Salish Sea News Week in Review February 28 2020

Aloha Leap Year Friday!
2020 is a "leap" year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year). Tomorrow the 29th is a date that usually occurs every four years and is called the "leap" day which is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure because the Earth does not orbit the sun in precisely 365 days. By inserting an additional day or month into the year, the difference can be corrected. Hey, jump!


Tensions rise ahead of B.C. herring fishery season
Wildlife advocates on Vancouver Island say their calls to close the province's last remaining herring fishery have never been so loud, as commercial fishing boats enter the Strait of Georgia for herring fishery season expected in early March.

Successful blast removes portion of Big Bar landslide obstructing salmon migration
The federal government has announced a successful initial blasting of the Big Bar landslide site.

Vancouver-based Teck withdraws application for Frontier mine in Alberta
Teck Resources Ltd. says it’s withdrawing its application for a massive oilsands mining project just days ahead of an expected government decision, citing the political discourse over climate change. The company says it will take a $1.13 billion writedown on the Frontier project in Alberta.

Scientists Gather In The PNW To Study Risks Of Microplastic Pollution
This week, a group of five-dozen microplastics researchers from major universities, government agencies, tribes, aquariums, environmental groups and even water sanitation districts across the U.S. West is gathering in Bremerton, Washington, to tackle the issue.

U.S. Navy Deploys Acoustic Sensors to Track Whales in Salish Sea
The U.S. Navy is adapting an acoustic sensor system in order to monitor marine mammals in the Nanoose Bay test range in the Strait of Georgia.

Ecology fines BP Cherry Point Refinery for these environmental violations
The Washington State Department of Ecology has fined BP Cherry Point Refinery $8,000 for environmental violations, the agency announced.

BP is pulling out of three trade groups over climate policies
BP is withdrawing from three trade groups over climate policies, a move that comes after the company vowed to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Shoreline armoring in Puget Sound gets new scrutiny from the Army Corps of Engineers
Shoreline bulkheads, which can damage beaches and destroy fish habitat, could come under more extensive review and permitting as the result of a revised shoreline policy announced last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.


For first time in 20 years, feds take deep look at hydroelectric dam removal on Lower Snake River
...Federal agencies are set to release a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) of dam operations on Friday, opening a 45-day public comment period.


Judge voids nearly 1 million acres of oil and gas leases, saying Trump policy undercut public input
A federal judge in Idaho ruled Thursday that a Trump administration policy limiting public input on oil and gas leasing decisions was “arbitrary and capricious,” overturning the 2018 directive and voiding 1 million acres of leases out West that were auctioned off under the new approach.

* * *

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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow @savepugetsound

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

Salish Sea News Week in Review February 21 2020

Aloha Peace Symbol Friday!
The peace symbol was commissioned on May 21 in 1958 by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and was designed by Gerald Holtom as the logo for the British CND and adopted by anti-war and counterculture activists in the US and elsewhere. The symbol is a super-imposition of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D", taken to stand for "nuclear disarmament." (Wikipedia)


'Not an option': B.C. premier rejects calls to halt or cancel Coastal GasLink pipeline
B.C.'s premier has categorically put to rest any notion of pulling provincial support for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Stop work on Coastal GasLink to allow meaningful dialogue on B.C. pipeline project, says Indigenous leader
A B.C. Indigenous leader says the prime minister needs to immediately come to the table with Indigenous leaders who oppose the construction of a pipeline in northern B.C. and the project should be halted while conversations take place.

B.C.’s population grew by 70,000 last year
The population of B.C. continues to grow and it’s the city of Surrey leading the way. B.C.’s population rose by more than 70,000 people last year, hitting 5,071,336 as of July 1, 2019 according to B.C. Statistics’ 2019 population estimates.

The EPA is about to change a rule cutting mercury pollution. The industry doesn’t want it.
[As} the Environmental Protection Agency prepares to finalize the latest in a long line of rollbacks, the nation’s power sector has sent a different message: Thanks, but no thanks.

Group asks for injunction regarding Growler flights
The Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve (COER) is asking a federal judge to require the Navy to roll back the number of EA-18G Growler practice flights at Outlying Field Coupeville to pre-2019 levels until a lawsuit over the number of Growler flights is settled.

Controversial Wild Olympics Act passes U.S. House
The divisive Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday, some eight years after it was first introduced by Sen. Patty Murray and then-Congressman Norm Dicks in 2012.

Feared return of 'The Blob' fizzles as storms churn, chill Pacific Ocean
It looked big. It looked bad. But the marine heat wave that threatened much of the West Coast in the fall of 2019 has mostly dissipated, at least at the surface.

As cost rises, support falls for Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, survey finds
Support for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion across Canada has dropped to its lowest levels in nearly two years, according to a new survey by the Angus Reid Institute.

Jordan Cove Decision Delayed By Feds After Oregon Denies Key Permit
Federal energy regulators have once again delayed their decision on the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas terminal and pipeline project.

