8/14 Derelict gear, coal terminal, oil pipes, geoducks, safe oysters, drought, power sales, mine safety

Ken Woodside at work
(Bellingham Herald)

Lost nets, crab pots pulled from Puget Sound waters
Divers pulled more than 5,660 derelict fishing nets from Puget Sound’s shallow water — within 105 feet of the surface — as part of the work to remove lost and abandoned gear that had snared and indiscriminately killed marine life, sometimes for decades. Bellingham-based Northwest Straits Foundation led the project. It started in 2002 and ended June 30 this year. About 3,800 crab pots also were removed. Kie Relyea reports. (Bellingham Herald) See also: Long-running effort to remove deadly ghost nets reaches major milestone  Christopher Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

Finally, Some Real Rain
Cliff Mass writes: "For almost a week the models have been advertising a significant rain event today (Friday).  And the most recent forecast is no different.  A substantial rain event that will substantially reduce water use for several days and perhaps put some meaningful water into reservoirs.   The first significant rain of the summer…." (Weather Blog)

Coal company buys stake in Gateway Pacific Terminal
Coal producer Cloud Peak Energy has purchased a 49 percent stake in a proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point, according to a joint announcement by Cloud Peak and majority owner SSA Marine. Cloud Peak paid $2 million up front and will pay up to $30 million in future permitting costs, according to the announcement Thursday, Aug. 13. In the short term, SSA Marine gets an infusion of cash and some relief from what has already been an expensive permitting process. SSA Marine has paid more than $11 million so far for an ongoing environmental review that is scheduled to be completed next year. Ralph Schwartz reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Shipping oil by pipeline safer than rail, says Fraser Institute report
While a new study finds transporting crude oil by pipeline is much safer than by rail, pipeline opponents argue there is no safe way to transport oil and given the threat of climate change, the discussion should be how to reduce the need to transport fossil fuels. The Fraser Institute report was released Thursday, ahead of an anticipated rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline project by U.S. President Barack Obama. Tiffany Crawford reports. (Vancouver Sun)

New blog: Old Japanese Pitcher Throws No-Hitter
Japanese-born Hisashi Iwakuma pitched a no-hitter on Wednesday in Seattle. At 34 years old, Iwakuma is the oldest pitcher since Randy Johnson threw a non-hitter in 2004. That’s according to Tim Booth, the Associated Press sports writer. Did it matter that Iwakuma needed to be identified as Japanese-born by the sports writer?

Geoduck farms expand along with rules and critics
New geoduck farming rules are rolling out across Puget Sound, prompting a renaissance in the clam harvest and a growing movement to stop it. In the last decade, Taylor Shellfish has expanded geoduck farms by 30 acres, with another 25 awaiting permit. They produce 7,000 pounds of geoduck per year, through which hundreds of jobs have been created. Their nursery is filled with tens of thousands of growing geoduck seed…. Now, counties across Puget Sound are adopting the new geoduck rules. That's prompted renewed interest, along with big demand in Asia. The Department of Ecology counts 28 new geoduck farm permits since 2012. However, geoduck growth has also grown grit from critics. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Growers say B.C. oysters are ‘safe to eat raw’ despite Vancouver-wide ban
Vancouver Coastal Health issued an order this week instructing all restaurants to cook their B.C. oysters before serving them to customers, explaining that a naturally occurring bacterium called Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which is found in coastal waters, is linked to a rise in gastrointestinal illness. Other health authorities across the province, including on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Valley, followed suit. Raw oysters harvested elsewhere are unaffected. But the B.C. Shellfish Grower’s Association, which represents about 70 per cent of shellfish growers in the province, disputed that its members had anything to do with the illnesses. Executive director Roberta Stevenson said the province’s oysters are fine when they come out of the water. Kat Sieniuc reports. (Globe and Mail)

