Salish Sea News Week in Review December 5 2025

Aloha Prohibition Repeal Day
A national ban on alcohol in the U.S. first instituted in 1920 by the 18th amendment ended on this day in 1933 after the ratification of the 21st amendment.

BP’s Olympic Pipeline fully restarts after 2-week shutdown 
BP’s Olympic Pipeline returned to full service on Saturday after a leak triggered a two-week shutdown.  and leading Washington and Oregon’s governors to issue emergencies over the disruption of fuel. The company has recovered almost 2,300 gallons of oil and is continuing cleanup efforts. 

Charity celebrates milestone as Vancouver Island marmots rebound to 427 in wild
The Marmot Recovery Foundation announced on its social media page that the population of the Vancouver Island species has reached a new high of 427 marmots. When its team first began releasing marmots to the wild in 2003, there were just 22 remaining.

Orcas stalk seabirds to hone hunting skills: researchers 
Bigg’s orcas were observed stalking seabirds in Puget Sound last month, a behaviour that researchers believe wasn’t hunting, but a practice to help them sharpen their hunting skills — and a form of play. 

Assembly of First Nations calls for withdrawal of Canada-Alberta pipeline deal 
Assembly of First Nations chiefs voted unanimously on Tuesday to demand the withdrawal of a new pipeline deal between Canada and Alberta, while expressing full support for First Nations on the British Columbia coast that strongly oppose the initiative. 

Trump administration rolls back fuel economy standards
The Trump administration has started the process of dramatically easing fuel economy requirements for new vehicles, part of the administration's broader pivot away from cleaner cars.

Conservation group to sue feds over lack of national wolf recovery plan
Conservation groups are gearing up to take the federal government to court to preserve the protected status of gray wolves across the country.

Tiny cup corals show accelerating ocean acidification in the Salish Sea
Ocean acidification is sometimes described as climate change’s evil twin. The ocean absorbs carbon dioxide from fossil fuel emissions, causing the water to become more corrosive.

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)salish-current.org .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

Salish Sea News Week in Review November 30 2025

Aloha Rosa Parks Day!
Rosa Parks Day celebrates the legacy of Rosa Parks, a woman who is a symbol of equality, civil rights, and the American Civil Rights Movement, on the date in 1955 on which she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Can a watershed have legal rights? The Snohomish River debate deepens
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Langbehn ruled Tuesday that a voter-approved initiative making the Snohomish River a “rights-bearing entity” and giving community members the right to go to court on the watershed’s behalf was invalid. 

Makah Tribe’s treaty-protected whaling rights remain blocked 
Despite the Makah Tribe’s success in getting a waiver to carry out their exclusive treaty right for whaling, the permitting process that had dragged on for over 20 years has now been effectively delayed another year and a half because of bogged-down federal bureaucracy.  

Pipeline fined $3.8 million for 2023 gasoline spill near Conway
Washington Department of Ecology has issued a $3.8 million penalty to Olympic Pipe Line Company LLC and BP Pipelines (North America) Inc. for the release of 21,000 gallons of gasoline from the Olympic Pipeline near Conway in December 2023, sending 4,000 gallons to a nearby fish-bearing stream and resulting in a school to close temporarily.

EPA to abandon air pollution rule that would prevent thousands of U.S. deaths
The Environmental Protection Agency will no longer defend Biden-era limits on fine-particle pollution, which causes heart and lung disease. 

Legal challenge looming as Island First Nation fights for BC’s herring stocks
First Nations and conservation groups in British Columbia are rallying for an immediate ban to herring fishing, warning the fish is vanishing from the Salish Sea — but the fisheries department insists the numbers tell a different story. 

Edmonds students win President’s Environmental Youth Award for their Salish Sea documentary
Four former Hazelwood Elementary fourth and fifth-grade students helped create a documentary highlighting the Edmonds Underwater Park, a marine protected area located just off the city’s shore.

