward the downtown core, Khelsilem gestures across a gravel lot poised to become one of the largest Indigenous urban developments in Canada. The Squamish Nation councillor, who also goes by the name Dustin Rivers, is standing on a pinched triangle of reserve land near the city's centre that the First Nation won back in 2002 after decades of legal battles. The project is in its very early stages but if all goes as planned, the Squamish Nation will build about 3,000 housing units in a project that promises to answer some of the region's urgent housing needs at the same time that it presents a test of reconciliation. Amy Smart reports. (CBC)

Everett approves mixed-use development plan for riverfront
Everett City Council unanimously approved changes to its riverfront development plan Wednesday, allowing for construction to begin. Developers Riverfront Commercial Investment LLC plans to build a mixed-use development on the site of the former solid waste landfill. The development will include 230,000 square-feet of retail space, including a movie theater and specialty grocery store, 125,000 square feet of office space, 250 hotel rooms, and 1,250 condo or multi-family home units. Allison Sundell reports. (KING)

The Threat of a Large Oil Spill -- At What Cost to San Juan County
What would a large oil spill cost all of us?  How long would it affect our communities, property values, businesses, and way of life? San Juan County's Environmental Resources Division and the Marine Resources Committee together with specialty consultants have completed an Oil Spill Consequences Assessment that estimates the catastrophic economic and ecosystem services losses that we would endure in the event of a large oil spill.  A community presentation will be held on Wednesday May 8, 11 AM - 1 PM at the San Juan Island Grange in Friday Harbor. There will also be an online presentation via Webinar on Wednesday May 15, 12 PM – 1 PM.  For more information and to download the reports please visit www.sjcmrc.org/projects/oil-spill-prevention/.

Trump Administration Moves To Roll Back Offshore Drilling Safety Regulations
The Trump Administration is rolling back some of the Obama-era safety regulations for offshore drilling that were meant to prevent a repeat of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The change pertains to rules aimed at keeping offshore oil and gas wells from "blowing out" – a sudden and uncontrollable release of crude oil. In its summary of the rule changes, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement says the "revisions modify regulations pertaining to offshore oil and gas drilling, completions, workovers, and decommissioning ... to ensure safety and environmental protection, while correcting errors and reducing certain unnecessary regulatory burdens imposed under the existing regulations." (NPR)

Nature crisis: Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction'
On land, in the seas, in the sky, the devastating impact of humans on nature is laid bare in a compelling UN report. One million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. Nature everywhere is declining at a speed never previously seen and our need for ever more food and energy are the main drivers. These trends can be halted, the study says, but it will take "transformative change" in every aspect of how humans interact with nature. Matt McGrath reports. (BBC)

State Sen. Doug Ericksen's $500,000 contract with autocratic Cambodian regime draws scrutiny, condemnation 
....[Senator Doug Ericksen's, R-Ferndale} parlaying of his elected position into a business relationship with the authoritarian Hun Sen regime is attracting condemnation from human-rights activists, local Cambodian Americans, exiled leaders of Cambodia’s opposition party and even a Republican congressman. U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Florida, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill seeking sanctions against Cambodian leaders over human-rights abuses, blistered Ericksen’s assessment of the country’s elections.... Ericksen, who tapped surplus campaign funds to pay for some of his Cambodia travel, has defended the contract as a legitimate second job for a part-time state legislator. According to PacRim’s federal filings, the firm will be paid $41,660 a month to meet with state and federal officials “to promote improved relations between the USA and the Kingdom of Cambodia and legislation that promotes improved relations.” Jim Brunner and Joseph O'Sullivan report. (Seattle Times)



Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  239 AM PDT Mon May 6 2019   
TODAY  Light wind becoming N to 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 8 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  5 ft at 8 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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5/3 Virginia rail, culverts, Illabot Cr., green gains, BC pipe appeal, Kids on Beach, Poo & Pee, mystery mounds, 'salmon-safe' Shoreline

Virginia rail [Brian Small/Audubon]

Virginia Rail Rallus limicola
The Virginia Rail is a medium-sized bird of both fresh and salt water marshes. It has a long, slightly decurved bill and a short, upturned tail. Virginia Rails are found primarily in freshwater marshes and less often in brackish marshes. They prefer a mixture of emergent vegetation and flooded openings where insects are abundant.... In western Washington, breeding birds are found in lower-elevation fresh water marshes and some brackish marshes along the Puget Trough west to Ocean Shores. Virginia Rails are very secretive birds that are more likely to be heard than seen. They are most active and visible at dawn and dusk. (BirdWeb/Seattle Audubon)

