Salish Sea Communications

Friday, May 16, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review May 16 2025

Madame Berthe's mouse lemur:
smallest and most endangered primate species,
weighing only 30 grams.

Aloha Endangered Species Friday!

The United States Congress created Endangered Species Day in 2006 with the adoption of Senate Resolution 431. The resolution encouraged "the people of the United States to become educated about, and aware of, threats to species, success stories in species recovery, and the opportunity to promote species conservation worldwide." It also encouraged schools to spend at least 30 minutes teaching students about the day; encouraged groups such as businesses, organizations, private landowners and agencies to collaborate on educational information for the schools; and encouraged people of the United States "to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities."

Washington state sues to block Trump order expediting fossil fuel projects
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown is suing over what he says is President Donald Trump's unlawful declaration of an energy emergency, which is intended to speed up permitting procedures for fossil fuel projects.

How the Pacific Northwest’s dream of green energy fell apart
Oregon and Washington passed aggressive goals to decarbonize their power supply but left it to the Bonneville Power Administration to build the transmission lines needed for wind and solar. The agency hasn’t delivered.

B.C., federal government support dredging Vancouver's Burrard Inlet, others opposed
British Columbia's energy minister is backing plans to dredge and deepen Vancouver's Burrard Inlet to accommodate fully loaded oil tankers, despite concerns from environmentalists, experts and First Nations.

New energy secretary supports Snake River hydropower dams
The nation’s new energy secretary is “passionately in support” of leaving the four lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington intact.

EPA announces rollback for some Biden-era limits on so-called forever chemicals in drinking water
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it plans to weaken limits on some so-called forever chemicals in drinking water that were finalized last year, while maintaining standards for two common ones.

Higher prices, rolling blackouts: The Northwest is bracing for the effects of a lagging green energy push
Northwest leaders pushed strict green energy mandates but neglected problems with the electrical grid. Residents are already feeling the consequences.

NOAA senior scientists in Seattle depart amid Trump cuts
Scientists behind some of the most important breakthroughs in Northwest scientific research over the past two decades have left their jobs in the wake of budget cutting by the Trump administration.

Snohomish County Council passes controversial critical habitat ordinance
Despite overwhelming opposing testimony, the Snohomish County Council passed a controversial amendment alongside its new Critical Areas Regulations ordinance.

These news clips are a selection of weekday clips collected in Salish Sea News and Weather which is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe at no cost to the weekday news clips, send your name and email to msato(at)salishseacom.com .Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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Friday, May 9, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review May 9 2025

Aloha Fintastic Friday!

Fintastic Friday: Giving Sharks a Voice Day celebrates and raises awareness for sharks, and is geared towards children. It encourages them to get involved in shark conservation efforts and to help change public opinion about sharks—from fear to appreciation and from hate to love. Not only is the day dedicated to sharks, but to other elasmobranchs like rays and skates as well.

WA lawmakers approve $1.1B for salmon habitat restoration
The state Legislature approved an additional $1.1 billion for court-ordered Department of Transportation culvert replacement projects, bringing the program’s roughly two-decade total to $5.2 billion.

One year after the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, why isn't it full?
The Canadian oilpatch has a brand-new pipeline, something it's pleaded for year after year, and it offers a relatively quick route to the West Coast and overseas markets. But a year in, the newly expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline still isn't running at full capacity — though the CEO of the Crown corporation says he doesn't think it's a problem.

Are you recycling the right things? New cameras, tech will let you know
The city of Olympia is launching a recycling contamination reduction project this month to help people improve their recycling efforts. It will use cameras and other technology to monitor what people are putting into their curbside recycling carts.

E.P.A. Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program
Employees were told that the popular energy efficiency certification program would be “de-prioritized and eliminated,” according to documents and a recording.

States sue Trump administration for blocking the development of wind energy
Attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., are challenging an executive order Trump signed during his first day in office, pausing approvals, permits and loans for all wind energy projects both onshore and offshore.

Coastal mayors call on province to intervene amid ongoing B.C. Ferries disruptions
Mayors say accountability is confusing when multiple entities oversee B.C. Ferries operations.

How a Chinese delicacy got caught in the crossfire of Trump’s trade war
In recent years it has also become a delicacy in China, with Washington state sending 90% of its geoducks there, creating a niche yet lucrative American seafood export. But the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China is now crippling an entire industry that hand-harvests geoducks.