If you like to listen: Drowned Out
If you’re a whale, you use your ears to navigate. Unfortunately, humans can have a hard time seeing all the noise they make, and what it’s doing to the world of sound. Christopher Clark can explain. He’s a senior scientist in bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and is part of a “listening culture” of scientists. And he knows a lot about whales. This is an audio story about listening. (NPR)

Peninsula drought intensifies; status boosted from severe to extreme
The North Olympic Peninsula's drought status has been upgraded from severe to extreme. The U.S. Drought Monitor announced the change Thursday. The new categorization indicates regional impacts that include major crop and pasture losses and widespread water shortages or restrictions. It is based on multiple factors including soil moisture, rainfall, river flows and groundwater availability. Arwyn Rice reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Drought Cuts Seattle City Light's Revenue By Millions
Seattle’s electric utility says it's taking a big financial hit because of the weather: The lack of rain has affected its ability to produce surplus power to sell in the open market. Its revenue from selling that surplus is down more than 40 percent, KUOW has learned. The utility relies primarily on hydropower, and in this normally wet corner of the country, it typically produces a lot more power than its customers need. Deborah Wang reports. (KUOW)

The Animas River spill and the myth of mine safety
The definition of a mine, said Mark Twain, is a hole in the ground owned by liars. And this month the industry's biggest lie — that it can be trusted with our water — is once again on display as another mining disaster has spilled millions of gallons of toxic mining waste and chemicals into our streams, rivers and lakes. Joel R. Reynolds reports. (LA Times)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 250 AM PDT FRI AUG 14 2015
TODAY
SW WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 1 TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE MORNING...THEN SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE EVENING.
SAT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
SAT NIGHT
W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
SUN
LIGHT WIND...BECOMING NW TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 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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8/13 Totem pole, Kinder Morgan, bad oysters, dairy regs, Mukilteo terminal, crow battle, killing cormorants

(PHOTO: San Juan Journal)

Native art comes alive: Totem pole blessing ceremony on Henry Island
The 9,000 pound totem pole was carved from a single tree, and started out weighing seven tons. The pole features an eagle at the top with its wings outstretched, a seal, sea lions, salmon eggs, a raven and an orca whale, as well as a bubble man, a traditional figure in Kwakwaka’wakw Nation artwork. Anna V. Smith reports. (San Juan Journal)

Kinder Morgan pipeline review by NEB loses 35 participants over 'flawed' process
Dozens of participants have dropped out of the controversial National Energy Board review of Kinder Morgan's proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, saying they can no longer support a "biased" and "unfair" process. Thirty-five commenters and interveners, including the Wilderness Committee and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, sent a letter to the board Wednesday announcing their immediate withdrawal. (Canadian Press)

Raw oysters lead to 31 cases of sickness: health authority
Vancouver Coastal Health has asked restaurants to take increased precautions when serving oysters as more illnesses are reported. Public health officials have ordered eateries to cook all oysters harvested from B.C. waters and to only serve oysters from outside the province raw. The order was issued in response to a naturally occurring bacterium found in B.C.'s coastal waters that causes a gastrointestinal illness. (Canadian Press)

State proposes more regulations for dairy farms
Most dairies in Washington state would be required to get a water quality permit under a proposal the state Department of Ecology released Tuesday, August 11. That’s because for the first time, the agency proposes treating seepage from manure storage lagoons as pollution…. The permit applies to confined animal feeding operation, or CAFOs for short, a category that includes large dairies and feedlots for cattle, pigs and chickens. Kate Prengaman reports. (Yakima Herald-Republic)

Work on new Mukilteo ferry terminal begins with tank farm pier demolition
Demolishing a World War II-era pier to make way for a new $129 million ferry terminal isn't easy work. The pier opened in 1940, serving the nearby U.S. Air Force's bulk fuel storage facility, which closed in 1989. Just a little more than a month into the pier removal project, workers are still trying just to clear the top of the structure. That's involved removing 12,000 feet of fuel lines, 800 40-gallon bags of asbestos, several tons of grass and other organic material that grew on the pier during the 26 years since it was closed, as well as railings, catwalks and mercury-filled lights. Sharon Salyer reports. (Everett Herald)

