Olympic Peninsula Environmental News

Fill in a wetland without a permit, face a fine from the EPA. Go to court and have the Supreme Court hear your case to consider how and when you can challenge the kind of order EPA issues to stop and restore the damage.

There is way more to this than meets the eye, and the party in question is purposely misleading the press about their issues, it seems. We have a similar scofflaw around Port Townsend who has routinely sent out his bulldozers on holidays when he knows the city people aren’t around, and calls ‘bully’ when caught.

There are a number of people in Jefferson and Clallam who have fought the SMP and Critical Areas Ordinance that would love to see this couple win in court. I’m not so sure this is cut and dry.

 High court to hear EPA case from Idaho

 Property rights case reaches Supreme Court

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Many of us who live near the beach or spend a lot of time on it, are aware, even anecdotally, that seabird numbers seem to have dropped dramatically over the last decade or so. There are a lot of reasons this is happening, from small things like dogs allowing to roam the beach daily on walks, to more large scale issues, like the recent findings of the derelict net program. And here’s another more likely wide spread variable, overfishing.This article follows the one I brought up last week about the law suit against NOAA for allowing overfishing of bait stocks. 

Overfishing hurts seabirds not only by entangling them in fishing gear but by depriving them of prey. When the amount of forage fish drops below one-third of its maximum, seabirds of many species start to have fewer chicks.

Seabird-fish research shows threshold for danger http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/01/1965290/seabird-fish-research-shows-threshold.html

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Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission on Saturday will discuss and decide on whether to close fishing early for steelhead and other game fish in several river systems in Puget Sound and along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to protect wild steelhead.

Commission takes input on proposed fishing rule changes http://www.theolympian.com/2012/01/01/1932095/commission-takes-input-on-proposed.html

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Sport fishers of Dungeness crabs had a record harvest and now have to self-report their late season catches. Only 52 percent of the total number of 2011 Puget Sound Crab Endorsement summer catch record card holders met their legal obligations— which gives weight to arguments from tribal and commercial fishers that the expanded sport crab fishery cannot be effectively managed by the state to meet conservation and catch-sharing mandates. 

Crab catch reporting will dictate future http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/01/1966241/outdoors-crab-catch-reporting.html

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OLYMPIA — Twenty-three projects to protect and restore Puget Sound have been awarded a total of $6.3 million in federal grants.

The state departments of Commerce, Ecology and the Puget Sound Partnership are working together to offer the money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for projects included in the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda.

Eighteen local, state and tribal entities in 10 Puget Sound counties were offered funding for watershed land-use planning and water quality improvements.

Among the projects are two to be overseen by the Hood Canal Coordinating Council to retrofit stormwater infrastructure throughout the Hood Canal watershed to aid in managing surface water runoff, reduce pollution and boost rainwater infiltration.

Read the whole story at:
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20120101/news/301019987/eco-projects-on-puget-sound-get-federal-funding

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The draft supplemental environmental impact statement is due in about two months on the proposed 257-acres, $300 million Pleasant Harbor Marina and Golf Resort at Brinnon on Hood Canal. Paul Gottleib of thePeninsula Daily News brings us up to date on the project.

The urbanization of the Hood Canal continues to move forward. When you add up the new Navy base expansion, this project, and other nonsense being foisted on us for purely economic reasons, it is going to take a lot of work to stop these megaprojects.

The only good news is that the economic issues have not changed at all since last year. There is still a huge inventory of unsold properties in this county, both at Port Ludlow (the closest similar project) and throughout Jefferson County. The jobs to be created by this are tiny, and transitory. But getting financing, and finding buyers will also be a difficult job.

Revamped plan for Pleasant Harbor mega-resort looks to the environment http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20111228/news/312289996/revamped-plan-for-pleasant-harbor-mega-resort-looks-to-the-environment

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Doesn’t make much difference whether you certify farmed fish as eco-friendly or not, it’s still farmed fish.  “greenwashing” as opposed to “whitewashing’” the issue. We are still being manipulated however you look at it.

Eco-labelled farm fish offer little environmental benefit, University of Victoria study concludes

Vancouver Sun Article

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It’s back– diarrhetic shellfish poisoning —in Sequim Bay. 

Baffling biotoxin again closes bay on Peninsula http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20111223/NEWS/312239994/baffling-biotoxin-again-closes-bay-on-peninsula

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Even with the charge to get into our parks, the cuts continue. So was charging worth it?  83 of the state’s 189 full-time rangers stand to lose their current jobs. To stay on, most would have to take a major pay cut and work as little as five months of the year in one of 63 new seasonal jobs being created. A great Christmas present from our legislators. Did Kevin, Tharinger and Hargrove support this?

This is what we get when we don’t want new taxes to help pay for our parks.

