Monthly News Archive:
March 2006
Table of Contents:
- Publishing hiatus
- Seattle to Kyoto: You can't get there by car
- Insects at 'epidemic' levels in Northwest forests
- Accord reached on state forests
- No more parking fees at state parks
- Humans spur worst extinctions since dinosaurs
- Analysts expect hydropower surplus this year
- Earth Saving Tips - "Cleaner Yards, Dirtier Air?"
- Legislature Funds Biological and Organic Farming Program
- Editorial: We Can't Afford This Public Land Sale
- Earth Share groups form new alliance to save Puget Sound's shorelines
- Transportation editorial - Driving Solo
- Landmark Bill Passes to Provide Free, Simple and Safe Electronic Waste Recycling
- Washington legislature strikes a blow for energy independence,boosts biofuels economy
- Electronic waste recycling bill passes House
- Sound tanker bill scuttled
- Washington State Supreme Court considers county sprawl ruling
- Biofuels' future may hinge on funding
Publishing hiatus
The editor-in-chief of Earth Share's Northwest Environmental News will be out of the office until Monday, April 3, at which time publishing will resume. Until then, please stay up-to-date by visiting these fine news sites:
Tidepool.org
Cascadia Scorecard Weblog
Grist
Environmental News Network
March 24, 2006
Add Comments...Seattle to Kyoto: You can't get there by car
If Seattle is going to do its part to slow global warming, people are going to have to get out of their cars.
That's the cornerstone - and also the biggest challenge - of a plan to be unveiled today for how the city can join countries from around the world in trying to meet the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 international treaty to reduce climate-changing gases such as carbon dioxide.
The report, written at the request of Mayor Greg Nickels, says that if the city really wants to cut greenhouse gases, it needs to spend millions more on transit, build more compact neighborhoods, encou...Read the full story
Insects at 'epidemic' levels in Northwest forests
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- The region's largest infestation of mountain pine beetles in 20 years has hit more than a million acres of forests in northern Idaho and Montana, while 2.5 million acres in Washington face disease and insect problems.
Recent flight surveys by the U.S. Forest Service and state forest management agencies found that years of drought have left forests in the Northwest vulnerable.
The surveys found that 1.1 million acres of forest came under attack by mountain pine beetle in northern Idaho and Montana in ...Read the full story
Accord reached on state forests
Deal creates process for timber planning
OLYMPIA -- In a stark break from their usual animosity, environmentalists and the state Board of Natural Resources on Tuesday settled their long-standing feud over protecting spotted owls and salmon on 1.4 million acres of state-owned timberlands.
"It's remarkable," said state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland, who has been the target of conservationists' ire for much of his five years in office.
The broad-ranging agreement commits both sides -- plus the timber industry -- to a dispu...Read the full story
No more parking fees at state parks
Gregoire signs bill repealing charges
Seattle residents and other people visiting Washington's 120 state parks will no longer have to pay daily parking fees.
On Monday, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a bill to repeal the fees, which started in 2003. In a statement, she said the law helps keep the parks accessible to Washington state families.
Under previous parking rules, visitors had to pay a $5 daily fee or a $50 annual fee, according to the state parks system.
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission had required these fees to ...Read the full story
Humans spur worst extinctions since dinosaurs
OSLO (Reuters) - Humans are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs and must make unprecedented extra efforts to reach a goal of slowing losses by 2010, a U.N. report said on Monday.
Habitats ranging from coral reefs to tropical rainforests face mounting threats, the Secretariat of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity said in the report, issued at the start of a March 20-31 U.N. meeting in Curitiba, Brazil.
"In effect, we are currently res...Read the full story
Analysts expect hydropower surplus this year
PORTLAND - The court-ordered spill of water from Columbia River dams to aid juvenile salmon migration this summer will cost about $60 million in lost power sales, but the Northwest still will have surplus electricity this year, energy officials said Tuesday.
The heavy winter snowpack in the mountains should provide the region a potential surplus of 2,400 megawatts for 2006 in the annual forecast presented to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
But a ruling by U.S. District Judge James Redden will cut into that sur...Read the full story
Earth Saving Tips - "Cleaner Yards, Dirtier Air?"
Green tips are provided by Earth Share of Washington organization, Union of Concerned Scientists
Warmer weather is on the way and, for many people, this means the start of yard care season. Homeowners might not realize that lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, chain saws, and leaf blowers represent a significant source of carbon monoxide and smog-forming hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, but the average lawn mower emits as much smog-forming pollution in one hour as eight new cars traveling at 55 miles per hour.
By following a few simple...Read the full story
Legislature Funds Biological and Organic Farming Program
Growers, Grocers, and Farming Advocates Applaud Move
The Washington State Legislature has given a major boost to sustainable and organic farming with funding of a key program at Washington State University (WSU). The legislature funded WSU's Biologically Intensive and Organic Agriculture (BIOAg) program at a level of $400,000 for the supplemental budget. The funding will support the nation's first organic major as well as a new initiative to develop effective methods to produce food with biological and organic methods.
