Monthly News Archive:
May 2006
Table of Contents:
- Energy corridors may cut a swath through wild areas
- Washington scores a "D" in bus pollution study
- Stories of a Wildlife Rescue - "A Chance for the Future"
- Washington Residents Carry Toxic Burden
- An Incovenient Truth Opens Nationwide on June 2
- The upside of 'density packing'
- Wild in Washington - profiles of all 30 Wilderness areas in the state
- Fading timber town lands nation's largest biodiesel plant
- Renewable resources focus of I-937
- Chinook finally arriving at Bonneville Dam
- Clean engines, wings that fold: Boeing dreams of futuristic jets
- $6 million for Sound cleanup
- Ozone Layer Shows Signs of Recovery
- Hanford: Lethal And Leaking
- Spring run of chinook could be worst ever
Energy corridors may cut a swath through wild areas
The McNary Wildlife Refuge is a system of sloughs and mudflats near where the Columbia and Snake rivers meet in southeastern Washington. It's home to bald eagles, endangered peregrine falcons and thousands of migrating shorebirds.
Someday, it also may be next door to a new string of electricity towers or underground pipelines delivering more energy to the West.
Next month, the federal government will unveil a proposal to dedicate thousands of miles of federal land in the West as a network of utility corridors, where energy companies in the future could locate new transmissio...Read the full story
May 30, 2006
Add Comments...Washington scores a "D" in bus pollution study
Schoolchildren still endangered by aging fleet
Diesel exhaust from the state’s aging fleet of school buses poses a major threat to children’s health, despite strides by the state in retrofitting buses to clean the exhaust, according to a report released Wednesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The national public health advocacy group’s report graded all 50 states in the categories of soot pollution and smog pollution from school bus exhaust and the effectiveness of state programs to clean up the nation’s 505,000 school buses.
The state receiv...Read the full story
Stories of a Wildlife Rescue - "A Chance for the Future"
By Naturalist Kevin Mack from Earth Share organization PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, published in the May 24, 2006 edition of Wild Again
On March 18th, Red-tailed Hawk 06-0246 arrived at the PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center after being found on the ground in Tukwila. Weak and disoriented, the bird had been easily captured by a concerned citizen who noticed her plight. It was not readily apparent what had led to the bird’s condition. When she was examined at
Washington Residents Carry Toxic Burden
High levels of chemicals found in 10 volunteers
Eight months ago, 10 Washingtonians volunteered blood, urine and hair samples to the Washington Toxics Coalition to be tested for eight classes of chemicals.
The results are in, and they are not pretty.
It wouldn't be kind to say that these 10 are walking toxic waste dumps, but their levels of phthalates (found in such diverse products as shower curtains and fragrances), PBDEs (found in flame retardants, mattresses and furniture), mercury, pesticides, lead and other chemicals w...Read the full story
An Incovenient Truth Opens Nationwide on June 2
Al Gore, at the beginning of the upcoming documentary feature "An Inconvenient Truth," introduces himself to an audience gathered to hear about global warming by saying, "I'm Al Gore. I used the be the next president of the United States."
After the laughter dies down, he says, with an affable straight face, "I don't find anything particularly funny about that," and he gets an appreciative, though just slightly uncertain, second laugh.
Then he launches into what he calls his slideshow - a clear and concise explanation that he has reportedly given about a thousand times aroun...Read the full story
The upside of 'density packing'
Living closer together helps the environment, shortens commutes, and promotes affordable housing.
The construction of high-rise apartment buildings, condo clusters, and townhomes is often met with howls of protest. But high-density development is good for the environment. It is a solution to traffic gridlock and long commutes. And it helps make real estate more affordable.
A few years ago the extremist group the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for a $50 million arson that destroyed a five-story apartment building under construction in San Diego...Read the full story
Wild in Washington - profiles of all 30 Wilderness areas in the state
If you are an Alpine Lakes lover or a Glacier Peak junkie, it might surprise you to learn that there are 29 other Wilderness areas in Washington state! Only three states have more Wilderness acreage than Washington. Maybe it's time to dust off those other topo maps and expand your hiking horizons into the Colonel Bob, the William O., or our favorite Wilderness name, the Noisy-Diobsud!