Climate justice group Kicking Gas is expanding efforts to Snohomish County
The Whidbey Island-based climate justice group Kicking Gas is expanding its mission of helping households transition to electric appliances across Snohomish County, supporting the switch by covering up to 75% of installation costs. 

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)salish-current.org .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

Salish Sea News Week in Review November 21 2025

 

Aloha Cranberry Friday!
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to 2 meters long and 5 to 20 centimeters in height; they have slender stems that are not thickly woody and have small evergreen leaves. In 2020, the U.S., Canada, and Chile accounted for 97% of the world production of cranberries.

WA and Alaska halibut fishing crews see troubling signs
Halibut stocks have plunged from record highs of the 1990s across a broad range of the North Pacific. Halibut now appear to be at, or near, their lowest point of the past century. 

ICE looks to WA tribes to house detained immigrants 
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate. 

EPA moves to limit scope of clean water law to reduce amount of wetlands it covers
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it is redefining the scope of the nation’s bedrock clean water law to significantly limit the wetlands it covers, building on a Supreme Court decision two years ago that removed federal protections for vast areas.

BC’s Flood Prevention Promises Remain Unfulfilled
Four years after flooding devastated several British Columbia communities, key government promises made in the wake of the disaster remain unfulfilled.

Jet fuel spill shuts down Northwest's main oil pipeline
Spill-response crews planned to start digging up a blueberry farm near Everett on Tuesday to find the cause of a jet-fuel spill that shut down the Pacific Northwest’s primary oil pipeline. The farm sits on the route of the Olympic Pipeline, a mostly underground, 400-mile system of pipes owned by BP.

Emergency declared as Northwest’s main oil pipeline shuts down again
The Northwest’s primary oil pipeline has shut down for the second time in a week, this time leading Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson to declare an emergency. 

Bear Gulch Fire fully contained after four months and 20,000 acres burned
The Bear Gulch Fire was 100% contained as of Nov. 6, according to the official fire update webpage managed by the USDA Forest Service. Since July 6, the human-caused fire has burned 20,232 acres in Olympic National Forest.

Trump administration seeks to roll back protections for imperiled species and habitat 
President Donald Trump’s administration moved Wednesday to roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live, proposing elimination of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “blanket rule” that automatically protects animals and plants when they are classified as threatened.

Seattle-bound barge loaded with containers and vehicles sinking off B.C. coast
A barge carrying numerous cargo containers is sinking in the waters off British Columbia's central coast, and the local First Nation says there is concern about possible pollution because it's unclear what's on board. 

Ocean acidification to hit Puget Sound harder, study says 
The waters of Puget Sound are more susceptible to ocean acidification and sliding faster into dangerous territory for its marine wildlife than other places around the world, a new study shows.

Trump administration announces plan for new oil drilling off the coasts of California and Florida
The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.

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)salish-current.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

Salish Sea News Week in Review November 14 2025

Aloha Pickle Friday!

The term "pickles" is usually refers to cucumbers that are preserved in brine – salted water – with spices and herbs. In general, however, pickles are vegetables, fruits and other food items that are preserved in brine, salt and oil, or vinegar. The process is called pickling, and it kills bacteria in food, either by immersing them in an acidic solution, such as vinegar, or by fermentation. 

A visit to the pristine Western Arctic, which faces gas and oil drilling
Lynda Mapes discusses the trip she recently made to the Western Arctic, a vast region in the northernmost part of North America where the Trump administration plans to open for oil and gas drilling. 

Dave Upthegrove on land sales, federal funding cuts and wildfire immigration raids
Washington state’s new public lands commissioner came into office with his own ambitious agenda. It’s playing out against a shifting backdrop in D.C. 

Another humpback whale found dead in the Salish Sea
A humpback whale has been found dead in the Salish Sea, the second confirmed humpback death in coastal B.C. waters in just over two weeks. The whale was identified through photographs as Polyphemus (BCZ0342), a 21-year old humpback known to migrate to Hawaii. 

