Friday, January 27, 2023

Salish Sea News Week in Review January 27 2023

Thomas Crapper

Aloha Thomas Crapper Friday!
Although Thomas Crapper did not invent the toilet—that is usually credited to John Harrington in 1596—he did help perfect and popularize it. We celebrate him today, on the anniversary of his death, which happened in 1910. Born in Thorne, South Yorkshire, England, in 1836, Crapper founded the Thomas Crapper & Co. Ltd. in 1866, in London. He patented and manufactured "sanitary appliances."

The “Washington Eight”: Washington Women in Congress
With her unexpected victory over MAGA Republican Joe Kent last November – in which she received no help from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – first term U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez, D-Wash. became the eighth woman serving in Washington’s 12-person congressional delegation.

Billions in federal dollars could make the Pacific Northwest a hub for renewable hydrogen
The U.S. Department of Energy is offering $8 billion in funding to create a network of six to 10 sites across the nation to develop and commercialize hydrogen made from renewable energy such as wind and solar.

New Fairhaven facility brings clean energy storage to marine vessels
Corvus Energy, a Norway-based energy storage company, celebrated the opening of its first U.S. production facility in Fairhaven Monday with informational tours, flowing champagne and a delegation of foreign dignitaries.

Depleted under Trump, a ‘traumatized’ EPA struggles with its mission
The nation’s top environmental agency is still reeling from the exodus of more than 1,200 scientists and policy experts during the Trump administration... And now this: The stressed-out, stretched-thin Environmental Protection Agency is scrambling to write about a half-dozen highly complex rules and regulations that are central to President Joe Biden’s climate goals.

Salmon farms not 'solely' to blame for growing B.C. sea lice infestations, claims DFO study
A government study claims fish farms aren't solely to blame for the growing prevalence of sea lice among wild salmon along the B.C. coast.

Air pollution is changing how our brain functions, researchers at UBC, UVic find
Researchers at the University of British Columbia and University of Victoria have found that exposure to traffic pollution is changing the way our brain works.

Federal government blocks BP Cherry Point north wing, limits crude oil volume
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will require BP to limit the volume of crude oil handled at its Cherry Point terminal to 191 million barrels per year* and prohibit handling crude oil at its north wing dock unless authorized. *Per Friends of the San Juans:"BP’s 2021 Atmospheric Crude Distillation Capacity (barrels per calendar day) is 242,000 – that’s 88,330,000 barrels/year."

‘Rarest of the rare’: B.C’s newest conservancy protects globally imperilled rainforest
The move will permanently protect at-risk species and biodiversity — including rare lichens, grizzly bear and wolverine — in an area Premier David Eby describes as ‘one of B.C.’s greatest treasures.

RIP Washington’s Hinman Glacier, gone after thousands of years
The largest glacier between the high peaks of Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak has melted away after a long battle with global warming.


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 mikesato772 at gmail.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

 

Friday, January 20, 2023

Salish Sea News Week in Review January 20 2023

 


Aloha Penguin Friday!
The word "penguin" first appeared in print in 1500s, and was originally applied to a black and white seabird called an auk that is now extinct. Some believe the name comes from the Welsh words "pen" and "gwyn" that mean "head" and "white." There are 18 penguin species, 13 of which have declining populations. Five of these species are endangered and face extinction. There are only about 5,000 of the rarest species, the yellow-eyed penguin. Besides being eaten at the hands of natural predators such as leopard seals, sea lions, and sharks, they are threatened by introduced predators such as dogs, cats, rats, and ferrets, that eat their eggs. They face danger from oil spills and other pollution, from climate change that alters their food sources, from overfishing, and from illegal poaching and egg harvesting.

Sea lions, seals might be hampering WA salmon recovery. What can be done?
A new report commissioned by the state Legislature and completed by the Washington Academy of the Sciences says seals and sea lions are likely impeding salmon recovery, and the full impacts of predation on salmon may not be fully understood without lethal intervention.

New state study fuels renewed efforts to ban toxic chemicals from cosmetics in Washington
A new report from the Washington State Department of Ecology found formaldehyde in 26 of 30 body lotions tested in a study of products marketed to people of color. It found lead in two dark-powder foundations and one lipstick. One dark-tint foundation also contained arsenic.