As the lawsuit flies: Portage Bay crow battle lands in court
The Great Crow Battle of Portage Bay that pitted one family feeding the birds against neighbors now has resulted in a $200,000 civil suit. Erik Lacitis reports. (Seattle Times)

Conservationists Say Feds Ignored Evidence That Killing Cormorants Won't Save Salmon
Conservation groups are accusing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of withholding research showing a federal plan to kill seabirds on the Columbia River would not actually benefit salmon and steelhead. Earlier this year, the agency approved a controversial plan to shoot around 11,000 double-crested cormorants to protect threatened and endangered fish. Studies show the birds eat up to 20 percent of young salmon and steelhead as they swim down the river to the ocean. But documents distributed Wednesday to news media show the agency’s own analysis concluded those fish would die in the ocean anyway before they returned to the river to spawn as adults. Thus, the analysis found, killing cormorants would have no effect on the overall survival of protected fish. Cassandra Profita reports. (EarthFix)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 249 AM PDT THU AUG 13 2015
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. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS. A 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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

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8/12 BNSF fined, orca play, drought, Growlers, sustainable seafood, 'blob,' humpback, Omni Processor

BNSF no-no (Skagit Valley Herald)

BNSF Railway fined for treated railroad ties in water
The Washington State Department of Ecology has fined BNSF Railway $86,000 for placing creosote-treated railroad ties and other materials from maintenance projects in Whatcom and Skagit county water bodies. (Associated Press)

If you like to watch: Orca whales aug 9 2015 in Active Pass from Galiano Island
Orcas in Active Pass Aug 9 2015. An excellent show today of J and L pods shot from Galiano Island. Our guest Kim saw them for the first time today and was very excited as you can hear! (and who wouldn't be seeing them like this for the first time!) Gary Cullen shares.

Drought Worsens: Seattle Area Asked To Cut Water Use
Residents of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett are being asked to cut back on their use of water by 10 percent. That’s because the summer’s historic high temperatures and lack of precipitation have worsened the region’s water supply outlook. In addition, water supply managers are worried about forecasts for drier than normal conditions this fall. Deborah Wang reports. (KUOW)

Judge declines to stop the Growler overflights on Whidbey Island
Judge says citizens of Ebey’s Reserve failed to show the impact of Growler overflights was significantly worse than predicted by the Navy in 2005. Mike Carter reports. (Seattle Times)

Sustainable label confusion thrives in lack of regulation
No one goes to the supermarket deliberately intending to destroy the planet. Which is why labels can make shopping such a life-affirming experience: proudly rejecting that suspiciously cheap piece of cod in favour of officially approved salmon; choosing anything with the words 'Organic', 'Wild' or 'Fresh' stamped on the side; purchasing yet another ancient grain to join the untouched heaps already moulding in your pantry. Most of us want to be good global citizens. And labels provide a kind of shortcut to help us get there. So what is a consumer supposed to make of the decision by SeaChoice to end its partnership with Overwaitea? Or of the grocery giant's promise of a yet-to-be-announced partnership with another "national sustainable seafood program"? Jason Proctor reports. (CBC)

Weather Scientists Want Your Help To Understand 'The Blob'
It’s an unusually warm patch of water off the West Coast that has flummoxed climatologists. “It’s still rearing its ugly head,” said Nick Bond, Washington state climatologist and regular contributor to KUOW. He first detected The Blob in 2013. The Blob is 1,000 feet wide and 300 feet deep. Climatologists and oceanographers want to know its effects, and if it’s to blame for the drought that has gripped the West Coast. Oceanographers wonder if it’s to blame for the largest bloom of toxic algae in more than a decade. Jeannie Yandel reports. (KUOW)

