Salish Sea Communications: March 2025

Friday, March 28, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review March 28 2025

Aloha Piano Day!
There are 88 keys on a piano, hence Piano Day takes place on the 88th day of the year. Created by Nils Frahm, a German pianist and composer, and celebrated by piano lovers of all ages and abilities, Piano Day celebrates pianos and everything in their orbit: composers, performers, listeners, builders, tuners, and movers.

Judge overturns Washington natural gas measure approved by voters
Opponents argued Initiative 2066 was unconstitutional because it dealt with multiple unrelated subjects. Supporters say they’ll appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Can the rush for clean energy overcome a legacy of pollution?
The technologies needed to usher the world into a new energy paradigm require minerals: Copper. Lithium. Cobalt. Nickel. Manganese. Graphite. Mining these materials is an inherently dirty and extractive process. It comes at a steep cost, disproportionately paid by communities that have dealt with legacies of contamination.

‘Absolute self-destruction’: David Suzuki has bad news about the environment
In 1962, a young Canadian geneticist started reading “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson’s damning treatise about the dangers of using pesticides to control insects...Six decades later, Suzuki stands at the precipice of an ecological catastrophe clanging alarm bells as Carson once did.

US Supreme Court declines to revive landmark climate suit brought by young Oregonians
The decision ends a decade-long fight led by 11 young Oregonians and 10 of their peers across the nation against the U.S. government over climate inaction.

‘Metals are the new oil’: B.C. fast-tracks critical minerals projects to counter tariffs
Premier David Eby says the province has ‘unlimited’ potential when it comes to critical minerals. Used to make everything from weapons to renewables, critics question whether B.C.'s rush to mine copper, lithium and more could impact the environment and Indigenous Rights.

Comment period open on Growler operations
The U.S. Navy is accepting public comments regarding a draft of its amended analysis to the final environmental impact statement for EA-18G Growler aircraft operations at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island through April 28. The amended analysis was mandated by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Abundance of pink salmon may be harming orcas
Pink salmon now comprise nearly 80% of all adult salmon in the North Pacific. This record abundance is coming at a cost to other salmon species such as threatened Chinook, and a new study shows that the ecological toll may extend all the way to endangered southern resident killer whales.

B.C. scrapping consumer carbon tax altogether on April 1, government says
The B.C. government has announced it will completely scrap the provincial consumer-facing carbon tax on April 1 and is urging gas companies to remove tax from pricing.

Documents suggest B.C.'s hydrogen plans under threat as uncertainty halts 'large-scale' projects
Documents released through a freedom of information request reveal that B.C.'s former energy minister was told last September that at least seven "large-scale hydrogen projects" were being cancelled or paused because of issues including electricity supply, high cost and transportation.

Trump tariffs, ‘attacks’ over water complicate Columbia River Treaty negotiations
Attacks by President Donald Trump on Canada’s water and sovereignty, and a full-on trade war, have not only upended relations between the countries but have also threatened negotiations over a crucial treaty that governs use of the Columbia River.

The Fraser Valley's supersized goose problem
As communities spend money to addle goose eggs, they're paying the price for a previous breeding experiment gone wrong.

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, March 21, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review March 21 2025

Aloha World Poetry Day
World Poetry Day is celebrated on 21 March, and was declared by UNESCO in 1999, "with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard."

After Cuts, Former NOAA Chief Scientist Says U.S. Science Risks Becoming a “Backwater Enterprise”
With its first wave of firings, the new Trump administration has decimated NOAA.

Here’s where Canada’s new prime minister stands on the future of oil and gas
Prime Minister Mark Carney has been a key international deal maker on climate action.

U.S. pauses Columbia River water-sharing negotiations with Canada amid Trump threats
The nations were trying to finalize updates to the 61-year-old Columbia River Treaty governing shared, cross-border water and hydropower management.

Half of 2021 landslides in B.C. linked logging, wildfires: study
Study finds nearly half of 1,300 landslides that occurred during B.C.'s November 2021 atmospheric river event started in areas burned by wildfire or disturbed by logging.

B.C. spent $3.5B to reduce carbon emissions over 7 years. That plan has failed
CleanBC sought to cut greenhouse gases, but emissions are the same as they were in 2007. The province says emissions targets are no longer ‘workable’ — advocates say B.C.’s push for LNG projects is part of the problem.

Makah Tribe applies for permit to resume its traditional whale hunt
The Makah Tribe has applied for a permit to resume its traditional whale hunt this July.

Plastic Meals Leave Seabirds with Brain Damage
Sable shearwater chicks are developing Alzheimer’s-like symptoms and other hidden health impacts.

