Nice lighting. Not much plot here (G) but it’s a nice short look at what’s under the surface, right out our windows. The Cnidarians are here!
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The 2012 election, on both a national, state and local basis was an environmental ‘landslide’, from the perspective of Jefferson County. 18 of the 19 candidates we tracked appear to have won (one being too close to call as of this morning).
At the County level, our commissioners have easily won re-election, even after the contentious process of the Shoreline Master Program.
At the State level, our two recommended Representatives, along with our State Senator, easily won re-election. DNR remains in the hands of man who has shown great support for environmental protections. The Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court add people with support of environmental law.
At the Federal level, our recommended choices all won.
This, of all things, has to be considered a voter mandate in our county for continued support of environmental protections.
Congratulations to all the winners, and we look forward to you working on furthering the protections and programs that support our environment. A good place to start would be properly finding a funding home for the Northwest Straits Initiative, and the local Marine Resource Committees.
To the losers, we offer you the olive branch that if you wish to win elections in our district, you should reconsider your positions on issues that carry such widespread support. There appears to be no way forward for political parties that stand against them. Coming to the table to work cooperatively on solving our environmental problems can gain you the support you currently lack. We all care about clean water, clean air, and the health of our farmlands. Let’s go make it happen.
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The 14th annual NW Straits Marine Conservation Initiative meeting kicked off on Friday in Port Townsend. 150 citizen volunteers representing the seven counties that border on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, The Pacific and the North Sound, came to hear a wide variety of speakers update them on the latest in scientific and political issues facing protecting and restoring the greater Salish Sea. 
NW Straits Commissioner Jerry Masters kicked off the program, but quickly moved into a program that included a panel of experts leading the work in ocean acidification research, including Bill Dewey of Taylor Shellfish, Brad Warren of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership,Norma Smith of the Washington state legislature, Jeff Waters of the Ocean Conservancy and Rachael Waters of the Washington Sea Grant.
John Stark of WSU gave a in-depth look at what they research has found on storm water runoff from a major freeway in Seattle, Harriet Beale of the Washington State Department of Ecology discussed their efforts, farmer Joe Hillers of Island County gave a funny talk about the efforts being done around bioremediation near Coupeville.
The highlights of the day came three fold. Tony Wright, the new Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership gave an impassioned speech as he roamed the crowd like a motivational speaker. He has a hard job to do in taking command of an organization that has seen too many changes at the top, and needs to deliver more than it has so far, but he brings an intensity that is greatly needed. If anyone can make the Partnership into the leading organization to oversee the disparate elements of the restoration, it’s Tony.
Outgoing Congressman Norm Dicks spoke about what he has accomplished over his career, and what needs to be done moving forward on the federal level.
Last but certainly not least was Billy Frank Jr., Chairman of the NW Indian Fisheries Commission, who gave a powerful speech on the history and meaning of the Treaties, and an update on his recent trip to Washington to meet with President Obama, various legislators and agencies.
The presentations will be archived at the NW Straits web site over the next month. It will be well worth the time of anyone involved in restoration efforts to listen to these knowledgeable and passionate people who are in charge of leading the cleanup and protection efforts.
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Having a problem with rain water run off in your neighborhood or business?
Just a quick reminder about a great free workshop for citizens this Thursday, November 1 at 12:30pm on low impact development (LID). The focus of the workshop is dealing with your stormwater using Low Impact Development techniques that imitate the natural movement of water using rain gardens, permeable pavement or rain water catchment and other tools.
After a presentation on various LID techniques we will be heading out for a demonstration of pervious concrete and to view a couple of rain garden installations.
There are spots still available at the workshop. To RSVP email: darcym@wsu.edu or 360/379-5610 x222
Location: Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar St., Hadlock
Date: Thursday, November 1, 2012 (the day after Halloween)
Time: 12:30 – 4:00pm. Presentation from 12:30pm – 2:45pm followed by a field trip (carpooling).
Note: Bring your raincoat/umbrella. Hopefully it will rain for a better educational experience. Really!
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This issue directly affects us. The hundreds of ships a year that go right by our shores, emit pollution that you can see on a windless day. No one has ever monitored that air pollution here, but they do in Seattle, and have taken action on it.