WA lawmakers slash wildfire budget in half
Lawmakers tussled with a four-year, $16 billion budget shortfall...Their proposed budget now under consideration by Gov. Bob Ferguson cut in half the $125 million previously promised per biennium for wildfire response and preparedness.

These news clips are a selection of weekday clips collected in Salish Sea News and Weather which is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe at no cost to the weekday news clips, send your name and email to msato(at)salishseacom.com .Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

Friday, May 2, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review May 2 2025

Aloha Tuba Friday!

The tuba is the the powerful “oompah” instrument in a band and International Tuba Day celebrates the depth and diversity of sound that this beautiful brass wind is capable of producing. The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. It anchors the harmony in orchestras, wind ensembles, and marching bands. Joel Day first established this holiday in 1979 while part of the Lower Merion High School Band.

Forested swamps on the Northwest coast are some of the biggest carbon storehouses around, new research finds
These tidal swamps were once the primary type of coastal wetland in Oregon, but development since European settlement has destroyed more than 90% of that original habitat. Jes Burns reports. (OPB)

Despite global opposition, Trump just fast-tracked deep-sea mining
Trump issued an executive order Thursday declaring that U.S. policy includes “creating a robust domestic supply chain for critical minerals derived from seabed resources to support economic growth, reindustrialization, and military preparedness.”

Trump administration deciding on PFAS drinking water limits
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency set the first federal drinking water limits for PFAS. The Trump administration is expected to soon say whether it intends to stand by those strict standards and defend the limits against a water utility industry challenge in federal court.

Proposed change could reshape Endangered Species Act. Here’s how it affects WA
In mid-April, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to change how the term “harm” would be defined in the Endangered Species Act.

Baby salmon head out to sea. Then they do something unexpected, new research shows
The long-held understanding that baby salmon emerge from the streams where they hatched to head out to sea actually is missing a far more complex story. It turns out the intrepid baby fish, no longer than a pinkie finger, explore multiple streams miles apart, traveling from river mouth to river mouth, in what amounts to a connected meta-nursery.

The fight over Pierce County’s largest geoduck farm is over.
Taylor Shellfish Company has reached a settlement with nearby homeowners and environmental advocates that will allow a large proposed Pierce County geoduck farm to move forward, subject to several restrictions.

Electricity demand in Northwest could double in next 20 years, forecast finds
Data centers, electrifying transit and buildings and producing hydrogen will drive demand, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

The EPA is canceling almost 800 environmental justice grants, court filing reveals
The agency is sending out notices of termination to 781 awardees, almost twice the number of canceled grants that had been previously reported.

BC Admits It Won’t Come Close to 2025 and 2030 Climate Goals
The province’s new climate report walks back last year’s positive forecasts.

New law requires sewage spills to be revealed to the public through a new statewide website
The Washington Legislature has passed into law the Sewage Spill Right to Know Act, which requires the Department of Ecology to set up a website to rapidly notify the public of sewage spills that occur anywhere in the state.

A big Pacific Northwest quake could cause land to sink in minutes
Scientists say the region is overdue for a major tremor, and a new study predicts serious flooding would result along with shaking and a tsunami.

Friday, April 25, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review April 25 2025

Aloha Penguin Day!
World Penguin Day takes place on April 25 because it is around this time each year that the Adelie penguins of Antarctica begin migrating north. The word "penguin" first appeared in print in the 1500s, and was originally applied to a black and white seabird called an auk that is now extinct. Some believe the name comes from the Welsh words "pen" and "gwyn" that mean "head" and "white." Penguins are nonflying birds that are native to the Southern Hemisphere.

Melting Arctic sea ice spurs gray whale die off along West Coast
Gray whales, a signature of the Washington coast, are dying by the thousands, victims of declines in Arctic sea ice.

Anti-Trump protests build momentum in WA: ‘We’re just getting louder’
Standing Saturday on Broadway in Everett, where crowds of people on either side waved signs opposed to President Donald Trump as nonstop car honking urged protesters on, it was possible to feel that a groundswell against the federal administration was underway.

E.P.A. Set to Cancel Grants Aimed at Protecting Children From Toxic Chemicals
The cancellations, set to apply to pending and active grants, also affect research into “forever chemicals” contaminating the food supply.