The program s...Read the full story
Editorial: We Can't Afford This Public Land Sale
Selling forestland won't solve the real problem
Selling federal forest land to subsidize rural schools and road projects is a bad idea for many reasons. But a proposal to do just that, incorporated into the Bush administration's 2007 budget, has one powerful virtue: It has focused welcome public attention on a century-old welfare program that has yet to achieve its goals.
Bush and his Department of Agriculture, which runs the U.S. Forest Service, have proposed extending a law that gives money to logging-dependent counties to compens...Read the full story
Earth Share groups form new alliance to save Puget Sound's shorelines
With gift from The Russell Family Foundation, three groups launch multi-year campaign
SEATTLE – Saying the time to act is now, three leading conservation organizations—with support from a top regional foundation—launched on Tuesday an $80 million campaign to restore and protect Puget Sound’s ecologically rich shorelines and ensure they’re available for people to enjoy for generations to come.
People For Puget Sound, The Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy have formed the Alliance for Puget Sound Shorelines, a groundbreaking new...Read the full story
Transportation editorial - Driving Solo
Getting Nowhere
Diehard singles, we commute, clog, stall, rage and refuse to change
I WALK OUT into the morning rain and face the day's first big decision.
Should I take the bus?
I only have to walk a block, stand under my umbrella and hope the bus is on time. I've got the exact change, so I'm prepared. My round trip would cost about the same as a gallon of gas. I wouldn't get mad at anyone on my way to the office. I'd praise myself for doing my infinitesimal part in reducing congestion. And today is a rare da...Read the full story
Landmark Bill Passes to Provide Free, Simple and Safe Electronic Waste Recycling
OLYMPIA, WA - In what will be the most significant advancement made in recycling in a generation, the Washington State legislature today passed the Electronic Waste Recycling bill – which will provide all residents with free, safe and simple recycling of computers and TVs.
It is not every day that Republicans and Democrats, businesses and environmentalists, retailers, charities and local governments all line up in support of a single piece of legislation. That is what happened this year to make possible this landmark recycling program.
“The overwh...Read the full story
Washington legislature strikes a blow for energy independence,boosts biofuels economy
Renewable fuel standard will attract biofuels jobs, provide farm income
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The legislative session began with Republicans and Democrats calling for new energy independence strategies.  And with strong leadership from Governor Christine Gregoire and Representative Janea Holmquist (R-Moses Lake), they opened up a large new market for biofuels in Washington State.
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Bi-partisan cooperation for a major new energy policy can be hard to come by. But concerns about volatile oil prices, a struggling farm economy, and global warming pollution from fossil fue...Read the full story
Electronic waste recycling bill passes House
OLYMPIA-Mounds of computer monitors and stacks of TVs eat up space in landfills and basements, leaking poison into the ground and water. The Legislature took a leap yesterday toward fixing the electronic waste problem, by moving a bill through the House of Representatives to create an e-waste recycling program .
“E-waste presents an urgent problem and this bill is an innovative, practical solution,� said Rep. Brian Sullivan (D-Mukilteo), chair of House Natural Resources, Ecology and Parks Committee and sponsor of the House version of the bill. “The be...Read the full story
Sound tanker bill scuttled
Senator abandons own plan for more oil traffic
WASHINGTON -- Conceding that turning Puget Sound into a highway for supertankers is a politically bad idea, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens abruptly withdrew legislation Thursday that would have significantly increased the size and number of tankers traveling through the Sound.
Stevens, a Republican who rarely retreats, announced his decision in a speech on the Senate floor, complaining that critics mischaracterized the intent of his bill but saying he decided to pull the measure after realizin...Read the full story
Washington State Supreme Court considers county sprawl ruling
A battle over Thurston County’s land-use rules likely is headed for the state Supreme Court, where county officials hope they’ll get a quick resolution to the problem that caused them to stop subdivisions in rural parts of the county.
The county is appealing a ruling from a state agency that found some of the county’s land-use rules violated state policy meant to prevent sprawl. The July 20 ruling by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board found that the county’s urban growth areas were too big, and that zoning rules in rural parts of the county allowed too much hous...Read the full story
Biofuels' future may hinge on funding
SPOKANE -- The future of biofuels in the Northwest will depend on two things -- money and more money.
That was the message delivered Monday to Northwest farmers looking for new cash crops in biodiesel and ethanol. The demand for those fuels could surge under newly proposed federal fuel standards.
Plans to grow crops and build plants for the two products in the Northwest dominated discussion at the fourth annual Harvesting Clean Energy forum.
Despite excitement about the two fuels' prospects in the Northwest, experts voiced caution.