“I've been thinking about this possibility for 15 years": Killer whale experts make new discovery off North American coast
New research has revealed that West Coast transient killer whales – found from south-eastern Alaska to southern California – are two distinct communities that rarely encounter each other. 

Boaters witness epic orca hunt and rescue a seal in Puget Sound
A seal pursued by a Bigg's orca escaped by jumping into a boat where photographer Charvet Drucker caught the action. 

This lab is key for tracking deadly waves. Its sensors are about to go offline.
After NOAA ceased funding to the lab that’s been monitoring seismic activity for more than 25 years, nine stations tracking tsunami-causing earthquakes for the agency will go offline by the end of the month. 

B.C.’s century-long feast on big, old trees has sent forests into freefall 
A close look at the province’s old-growth data reveals a gap between political promises and what’s happening on the ground. 

Wildfire risk is making timberland less valuable
Longer harvest rotations are also becoming less feasible, meaning trees may have to be logged before their optimal age. 

How climate change is threatening the future of winter sport
Melting glacier at Whistler Blackcomb a stark reminder of the toll of a warming planet. 

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

 

Salish Sea News Week in Review November 7 2025

 

Happy Birthday, Joni!

Roberta Joan Mitchell (b. Nov. 7 1943) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, painter, and multi-instrumentalist. A highly regarded figure in folk music, Mitchell's influential albums from the 1960s to the 2000s sold millions of copies and inspired generations of artists.

Newest J-Pod orca calf missing, presumed dead
The Center for Whale Research said its latest observation of J-Pod on Oct. 23 did not find J64, born in September, when it encountered the entire pod, including the calf’s mother, J42, in Swanson Channel off Mayne Island. 

Forest Service restarts effort to change decades-old Pacific Northwest forest policy 
The U.S. Forest Service is going back to the drawing board with an update to the Northwest Forest Plan, a set of policies that broadly dictates where logging can occur on 25 million acres of forests in Oregon, Washington and northwest California. 

Tiny birds, and their tiny superfood, could decline due to ‘irreversible’ effects of Vancouver port expansion
The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion at Canada’s busiest cargo port could be fast-tracked by the federal government. It’s a major stop for 3.5 million western sandpipers to eat and recharge while travelling the entire Pacific. 

Young Chinook salmon in Puget Sound near urban waterways found containing ‘forever chemicals’ 
A study led by WDFW’s Toxics Biological Observation System unit and researchers from the University of Washington discovered various “contaminants of emerging concern” in waterways around the Sound. 

WA tribe settles lawsuit over oil-train trespass 
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community said Tuesday it had reached an agreement with BNSF Railway, putting an end to a lawsuit over the railway’s trespass over tribal land. In June 2024 a Seattle judge ordered BNSF Railway to pay the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community nearly $400 million in profits from trespassing on the reservation. BNSF appealed. 

‘Native Grown and Gathered Food Expo’ launches inaugural, and potentially last, gathering
Native food producers and procurers came together for the first Indigenous foods expo in Seattle this October to connect and help build Indigenous food ways economically, but a one-year run may be all that’s in store as federal funding cuts strip monies available for future gatherings.

Elevated levels of 'forever chemicals' found in sea otters near B.C. cities: study
Contamination levels were about three times higher in animals found near shipping lanes and urban centres. 

B.C. premier, First Nations call on feds to continue oil tanker ban
B.C. Premier David Eby stood with members of numerous First Nations from B.C.’s northern coast on Wednesday to support and sign a declaration that asks Ottawa to continue a moratorium on oil tankers in the province’s northern waters. 

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

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 31 2025

 

Aloha Lemur Friday!

World Lemur Day celebrates lemurs and inspires a love for them and actions to save them from extinction. Lemurs are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea, divided into eight families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 extant species. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. 