Up a creek: $5B culvert removal plan appears dead in WA Legislature
A Senate plan for new borrowing to pay for the tear-out and replacement of pipes and other fish barriers ran into opposition from local governments and the governor.

Edmonds launches technology to destroy PFAS
Edmonds is the first city in the country to implement new technology at a wastewater treatment facility that eradicates “forever chemicals,” otherwise known as PFAS.

EPA to fire or reassign more than 450 staffers working on environmental justice, DEI
The move is part of the Trump administration’s push to close the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.

UW climate research group braces for Trump cuts
The University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group is raising alarm and bracing for the elimination of two federal climate research programs they run from the university campus.

Interior Department to Fast-Track Oil, Gas and Mining Projects
The Interior Department said late Wednesday that it would fast-track approvals for projects involving coal, gas, oil and minerals on public lands, arguing that President Trump’s declaration of an energy emergency allowed it to radically reduce lengthy reviews required by the nation’s bedrock environmental laws.

LNG could help break Canada's dependence on the U.S. energy economy — but there are no guarantees
With the backing of Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and the Korea Gas Corp., the $40 billion Canada LNG project has been described by the federal government as the "largest single private sector investment in the history of the country."

Friday, April 18, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review April 18 2025

Aloha Piñatas Friday

Piñatas are thought to have originated in China. There they were used in New Year celebrations. They were formed into buffaloes, cows, and oxen, filled with seeds, covered with colored paper, and decorated with ribbons. After being hit with sticks until they opened, their remnants were burned, and the ashes were saved and used to bring good luck throughout the upcoming year.

Trump’s NOAA firings raise doubts for PNW fisheries
These scientists inform and set salmon fisheries quotas and identify priority salmon habitat recovery work. They were hired to forecast climate impacts, like low-oxygen conditions and marine heat, on fisheries and provide data to reduce the risk of whale entanglements, among other things.

Protecting B.C. old-growth forests could yield $10.9B in benefits, report finds
That number could quadruple to $43.1 billion over the next century if 100% of old growth trees were protected in the Okanagan and Prince George timber supply areas.

Inside the fight to save California’s dying sea lions from toxic algae: ‘We’re like 911 operators’
An animal’s chance of survival after domoic acid poisoning is 50-50, and this year an outbreak has sickened hundreds.

Trump proposed cutting the Northwest’s national forests. So what happens next?
President Donald Trump’s executive order last month laid the groundwork for wholesale changes in national forest management. Here at home, that means timber managers are under a directive to help contribute to a 25% increase in logging volume over the next several years.

NOAA scientists are cleaning bathrooms in Seattle
Federal scientists responsible for monitoring the health of West Coast fisheries are cleaning office bathrooms and reconsidering critical experiments after the Department of Commerce failed to renew their lab’s contracts for hazardous waste disposal, janitorial services, IT and building maintenance.

State recommends keeping pinto abalone on endangered species list
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Tuesday that it recommends keeping the state’s only native abalone on its endangered species list.

Proposed rule change on endangered species triggers alarm for environmentalists
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service said in a proposed rule issued Wednesday that habitat modification should not be considered harm because it is not the same as intentionally targeting a species, called “take.”

New study shows increased pathogens near B.C. open-net salmon farms
A new study led by the Pacific Salmon Foundation and four northern Vancouver Island First Nations suggests that water collected near active open-net salmon farms contains four times more pathogens harmful to wild salmon than samples collected near inactive salmon farms.

Trump Lifts Commercial Fishing Ban On Key Protected Area In Central Pacific
President Donald Trump has opened one the largest protected swaths of the Central Pacific Ocean to commercial fishing, lifting a ban that sought to help conserve the region’s imperiled fish, shark, sea turtles, marine mammals and other species. Papahānaumokuākea, the protected area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, could be next.

Friday, April 11, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review April 11 2025

Aloha International Louie Louie Day
Louie Louie Day celebrates "Louie Louie," one of the most recorded songs in rock and roll history. It takes place on the birthday of Richard Berry, the writer of the song, who was born on this date in 1935. Many other important events surrounding the song took place in April as well, making it fitting the song is celebrated when it is.