Foam dock floats, laundry filters, hotel shampoo amongst newest bids to reduce plastic pollution
Everywhere they look, Pacific Northwest scientists find teeny-tiny plastic pollution. Broken down particles are in our water, falling out of the air, in salmon, shellfish and in our own bodies.

OPA 90 liability limits being adjusted for inflation
The U.S. Coast Guard announced in the Federal Register that it is adjusting the limits of liability for vessels, deepwater ports and onshore facilities to reflect the increase in the Consumer Price Index since they were last adjusted in 2019.

Concerns resurface as roe herring fishery approaches in Strait of Georgia
The roe herring fishery is approaching, which concerns those who say the Strait of Georgia herring have been fished out south of Nanaimo and over-fished north of Nanaimo. 

First Nation can veto proposed B.C. coal mine as part of unique deal with developer
A coal company and a British Columbia First Nation have struck a rare deal to give the community the power to veto a proposed mining project, which could set a precedent for how natural resources projects are developed in Canada.

Following local cities, Jefferson County proclaims rights for orcas
Jefferson County is the latest local government to declare inherent rights for the region’s Southern Resident orca population, making it the first county in the state to issue such a proclamation. Three Puget Sound cities issued similar declarations in December.

This is why Petrogas will pay $4 million for unpermitted emissions
In the largest penalty settlement in the Northwest Clean Air Agency’s 56-year history, Petrogas West has agreed to pay $4 million and make operational changes to the company’s Cherry Point facility in Whatcom County after the company started projects without permits.


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 mikesato772 at gmail.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

Friday, January 13, 2023

Salish Sea News Week in Review January 13 2023

 


Aloha Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
“I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. You are prone to judge the success of your profession by the index of your salary and the size of the wheelbase on your automobile, rather than the quality of your service to humanity. The misuse of Capitalism can also lead to tragic exploitation.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., November 4, 1956, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama)

Most of Western Canada's glaciers will melt in 80 years, University of Northern B.C. study finds
A study by international researchers using a supercomputer at the University of Northern British Columbia has found that most of Western Canada's glaciers will disappear by the year 2100.

Earth’s Last 8 Years Were the Hottest on Record
The world remained firmly in warming’s grip last year, with extreme summer temperatures in Europe, China and elsewhere contributing to 2022 being the fifth-hottest year on record, European climate researchers said on Tuesday.

Cooke wins extension on Washington State deadline
The original 60-day order by DNR required dismantling by Jan 14. On Jan. 6 the Superior Court for Washington State granted the motion filed by the company to extend the deadline to April 14 to remove the fish from its Rich Passage and Hope Island farms.

Gas stoves may be banned in U.S. amid health concerns, links to childhood asthma
A federal agency says a ban on gas stoves is on the table amid rising concern about harmful indoor air pollutants emitted by the appliances.

Extreme weather, fueled by climate change, cost the U.S. $165 billion in 2022
The annual report from the nation's premier meteorological institution highlights a troubling trend: Extreme weather events, fueled by human-caused climate change, are occurring at a higher frequency with an increased cost — in dollars and lives.

Canadian military to resume weapons training in Juan de Fuca Strait
The firing range known as Whiskey Hotel is a 30-kilometre-long and 11-kilometre-wide swath of water between Sooke and Port Renfrew, about a kilometre off land, where the Canadian and U.S. navies and coast guards practise using sea surface and aerial machine-guns and other small weaponry.

There was a record number of sightings of these whales in the Salish Sea in 2022
A record number of Bigg’s killer whales and Humpback whales were spotted in the Salish Sea during 2022. There were 1,221 unique sightings of Bigg’s killer whales and 396 individual humpback whales were photographed in the Salish Sea,  the largest number of humpbacks recorded in over a century.

Toilet paper toxin found in endangered killer whales, B.C. researchers say
Chemicals used in the production of toilet paper have been found in the bodies of orcas around British Columbia, according to a new study. One of the most common pollutants found in killer whales' bodies was 4-nonylphenol or 4NP, which is often found in toilet paper.

Exxon climate predictions were accurate decades ago. Still it sowed doubt
Decades of research by scientists at Exxon accurately predicted how much global warming would occur from burning fossil fuels, according to a new study in the journal Science. The findings clash with an enormously successful campaign that Exxon spearheaded and funded for more than 30 years that cast doubt on human-driven climate change and the science underpinning it.