Harbour authority abandons shore-power plan for cruise ships
The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority is pulling the plug on a plan to install shore power for cruise ships docking at Ogden Point, saying its share of the cost is prohibitive, despite millions promised by the federal and provincial governments. 

Experts expect the recent arrival of chum salmon to bring orcas back to Puget Sound
Chum salmon are on the run into Puget Sound, and our southern resident killer whales may not be far behind...While the orcas prefer Chinook salmon, they appear more than willing to settle for chum when those fish are in abundance — as they were this time last year when a record number of chum began showing up in Central/South Puget Sound. 

'Very sad and tragic': Humpback whale found dead off Keats Island, B.C. 
A four-year-old humpback whale was found dead in the same area where a humpback whale was struck by a whale-watching vessel on Oct. 23. A statement from whale-watching company Prince of Whales said that based on timing and location, it believes this could be the whale involved in Thursday's incident. 

Tokyo Gas signs preliminary agreement with trans-Alaska gas pipeline developer
Tokyo Gas, the largest gas company in Japan, has signed a letter of intent signifying that it would buy up to 1 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year from the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline. The development moves the project closer to a financial finish line that would allow the borrowing needed to build the project. 

Klamath River temperatures changed dramatically after dam removal. That’s helping salmon swim farther upstream 
Water temperatures below the former dam sites are more natural. Dissolved oxygen — what fish and other creatures need to breathe — has stabilized. Toxic cyanobacteria, which often clogged the dam reservoirs during the late summer, have nearly disappeared. 

8 new Washington bee species identified
The unexpected finds in Chelan County have important implications for biodiversity and knowledge about expanding ranges. 

Helion gives behind-the-scenes tour of secretive 60-foot fusion prototype as it races to deployment
Helion Energy is trying to replicate the physics that fuel the sun and the stars — hence the celestial naming theme — to provide nearly limitless power on earth through fusion reactions. 

‘Who is going to pay?’: Climate and energy experts question B.C. government’s plans to electrify heavy industry
From building the North Coast transmission line to reducing electrification costs for industry, the B.C. government is planning big changes to energy policy with Bill 31. Experts have big questions. 

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

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 24 2025

Happy Birthday, United Nations!
United Nations Day recognizes the founding of the United Nations (UN) in 1945. The celebration is observed annually on October 24th. 

3 Indigenous-led marine refuges established off B.C.'s North Coast
The federal government and two First Nations have jointly announced the establishment of three marine refuges along British Columbia's North Coast. All three sites have been established under an initiative meant to increase Indigenous-led marine conservation efforts on the West Coast, while also advancing reconciliation.

Rare 'septopus' believed to have been found on shore of B.C.'s Pender Island
A scientist based in Washington state is celebrating after identifying what she believes to be a seven-arm octopus — typically found in the Atlantic Ocean — on B.C.’s coast. 

Salmon clear last Klamath dams, reaching Williamson and Sprague rivers 
Just a year after four dams were removed, fall Chinook have migrated nearly 300 miles into the Upper Klamath Basin in Southern Oregon.

Ferry likely struck humpback calf ‘Skipper:’ researchers
Photos of the calf taken by whale-watching operators on Oct. 16 and then again after the Hullo ferry strike on Oct. 20 revealed a large gash on the small whale’s back. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist) 

B.C. bets big changes to energy policy will reap massive rewards
The province says Bill 31 will speed up construction of the $6-billion North Coast transmission line as it looks to electrify mines, LNG projects and ports in northwest B.C. S

Derelict barge sat in Tacoma waterway for 2+ years. Cost to remove it: $463K
The Port of Tacoma approved a resolution to remove a derelict boat that has been sitting in the Hylebos Waterway since March 2023. After two of its most recent owners failed to remove it, taxpayers will, at the cost of $463,000,

On Friday, the County Superior Court will decide if the Snohomish River has rights
Developers are taking an initiative that grants the Snohomish River legal standing rights to court, arguing the law oversteps its bounds. 

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