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-Alexandra Morton's Web Site (NEW)
The new web site for the work of Canada’s leading researcher in to farmed Atlantic Salmon and it’s effects.
North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center Natural Resources
To provide a program that provides hands-on, relevant natural resources research experience while meeting the needs of and building capacity within individual students and the North Olympic Peninsula region.
openchannels.org
OpenChannels is designed to become a comprehensive source for news, guidance, and community discussion on sustainable practices in ocean planning and management.
River of Kings – Video
Part 1 of 2 part series by Carl Safina on the Nisqually River Restoration.
Salish Magazine
Salish Magazine is a free online magazine that takes inquisitive readers outdoors with visually rich storytelling about features people can see firsthand in our public forests and beaches.
Victoria Sewage Project
The official city site on the project. The latest scoop on the Canadian poop!
WA State Family Forest Fish Passage Program
The Family Forest Fish Passage Program provides funding to small forest landowners to repair or remove fish passage barriers. Download the film.
News Sites
Green Acre Radio on KBCS
Green Acre Radio on KBCS — Sustainability, local food production, restoration & environmental talk radio.
NW Indian Fisheries Commission
The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) is a support service organization for 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.
Brinnon Group
Local group opposing Black Point resort
Clam Gardens
Network of researchers exploring First Nation gardening of clams in history, and it’s relationship to today.
Coastal Watershed Institute
“To promote long term, ecological, community based stewardship of marine and terrestrial ecosystems thru scientific research and local partnerships.”
League of Women Voters – Clallam County
a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
League of Women Voters – Jefferson County
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
Local Food Access Network
North Peninsula local food org with an emphasis on developing and supporting increased and sustainable capacity for production, distribution, and consumption locally.
North Olympic Salmon Coalition
The mission of the North Olympic Salmon Coalition is to restore, enhance, and protect habitat of North Olympic Peninsula wild salmon stocks and to promote community volunteerism, understanding, cooperation and stewardship of these resources.
Northwest Watershed Institute
NWI’s mission is to provide scientific and technical support to protect and restore fish and wildlife habitats and watershed ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.
Olympic Environmental Council
The Olympic Environmental Council works on issues related to the environment and health that affect our North Olympic Peninsula communities.
Olympic Park Associates
If you share with us a passion for Olympic National Park, a concern for the Park’s future, and a vision that Olympic National Park should always be a wild and natural place, we invite you to join Olympic Park Associates.
Washington Environmental Council
WEC has been working for a couple of decades on environmental activism. A great group of people actually getting things done.
Whale Trail
Signs along the way to take you to great whale viewing locations
Wild Fish Conservancy
Wild Fish Conservancy seeks to improve conditions for all of the Northwest’s wild fish
The escorts are meant to help reduce oil spill risks in waters around the San Juan Islands, Bellingham and Anacortes.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s People for Puget Sound pushed for an escort tug to protect the Strait of Juan de Fuca. After enormous lobbying (and resistance from the industry and the Coast Guard) our State Representative at the time, Kevin Van de Wege, got the bill passed through and into law. The tug has assisted dozens of ships in mechanical trouble since then. Now Friends of the San Juans are promoting this new effort, which could significantly improve the chances of spill protection in the event of a mechanical breakdown.
Some of the most significant oil spills in Washington State’s history happened in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Salish Sea. Rescue tugs were stationed around 1999 during winter only months to protect the Strait. During the late 2000s, environmental activists led by People For Puget Sound pushed for a permanent rescue tug to be stationed at Neah Bay (and also at the East end of the Strait). With the support of then Representative Keven Van de Wege the State finally approved the tug at Neah Bay. The East end of the Strait still remains extremely vulnerable.
The Port of Neah Bay plays a pivotal role as a harbor for Emergency Response Towing Vessels (ERCivTVs) responding to distressed or disabled vessels, and as a designated harbor of refuge. The heavily trafficked Strait of Juan de Fuca sees various types of vessels passing through: cargo, passenger cruise, oil tankers, vehicle, fishing, and privately owned.
Neah Bay Marina
From 1999 to 2016, the stationed Neah Bay rescue tugs responded to 57 disabled vessels or those with reduced maneuvering ability. These incidents could have resulted in accidents or groundings leading to oil spills. The rescue tug is important to preventing spills, which would be extremely damaging to the area’s environment, economy and cultural resources, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.