Humpback whale likely killed by entanglement near Klemtu
A humpback whale that washed up dead on the North Coast of B.C. likely died because it was entangled by rope, according to those who have seen it. Last Friday Spirit Bear Adventures wildlife guide Philip Charles got a call that a humpback whale was drifting close to the community of Klemtu. He set off with a team from Pacific Wild Conservation to Nowish Bay where they found the massive animal washed up dead on the rocks. (CBC)

Janicki Bioenergy’s Omni Processor drawing interest
With Janicki Bioenergy’s Omni Processor fully operational in east Africa, interest is pouring in from potential buyers. The Omni Processor turns sewage sludge into drinking water and electricity. The electricity is used to run the machine and could eventually supply power to homes. Shelby Rowe reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 851 AM PDT WED AUG 12 2015
TODAY
LIGHT WIND...BECOMING NW TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT 7 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF
 SHOWERS AND ISOLATED TSTMS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 7 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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8/11 Orca by drone, Perseid shower, BC water, BC seaweed, quake ready, Unocal cleanup, Shell drill

(PHOTO: NOAA/Vancouver Aquarium)

If you like to watch: Look at These Amazing Photos Taken by Drone of Northern Resident Killer Whales
According to NOAA: "For the first time, scientists have used an unmanned aerial vehicle to study killer whales from above. The device they're using is a remote-controlled hexacopter with a high-resolution camera mounted in its belly, and the photos it produces are beautiful and full of detail. The images offer an entirely new view of this species." Christopher Frizzelle reports. (The Stranger)

Sunshine Coast bans all watering, moves to Stage 4 restrictions  B.C. to enact such a ban. Residential and commercial water users are subject to the new rules, as the district says only commercial food growers with farm status and water meters are exempt from the ban. (CBC)

Perseid meteor shower to light up B.C. skies
There are a lot of good shows happening in Metro Vancouver this summer, but one of the best will be taking place Monday and Tuesday nights this week in the sky. The annual Perseid meteor shower — an event that could bring as many as 100 fire balls every hour — will reach its peak overnight on Tuesday. Johnanna Wagstaffe reports. (CBC)

Increased harvesting of Vancouver Island seaweed unwise: scientist
A decision by the provincial government to allow increased harvesting of seaweed from the central east coast of Vancouver Island has sounded alarm bells in parts of the scientific community there. In addition to allowing three licensed companies to increase their take to 500 tons annually in the Deep Bay and Bowser areas from a previous limit of 300 tons, the department of agriculture has offered two additional licences for 250 tons each for the area fronting the Qualicum First Nation reserve in Qualicum Beach. The licences are for a type of red algae seaweed called Mazzaella japonica that looks like soggy detritus washed up on shore but is more like pure gold, with increasing global demand for its use in everything from toothpaste to ice cream. Yvonne Zacharias reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Did Seattle earthquake report finally trigger an appropriate response?
The fervor over an impending earthquake in Seattle and the greater Pacific Northwest is far from cooled off, after a report from The New Yorker. Cities and agencies on the West Coast and around the Puget Sound region and state are increasing their efforts to prepare for a natural disaster that could devastate the area. The Washington National Guard is developing a new response plan, with a focus on earthquake and tsunamis. The National Guard is holding workshops, which will eventually lead to a four-day exercise called "Cascadia Rising" in June 2016, the Peninsula Daily News reports. Kipp Robertson reports. (MyNorthwest.Com)

Cleanup starts next year on contaminated sites in Edmonds
The owner of a former fuel terminal near the Edmonds waterfront will clean up the site’s last two contaminated areas next year under a work plan being reviewed by the state Department of Ecology. The bulk fuel terminal was operated from 1923 to 1991 by Unocal, now a subsidiary of Chevron Corp. Cleanup work on a related problem, the former tank farm on a nearby hill overlooking Puget Sound, has been completed. The tanks were demolished and the soil beneath them excavated and tested to ensure they were free of petroleum contaminants, said David South, the Department of Ecology’s site manager. The Point Edwards condominiums were built on the site. Sharon Salyer reports. (Everett Herald)