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 mikesato772 at gmail.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

Friday, January 6, 2023

Salish Sea News Week in Review January 6 2023


Lock 'em up Friday!
On January 6, 2021 a mob of supporters of then US President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol in Washington DC. They were attempting to halt the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. Five people died in the riot, and many more were injured, including over 150 police officers...Have we locked all of them up? No.

Wild Olympics wilderness expansion proposal falls short in Congress
A long-standing proposal to expand wilderness areas on the Olympic Peninsula by more than 125,000 acres, and to designate 19 new federally protected Wild and Scenic Rivers on the peninsula, fell short of the finish line as the 117th Congress came to a close this month.

EPA finalizes water rule that repeals Trump-era changes
President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday finalized regulations that protect hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, repealing a Trump-era rule that federal courts had thrown out and that environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution.

B.C. Parks Foundation buys key riverfront along Fraser River
The B.C. Parks Foundation has bought key riverfront property along the Fraser River— an 80-kilometre stretch of river from Mission to Hope that sustains B.C.’s largest salmon spawning run.

B.C. timber industry in throes of change, as premier warns of 'exhausted forests'
Province aims to 'modernize' forest management amid ecological concerns, fluctuating lumber prices.

Giant freighter GSL Eleni docks in Victoria for repairs
...The 300-metre-long GSL Eleni was escorted into Victoria on Sunday after losing its steering functions off the coast of Tofino. Six tugs guided the massive ship laden with containers into Juan de Fuca Strait and the entrance of Victoria Harbour, where it was manoeuvred into Pier B.

Hurricane Force Storm with 40+ Foot Seas Off U.S. West Coast
An intense storm low over the eastern North Pacific is currently moving towards the northeast at about 20 kts and is producing winds of 50-70 knots with significant wave heights up to 12.5-13.5 meters (41-45 feet) within 120-360 nm south and west of the center. (Jan. 4)

Ship Noise Kills Crabs’ Libidos
The constant thrum of ship engines and other human noises can be a real nuisance for many sea creatures, disrupting their feeding, navigation, and communication. Now a new study shows that ship noise can also kill the mood for amorous crabs.

Washington state starts 2023 with ambitious new climate efforts
One of Washington's biggest climate programs yet launched on Jan. 1: the Clean Fuel Standard. Under Washington's Clean Fuel Standard program which launched Jan. 1, fuel suppliers must gradually provide cleaner and cleaner fuels for gas pumps across the state through 2034. Also kicking in this month is a law that caps greenhouse gas emissions from the state's largest polluters. Also: 6 new climate policies anticipated for B.C. in 2023 Will it be enough to meet the province's critical climate and biodiversity goals?

Here’s how Washington might get consumer bottle recycling, eliminate waste production
The Washington Recycle and Packaging Act, sponsored by Rep. Liz Berry and Sen. Christine Rolfes, will require producers, manufacturers and companies to fund residential recycling services for packaging and paper products across Washington and create a bottle deposit system.

Tacoutche Tesse, the Northwest’s great ghost river — Part 5: The bleeding Heart of the Fraser
Gravel beds in the Heart of the Fraser— called one of the "most productive stretches of river on the planet" for spawning fish— is threatened with large-scale wetland destruction.

Bulkheads: protecting property at what cost to the environment?
Armoring the shoreline aims to protect property from high tides and erosion— the same natural forces that nourish shorelines for forage fish spawning and juvenile salmon rearing.

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 mikesato772 at gmail.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

 

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review December 23 2022

 

Editor's Note: Here's to wishing you the best of the holiday season and good fortune and health in  2023. For those who are able to support not-for-profit community news, please donate to Salish Current before year's end to grow journalism that's free to read, independent and free of ads. Thank you! Mike Sato.


Gävle goat [WikiCommons]

Aloha Julebukk Friday!
Julebukk (Yule goat) is a Scandinavian and Northern European Yule and Christmas symbol and tradition. Its origin is Germanic pagan and has existed in many variants during Scandinavian history. Modern representations of the Yule goat are typically made of straw. The Yule goat in Nordic countries today is best known as a Christmas ornament. Large versions of this ornament are frequently erected in towns and cities around Christmas time – a tradition started with the Gävle goat in the 1960s.

Tacoutche Tesse, the Northwest’s great ghost river — Part 4: The death of a thousand cut-offs
The plight of wild salmon and the waters that support them is about big things but also a lot of little, unassuming places: creeks and sloughs and flooded fields and braided side channels.

