Bite-Sized Bits of News From Around Puget Sound

The provincial and federal governments must abandon their secretive, seat-of-the-pants management approach if they want to address the deteriorating public image of British Columbia’s troubled aquaculture industry, says a new report obtained by The Vancouver Sun. Both governments are perceived as “showing a bias” in favor of salmon aquaculture, at the expense of other values including the environment, says a bluntly written report released by the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. (12/16/03), Vancouver Sun. From Tidepool.org.

The Northwest could become the world’s leading cluster for an emerging power-technology industry in part because of existing research capabilities and related companies in the region, civic and industry leaders said in November at an energy conference. In addition to researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of Washington and Washington State University, there are more than 225 power-technology companies in the Northwest that generate $2 billion in revenues a year, said Jesse Berst, managing director of The Athena Institute, an energy-research center. (11/13/03), Seattle Times. From Tidepool.org.

The northern spotted owl, icon of the Pacific Northwest timber wars a decade ago, now faces a threat at least as imposing as loggers: its bigger, badder cousin, the barred owl. The threat posed by the nonnative barred owl, reviewed by a panel of scientists recently at Washington State University Vancouver, could influence a re-assessment of the northern spotted owl’s status as a threatened species. The owl’s 1990 listing sparked an uproar after a federal judge halted all federal timber sales to protect the owl’s dwindling habitat in old growth forests. “There is no doubt that the northern spotted owl has put the Pacific Northwest on center stage in the environmental arena,” said Deborah Brosnan, president of Sustainable Ecosystems Institute. (12/15/03), Vancouver Columbian. From Tidepool.org.

A once-abundant run of freshwater salmon has apparently gone extinct in Lake Sammamish, King County Executive Ron Sims announced in November. For three straight years, biologists studying kokanee salmon in the Eastside lake could not find a single fish going upstream to spawn in Issaquah Creek, the run’s only spawning ground. The last sighting of an early-run kokanee was in 2000, when only two were seen. The slide into oblivion has been precipitous since 1975, when an estimated 15,000 kokanee went upstream. (11/18/03), Seattle Times. From Tidepool.org.

A new study says more pollutants are dumped directly into the Fraser River than any other body of water in Canada. Also, the study reports, the Okanagan-Similkameen river basin—where the population has more than doubled in the past 30 years—is facing a possible fresh water shortage. The far-reaching report on the environment, published in December by Statistics Canada, says industry, agriculture and communities on the shores of the Fraser spew nine times more pollutants into the water than those on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, which runs through some of Canada’s most heavily populated areas. (12/04/03), Vancouver Sun. From Tidepool.org.

Shocked by the prospect of Hood Canal becoming a “dead sea,” Gov. Gary Locke pledged to deal with the low-oxygen problem that has killed thousands of fish the past two years. Specifically, the governor earmarked $25,000 from his emergency funds for the Puget Sound Action Team to develop a short-term plan of action. “To hear the words ‘dead sea’ associated with any of our state’s marine waters is shocking,” Locke said in a prepared statement. “We must work to understand the canal’s dynamics, identify the human contribution to the problem and develop an action plan to address the issue.” (12/09/03), Bremerton Sun. From Tidepool.org.

Seattle, you’re slacking off. In the early 1990s, you were the nation’s recycling leader. In some neighborhoods, eight out of 10 households recycled. Congress lauded your efforts. But that was then. Since 1995, you’ve been increasingly sloppy in separating aluminum, glass and garbage. Yesterday, the Seattle City Council decided to get tough. Starting in January 2005, residents and businesses will have to change their wasteful ways. Recycling will be mandatory. (12/16/03), Seattle P-I. From Tidepool.org.

Two decades ago, when scientists were trying to figure out which of Washington’s toxic-waste sites should be cleaned up under the new federal Superfund program, there were no studies showing where the worst health hazards lurked. There were no two-headed frogs or cancer clusters—just big factories that churned out poisonous chemicals, landfills and waste yards that leaked pollutants into the groundwater, and no simple method to measure the risk. “We didn’t know how to clean up Superfund sites in 1980. Nobody knew how to do a risk assessment,” said Mike Gearheard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s cleanup director for Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska. (11/16/03), Seattle Times. From Tidepool.org.

The Navy won a backroom congressional victory that allows it to get out from under laws that protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, but in the process it touched off what could be a bruising battle over the future of one of the nation’s most popular environmental measures. (11/16/03), Washington Post. From Tidepool.org.

Chronic wasting disease has never been found in Idaho, but biologists and hunters are increasingly concerned because the fatal disease of deer and elk is spreading erratically, and other states have killed thousands of animals in attempts to control it. Idaho officials are prepared to kill deer and elk here if the disease is ever found. It could disrupt hunting seasons and devastate the game ranch and hunting industry. (12/08/03), Idaho Statesman. From Tidepool.org.

The Bush administration is proposing that mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants should not be regulated in the same way as some of the most toxic air pollutants, reversing a stance on air pollution control taken by the Clinton administration in 2000. The change in planned regulations for mercury emissions from power plants is summarized in documents from the Environmental Protection Agency and is the first big policy decision by Michael O. Leavitt, who took over as the agency’s administrator in November. The agency is suggesting that mercury emissions be removed from the most stringent regulations of the Clean Air Act that have been used to limit the most toxic air pollutants. Among those are asbestos, chromium and lead, which have been known to cause cancers and neurological disorders. (12/03/03), The New York Times. From Tidepool.org.