Air pollution from the shipping ports in Puget Sound has decreased, according to a new report released yesterday. The report comes as ports throughout the Northwest are trying to increase the volume of cargo they handle while reducing the particulate and greenhouse gases that results from all those ships, trucks, planes and trains. The “Puget Sound Maritime Air Emissions Inventory” may sound like a pretty boring read but for people concerned about the environment, the news is good.
The 300-page report [http://www.portseattle.org/Environmental/Air/Seaport-Air-Quality/Pages/Puget-Sound-Maritime-Air-Emissions-Inventory.aspx] compared emissions of diesel particulates, greenhouse gases and other air pollutants in five Puget Sound ports from 2005 to 2011.
Ashley Ahearn reports.
http://earthfix.kcts9.org/energy/article/how-northwest-ports-are-curbing-their-emissions/
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The Feiro Marine Life Center may be joining up with other agencies and creating a new waterfront maritime research center. We would welcome that move.
Plans for a new marine research and public outreach center on the Port Angeles waterfront are hinging on the results of a predesign study that will be available in draft form in December, city business leaders learned earlier this week.
Rob Ollikainen reports.
http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20121031/NEWS/310319998/marine-research-campus-envisioned-as-part-of-port-angeles-waterfront
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It would seem almost like a bad Hollywood scripted movie. The earth is warming, all scientists with any credibility are shouting from the rooftops that the data is moving exponentially in the wrong direction, rulers of small island nations are begging for help at the UN, and the polar ice caps and glaciers where humans replenish their water supplies, are melting faster than ever before.
Yet the two contenders for the position of leader of the largest polluting nation on earth, as they run to the finish line for their election, have mentioned virtually nothing at all on climate change. Debates seen by millions of people, are devoid of one word on the subject.
Then, like the shark in “Jaws”, as the election day nears, a freak “superstorm” of a size never before encountered on the NE coast, slips up the back alley and crushes the most populous part of the country on the eve of election. Voting may be effected by the lack of electricity and infrastructure. Salt water intrusion into all major subway, electrical equipment, and floods of biblical proportions. The “storm of the century”, yet it isn’t. It’s the third major freak storm in 6 years here in the US. (not to mention the one that struck China). And yet, no one wants to raise the “CC” word in politics.
Bob Dylan famously sang, “It doesn’t take a weather man to know which way the wind blows.” The outcome of heating the planet is growing increasingly hard to ignore. Scientists that believe in it have, for decades now, warned that the outcome of global warming will be increasing freakish and powerful storms. This is not some future scenario at this point, but our world, now. Certainly, insurance companies, the most rational of all businesses, are not ignoring the increasing dangers of not solving this problem. People living on coasts affected by these storms are seeing their premiums rise to cover the risk.
It’s time to realize that changing the infrastructure, to allow rapid movement away from coal and gasoline engines for cars, is of national, if not international importance. Our ability to create, globally, a ‘moon shot’ program to get the planet off of coal first, along with gasoline engines for personal driving (moving to electric as fast as possible), is becoming not just important, but possibly critical.
We cannot risk more loss of major government and economic centers. We dodged a bullet on having five nuclear plants within 40 miles of major population centers wiped out by this storm, and a melt down could have endangered more than a few massive cities.
The time has come for our politicians to stop ignoring this problem, and deal with it. There will be plenty of opportunity for our free enterprise system to make lots of money fixing this. And that is something both parties cherish.
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Norm deserves this for a career that helped Hood Canal groups get the funding needed to keep their work going. Unfortunately, that also included the Navy to expand their bases and continue the industrialization of the Canal. At least he helped the Hood Canal Coordinating Council receive a lot of mitigation money to offset the destruction the Base expansion will bring. So a mixed bag. But the funds he did help procure, were substantial and very welcome.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, will be the lone recipient this year of the Hood Canal Environmental Achievement Awards, given annually by the Hood Canal Coordinating Council. Scott Brewer, executive director of the coordinating council, said Dicks’ leadership in Congress helped secure funding for threatened fish, wildlife and related habitats in Hood Canal and throughout Puget Sound, but his passion for Hood Canal in particular really stands out.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/oct/29/dicks-recognized-for-efforts-in-hood-canal/
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Stewardhip Forestry does first timber impact analysis of Murray/Dicks Legislation
QUILCENE, WA – Stewardship Forestry, an independent forestry consultant, released a study today on the impact of the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (H.R. 5995/ S.3329) on the Olympic National Forest (ONF) timber supply. The question of what that impact would be and what affect it might have on timber jobs has been much debated as the Wild Olympics proposal has been significantly modified over the past three years. The report concludes that “the proposed wilderness within the Wild Olympics legislation will not limit timber supply under the current management policy framework, and thus should not result in reduced harvesting or job losses.”