83 park rangers will get pink slips next week http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/21/1953402/83-park-rangers-will-get-pink.html

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The “fish window,” a time when in-water construction needs to stop due to salmon migration, has ended two weeks early and allows demolition of the two Elwha dams to resume today. Dam demolition to resume as fish window closes early

http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20111219/news/312199998/dam-demolition-to-resume-as-fish-window-closes-early

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During our last election, I interviewed Ms. Barnfather and Mr. McEntire on their environmental views. My plan had been to run the interviews here on Olyopen in their entirety (or with minimal editing), prior to the election. Unfortunately, my father passed away just after my interview with Ms. Barnfather, and I was called down to Tucson to work on his estate, which has consumed much (almost all) of my time for the last two months.

I am now back on the Peninsula, and while it is too late to give information to would be voters, I do plan to publish both interviews in the near future.

The problem that I encountered is one that all small news blogs face. As we enter 2012, I’ll be entertaining getting some of you who would like to volunteer on an infrequent basis to step up and help keep this news site advertising free, by letting me know that I can call for additional support when something like this happens to keep us from getting timely news to you. If I would have had someone that I could have reached out to, to get the editing and transcription of the recordings done, we could have gotten it to you, and given the close nature of the race, may have had some impact.

The editor.

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Chris Dunagan, one of the last real environmental reporters left standing in mainstream journalism in the Pacific NW, does a great job of summing up some of the pros and cons that the recent announcement may have on our waters. Keep up the good work Chris.

Let’s keep an eye on the shellfish initiative

December 16th, 2011 by cdunagan
It is interesting to contemplate how the new National Shellfish Initiative, announced in June, and the Washington Shellfish Initiative, announced last week, could change things in Puget Sound.

Read more: http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2011/12/16/lets-keep-an-eye-on-the-shellfish-initiative/#ixzz1gu2h0ayW

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I think I can support all these goals! Count me in. The issue of ‘business boats’ is very tricky these days, as large ‘pleasure’ boats are often setup as businesses as they have commercial crew and only occasionally charter, usually with said crew. As mentioned in the article, the America’s Cup racers fall into this category. While these are also yachts for the superrich, they do employ regular folks who aren’t. And allowing them to stay longer in the Sound benefits our marine trade industry, which provides real working wages for regular folks in PA and PT, for example.

One of the Northwest Marine Trade Association’s legislative priorities is HB 1904 which would allow visiting boats to stay in Washington longer; along with laws streamlining paperwork for boatyards to install water treatment systems and protecting boaters from additional taxes when trading up.

http://threesheetsnw.com/blog/2011/12/enticing-visiting-boats-and-warding-off-taxes-are-among-nmta-priorities/

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Oceana filed suit in U.S. District Court contending that NOAA Fisheries Service violated provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries management act by failing to account for the needs of the ecosystem when setting the harvest limits for sardines, anchovies, mackerel and squid. Sadly, much of the harvest goes for bait and feed used on fish farms.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/12/13/2310096/lawsuit-overfishing-leaves-salmon.html

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Now why didn’t the Puget Sound Partnership think of this?

Officials in New Taipei City say that more than 4,000 people have collected 14,500 bags of excrement. For each bag they turned in, they were given a lottery ticket. A woman in her 50s won the top prize – a gold ingot worth $2,200 (£1,400). A Taiwanese city is keeping dog mess off its streets by offering prizes to owners who clear up after their pets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16085792

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The Case Inlet Shoreline Association and the Sierra Club Washington State Chapter have petitioned the Washington Department of Ecology to amend geoduck aquaculture rulemaking. The petitioners charge that the rule adopted by Ecology allows a permit exemption for geoduck aquaculture not authorized by the Shoreline Management Act.

Citizens Petition Ecology To Change Geoduck Aquaculture Rulemaking http://www.sanjuanislander.com/island-newshome/environment/2438-citizens-petition-ecology-to-change-geoduck-aquaculture-rulemaking

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And, from Sue Sturgis in Facing South and Grist: The GOP says constantly that environmental regulations kill jobs. These numbers prove the opposite. By the numbers: The myth of ‘job-killing’ regulations. So show us your numbers, rather than opinions.

http://www.grist.org/green-jobs/2011-11-18-by-the-numbers-the-myth-of-job-killing-regulations

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From EarthFix: A native disease caused by a tiny fungus has spread into an epidemic in coastal Douglas fir forests. The disease can dramatically slow tree growth and hurt the bottom line of private forest landowners.

Many scientists think warmer winters are helping the disease spread. How A Tiny Fungus is Starving Coastal Douglas Fir Trees

http://earthfix.kcts9.org/flora-and-fauna/article/tiny-fungus-sucks-the-life-out-of-douglas-fir-tree

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Oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham talk at 6:30 PM on Tuesday at Peninsula College. Oceanographers study what will wash up on beaches after Japan’s March tsunami

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20111209/NEWS/312099991/oceanographers-study-what-will-wash-up-on-beaches-after-japans-march

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Good for Jefferson County and the City of Port Townsend for leading the way with adoption of an official climate action plan. County and city approve climate action plan

http://www.ptleader.com/main.aspSectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=30542

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