Shell seeks modified permit for Arctic offshore drilling
With a key safety vessel repaired and in northern waters, Royal Dutch Shell PLC has applied to amend its federal exploratory drilling permit to allow drilling into oil-bearing rock in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska's northwest coast. Shell last month received permission to begin some drilling at two sites in the Chukchi Sea but was banned from digging into petroleum zones roughly 8,000 feet below the ocean floor. Dan Joling reports. (Associated Press) See also: Inside Shell’s Extreme Plan to Drill for Oil in the Arctic  Paul Barrett Benjamin Elgin report. (Bloomberg)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 AM PDT TUE AUG 11 2015
TODAY
W WIND TO 10 KT BECOMING NW 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT EASING TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS. A 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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

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8/10 Humpbacks, BC salmon, pinks, tribal fish, derelict gear, Hood Canal deal, shrimp spray, no tankers, mine waste

Humpback whale (NOAA)

If you like to listen: It Took A Musician's Ear To Decode The Complex Song In Whale Calls
Humpback whales don’t just sing songs — they compose with the whales around them, singing a song that changes, and evolves over time. Scientists didn’t know that until they started recording whale sounds in the 1960s and spent years listening…. Katy Payne, a researcher in acoustic biology at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and her husband Roger were the first scientists to realize that the intricate and eerie calls of some humpback whales are actually songs. Bill McQuay and Christopher Joyce report. (NPR)

Mountain School makes the magic of the wilderness real for kids
The three-day mountain camp strives to give school children a visceral connection to the Northwest wilderness. Ron Judd reports on the 25-year-old program by the North Cascades Institute. (Seattle Times) See also: Kids get outdoors in ‘Experience The Wild’ camp There is a summer camp where campers climb to the top of a mountain, then descend to the shores of the sea over the course of five days. Vince Richards reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

New blog: Into The (Sort Of) Wild
"I spent parts of this past weekend at Deception Pass State Park with a thousand or more campers. But with the right camera angles, it can still be remembered as a few days in a wildness of sorts. But what was the experience?…"

Salmon on Vancouver Island threatened by heat wave
River levels in Southern B.C. are at record lows and water temperatures are at record highs. This is threatening the millions of salmon coming home to spawn and the billion-dollar freshwater fishing industry that depends on healthy rivers. Greg Rasmussen reports. (CBC News)

Crews to prep Dungeness River this week for huge run of pink salmon
Work could begin this week on creating as hospitable an environment as possible for hordes of pink salmon expected to return to the Dungeness River later this month. A preseason prediction that 1.3 million pinks will return to the Dungeness this year may not come to pass, said Mike Gross, biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, who is based in Montesano. That estimate was based on a run of 400,000 pinks in the Dungeness two years ago. (Peninsula Daily News)

Court upholds Suquamish’s right to share fishing with Tulalips
A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision that recognized the Suquamish Tribe’s rights to fish in Port Gardner and other nearby waters. The result is that the Tulalip Tribes, who had filed the appeal, will have to share those fishing grounds with the Suquamish, who are based across Puget Sound in Port Madison. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled July 27 that the Tulalip Tribes did not provide ample evidence that fishing grounds on the east side of Puget Sound should not be shared with the Suquamish. Chris Winters reports. (Everett Herald)

Traditional fishing revival launched by First Nations man
Almost a century after fishing practices unique to First Nations in B.C.'s Salish Sea were outlawed, members paddled canoes back to traditional waters and dropped their full-sized reef net. It was the start of a long-term mission to revitalize the once-celebrated technique for gathering food and bonding community for the Strait Salish people. The web-like net — about the length of a city bus — was suspended between two canoes in an endeavour by a University of Victoria doctoral student who envisions bringing his nation's fishing style "back to life." Tamsyn Burgmann reports. (Canadian Press)