More details surface in Trump administration plan to cut national forests
A Trump administration memorandum issued Thursday declared a state of emergency in domestic timber supply and national forest health, directing the Forest Service to suspend normal environmental reviews and increase logging on more than 100 million acres of national forest, including in the Pacific Northwest.

Trump administration funding freeze of $27B clean-energy program strands local projects
A multibillion-dollar Environmental Protection Agency program designed to spur investment in energy-efficiency improvements nationwide is tied up in a legal battle that threatens to upend planned projects across the United States focused on affordable housing, the adoption of electric vehicles and more.

Researchers look to larvae for answers about Washington’s most lucrative fishery
One of Washington’s most lucrative commercial fisheries is also one about which the least is known. Unlike numerous salmon runs in the state, data about Dungeness crabs is scarce – leaving managers with little to go on when projecting future harvest levels.

17 government inspectors, 170 companies and more than 9,000 potential infractions: inside B.C.’s oversight of the oil and gas sector
Notes made by regulator officers during thousands of inspections that were marked in compliance with provincial rules offer a glimpse behind the scenes of government oversight of the fossil fuel industry — and the companies doing business in B.C.

Trump signs orders targeting revival of ‘beautiful, clean coal’
President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Tuesday aiming to invigorate the U.S. coal industry. Trump said the orders would revitalize an industry pushed to the brink by Democratic policies that encourage renewable energy.

Another baby orca spotted with Northwest's endangered J Pod
A Center for Whale Research crew spotted the baby, still ruddy from the womb, from a boat near Victoria, British Columbia, on Sunday. It is the fourth calf born to the southern resident orcas since December. Two of the four have died already.

EPA withholds $85 million meant to fund environmental justice projects in Oregon
Ten Oregon projects are among more than 470 across the country stuck in limbo, with recipients denied access to millions in funding.

Has a Tacoma wastewater plant threatened this endangered species?
Two environmental groups say they plan to sue Tacoma for allegedly discharging toxic materials from the city’s Central Wastewater Treatment Plant that are poisoning Puget Sound chinook salmon — a federally protected species.

Trump Threatens Climate Policies in the States

After halting federal attempts to combat global warming, President Trump is now targeting efforts by states to reduce greenhouse gases, setting up a legal clash.

Friday, April 4, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review April 4 2025

Aloha MLK, Jr. Memorial Day
On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader of the American civil rights movement who was in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city's sanitation workers, was assassinated by James Earl Ray.

Budget woes, federal cuts puts WA plans at risk as wildfire season nears
In Washington, a $12 billion budget shortfall prompted majority Democrats in the Legislature last week to propose slicing spending on wildfire prevention and fighting by one-third to two-thirds.

New $5B plan to fund culvert removals unveiled by WA senators
Washington state senators revealed a proposal Monday to raise billions of dollars to pay for the court-ordered removal of culverts blocking the migration of salmon and other fish. The plan included in the Senate’s capital budget would bond up to $5 billion over the next 15 years and repay the debt with revenue from an existing tax on electrical utilities. housing-school-environment-0

Lower Mainland flood prevention work must wait, province admits
Three years after one of the costliest disasters in Canadian history, the provincial government now says it doesn’t have the money to fully fund critical flood-prevention work in the Lower Mainland.

Lee Zeldin, E.P.A. Head, Shuts National Environmental Museum
The exhibits were dedicated to the agency’s history. Mr. Zeldin said closing the collection would save $600,000 annually.

What cutting the consumer carbon tax means for Canada's emissions
The federal government has ended its carbon pricing for consumers, and that's expected to lead to savings at the gas pump. But what did the carbon tax and rebate actually do for the climate? And now that it's gone, what impact will that have on emissions?

B.C. quietly allowed an oil and gas giant to sidestep rules for more than 4,300 pipelines
B.C.’s energy regulator has the power to grant exemptions — without notifying the public. Experts are raising the alarm about the process, saying the regulator is playing soft with fossil fuel companies that break rules.

Canada and B.C. finalize agreement to fund Metro Vancouver Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant
The governments of Canada and British Columbia have finalized an agreement for the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, providing CAD 250 million (about USD 173 million) in federal funding over five years for the first phase of the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade.

These sea stars were nearly wiped out — but B.C. researchers say fiords provided refuge
Researchers say sea star wasting disease, whose exact cause is unknown, may be affected by water temperatures.