State budget scrimps on replacing salmon-blocking culverts
Washington faces a federal court order to fix under-roadway pipes that block migrating fish by 2030, but a budget passed by lawmakers puts the state at risk of missing the deadline and could delay salmon recovery even as the Pacific Northwest’s endangered orcas are starving. The Legislature’s two-year transportation budget, approved last weekend, devotes $100 million to fixing culverts — large pipes that allow streams to flow under roadways, but can prevent salmon from reaching their spawning grounds. The $100 million is about one-third of what Gov. Jay Inslee requested, and far less than what many — including some lawmakers, state officials, conservationists and Native American tribes — agree is necessary. Gene Johnson reports. (Associated Press)

Illabot Creek project receives award
The Illabot Creek restoration project that was completed in September recently received an award from the state chapter of the American Public Works Association. The project restored the creek between Rockport and Marblemount to multiple winding channels where it had previously been straightened. The project, done in the area where the creek passes under Rockport Cascade Road, received the honor of 2019 Project of the Year for endeavors under $5 million, according to a Skagit County news release. The creek received federal designation in 2014 under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Environmentalists win historic gains in Legislature despite a few stumbles
Environmentalists scored big victories — of historic size, especially on climate-change — but also suffered a few significant setbacks at the Washington Legislature’s 2019 session. Big Oil sustained one significant loss but also pulled off a perhaps unlikely major win given the political winds. And the winners also include the insurance industry, which was able to head off extra fees on insurance policies to fund efforts to reduce the threat of wildfires. The greens’ political wins clearly outweighed the losses — especially on clean energy policies and most legislation proposed to protect dwindling salmon runs and save endangered Puget Sound orca whales. Brad Shannon reports. (Investigate West)

Supreme Court of Canada won't hear City of Burnaby's Trans Mountain pipeline appeal
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the City of Burnaby's appeal fighting the construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. The city was appealing part of a decision from the Federal Court of Appeal, which halted work on the project last August. Construction was suspended after that court found First Nations were not adequately consulted before the project was approved in 2016, and that the National Energy Board (NEB) failed to consider the marine shipping impacts of such a project. The City of Burnaby supported the federal court's decision, but filed leave to appeal the ruling in October because it wanted additional requirements imposed on the NEB mandated by the court before the project would be allowed to move forward. (CBC)

Kids on the Beach program expands
Despite a chilly breeze Thursday, the beach at the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s Lone Tree Point was bustling with activity. La Conner Middle School students collected water samples, netted and identified marine creatures, sifted beach material and used microscopes to peer at forage fish eggs. They were on the beach as part of the Skagit Marine Resource Committee’s Kids on the Beach program, which is led by Mira Castle of the nonprofit SeaDoc Society and volunteers from various programs. Now in its second year, the program includes eighth graders from two school districts: La Conner and Conway. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Meet Poo and Pee. Metro Vancouver introduces mascots in campaign against improper flushing 
The regional government of Canada's third-largest metropolitan area has launched a video campaign introducing mascots Poo and Pee to drive home a message about improper flushing. The costumed mascots are part of Metro Vancouver's annual Unflushables campaign to remind people about items that should not be flushed because they can clog city sewers and your pipes. Problem items that can lead to trouble with municipal and residential pipes when flushed include dental floss, hair, paper towels, tampons and applicators, as well as condoms, according to the regional government. (CBC)

Mystery mounds along the freeway explained!
It’s hard to miss the mounds. The huge ones. They rise up from the floodplain east of I-5 between downtown Everett and Marysville. At least a couple of stories high, they’re about a quarter-mile apart and 150 feet wide. The two most obvious piles of dirt have puzzled more than a few passersby. With steep slopes that level off to a flat tabletop, they look a little like giant motocross jumps. Or perhaps part of a future freeway off-ramp to nowhere. They aren’t. We can debunk those theories. The Port of Everett, working with a private company, has been stockpiling the clean fill dirt for an upcoming habitat project in the Snohomish River estuary. It’s similar to restoration efforts the Tulalip Tribes, Snohomish County and the city of Everett have carried out to either side. Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)

Shoreline is the first city in Washington state to become "salmon-safe" certified.
They're second in the nation to receive the certification, with Portland leading the way. But it didn't happen without its share of mistakes and lessons learned. Shoreline's new City Hall building was meant to be a beacon of environmental advocacy. It's energy efficient, produces solar power, and even has rain gardens to trap stormwater. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)


Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  245 AM PDT Fri May 3 2019   
TODAY  W wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 15 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind to 10 kt in the evening becoming light. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft at 14 seconds. 
SAT  Light wind becoming W to 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 13 seconds. 
SAT NIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  5 ft at 13 seconds building to 7 ft at 9 seconds after midnight. 
SUN  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 7 ft at 9 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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5/2 Zoanthid, wildfire season, Laura Blackmore, grey whale migration, invasives, chinook season, oil reserves

Yellow zoanthid [Jim Nestler/Walla Walla U]

Yellow zoanthid Epizoanthus scotinus
This anemone-like cnidarian lives in groups, with individuals connected to one another at the base by a sheet of tissue to make a clonal colony.  The column of individuals may have embedded sand or other material.  Subtidal.  Color tan, light yellow, or brown, with light yellow or white tentacles (paler than the column).  Height to about 5 cm, diameter to about 2 cm.  Colony may be 1-2 m wide. These individuals reproduce asexually by budding, thus adding to the colony.  They can also reproduce sexually.  These animals may take several hours to expand again if they are stimulated to contract. (Walla Walla University)

Forecast calls for busy wildfire season along West Coast
Most of the country can expect a normal wildfire season but residents along the West Coast of the United States should be ready for another busy season, the National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday. California experienced its deadliest and largest wildfires in the past two years, including a fire in the northern part of the state last year that destroyed the town of Paradise, killing more than 80 people. It was the nation's worst death toll from a wildfire in a century. The Boise, Idaho-based center said a heavy crop of grasses and fine fuels has developed across California and should elevate fire potential as it dries through the summer. Nicholas Geranios reports. (Associated Press)

Gov. Inslee appoints new executive director of Puget Sound Partnership
Governor Jay Inslee appointed a new executive director to the Puget Sound Partnership on Wednesday. Laura Blackmore has been with the Puget Sound Partnership since 2015, and currently holds the title of deputy director and tribal liaison. Blackmore worked for Cascadia Consulting, Inc. prior to her time at the Partnership, and also has experience as a water quality planner for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.... Blackmore’s appointment begins Saturday, May 4.  Emily Oliver reports. (KLXY)

Dozens of grey whales washing up dead along migration route — and B.C. is their next stop
An unusually high number of grey whales are washing up dead on West Coast shorelines on their annual migration north and B.C. is the next stop, warns a U.S.-based marine biologist. More than 20 grey whales were stranded ashore in California this spring, and, further north along the coast in Oregon, several more have washed up recently. Eleven whales were recently stranded in Washington state. Only one survived. Clare Hennig reports. (CBC)

As Global Shipping Grows, Prepare for a Surge of Invasive Species
Invasive species have long spread across the world by ship, often with disastrous effects. Now Anthony Sardain, an invasion ecologist at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, expects the risk of marine invasions to rise three- to 20-fold in the next 30 years. The idea came to Sardain in the summer of 2015 as he sailed with his father, a commodity market analyst, off the coast of Brittany, France. As they discussed how China’s emergence as a superpower might impact global trade, Sardain realized that previous research on marine invasive species typically assumed global trade would remain constant. But shipping is expected to change on a global scale. Sardain and his colleagues set out to forecast how this might affect where marine species are being introduced. Charles Q. Choi reports. (Hakai Magazine)

'This is all optical': sport fishers slam DFO's chinook closures
Recreational fishers are criticizing Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) for its sweeping restrictions on chinook salmon fishing, claiming that less than one per cent of the chinook caught last year by sport anglers throughout the region belonged to at-risk stocks. More than 100 protesters surrounded federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson's constituency office in North Vancouver on Wednesday calling the recent closures a political move that will have little impact on the overall health of chinook populations. (CBC)

It's hard to know how much oil we have left, but this is our best guess
The pockets of oil trapped between Earth’s strata are finite, at least on a human time scale. It takes millennia of immense pressure and heat to transform ancient remains into fossil fuels. Economists and geologists are still ­debating when, whether, and how we’ll run out­—the answer is a ­moving target. In the meantime, here’s our best guess as to how much of Earth’s milkshake we’ve got left to drink. Jennifer Lu reports. (Popular Science)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  618 AM PDT Thu May 2 2019   
TODAY  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 7 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 4 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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter. 