Biodiversity agreement to protect planet reached at UN conference in Montreal
Negotiators in Montreal have finalized an agreement to halt and reverse the destruction of nature by protecting 30 per cent of the world's land, water and marine areas by 2030, as well as the mobilization, by 2030, of at least $200 billion US per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources, both public and private.

A 3.5-million-pound problem: More than a million chickens near Pasco have bird flu
More than a million chickens at a farm in Franklin County, Washington, are set to be destroyed because of bird flu. Officials are deliberating how to transport, bury, compost, or incinerate the birds.

Swelling school of seaweed farmers looking to anchor in Northwest waters
Prospective kelp growers who want to join the handful of existing commercial seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest are having to contend with a lengthy permitting process. It's gotten contentious in a few cases, but even so, at least a couple of new seaweed farms stand on the cusp of approval. Also: Can kelp farming help save our marine environment? (10/7/22)

WA adopts zero-emission standards for car sales by 2035
All new cars sold in the state of Washington must be mostly emission-free by 2035.On Monday, the Washington State Department of Ecology updated its Clean Vehicles Program to require all new cars sold in the state by 2035 to be electric, hydrogen-fueled or hybrid with at least 50 miles of electric-only range.

What’s next for WA aluminum manufacturing? The fight goes on
The hard-fought battle to reopen a “green” aluminum plant near Bellingham came to a halt this month. But it may not be the end. A new Department of Defense report to Congress says production of aluminum, specifically high-purity aluminum, may need a boost from the Defense Production Act. Also: Intalco restart: can ‘green’ aluminum get ‘clean’ power? (7/21/22)

Puget Sound This Weekend: King Tides and Climate Change
At 7 am Christmas morning, when most of us will be focused on tinsel and eggnog, Puget Sound will fill to capacity — its highest level in a year. The sound will bulge to more than 1,000 square miles. Beaches will all but disappear.

The quest continues for a nutrient reduction plan
Human sources of nitrogen in Puget Sound have been blamed for increasing the intensity of algae blooms, lowering oxygen to critical levels, and impairing sea life. In response, officials with the Washington Department of Ecology are developing a Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction Plan to strategically reduce nitrogen in various places.

Salmon People: A tribal fishing family’s fight to preserve a way of life
When the salmon are running up the Columbia River, Native fishermen are there with them. They live, eat and sleep at the river. Their children grow up at the river. They catch salmon for subsistence, for ceremonies, and for their living.

Canada made big promises to save nature at COP15. Will it follow through?
196 countries set new global targets to stop the biodiversity crisis. The test now is to put words into action.

Did salmon actually use the Skagit River before the Seattle dams were built?
Seattle City Light argues that salmon in significant numbers never accessed the stretches of the river where its dams and reservoirs now stand and the utility should not be required to take on the major infrastructure work of adding fish passage. Many others disagree.


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 mikesato772 at gmail.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

Friday, December 16, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review December 16 2022


Editor's Note: Salish Sea News and Weather will not use its Twitter account.

Margaret Mean in Samoa [WikiCommons]


Aloha Margaret Mead Friday
Margaret Mead, born in 1901, was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. Her theory of imprinting found that children learn by watching adult behavior. A decade later, Mead qualified her nature vs. nurture stance when she analyzed the ways in which motherhood serves to reinforce male and female roles in all societies. She is oft quoted as saying: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." 

More ‘forever chemicals’ found in WA drinking water as cleanup costs mount
..."Forever chemicals" or PFAS can increase health risks for certain cancers and other diseases when present in drinking water in minuscule concentrations measured in parts per trillion. Lakewood [WA] is one of more than a dozen Washington public water systems with detections above levels defined by the state to be suitable for long-term consumption — and widespread testing is just ramping up.  

Captains of big ships eased up on the throttle during trial slowdown to help endangered orcas
The majority of captains of big commercial ships entering and leaving Puget Sound are cooperating with a request to slow down temporarily to reduce underwater noise impacts to the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered killer whales.

Campaign to expand Olympic wilderness nears finish line after 15 years
...Buffeted by political headwinds facing wilderness expansion and undeterred by false starts over the years, campaigners believe the finish line for the conservation proposal known as Wild Olympics has never been closer. A lame duck Senate may establish several new, federally protected public lands, and Washington state conservation advocates have converged on Capitol Hill in D.C. for a final push.