This (ERTV) stands ready 24/7 on the northwestern Olympic Peninsula point in the Port of Neah Bay to quickly respond. However, challenging tides affect its readiness and the ability of this deep-draft vessel to navigate the channel.
Map courtesy of Army Corps of Engineers
That’s about to change with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to make navigation improvements by deepening the harbor entrance channel. A hydraulic pipeline dredge will deepen the 4,500-foot entrance channel to -21 feet from its current depth, allowing unrestricted access for ocean-going tugs, barges, and larger ships transiting Neah Bay during low tide.
The Corps of Engineers is expected to remove up to 30,000 cubic yards of never-before-dredged sediment material from the channel that’s expected to take two months to complete, pending weather conditions.
“This project will help to ensure that the rescue tug based at Neah Bay is ready to respond to marine emergencies on Washington’s coast,” said Rich Doenges, Southwest Region director for the Washington Department of Ecology. “We think the channel deepening represents a necessary step to prevent impacts to our state’s sensitive coastal environment and preserve our Pacific shorelines.”
The project falls under the Corps of Engineer’s civil works mission’s Continuing Authority Program (CAP) Section 107. It authorizes the Corps of Engineers to make navigation improvements for the non-federal sponsor, in this case the Makah Tribe. The $3.3 million project is mostly federally funded due to a cost-share waiver for Native American Tribes.
Seattle District Project Manager and biologist Juliana Houghton emphasized how the dredged material is perfect for reuse and will help fortify a nearby beach.
“We’ll place the beneficial use dredged material in an area along the shoreline that needs rehabilitation because of a lack of naturally occurring stream sediment,” she said. “The goal is to restore intertidal habitat by depositing the dredged material as beach nourishment.”
A Duwamish Services, LLC dredging crew connects a dredge pipe in Neah Bay, Dec. 8, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Duwamish Services, LLC)
Deepening the Neah Bay entrance channel will reduce the emergency response tugs operating costs by minimizing the need for vessels to remain outside the bay in deeper waters during low tide. This will save an estimated $81,000 annually in fuel by reducing transit time during tidal changes.
The project first gained traction in the early 2010’s when the non-federal sponsor Makah Tribe contacted the Corps of Engineers Seattle District requesting a study to determine if navigation improvements for the Port of Neah Bay entrance channel were feasible.
“This project has been a long collaborative partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and we’re thrilled to see these improvements enhance the protection of the valuable Neah Bay ecosystem and improve safety for larger commercial and fishing vessels entering the port,” said Makah Tribe Chairman Timothy Greene, Sr.
Throughout the planning process Corps of Engineers officials coordinated, consulted and worked with federal, tribal and state agencies, including Environmental Protection Agency, National Marine Fisheries Services, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Makah Tribe, Washington’s State Department of Ecology, State Historic Preservation Office and Clallam County.
The Nestucca disaster changed the way that Washington State and BC handles oil spill prevention. Can it protect us from another failure? It’s sometimes hard to know. With more Bakken Crude planning to be shipped by the hundreds of tankers through our Strait, it’s at least good to know that we have some minimal standards that have carried us through to today. Also worth remembering is that the Dalco Passage spill near Tacoma that was as bad as it was because the Coast Guard couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed in the middle of the night when oil was observed. This is article is a good reminder that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
“In 1988, an oil spill from the barge Nestucca resulted in one of the largest, most damaging environmental incidents in the history of Washington. But the knowledge gained from the spill also led to dramatic change in oil spill regulations, prevention methods, and response tactics that have maximized environmental protection. (WA Dept of Ecology)”
Some positive news on the oil spill protection front.
SB 6269-S2.E – DIGEST
Addresses oil transportation safety. Finds that the department of ecology’s oil spill program faces a critical funding gap due to the lack of adequate revenue to fully fund the prevention and preparedness services required by state law, including the 2015 oil transportation safety act.
Declares an intent to: (1) Provide adequate revenue to fully fund prevention and preparedness services required by state law;
(2) Direct the department of ecology to specifically address the risks of oils submerging and sinking; and (3) More extensively coordinate with our Canadian
partners in order to protect the state’s economy and its shared resources.