Initiative’s feat: Ridding waters of nets
Knowing the deadly consequences abandoned fishing nets pose for marine life, a nonprofit has worked to remove 550 from Puget Sound this year alone. That brings to 5,600 the number of derelict nets the Northwest Straits Initiative and its partners have dragged out since 2002. The effect: restoring 800 acres of marine habitat. The group’s efforts to remove nets identified in shallow Puget Sound waters concluded in June. A celebration is scheduled Thursday in Everett to commemorate the milestone. Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)

State won’t audit shoreline deal Navy got at half the $1.7M value
The acting state auditor has turned down a request by two state senators asking for an audit of a Hood Canal land-lease deal between the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Navy. As her reason, Auditor Jan Jutte cited a Jefferson County Superior Court judge’s opinion in May that said DNR had authority to grant the shoreline lease and that the way the agency determined its $720,000 value “was not arbitrary, capricious or unlawful.” (Seattle Times)

Back to the drawing board for control of oyster-killing shrimp
They’ve tried smashing, cementing, shocking and shaking them, but now that pesticides are off the table — at least temporarily — what’s the option for ridding oyster beds of ghost shrimp? Sandi Doughton reports. (Seattle Times) Meanwhile: Shellfish spraying in Willapa Bay continues — on clam beds  After neurotoxin controversy, oyster growers aren’t spraying to kill shrimp. But herbicide applications to kill nonnative eel grass are still allowed. Sandi Doughton reports. (Seattle Times)

Gabriola Island residents rally against tanker moorage proposal
Concerned residents of B.C.'s Gulf Islands are planning to round up their boats near Gabriola Island today to draw attention to a proposal to moor large vessels in the area….. The proposal comes from the Pacific Pilotage Authority of Canada, which says the new anchorage space is needed, partly because ships are getting larger… the authority's CEO Kevin Obermeyer says the authority is currently gathering more research on the issue and will hold a meeting with Gabriola Island residents in early 2016, after which they'll have 90 days to respond. (CBC)

EPA Says It Released 3 Million Gallons Of Contaminated Water Into River
In an event that has led to health warnings and turned a river orange, the Environmental Protection Agency says that one of its safety teams accidentally released contaminated water from a mine into the Animas River in southwest Colorado. The spill, which sent heavy metals, arsenic, and other contaminants into a waterway that flows into the San Juan National Forest, occurred on Wednesday. The EPA initially said that 1 million gallons of wastewater had been released, but that figure has risen sharply.  (NPR, KUNC)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT MON AUG 10 2015
TODAY
VARIABLE WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS.  W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
TONIGHT AND TUE
VARIABLE WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 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

8/7 Ugly fish, WA oil terminal, BC LNG, White River, fish die-off, BC spill averted, pier removal, tsunami debris

Lasiognathus dinema (UW)

Scientist discovers ugly new species of fish in Gulf of Mexico
By conventional standards, the new species of fish discovered deep in the Gulf of Mexico is not beautiful. Actually, by almost any standard, it’s hideous. But this spiky, snaggle-toothed fish, a sea creature from somebody’s nightmares, is adapted to the harsh world below 3,000 feet, where it was co-discovered by a scientist at Nova Southeastern University. Deep-sea expert Tracey Sutton identified the species while studying sea life at extreme ocean depths in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, the university announced Wednesday. David Fleshler reports. (Sun Sentinel)

New blog: Sitting on The “Big One.” This Is Your Northwest
“How do you think about your own death and destruction? Maybe you’ve seen the disaster movies. Are you in the masses that die or the few that survive? Here’s why I have a hard time thinking about this...”

If you like to watch: Swimming with the Partnership
As people who encouraged me on Swim Duwamish, I thought you might enjoy this Swim Duwamish video featuring Martha Kongsgaard and Sheida Sahandy, leaders of the Puget Sound Partnership. Mark Powell shares.