“We welcome this independent analysis by forester Derek Churchill of Stewardship Forestry Consulting, which concludes the revised wilderness and wild and scenic river designations in Senator Murray’s and Congressman Dicks’ Wild Olympics legislation will not cost timber jobs or have any significant impact on the Olympic National Forest (ONF) timber supply,” said Connie Gallant, Chair of the Wild Olympics Campaign. The Wild Olympics Campaign commissioned the timber analysis to help inform the public discussion about land management and conservation for parts of the Olympic National Forest.
Stewardship Forestry’s Derek Churchill, who has worked with ONF staff on designing and reviewing timber sales in the past, concluded that less than 1 percent of the proposed 126,000-acre wilderness is harvestable under the current management policies of the Olympic National Forest. Earlier drafts of the proposal had contained nearly five times that amount. The study showed more than 99 percent of the wilderness proposed in the final legislation is already out of the timber base either because of current Forest Service administrative protections, riparian areas, distance from roads, or other factors the agency considers when conducting timber sales. The proposed wilderness designation would simply make current administrative protections permanent. In addition, the report confirmed that the Wild and Scenic River designations proposed in the legislation will have no impact on ONF timber production.
The report illustrates that it is the rate of harvest, not available timber, that is the primary factor in determining what impacts, if any, there could be to timber supply or related jobs. It concludes that 190,000 acres of available timber harvest capacity exists on the Olympic National Forest that would be unaffected by the proposed designations in the Murray/Dicks legislation. Because the current rate of harvest averages only 1,350 acres annually, the report concludes that the Olympic National Forest could significantly accelerate its current rate of harvest for 50 years or more.
The full Stewardhip Forestry report and an associated detailed GIS map can be downloaded on the Wild Olympics Campaign website (www.wildolympics.org).
Mr. Churchill is available for comment at 206-391-9832 and Derek@stewardshipforestry.com
Ms. Gallant can also be reached at cg@conniegallant.com
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Jeff County DCD Director Carl Smith Discusses Departmental Improvement
Monday
Nov. 5, 7:30pm
Quimper Grange
1219 Corona Street (End of Sheridan)
On Monday, November 5, Quimper Grange will host a talk by Jefferson County Department of Community Development Director Carl Smith, who will discuss the ongoing improvement program in the Department of Community Development (building & development permits). Smith will address the need for changes in the department with an overview of the DCD including staff, budget and recent years of permitting activity. He will also cover the process, elements and results of the improvement efforts. Attendees will learn how and why DCD is working toward providing improved service, the ways in which DCD will track performance over time and inform the community, and the preliminary signs of the improvement.
Carl Smith’s background includes more than 20 years experience as a land use planner, including more than ten years of senior management experience directing community development departments for local governments in Alaska and Washington State.
He was most recently the Lands Manager for a Native village corporation and also served as Planning Director for Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska. He previously held a management position with the Port of Tacoma, and before that, directed planning and permitting for the cities of Fife, Woodinville, and Mountlake Terrace. Smith holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Planning, a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Science, a certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners, is a LEED Accredited Professional, and holds numerous other professional certifications. Because of his affection for the area, he has owned 5 acres of property in Quilcene since the late 1990s where he built a house in 2006 and now resides.
The program starts at 7:30 pm and is preceded by a potluck dessert/fingerfood social half-hour from 7pm to 7:30pm. Suggested donation: $5-$10. For further information contact: Charlotte Goldman at 385-3455
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Should be good. See you there!