Requires the department of ecology to: (1) Establish the Salish Sea shared waters forum to address common issues in the cross-boundary waterways between Washington state and British Columbia such as: Enhancing efforts to reduce oil spill risk, addressing navigational safety, and promoting data sharing; and (2) In consultation with the Puget Sound partnership and the pilotage commission, complete a report of vessel traffic
and vessel traffic safety within the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound area that includes the San Juan archipelago, its connected waterways, Haro Strait, Boundary Pass, Rosario
Strait, and the waters south of Admiralty Inlet.
Provides a July 1, 2021, expiration date for the Salish Sea shared waters forum.
The long running debate on the oil and coal trains continues. This effects the Peninsula because of the vast increase in freighter and tanker traffic with increased rail cars bringing the product here, to be used or transshipped.
The state Department of Ecology is developing new rules for transporting oil by train and pipeline. The changes could require companies moving oil through the state to improve accident response plans and provide advanced notice about the movement of oil. The changes could go into effect as early as 2016. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)
Two more derailments of oil-bearing trains last weekend, both in Wisconsin, have prompted the Quinault Nation to issue yet another warning about the dangers inherent in such transport.
This was a topic of discussion at the Annual Northwest Straits Conference Friday. State Senator Kevin Ranker brought this up and said we have even more work to do because of XL not happening. The Pacific NW is now the end point of the virtual pipeline already created between North Dakota and here.
President Obama’s decision Friday to reject the Keystone XL pipeline puts a fresh spotlight on other efforts to bring Canadian crude to market, including a $5.4 billion project to boost oil flows to British Columbia. The oil piped from Alberta would be targeted for maritime export, dramatically increasing the number of oil tankers traversing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and raising environmental concerns among Washington state Department of Ecology (DOE) officials. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)
The Polar Pioneer oil rig, which is headed for Port Angeles Harbor, was near the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Tuesday afternoon. The 355-foot-tall oil drilling platform was headed east at over 6 knots. The floating platform’s tugs, Ocean Wind and Ocean Wave, were expected to arrive with the platform sometime after 2 a.m. today, according to a vessel tracking website, www.marinetraffic.com. (Peninsula Daily News)
The first of many good news articles for the north coast of British Columbia, but with concerns still alive about tanker traffic increases in the Straits and Salish Sea, especially around the San Juans. This battle is not over yet, but at least a favorable government to ending it is now coming to power.
The Liberal victory in yesterday’s federal election appears to be the nail in the coffin for one West Coast pipeline project, but the future of another remains unclear. Incoming-prime minister Justin Trudeau is on record saying he would kill the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal, which would carry crude oil from the Alberta oilsands to a tanker terminal on the North Coast of B.C. near Prince Rupert…. That leaves the proposed expansion of the existing Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, which runs from Alberta to Port Metro Vancouver on the South Coast of B.C. While Trudeau has promised to formalize the non-binding moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic on B.C.’s North Coast passed by MP’s in 2010 — that ban applies specifically to the North Coast. And that leaves leave the door open for Kinder Morgan, which is seeking approval from the NEB to twin the 50-year-old pipeline, tripling its capacity, and increasing the tanker traffic in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet on the South Coast. Mike Laanela reports. (CBC)
The visible symbol of our collective destruction of the arctic ecosystem will be on display in PA harbor soon. Don’t blame the oil rig folks, it’s like saying that the needle is the cause of the addiction. Getting rid of the drill doesn’t change our need for the oil, only your personal choices will do that. And government policies to help you make that choice. Don’t look for those policies in Port Angeles. The County Commissioners would need a significant change of stripe to help them see that they are part of the problem, not the solution.
The Polar Pioneer oil rig will once again loom over the waters of Port Angeles Harbor. The 355-foot-tall rig was in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on Monday for a brief stopover with the Noble Discoverer rig after exiting the Alaskan Arctic and before heading farther south, Shell Oil Co. spokeswoman Megan Baldino said Monday. The Noble Discoverer will make its way to the Port of Everett. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)
Aberdeen, WA – Hundreds of concerned Washington residents will gather at the official DEIS public hearing for two of the proposed crude oil by rail terminals in Grays Harbor, Washington. Local Tribal leaders, elected officials, business owners, faith leaders, and community members will voice concerns about the proposals, particularly on the risks from oil trains and spills from oil tankers.
Who:
Fawn Sharp, President, Quinault Indian Nation
Alan Richrod, Aberdeen City Council Member
Rev. Katherine Gardner, Hoquiam United Methodist Church
Dr. Bruce Amundson, family practice doctor and president of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Larry Thevik, WA Dungeness Crab Fisherman Association
With special performances by Quinault Indian Nation Drummers and Dusty Rhodes.