Settlement Reveals New Details Of Vancouver Oil Terminal Deal
A largely unredacted lease between the Port of Vancouver, Washington state and companies looking to build the largest oil-by-rail terminal in the country has been released as the result of a legal settlement. The proposal, called the Vancouver Energy Project, is a joint-venturbacked by oil company Tesoro and logistics company Savage Industries. The lease, turned over Wednesday, contains only three redactions, which cover proprietary information about pricing between the Port of Vancouver and Tesoro-Savage. In May, a Clark County-based environmental group sued the port over a 2014 public records request for an unredacted version of the lease. Conrad Wilson reports. (EarthFix)

B.C.’s LNG project poses threat to salmon habitat: study
A new study co-authored by six British Columbia First Nations warns that a proposed terminal for exporting liquefied natural gas on the province’s northern coast poses a threat to salmon habitat in the Skeena River estuary. The research argues Pacific NorthWest LNG’s planned terminal on Lelu Island will harm Flora Bank, where juvenile salmon are nurtured by eelgrass beds. Flora Bank, a sandy area that is visible at low tide, is next to the proposed LNG site near Prince Rupert. Brent Jang reorts. (Globe and Mail)

Parties restoring key habitat for salmon on White River
More than 56 parties have agreed to restore key salmon habitat on the White River, which flows through King and Pierce Counties in Washington State, to resolve their liability for natural resource damages caused by hazardous substances released into the Thea Foss and Wheeler-Osgood Waterways in Tacoma’s Commencement Bay, the Justice Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Department of the Interior announced today. The habitat project will reopen 121 acres of historic floodplain for salmon, and reduces future flood risk to nearby homes and businesses. The project results from the collaborative efforts of settling parties and natural resource trustees: NOAA, the Department of the Interior, the Washington State Department of Ecology, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. (Enumclaw Courier-Herald)

Heat causes massive fish die-off at Whatcom Falls hatchery
Water that was too warm killed about 5,400 rainbow trout — nearly all of them — at the Whatcom Falls Park hatchery during a summer marked by drought and high temperatures. Most of the fish were in two large shallow ponds at the hatchery, which belongs to the Washington state Department of Fish & Wildlife but is operated by Bellingham Technical College’s fisheries program. Kie Relyea reports. (Bellingham Herald)

B.C. coast guard, tug crew avert major diesel and gas spill
Coast guard officials and the crew of a tug had to work fast to prevent what could have been a major spill off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. A barge loaded with 60,000 litres of diesel and gasoline hit rocks Wednesday afternoon and began taking on water in Surge Narrows near Campbell River, B.C. (Canadian Press)

Pier Demolition Makes Way for Ferry Terminal
Demolition of the Mukilteo tank farm pier has begun. The work makes way for a new terminal to replace Washington State Ferries’ existing, 60-year-old facility in Mukilteo. The project will result in a cleaner Puget Sound by removing 7,000 tons of toxic creosote-soaked timber piles, about 4 percent of the remaining creosote in the sound. Ric Haun reports. (MarineLink.Com)

Massive barge carrying tsunami debris arrives in Seattle
A barge the size of a football field carrying debris from the massive Japanese earthquake and tsunami is now in Puget Sound. Seattle is one of the final stops in a two-year shoreline cleanup. The barge is carrying thousands of bags of marine debris that washed up on Alaska shores, some presumably from the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Now that it’s in Seattle, recyclable material will be sorted out. (KIRO)

Hollywood Beach closed again by mysterious bacterial contamination
High levels of bacteria have closed Hollywood Beach again, just a month after it was closed over the Fourth of July weekend. Sue Waldrip, Clallam County Environmental Health division specialist, said testing Thursday morning revealed the possible presence of human fecal matter. The Clallam County Health and Human Services Department says people should not swim or wade in the water or get it into their mouths, noses or eyes. James Casey reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
 WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 253 AM PDT FRI AUG 7 2015
TODAY
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
SAT
LIGHT WIND. W SWELL 4 FT AT 9 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN.
SAT NIGHT
NW WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
SUN
SE WIND TO 10 KT. 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.

