Bite-Sized Bits of News From Around Puget Sound

For complete articles go to http://www.tidepool.org.

Amazed. Happy. Elated. That’s how the people of Abbotsford said they were feeling after winning an upset victory over a big U.S. company that wanted to build a large power plant near their city—but needed to run a power line across Canadian soil to do so. The American-owned Sumas Energy 2 project needed to erect an eight-kilometre power line from its site on the U.S. side of the border through Abbotsford to connect to Canada’s electrical grid. Its application was denied by Canada’s National Energy Board, which found that the environmental burdens of 2.5 tons of daily pollutants outweighed the benefits. The board’s 157-page decision found that “evidence indicates the plant would be one of the 10 largest sources of pollutants in the Lower Fraser Valley . . . The burdens would be borne almost exclusively by local communities . . . [There was] overwhelming community opposition . . . Accordingly, the board denies SE2’s application.” (03/05/04), The Province. From Tidepool.org.

West Nile virus will find its way to Oregon this summer, predicts Oregon’s public health veterinarian Emilio DeBess. With the disease closing in on the state and March marking the beginning of the mosquito season, officials want Oregonians to have more than a Citronella candle ready. Oregon and Washington are the last holdouts in the contiguous 48 states since the disease was introduced in New York in 1999. (03/12/04), Salem Statesman Journal. From Tidepool.org.

Seattle City Light and South Lake Union developers are looking at taking energy technology to new depths—specifically to about 200 feet below the surface of Lake Washington. From a point off the shore of Seattle’s Madison Park, a five-foot-wide pipe could suck frigid water from the lake bottom and transport it under Capitol Hill to South Lake Union, where it would be used to cool new, energy-hungry biotech buildings. This deep-water cooling technology might save electricity, make buildings quieter, help migrating salmon and reduce air emissions that could come from more conventional forms of generating power, such as natural-gas boilers. (03/10/04), Seattle Times. From Tidepool.org.

If you drive north from the lovely British Columbia town of Nelson and keep going through the postcard village of Kaslo, you eventually find yourself looking across Kootenay Lake at an incredible scene. The mountains of the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy, the largest undeveloped tract of wild land left in southeastern B.C., rise above the bright blue lake in rugged splendor. On the northeast boundary of this remarkable area is a mountain basin that just might offer the best skiing in the world. Build a resort here at the top of the world, in Jumbo Creek Valley, and you would have something unique in North America: a year-round skiing destination with access to two glaciers. For 13 years, an entity known as Glacier Resorts Ltd. has been trying to do just that. And for just as long, the people of the Kootenays have been fighting to stop it from happening. (03/10/04),Toronto Globe and Mail. From Tidepool.org.

The Pacific Northwest should continue to have a surplus of electricity through 2011, and stable wholesale power prices through the end of the decade, according to draft forecasts from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. If those forecasts prove to be true it would be good news for a region that was battered with droughts, tight supplies of electricity and soaring prices that clobbered household, business and utility budgets. The council’s draft forecasts, which are to go into a regional power plan later this year, are loaded with caveats and contingencies. Those include water conditions on the Columbia River hydroelectric system, the price and supply of natural gas (which now supplies 15 percent of the region’s electricity) and the rate of economic growth and demand for additional power. (03/03/04), Seattle P-I. From Tidepool.org.

Driven to action by an oil spill that desecrated a North Kitsap beach, the state Legislature approved a bill calling for stronger prevention measures—the so-called “zero-spills strategy.” The bill requires the state Department of Ecology to adopt rules for “pre-booming” around ships and barges involved in fuel transfers. It also calls for other measures, such as additional staffing during loading. Industry officials had argued that pre-booming is not advisable in all situations, such as when flammable gasoline is being loaded. During the Dec. 30 oil spill, about 4,800 gallons of bunker oil overflowed into Puget Sound at Point Wells north of Seattle. It spread across the water and spoiled a sensitive estuary and clam beach near Indianola. Had oil-spill containment booms been in place, the spill might never have spread so quickly, state Sen. Betti Sheldon, D-Bremerton said. (03/09/04), Bremerton Sun. From Tidepool.org.

Gov. Gary Locke recently signed an executive order to establish the Washington Biodiversity Council. The council will develop the first comprehensive state strategy to protect Washington’s biological heritage. Washington is one of the most biologically rich states in the country. It is the permanent or temporary home to 140 mammal species, 470 freshwater and saltwater fish species, 341 species of birds, 150 other vertebrate species, 3,100 vascular plant species and more than 20,000 invertebrate species. The state contains most of the major ecosystems found in the Western United States. (03/08/04), Seattle P-I.

From Tidepool.org.

Scientists funded by government and salmon farmers are conducting a study that aims to counter the negative image some consumers have about B.C. farmed salmon, an environmentalist with concerns about the research said. Lynn Hunter, spokeswoman for the B.C. Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform, said the $409,000 study appears to be nothing more than a public relations exercise to support the salmon farming industry. (03/11/04), Seattle P-I. From Tidepool.org.

From Texas to Colorado, Washington State, Florida, and beyond, green is no longer simply the province of specialty builders creating custom homes. Gradually, green is going mainstream as the concept spreads to large-scale builders and catches the attention of a broader range of buyers. Numbers show the interest. Nationwide, between 1990 and 2001, a total of 18,887 homes were built to local green building guidelines. In 2002 alone, the most recent year for which figures are available, 13,224 green homes were built. Austin, Texas, pioneered the first local green building program in 1991. Today, nearly 20 such programs dot the country, with more being developed. (03/03/04), Christian Science Monitor. §