Wilderness is land set aside by Congress, where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by people, and where people themselves are visitors who do not remain. The ...Read the full story
Fading timber town lands nation's largest biodiesel plant
The people who started what's now the largest biodiesel refinery in the state are planning what could be the largest such plant in the nation, in the heart of Western Washington's depressed timber country.
Imperium Renewables, the parent company of Seattle Biodiesel, announced Tuesday that it hopes to complete a refinery in Grays Harbor County by the end of next year that could produce as much as 100 million gallons a year of diesel fuel made from plants, a vast increase in the state's production.
But it would probably be of little immediate benefit to Washington farmers, be...Read the full story
Renewable resources focus of I-937
OLYMPIA — A little-noticed state initiative that would require utilities to get 15 percent of their power from renewable resources such as wind and solar appears well on its way to getting on the November ballot.
There's not much organized opposition so far, but that could change. The Association of Washington Business and some utilities are expected to oppose the measure, arguing it would drive up energy costs.
Initiative 937 has raised almost $300,000, and organizers say they've collected around 100,000 signatures. The campaign is leading the pack...Read the full story
Chinook finally arriving at Bonneville Dam
PORTLAND -- Spring chinook salmon are finally moving up the Columbia River at Bonneville Dam, making their latest run on record.
The three-week delay is a mystery to wildlife managers. And lower-than-expected numbers in the run have some fishermen thinking the fishing season will not reopen.
A spring chinook run typically peaks in mid-April, but it wasn't until last week that sustained numbers of salmon were counted as they went through the ladder at Bonneville Dam, according to the Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife departments.
The fi...Read the full story
Clean engines, wings that fold: Boeing dreams of futuristic jets
When Boeing names an airplane design after a Muppet, it must be pretty different.
Two small teams at the company are re-imagining the airplane in futuristic configurations that sprout wings, tails and engines in unexpected shapes and places.
The research, illustrated in internal documents obtained by The Seattle Times, aims in two directions: low-cost airplanes, and environmental-friendly planes that will be quieter, use much less fuel and leave fewer pollutants in the upper atmosphere.
In the latter category is the "Kermit Kruiser," a low-noise concept airplane with...Read the full story
$6 million for Sound cleanup
House panel also approves $12.5 million for Mount Rainier projects
WASHINGTON - A major spending bill approved by a House committee Thursday would boost funding for a Puget Sound cleanup project to $6 million.
The Interior appropriations bill also provides money for Mount Rainier National Park, salmon restoration and accelerated logging on federal lands.
“We didn’t have enough money to do everything,� said Washington Rep. Norm Dicks of Belfair, the top Democrat on the subcommittee. “But it was a good year.�
The subco...Read the full story
Ozone Layer Shows Signs of Recovery
LONDON - The ozone layer is showing signs of recovering, thanks to a drop in ozone-depleting chemicals, but it is unlikely to stabilise at pre-1980 levels, researchers said on Wednesday.
Depletion of the earth's protective ozone layer is caused by the chemical action of chlorine and bromine released by man-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are used in aerosol sprays and cooling equipment.
Ozone-depleting chemicals were banned by the 1987 Montreal Protocol which has now been ratified by 180 nations.
"We now have some confidence that the ...Read the full story
Hanford: Lethal And Leaking
60 Minutes recently visited Hanford, where the witches' brew is being stored. Hanford, located along the Columbia River, is home to the most contaminated piece of real estate in the world outside of Russia.
It is contaminated by waste left over from the production of nuclear weapons. There are 53 million gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste stored in underground tanks that are now so old they have leaked one million gallons of the stuff.
Some of it leaked into the groundwater, and it's heading right for the river. With a million people downstream, there's a ...Read the full story
Spring run of chinook could be worst ever
PORTLAND — At this time of year, the Columbia Basin's fabled spring chinook should be swarming past the Bonneville Dam.
As of Thursday, fewer than 2,300 had swum through fish passages compared with a late-April average of more than 80,000 fish over the past decade.
Biologists still think they will get a late surge of fish — those hopes were kindled by the passage of more than 600 fish on Thursday, compared with fewer than 50 on the same day a week ago. But for the end of April, typically near the peak, this still is a very weak run.
"We defi...Read the full story
