Archives for February, 2010

Good news for wild orcas, captive orca in distress


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/02/24/GA2010022405140.html

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/feb/23/new-calf-spotted-l-pod/

Humans and salmon compete for CA water


Feinstein’s Water Bomb (Feb 12 article in the High Country News) indicates that things are really starting to heat up in California.  Water stress is manifesting in political lobbying and reversals that may jeopardize the Sacramento River salmon that K and L pod presumably pursue each winter.  Up here in the Northwest the water competition [...]

State of the Sound by Bill Ruckelshaus


Sound Waters 2010 meeting, Coupeville, WA It is possible to make progess! We’ve largely brought point-sources under social control.  40 years ago, 85% of pollution was from big industrial or municipal sources, while 15% was from non-point sources.  Now the percentages are reversed. The Clean Air Act helped.  Think of the people in Denver that [...]

Stormwater, salmon, and the health of Puget Sound


Keynote speaker at Sound Waters 2010 Dr. Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Scholtz, NOAA/NWFSC Coho salmon are our first choice for a ‘sentinel species’ because they: are widely distributed inhabit lowland steams that are important and familiar to humans and areas impacted directly by stormwater runoff (if we can reduce toxics in lowland streams, then we’ll likely keep [...]

New Tacoma ship terminal & tidal energy permits


Puget Sound Harbor Safety Committee meeting notes Feb. 3., 2010, 10-12 a.m., South Federal Building New container ship terminal in Tacoma (SSA Marine presention) Puyallup Tribal Terminal 3-4 berths (~850′ spacing, 51′ deep) 200 acres About the scale of Terminal 18 Market demand is too low to proceed Permits should be in place in ~1 [...]