Oil and Gas May Be a Far Bigger Climate Threat Than We Knew
Oil and gas production may be responsible for a far larger share of the soaring levels of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, in the earth’s atmosphere than previously thought, new research has found.

Trudeau government backpedals on election promise to phase out B.C. open net salmon farms by 2025
Following an outcry from the salmon farming industry, the Trudeau government has backed away from its election campaign commitment to phase out open net pen salmon farming on B.C.’s West Coast by 2025.


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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow @savepugetsound

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

Salish Sea News Week in Review February 14 2020

Aloha Frederick Douglass Friday!
Today we celebrate the life of Frederick Douglass, a nineteenth-century abolitionist, writer, and orator, who was one of the most prominent African American leaders of his time. It is believed that Douglass was born on today's date, in 1818, although his exact birthdate is not known. In 1926, Carter G. Woodson created "Negro History Week," choosing the second week of February because it encompassed the birthdays of Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. This eventually became Black History Month, and celebrations of Frederick Douglass Day stemmed from this.


Oyster farm gets county OK for first phase only 
The first portion of a three-phase oyster farm planned by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe within the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge has received approval from the county’s hearing examiner after years of analysis and discussion. (Peninsula Daily News)

Cost of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in B.C. soars
Trans Mountain Corp. says the cost of its pipeline expansion project has soared to $12.6 billion from $7.4 billion.  (Vancouver Sun)


Trans Mountain confident court orders will protect against pipeline protests
A Trans Mountain Corp says it already has the court orders will prevent workers from being barred from its job sites along the route of its oil pipeline expansion project. (Vancouver Sun)

Groups sue over steelhead farming in Puget Sound 
Four nonprofits filed a joint lawsuit Tuesday against the state Department of Fish & Wildlife for issuing a permit for steelhead farms in the marine waters of Skagit and Kitsap counties.  (Skagit Valley Herald)

Feds agree to reboot fish-passage project at Howard Hanson Dam, open upper Green River to salmon
Salmon and steelhead could once again inhabit more than 100 miles of the upper Green River watershed now that the entire Washington congressional delegation has backed restarting a federal project to allow fish to pass the Howard Hanson Dam. (Seattle Times)

'We still have title': How a landmark B.C. court case set the stage for Wet'suwet'en protests
Amid the backdrop of nationwide protests, blockades, and arrests, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs on the front lines of the fight to stop a pipeline in their traditional territories are pointing to a Supreme Court case from the 1990s that underscores their authority over the land. (CBC)


2 in 5 Canadians support Wet'suwet'en solidarity protesters — but half say yes to pipeline, new poll finds
A new poll by a national non-profit research institute finds that two in five Canadians support the Wet'suwet'en solidarity protesters, who have shut down bridges, ports, roads and rail lines across the country. (CBC)


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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow @savepugetsound

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

Salish Sea News Week in Review February 7 2020

Aloha Periodic Table Friday!
The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of elements, is a tabular display of the chemical elements, which are arranged by atomic number, electron configuration, and recurring chemical properties. The structure of the table shows periodic trends. The seven rows of the table, called periods, generally have metals on the left and non-metals on the right. The columns, called groups, contain elements with similar chemical behaviours. Six groups have accepted names as well as assigned numbers: for example, group 17 elements are the halogens; and group 18 are the noble gases. Also displayed are four simple rectangular areas or blocks associated with the filling of different atomic orbitals. (Wikipedia)

New Study Casts Shadow on LNG Fuel’s Climate Footprint
One of the shipping industry’s great hopes for improving its environmental performance — engines powered by liquefied natural gas — won’t offer the benefits that many vessel owners are hoping for.

Navy to test drinking water from wells bordering Bangor for contamination
The Navy will test the drinking water of residents whose homes border Naval Base-Kitsap to determine whether there are dangerous levels of contamination from firefighting foam once used at Bangor.

Lawmakers want to protect water rights in Washington from Wall Street speculation
Worries that moneyed interests could control Washington’s water have sparked a push in Olympia to cut Wall Street bankers and international investors out of the state’s convoluted water rights system.

NorthWestern files paperwork to buy more of Colstrip Unit 4 for $1
NorthWestern Energy filed paperwork Wednesday to begin the official process of purchasing an additional 25% of Colstrip Unit 4, giving the utility a majority ownership in the unit.

'We'll do what we have to do': Trans Mountain pipeline opponents to ramp up protests
Opponents of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion say they will do whatever it takes to stop the project after suffering a devastating legal blow at the Federal Court of Appeal.

Trump Administration Finalizes Plans To Allow Development On Downsized Monuments
More than two years after carrying out the largest reversal of national monument protections in U.S. history, the Trump administration has finalized plans for the roughly 2 million acres of formerly protected land in southern Utah.

Bill to add federal protections to Puget Sound passes in U.S. House 
A bill to coordinate local, state, tribal and federal efforts to preserve and restore Puget Sound passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 5 by voice vote with bipartisan support.


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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow @savepugetsound

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told