Salish Sea News Week in Review July 17 2026

Aloha Emoji Day!

An emoji is a pictogram, logogram, or ideogram embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversation as well as to replace words as part of a logographic system. (Wikipedia) July 17 was chosen for the date of the holiday because the ? calendar emoji has that date on it. The calendar has July 17 on it because it was on that date in 2002 that iCal for Mac was announced. World Emoji Day was created in 2014 by Jeremy Burge, the founder of Emojipedia, a site that keeps track of all emojis and their definitions.

Trump administration rolls back a key protection for imperiled wildlife
The Trump administration has finalized a rule that changes how agencies enforce the Endangered Species Act.  

Microsoft's climate-warming emissions surge 25%, driven by AI
Microsoft’s total carbon emissions have increased 25% year over year, driven by the company’s aggressive buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure. 

Trump taps climate skeptic to run US government’s flagship climate report
The Trump administration has tapped Matthew Wielicki, a former geochemist who has railed against “climate alarmism” and calls himself an “Earth science professor-in-exile,” to oversee the federal government’s flagship report about climate impacts on the US. 

Trump reduces size of 2 national monuments in Utah as Republicans reshape land management
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah have ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and scenic canyons, as well as coal and uranium deposits that state officials want made available for development. 

Snohomish PUD prepares to open first battery storage site in Arlington
Washington’s first battery energy storage facility is set to open this fall in Arlington. The facility will store up to 25 megawatts of energy when it is abundant and discharge it to the grid during peak times each month to help reduce costs,

WA tribes, conservation groups sue over Trump endangered species rule 
Northwest tribal nations and conservation groups sued the Trump administration Tuesday, challenging a new rule that aims to eliminate habitat protections for imperiled species. The new rule, rescinding the longstanding definition of “harm,” would make it legal to kill and injure ESA-listed species by destroying habitat.

First Nations chiefs vote to oppose Carney government's proposed major projects reforms
Assembly of First Nations chiefs on Wednesday unanimously resolved to oppose the Carney government's sweeping proposed reforms aimed at streamlining major project approvals, if those reforms weaken environmental protections or sidestep Indigenous rights. 

Five million frogs have been relocated for industry in B.C. No one knows how many survived
Translocation mitigation has been standard in the province since 2010. Sixteen years later, researchers aren’t sure if it’s working.

Federal government refers Port of Vancouver strategy to Major Projects Office
Roberts Bank Terminal 2 considered potential 'project of national interest' 

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 July 10 2026

 

Aloha Blueberry Friday!
One of the most common species of blueberries, a native to North America, is highbush blueberries, which are prevalent in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, and beyond. Plants usually grow to about six feet but can reach twelve feet. Blueberries were first commercially grown in the early twentieth century, and today they are produced commercially in 26 states, with 98% of production taking place in 10 states: Minnesota, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Washington, California, and New Jersey.

Proposed oil pipeline to B.C. coast spurs alarm in Washington state
Increased tanker traffic could threaten orcas and raise spill risks in the Salish Sea, according to tribes and environmental advocates. 

Why expansion of Delta, B.C., container port is going hand-in-hand with Alberta pipeline
Federal funds for Roberts Bank Terminal 2 come despite environmental concerns. 

The Pacific Ocean is running a fever. Why that’s an ominous sign
Across the Pacific Ocean, there’s a massive marine heat wave covering an area more than eight times the size of the contiguous United States — and it could have profound ripple effects for weather events around the globe in the coming weeks and months.  

How a Northwest tribe and an endangered sea creature are helping each other
One of the most endangered sea creatures of the Pacific Ocean is getting a leg up in the kelp forests of Washington’s San Juan Islands: a 24-armed sea star called the sunflower star. University researchers and the Samish Indian Nation are working to bring this pizza-sized predator back from the brink of extinction after a vast underwater pandemic nearly wiped it off the face of the earth. 

How Washington is working to get rid of lead contamination in public school drinking water 
If lead contamination is found in an outlet, such as drinking fountains or sinks, the water source has to be fixed, replaced or shut off, which is already happening around the state. As of the state deadline, 91% of schools required to complete testing had done so: 1,645 out of 1,806. 

Expert breaks down the physics behind the World Cup
Every goal is a lesson in physics. Michigan State University physicist Stuart Tessmer explains how forces, momentum, and even air pressure shape the world’s most popular sport.

BC Announces Plans for Three New Indigenous-Led Conservation Areas
Small patches of wilderness are ‘lifeboats for wildlife,’ says one advocate. ‘But you also need the arks.’  

Groundwater is definitely declining. What now?
“We need to protect water supplies,” says Wash. Gov. Ferguson. But conservation alone won’t solve the problem.  

Study finds dangerous chemicals in the breast milk of Seattle moms
Breast milk samples from moms in the Seattle area contained chemicals linked to health problems, new research has found. 

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 July 2 2026

 

Aloha Alice in Wonderland Day (July 4)

On July 4, 1862, Lewis Carroll, whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, gave the first telling of what would become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll was on a boat trip on the Isis—also known as the River Thames—from Oxford to Godstow, with his friend Robinson Duckworth, ten-year-old Alice Liddell—who would become the namesake of his book—and her two sisters, Lorina and Edith. The girls were the daughters of Henry Liddell, the dean of Church Christ, Oxford. This was also the school where Carroll taught mathematics.

Oregon lawsuit could upend federal management of public lands
A new lawsuit challenging a logging project in Oregon threatens to unravel the management plans governing hundreds of millions of acres of federal public land. At stake are thousands of leases and permits covering billions of dollars of economic activity. 

Skagit governments, state agency reach agreement on salmon recovery planning
Tribes, county officials, dike and drainage districts and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will now meet regularly to coordinate major habitat projects. 

Energy minister names 5 priority power-line projects for federal backing
These new intertie projects come as Ottawa set the ambitious goal of doubling Canada's electric grid by 2050 to meet the growing demand from industry, electric vehicles, heat pumps and artificial intelligence. 

Five years after the dome: Washington remains vulnerable to extreme heat

Lasting about a week, the late June 2021 heat dome was Washington’s deadliest weather disaster. It delivered the highest temperatures ever recorded in Oregon (119°F), Washington (120°F), and Canada (121°F).

Plenty of food and conservation have turned B.C. waters into whale-sighting hot spot
A recent surge of sightings of orcas, humpback whales and other cetaceans along B.C.’s southern coast is in line with scientific studies that show populations have increased.

Indigenous-led whale watching tour now offered in Seattle
‘First Stories of the Salish Sea,’ a collaboration with Taproot Travel Co. and FRS Clipper, took its inaugural voyage on June 16, offering the first Indigenous-led whale watching tour in Elliot Bay off of the shores of Seattle.

Using Salmon Guts to Map Forage Fish Populations
A new study examined thousands of chinook stomachs to track a vital and often overlooked part of the Salish Sea’s food chain. 

The Vancouver Company Working with Trump to Mine the Deep Sea
As the US snubs international law, experts say Canada has a duty to step in. 

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