Northwest research reveals some whales avoid detection from predators by keeping their songs reeaaal low
New research from University of Washington marine scientist Trevor Branch has revealed a defense mechanism some baleen whales appear to use to protect themselves against attack. They’ve evolved to become baritones — essentially the Paul Robesons of the whale world — they sing really, really low.

Friday, March 14, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review March 14 2025

Aloha Pi Day

Pi Day celebrates the pi symbol (π) and its importance to mathematics. The symbol is a Greek letter, and it is used in mathematics to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The first digits of this ratio are 3.14159, and the number continues infinitely without pattern. It has been calculated to over one trillion digits after the decimal point. Most calculations only need the first few digits. Even the spherical volume of the whole universe can be calculated by using just 39 digits after the decimal point. The symbol "π" was first used in 1706 by William Jones. It gained in popularity after being used by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737. The first large and official celebration of the day took place at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988.

Is this fish really disappearing from the Georgia Strait?
First Nations say herring are disappearing. Fisheries and Oceans Canada says they’re stable. So what’s really going on?

B.C. researcher mapping Vancouver Island spawning grounds from space
Swaths of Salish Sea turned teal by herring milt informs federal fisheries, First Nations.

Sixty years later: More than 100,000 tires from failed reef plan are coming out of Puget Sound
A plan to create artificial reefs in Puget Sound using automotive tires was created by Washington's Department of Natural Resources with the intention of attracting native reef fish in order to bolster recreational fishing opportunities across the state. However, the tire reef plan fell flat.

E.P.A. Plans to Close All Environmental Justice Offices
An internal memo directs the closure of offices designed to ease the heavy pollution faced by poor and minority communities. Lisa Friedman reports. (NY Times)

Trump administration to roll back many EPA regulations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will seek to undo more than 30 regulations, including some aimed at lowering carbon emissions and curbing pollution, as well as redefining what waters and wetlands the federal government can regulate.

U.S. pauses Columbia River Treaty talks as trade tensions grow, B.C. minister says
B.C.'s Energy Ministry says the United States has paused negotiations with Canada on the wide-reaching Columbia River Treaty that regulates everything from flood control and power generation to water supply and salmon restoration in the region.

China tariffs hit B.C. seafood sector struggling with U.S. tariffs
B.C. Seafood exporters had been bracing for China's retaliatory tariffs in Canada's trade dispute over Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum but the decision lands as another major hit.

Friday, March 7, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review March 7 2025

Aloha flapjack Friday
A flapjack (also known as a cereal bar, oat bar or oat slice) is a baked bar, cooked in a flat oven tin and cut into squares or rectangles, made from rolled oats, fat (typically butter), brown sugar and usually golden syrup. The North American granola bar is similar to a flapjack. The Oxford English Dictionary records the word "flapjack" being used as early as the beginning of the 16th century, although at this time it seems to have been a flat tart.

4.5 magnitude earthquake wakes up residents around western Washington
An earthquake struck in the waters surrounding the San Juan Islands early Monday morning. The 4.5 magnitude earthquake hit at 5:02 a.m. just off Deer Beach on Orcas Island, according to the United States Geologic Survey.

Trump Moves to Increase Logging in National Forests
The president wants to circumvent environmental regulations to expand timber production, something sought by homebuilders and the construction industry.

How Trump’s firing of Forest Service staff affects recreation in WA
The Trump administration’s February dismissal of 125 U.S. Forest Service personnel in Washington, coupled with a Biden administration decision not to hire seasonal employees, amounts to a double whammy for the Evergreen State’s trails.

U.S. tariffs on Canada set to take effect today. How will they affect B.C.?
The B.C. government has estimated that tariffs could lead to a cumulative loss of $69 billion in economic activity in the province between 2025 and 2028. It has also estimated that tariffs would result in 124,000 job losses by 2028, an annual decline in corporate profits of between $3.6 billion and $6.1 billion and a reduction in annual government revenue between $1.6 billion and $2.5 billion.

Documents reveal over 1,000 potential infractions left unchecked by B.C.’s energy regulator
Hidden records reveal a widespread pattern of lax enforcement of laws and regulations intended to protect the environment and communities.

Supreme Court strikes down EPA rules on discharge of water pollution
The justices ruled that the agency cannot impose generic prohibitions against violating water quality standards.

Climate, energy upheavals roil Northwest power market
Heat domes. Cold snaps. Winter storms — even as far away as Texas. Extreme weather events are roiling power markets and spiking power prices for energy providers and their customers.

Tariffs latest blow to newspaper industry; AI fears confirmed
Canada supplies most of the newsprint used in America and there’s no easy way for the U.S. to quickly replace its production. Hundreds of newspapers could close if the newsprint tariff continues for long.