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8/6 Hot weather, clean power, coal port, Kinder Morgan, OR LNG, orcas, BC wildlife

Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945

If you like to watch: Video: A dangerously hot Puget Sound
So what will a hot world look like, especially here in the Puget Sound region? Well, check out this video built around a news conference put on by Washington’s Department of Ecology July 30 in Seattle for your answer:
So what will a hot world look like, especially here in the Puget Sound region? Well, check out this video built around a news conference put on by Washington’s Department of Ecology July 30 in Seattle for your answer. Jake Ellison reports. (SeattlePI.Com)  See also: Jellyfish boom prompts research by plane and boat  Biologists with NOAA and the Department of Ecology are teaming up by plane and boat to track a jellyfish boom in Puget Sound. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

New blog: Heat and Drought. Is This The New Northwest?
"Some summer: Consecutive days of record high temperatures, little rain and low river runoff, rising water temperatures in rivers and Puget Sound... You staying or planning to leave?…. "

Clean Power Plan and our proposed coal terminal
The fate of the coal industry is uncertain at best, due to multiple factors. Oversupply in both coal markets — the kind used to make steel and the kind used to fire electricity plants — has depressed prices and deeply wounded coal companies’ bottom lines. Internationally, major coal users in Asia are trying to give an advantage to domestic mines by reducing exports from suppliers in Australia and Indonesia, not to mention the more far-flung ports in Canada and the U.S. Coal demand in China, the No. 1 coal user in the world, is down for environmental reasons — to improve urban air quality and reduce carbon emissions. In the U.S. we have the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which sets the stage for reducing carbon output 32 percent by 2030. Ralph Schwartz recaps. (Bellingham Herald)

Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion plan faces renewed opposition as crude oil price drops
As the National Energy Board (NEB) gears up to hear final arguments on Aug. 24 into its embattled review of the proposed Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, opposition is mounting as the price of oil drops, making the project less attractive. Local economists say that, barring a major war in the Middle East directly impacting top oil producers like Saudi Arabia, Canada’s oilsands might be in for a prolonged period of lower crude prices. Brian Morton reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Feds Release Draft Environmental Review Of Oregon LNG Project
Oregon LNG’s $6 billion terminal and pipeline project would cause adverse impacts to the environment, a draft environmental review has found, but most could be reduced if the energy company takes steps to minimize harm to fish and wildlife habitat and water quality, and uses adequate safety features in design and operation. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which released the draft review this week, is still completing an assessment of how the project might impact threatened or endangered species and critical habitat. But the draft is an important benchmark in the decade-long drive for the project, which involves a terminal along the Skipanon Peninsula in Warrenton and an 87-mile pipeline from Washington state through Columbia, Tillamook and Clatsop counties. Derrick DePledge reports. (Daily Astorian)

Good news, bad news for Puget Sound orcas and salmon
What has been a great year for whale watching got an extra wave of excitement last week when transient orcas came into Guemes Channel, mingling with boats off the Anacortes shoreline. “They’ve been wandering all over all summer. It’s a banner year for transients,” whale expert Ken Balcomb said. “The transients are booming. Their population is probably growing at about 6 percent per year, which is better than the stock market.” It also appears to be a good year for the southern resident orca population as the Center for Whale Research’s annual summer census tally of 81 whales — including four calves — is up from 78 last year. But Balcomb, the executive director of the Center for Whale Research, cautions the excitement may not last. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Poor salmon run could have ‘devastating’ effects on B.C. wildlife
B.C.’s bald eagle population has already had a rough year, and it could turn into a catastrophic one if dire predictions about the fall salmon runs come true. Scientists have warned that our hot and dry summer has caused unusually warm river temperatures, which means many fish could either avoid returning to their home waters to spawn, or die trying to make the journey. Bald eagles depend upon the carcasses of spawned salmon to fill their bellies for six months of the year, according to wildlife biologist David Hancock. Bethany Lindsay reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 232 AM PDT THU AUG 6 2015
TODAY
W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
NW WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 3 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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told