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For residents of The Evergreen State, the economy and the environment are two of the most important issues. They’re shaping arguments in the hotly-contested race for Washington’s next Governor. So, if you’re choosing a candidate, who’s the greenest? Current Attorney General Rob McKenna and former U.S. Congress
Belamy Pailthorp reports.
http://www.kplu.org/post/inslee-vs-mckenna-down-wire-environmental-issues
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Our hearts and thoughts go out to Kathy Fletcher, Founder and ex-Executive Director of People For Puget Sound. Her mother, Judge Betty Fletcher, who passed away yesterday, was one of the most important legal figures in the Pacific Northwest for a generation. She sat on the Court of Appeals, was responsible for many important legal decisions, was the first woman to make major partner at Pacific NW law firm. She worked right up to the end. Read her fascinating life story at the link below.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019504689_fletcherobit24m.html
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Nice to see that our state taxes are being spread around to help defray the burden on Port Angeles residents for cleaning up this toxic site. This is a good example of why cleaning up toxic sites shouldn’t be just left up to the local economy.
The Port of Port Angeles will not have to go it alone on an estimated $4.4 million-$6.4 million environmental cleanup of the former Peninsula Plywood mill site. A $2 million state grant is available to help soften the financial blow, a state Department of Ecology official said Monday. Paul Gottleib reports. Port of Port Angeles to get millions to lift cleanup burden.
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An East Coast court case could have big impacts on West Coast fish, and farmers too. Chemical manufacturers are suing the federal government to get a rule restricting pesticide use wiped off the books. In 2008 the National Marine Fisheries Service ruled a certain class of pesticides is a mortal threat to salmon and steelhead populations. Organophosphates are common on farms, and used to be widely used in gardens before regulators phased them out. Gabriel Spitzer reports.
http://kplu.org/post/pesticide-protections-pacific-salmon-head-court
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The Washington Department of Ecology has been working collaboratively for two years with the brake manufacturing industry, automobile part distributors, environmental groups, and others to develop a certification process for environmentally friendly brake pads and shoes. Ecology has announced it has adopted rules to complete this process and move forward to carry out a groundbreaking state law. In 2010 Washington state became the first place in the world to pass a law — Chapter 70.285 RCW, known as the Better Brakes Law — regulating the content of brake friction material because of its impact on the environment. The law phases out copper, asbestos, and several heavy metals from brakes sold in Washington.
http://www.bremertonpatriot.com/news/175342481.html
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Shellfish closures extend down Hood Canal. An emerging shellfish toxin, diarrhetic shellfish poison, has resulted in an expanding closure area in central Hood Canal — with the latest closure covering shellfish beaches in the Seabeck area.
Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/oct/22/dsp-shellfish-closure-extends-to-seabeck/
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John,a friend and fellow filmmaker/photographer, was out on the Sol Duc at Salmon Cascades this weekend. Great shots of the salmon jumping. No need to go to Alaska to watch this.
For those unfamiliar with the Sol Duc, it is part of the largest watershed drainage 0in the North Olympic Peninsula.
Flash is needed to view this, so it likely won’t view on an iPad or iPhone.
http://www.dcproductions.com/solduc/
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The battle over whether the biomass experiments at Port Angeles and Port Townsend continue to generate a lot of controversy. These experimental plants, and that’s how the legislature defined them in the law that authorized them in 2005/06, are going to be with us a long time, and will affect our air. The problem is, no one really knows how, and the State is fast tracking these plants with little concern for what happens once they are in and we have to breath their particulate. That the public has to fight to get any decent monitoring in, is indicative of how blind our state representatives have been on this. It’s all about jobs jobs jobs.
A plan to place four temporary air-quality monitors in Port Angeles and Sequim in 2013 and monitors in Port Townsend in 2014 doesn’t go far enough, according to many at a packed Olympic Region Clean Air Agency board meeting in Sequim. Many among the more than two dozen Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend residents who gave maximum-three-minute comments at the meeting Monday night were concerned about biomass expansion projects under construction in Port Angeles and Port Townsend. Paul Gottlieb reports.
Filed under: Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: Biomass Cogeneration, Clallam County, Olympic Peninsula | 1 Comment »
Filed under: Events, Jefferson County, Port Townsend | Tagged: climate change, Port Townsend, science | Comments Off on Climate Change Lecture–18 October–PT Marine Science Center