Documents raise concerns feds backing off commitment to phase out fish farms in B.C. by 2025
Critics say they fear an ongoing public consultation about open-net pen fish farms has a ‘foregone conclusion’ to leave fish farms in the water, to the detriment of wild salmon.  Also see: Tacoutche Tesse, the Northwest’s great ghost river — Part 3: Saving wild salmon versus the net pen industry

Seattle woman donates island near Gabriola as nature reserve
Family of the late Betty Swift hopes Link Island becomes a location for climate-change research.

A network of computer models is predicting the future of Puget Sound
The Puget Sound Institute on Wednesday announced a three-year, $4.8 million dollar project to study the dynamics of Puget Sound’s changing ecosystem. The Puget Sound Integrated Modeling Framework combines a network of computer models to look at how different factors like urban growth and climate change will influence the health of Puget Sound.

Cooke Aquaculture files suit over terminated net pen leases in WA
Cooke Aquaculture has filed an appeal in Thurston County Superior Court against Washington’s decision to terminate its leases for fin fish net pens in state waters.

Highest number of humpback whales recorded in Salish Sea
There have been 396 individual humpback whales documented in the Salish Sea, including 34 mothers with their first-year calves, compared to 2017 when 293 whales were documented.

Pioneering whale researcher and advocate Ken Balcomb has died
Ken Balcomb, founder of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, was 82. Balcomb kept track of the population of southern resident orcas starting in 1976. His pioneering photo-identification work provided individual profiles of all the whales in the three endangered pods – J, K and L.


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 mikesato772 at gmail.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

Friday, December 9, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review December 9 2022



Aloha Llama Friday!

National Llama Day is claimed to have been first celebrated in 1932, after it was recognized how important the llama was in Canada, following a drought in the province of Manitoba, where many livestock died, especially sheep. Maybe that's not entirely true but for those who may confuse the Dalai Lama with the llama: the llama is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is soft and contains only a small amount of lanolin. Llamas can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions.

Southern Resident Killer Whale Vessel Adaptive Management Legislative Report
A new report released by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) recommends that the Legislature increase the vessel buffer for recreational boaters, commercial whale watching operators, and guided paddle tours around Southern Resident killer whales to 1,000 yards to further support orca recovery.

Rules set to cut carbon emissions by 20% over next 12 years in Washington state
The Washington State Department of Ecology has finished writing the rules for the Clean Fuel Standard, a program that requires a 20% reduction in 2017 transportation emissions over 12 years.

If There Is a ‘Male Malaise’ With Work, Could One Answer Be at Sea?
As concerns about labor force participation among American men mount, maritime transportation firms are desperate for new mariners.

Clamshells Face the Acid Test
As acidification threatens shellfish along North America’s Pacific Coast, Indigenous sea gardens offer solutions.

Port Townsend recognizes legal rights of southern resident orcas
A growing legal movement seeks to recognize the rights of nature. Activists in the Northwest are celebrating a first here: the city of Port Townsend, Washington, this week recognized the inherent rights of southern resident orcas.

Bering Sea crab collapse spurs push for stronger conservation measures
...[The] North Pacific Fishery Management Council this week will consider what protective measures should go into a plan to help rebuild snow crab populations, and a request to exclude more fleets this winter from a swath of the Bering Sea — known as the “savings zone” — where king crab mate.

Murder kittens: outdoor cats take heavy toll on wildlife
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the domesticated cat as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species. Biologists have estimated that free-roaming cats kill 1 billion to 4 billion birds and 6 billion to 22 billion small mammals a year in the contiguous United States, more than any other cause of mortality.

Puget Sound wastewater plants may need billions to meet state mandates
An effort to protect Puget Sound's marine life has ignited a debate over a new environmental mandate that wastewater treatment plants say will cost billions and lacks clear science to back it up. The Washington State Department of Ecology issued a permit, effective in January 2022, that requires municipal wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Sound — there are 58 of them — to reduce the amount of certain nutrients in their discharge.

West Coast commercial Dungeness crab season delayed again
The West Coast commercial fishing season for Dungeness crab is being delayed through the rest of the month. That means holiday menus will be planned without the popular Northwest seafood.


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 mikesato772 at gmail.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