When/Where:
Thursday, October 8th; Press conference and rally at 5 pm
D & R Theater, 205 South I St, Aberdeen
Hearing from 1:30 to 4:30 pm (session 1) and 6 to 9 pm (session 2)
***ATTENTION ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: GREAT VISUALS!*** Large, diverse group wearing red; signs about oil trains and oil spills; musical performance
We will be live tweeting the hearing – follow along at @StandUpToOil, #AberdeenOilHearing and #oiltrains.
The Aberdeen hearing is the second in a series of two hearings (the first was in Elma on October 1st) on the draft Environmental Impact Statement for two of the three proposed crude oil by rail terminals in Grays Harbor, Washington by the Westway and Imperium companies. There are currently five proposals for oil terminals in Washington, as well as a proposal by Shell Refinery in Anacortes to expand their operation to increase their oil by rail capacity.
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STAND UP TO OIL is a growing coalition of groups opposed to new oil terminals and an increase in oil transport through the Northwest, while working to improve safety measures for oil currently traveling through the region. Learn more at Standuptooil.org.
Kerry McHugh | Communications Director
Washington Environmental Council phone206.631.2605| mobile 206.902.7555
emailkerry@wecprotects.org| webwww.wecprotects.org
office1402 Third Avenue | Suite 1400 | Seattle, WA 98101
The battle is on to stop the expansion of shipping oil through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Salish Sea. Our gems, the San Juan Islands, lie directly in the path of a huge increase in vessel traffic, much of it carrying very destructive processed oil. Here are facts, based on the filings of the companies themselves.
If all the new and expanding terminal and refinery projects in the Salish Sea are permitted and developed, including projects that became operational in 2014, there would be a 43 percent increase in large, commercial marine vessel traffic. Friends of the San Juans and San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping have released the Salish Sea Vessel Traffic Projections featuring 18 new or expanded proposed or recently completed projects, which cumulatively would add an additional 5,300 annual vessel transits to and from ports in British Columbia and Washington State…. The Salish Sea Vessel Traffic Projections flyer and source information are available at Safe Shipping in the Salish Seahttp://www.sanjuans.org/safeshipping/. (9/23/15 News Release from Friends of the San Juans/San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping)
Provided by Friends of the San Juans/San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping
Huge money from Big Oil pollutes our political system in Washington State to gain access to exporting oil to China and Japan, a move that the Republican Congress is trying to get done, but can’t with Obama in power. The oil companies are trying to push through three large oil terminals for Grays Harbor. Here’s an overview, by Siteline of what that could mean. Want to take action on this? Contact our two state representatives for the Peninsula (or yours whereever you live) and our one State Senator (who is from the Aberdeen Hoquim area). There contact info is listed on the left side of my blog front page.
How Big Oil jeopardizes Washington coastal tourism and the Quinault Nation.
Our knowledge of the effects of even low levels of oil on fish populations continue to grow. This will have impacts on our port, and points to more needs for storm water solutions that include eventual re-design of almost every highway in the state, to stop car runoff into our waterways. It won’t happen overnight, but is happening and will continue to, given these findings. It’s our food sources vs. business as usual with autos.
Federal scientists based in Seattle and Alaska have found that oil — by impairing heart functions — can cause serious harm to herring and pink salmon at far lower concentrations than previously documented. The research, published Tuesday online in Nature’s Scientific Reports, could help unravel the mystery of why herring stocks in Prince William Sound collapsed after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Their work also has implications about the effects of low levels of chronic oil pollution in Puget Sound and elsewhere in the world. “What this study shows is that in very, very low concentration of oil, embryonic fish … get born with a mild heart defect,” said John Incardona, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration toxicologist at a Seattle fisheries science center. He is one of 10 co-authors of the study. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)
The interesting thing in this story is the stat that 75% of the oil spilled in Puget Sound in the last 10 years is said to be from recreational boaters and commercial fishing vessels. Do your part, get a kit from the Coast Guard and avoid spills, or clean them up as fast as possible.
In an effort to curb pollution from recreational boats, a partnership of agencies will be giving away oil spill kits in Western Washington. The free kits will be handed out by U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotillas during free vessel examinations. During the last 10 years, more than 19,000 gallons of pollution has been spilled into Puget Sound. Of that, 75 percent came from recreational boaters and commercial fishing vessels, according to a news release from the U.S. Coast Guard. (The Olympian)
Our northern neighbors and us are threatened by a massive oil transport project in British Columbia. Here’s a short piece on a couple who are opposed and why.
Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: “While our planet’s oceans are clearly facing serious health challenges these days, we’re fortunate that many marine and coastal habitats are still alive and relatively healthy. In our little corner of the world, the Salish Sea teems with life in many places, including some of the shores of Haro Strait at the southeastern end of Vancouver Island….”
And so it begins. I’ll do my best to keep up on this as it goes along.
Ericksen, Ranker introduce dueling oil transportation safety billshttp://www.bellinghamherald.com/2015/01/14/4078637_ericksen-ranker-introduce-dueling.html
Two legislators who represent parts of Whatcom County have introduced dueling oil transportation safety bills in the Senate. Wasting no time, Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, introduced his bill the first day of the session. As chair of the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee, he will host a public hearing on the bill tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 15 at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, along with Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Kitsap County, introduced oil legislation requested by Gov. Jay Inslee. That bill has also been referred to Ericksen’s committee. Samantha Wohlfeil reports. (Bellingham Herald)
Olympic Climate Action is sponsoring “Oil and Our Marine Waters”, an evening of education and an invitation to action regarding the burgeoning transport of oil in local marine waters, on Friday, July 11 at 7 pm in the Port Angeles City Council chambers, 321 E. 5th St.
Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty will speak about proposed increases in oil tanker traffic and the associated risks to our communities and resources, and what our community can do to minimize these risks.
OCA will screen the film The Big Fix, a 2012 documentary and Cannes film festival official selection, exploring the worst oil spill in U.S. history—the BP Deepwater Horizon—its causes, consequences, and cover-ups.
This event is part of a continent-wide week of protest of oil transport commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic oil-train disaster which killed 47 people in Quebec.
As our region works to cut our fossil-fuel consumption, oil companies are proposing huge shipments of toxic oil-shale and tar-sands fuel from Alberta and the American Rockies, for export through west coast ports. These proposed cargoes would emit far more carbon than all the mitigation to be achieved in the entire country by improved automobile mileage standards and power plant regulations. And their transport by rail, pipeline, and ship poses risks to all communities en route, which are being asked to shoulder the risk while the profit goes to the oil companies, whose history and modus operandi are explored in detail in The Big Fix.
If all the proposed new oil port facilities in the Salish Sea region are constructed, the increase in tankers passing the Olympic Peninsula would inevitably increase the risk of spills due to rough seas, equipment failure, and human error. A large spill would cause major harm to local communities, particularly in the case of Tar Sands oil, a heavy oil that sinks in marine waters and therefore cannot be cleaned up in any practical way. Much of the increased tanker traffic will bunker (i.e., take on fuel) in Port Angeles Harbor, risking spills that could be particularly devastating to the heart of the Peninsula’s largest community—a community that is about to spend millions of dollars to clean up this harbor from past damage and is spending even more restoring salmon habitat.
By passing its risks and costs on to the American people while pocketing the profits, the oil industry keeps oil prices artificially low and thus suppresses the development of clean energy in order to extract as much profit as it can from the ground. A recent report by Exxon explains that although oil is connected with substantial climate risks, the company nevertheless expects to extract all the oil in its reserves. But if the planet is to stay below 2°C of warming, which scientists believe is necessary to avoid catastrophic risks for life on earth, 4/5 of the known reserves of fossil fuel will have to stay in the ground.
Olympic Climate Action advocates ending direct and hidden subsidies to fossil-fuel companies and kick-starting the inevitable transition to clean energy. A recent Stanford University-based study shows how the country could go fossil-fuel-free by 2050 and help the economy at the same time.
Olympic Climate Action (olyclimate.org) is a group of local citizens working for a safe, prosperous, sustainable future for residents of the Olympic Peninsula by raising awareness of the challenges “climate chaos” poses for our community and of options for mitigation and action.
The focal point for environmental news & perspective on the news. Our goal is to help educate and connect the public on the Peninsula. We are not a non-profit so donations are not tax deductible. Maybe someday with your help!
HOTLINES FOR REPORTING SPILLS
WA State Emergency Management Division: 1-800-258-5990
National Response Center: 1-800-424-8802
Pacific States & British Columbia: 1-800-OILS-911 (1-800-645-7911)
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