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

5/1 Trillium, gas fight, pipeline protester, wildfires, Fraser salmon, moving Hamilton, dam projects, food and climate, anti-Semitic rise

Western trillium [Walter Siegmund]

Western trillium Trillium ovatum
Genus and common names come from the Latin trillium meaning 'in 3s,' referring to the leaves, petals, sepals and stigmas. The flower blooms early in the spring (March to May), just as the robins appear or 'wake up,' giving rise to the alternative common name 'wake-robin.' (Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast)

B.C. ready for court battle as Alberta proclaims turn-off-the-taps law
Alberta has proclaimed a law that allows it to slow the flow of oil and gas to B.C. For its part, the B.C. government says it is ready to fight in court right away. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s new cabinet was sworn in Tuesday and immediately held its first meeting. Kenney, in an opinion piece addressed specifically to British Columbians in Wednesday’s Vancouver Sun, said cabinet at that meeting proclaimed into law Bill 12, the Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act.  The law gives the Alberta government the power to impose licences on companies exporting petroleum products and place restrictions on licence holders. It gives the province the power to limit the allowable daily quantities of petroleum products shipped, the method of shipment and point of export, and length of time a licence is in effect. Nick Eagland reports. (Vancouver Sun)   

Pipeline protesting grandpa arrested after climbing down tree
Ontario grandfather Terry Christenson, who climbed a tree Monday to protest the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, ended his protest Tuesday and was promptly arrested by Burnaby RCMP. It’s not the first arrest for the 71-year-old man who was arrested last year for camping in a tree at Burnaby’s Westridge Marine Terminal to protest the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. Christenson camped out in the tree inside the Westridge terminal for 34 hours. A court-ordered injunction remains in place against the protesters. Tiffany Crawford reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Snow melts, anxiety soars: Wildfire season is here
Dry conditions this spring have put many people in north central Washington on edge. As wildfires become more frequent and intense, the disappearance of snow now ushers in a season of higher anxiety for those who have experienced the destruction of wildfire. And this spring feels particularly ominous, with water levels in ponds and lakes already exposing bathtub rings of pale earth that wouldn’t normally be visible until the end of the dry summer months. Ashley Ahearn reports. (KUOW)

How scientists are giving Fraser River salmon a fresh chance
A subtle transformation to a century-old jetty is giving new hope to recovery efforts for the fish and their No. 1 predator, the endangered southern resident killer whale Judith Lavoie reports. (The Narwhal)


Town of Hamilton in Skagit County to be relocated -- for salmon and safety
The center of the historic town of Hamilton in the Skagit Valley is soon to be moved out of the river's way, so its residents will not have to dig out of periodic floods and salmon can use the meandering river and slough to grow up before going to sea. "The rivers were how people and goods were moved around," said Joan Cromley, mayor of Hamilton, explaining how her town was settled in the 19th Century. "After a flood, we dig out and move forward." But, Cromley worried Tuesday, "Hamilton is slowly dying, and the next flood could wipe us out." The town has found a benefactor in Forterra, the land/culture conservancy which has protected places from the Olympic Coast to downtown Tukwila to hills in the Kittitas Valley. Forterra has used a $1 million bequest to help Hamilton move, buying dry ground above the flood plain for a new town center. Joel Connelly reports. (SeattlePI)

Dam projects on Washington rivers will restore miles of salmon habitat
Hundreds of miles of river habitat are cut off to salmon because of dams and culverts around western Washington. Dealing with fish passage is a focus for Washington officials trying to produce more Chinook salmon for Southern Resident killer whales. Removing a dam on the middle fork of the Nooksack River is personal for Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville. "My dad was a commercial fisherman who ended up owning a fish processing plant up in Blaine," Linville said. The dam, built to divert the river for Bellingham's drinking water, cuts off salmon habitat. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Your Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered
How to shop, cook and eat in a warming world. Julia Moskin, Brad Plumer, Rebecca Lieberman and Eden Weingart report. (NY Times)

Graffiti, slurs, swastikas — anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise in WA
Anti-Semitic incidents in Washington state have increased by 60 percent over last year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Lilly Fowler reports. (Crosscut) See also: Audit shows anti-Semitism skyrocketing in B.C.  There were 165 antisemitic incidents in B.C. in 2017. The total has ballooned to 374 in 2018. Mike Raptis reports. (Vancouver Sun)




Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  314 AM PDT Wed May 1 2019   
TODAY  SW wind 5 to 15 kt becoming W 10 to 20 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves less than 1 ft becoming 1 to 3 ft in the  afternoon. W swell 3 ft at 7 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  3 ft at 9 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

Follow on Twitter. 

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told