Salish Sea News Week in Review January 15 2021

 

Aloha Wikipedia Friday!
on January 15, 2001, Wikipedia went online and has since become the largest reference work on the internet.

Whale families bring calf along on return trip to traditional feeding grounds in B.C.
Two northern resident killer whale families brought along a baby as they returned for the first time in 20 years to their traditional winter foraging grounds in British Columbia waters.

Push for climate reparations, environmental justice continues this session with HEAL Act
As state lawmakers gear up for the new legislative session, advocates for environmental justice are urging them to pass the HEAL Act of 2021.

Move over murder hornets: There's a new bug in town — and it's coming for your lawn
....The grubs are the larvae of the European chafer, a nonnative scarab beetle first spotted in Washington state in 2008.

A Lost Decade: How Climate Action Fizzled in Cascadia
Washington, Oregon and British Columbia pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions. In a decade full of big talk and some epic battles, they all failed.

Oil companies lock in drilling, challenging Biden on climate
In the closing months of the Trump administration, energy companies stockpiled enough drilling permits for western public lands to keep pumping oil for years and undercut President-elect Joe Biden’s plans to curb new drilling because of climate change, according to public records and industry analysts.

Canada-U.S. border closure extended to Feb. 21 as coronavirus cases soar: Trudeau
The Canada-U.S. border will remain closed until at least Feb. 21 in an effort to curb rising cases of the novel coronavirus, Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday.

EPA Eases Inspections For Large Oil & Gas Storage Tanks
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday finalized new amendments to its rules governing inspections for large oil and gas liquid storage tanks, saying the changes would cut down on industry costs and reduce emissions in the process.

Settlement agreement says state must protect endangered species from polluted runoff 

The agreement lays out a timeline for the state Department of Ecology to regulate farming practices and implement other specific rules, such as replanting trees in streamside buffers that keep water cool, in consultation with the EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Salish Sea Killer Whales Have a Surprising New Way of Hunting
Demonstrating a dramatic behavior previously only observed in some killer whales in the southern hemisphere, Bigg’s killer whales in the Salish Sea have now been seen deliberately running aground to ambush prey.

BC Hydro granted $171 million in no-bid Site C dam contracts as project troubles were kept secret from public
Documents obtained by The Narwhal show BC Hydro’s former chief engineer and SNC Lavalin are among the recipients of lucrative and previously undisclosed direct-award contracts, fuelling calls for a public inquiry into the behind-schedule and over-budget hydro project.

Trump administration slashes critical habitat for northern spotted owl by 3.4 million acres
The Trump administration has cut designated critical habitat for the northern spotted owl by millions of acres in Oregon, Washington and California.

Repairs of bulkheads, docks and other structures now involve habitat assessment
In a major policy shift by federal authorities, waterfront maintenance and reconstruction projects are undergoing increased scrutiny — not only for their environmental impacts during and after construction but for effects that ripple through time.

Gray wolf to get its day in court after removal from endangered species list
Environmental groups have filed a flurry of lawsuits against the Trump administration over its removal of Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf.

The numbers don't lie': The green movement remains overwhelmingly white, report finds
A report released Wednesday by Green 2.0, an independent advocacy campaign that tracks racial and gender diversity within the environmental movement, found that while strides have been made in recent years, it has been at an incremental pace that begs for "improvement at all levels."

Climate Change Survey: Majority of Voters Support Initiatives
A majority of registered voters of both parties in the United States support initiatives to fight climate change, including many that are outlined in the climate plans announced by President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr, according to a new survey.

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, 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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