Monthly News Archive:
November 2006
Table of Contents:
- Officials approve funding for revival of Chelan River
- Recovery plan for orcas: $50M, 30 years
- Puget Sound Energy offers incentive plan
- Flooding's toll on national parks and forests: $50M
- Puget Sound Energy offers incentive plan
- In north-central Washington, coho salmon are fighting the odds
- Pearl Jam Teams Up with EarthCorps to Confront Global Warming
- Storm Wipes Out Roads and Trails in the Backcountry
- Growing our Energy Independence: The 25 by '25 Vision
- IKEA Selected as 2006 EnviroStars Recognized Leader
- For sale: CO2 by the ton
- Wild Sky Wilderness headed for fast approval
- Scientists fear for the health of Puget Sound
- Voters shun rollback of land-use laws
- No more seafood by 2050?
- Global Warming Could Trigger Insect Population Boom
- A farewell to farms in South Puget Sound
- REI Mobilizes Environmental Volunteers
- State's shrinking glaciers: Going ... going ... gone?
Officials approve funding for revival of Chelan River
WENATCHEE - Chelan County PUD commissioners Monday approved initial funding to design a pumping and water-flow system that will revive the long-dry Chelan River and create new habitat for fish spawning.
Commissioners approved spending $1.6 million to hire three engineering firms to design and write bids for three components of the $15 million to $20 million river restoration project.
The three components are:
- A waterway around Lake Chelan Dam that will direct some water from Lake Chelan into the riverbed.Read the full story
November 29, 2006
Add Comments...Recovery plan for orcas: $50M, 30 years
Saving Puget Sound's orcas from extinction will mean protecting 2,500 square miles of waterways, the possible regulation of whale watching, redoubling efforts to recover salmon and scrutinizing environmental hazards from flame retardants to ship noise, a new federal plan says.
And it could take nearly three decades and cost $50 million.
The proposed recovery plan released Tuesday by the National Marine Fisheries Service is a first look at how the federal government wants to save the orcas since it declared them endangered under the Endangered Species Act last year.
Puget Sound Energy offers incentive plan
It's aimed at those generating electricity on own
Generating more electricity than you know what to do with? Puget Sound Energy might like to buy some of it from you.
There are some catches to the incentive program the Bellevue-based utility announced Tuesday: The electricity has to come from wind, solar or anaerobic digester systems and from customers already connected to Puget's system.
Those consumers, businesses, government organizations, school districts and non-profits that qualify could receive 15 to 54 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power t...Read the full story
Flooding's toll on national parks and forests: $50M
Fixing all the forest roads and trails that lace Washington's flood-hammered mountains could cost more than $50 million, and the extensive damage will keep people from many favorite destination spots well into the summer, if not longer.
As the rivers recede and people head into the woods to tally the destruction, the toll of this month's flooding is sobering.
Mount Rainier National Park alone suffered about $30 million in damage, a level unseen in the 107 years since its creation. Visitors will be lucky if they can get into the park at all by Christmas. And it will take long...Read the full story
Puget Sound Energy offers incentive plan
It's aimed at those generating electricity on own
Generating more electricity than you know what to do with? Puget Sound Energy might like to buy some of it from you.
There are some catches to the incentive program the Bellevue-based utility announced Tuesday: The electricity has to come from wind, solar or anaerobic digester systems and from customers already connected to Puget's system.
Those consumers, businesses, government organizations, school districts and non-profits that qualify could receive 15 to 54 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power t...Read the full story
In north-central Washington, coho salmon are fighting the odds
LEAVENWORTH, Chelan County — After a 530-mile journey from the ocean, a salmon skitters in a stream bordered by dogwood and willows. This fish, a precious participant in a $13.5 million experiment to resurrect long-gone wild coho runs of north-central Washington, will soon lay her eggs here.
The runs were wiped out in the early 20th century by fishermen, loggers, miners and farmers. Now they are being revived with the aid of humble hatchery stock transplanted from the Lower Columbia River.
A decade of work, financed by Northwest electrical ratepayer...Read the full story
Pearl Jam Teams Up with EarthCorps to Confront Global Warming
Seattle, WA – Famed Seattle-based band Pearl Jam is pairing up with Earth Share organization EarthCorps to get thousands of pairs of hands into the dirt to plant and care for the most effective carbon filters known: forests. As part of Pearl Jam’s newly established Carbon Portfolio Strategy, EarthCorps will receive support for its ongoing work promoting global community through local environmental volunteerism.
EarthCorps, a Seattle-based environmental restoration and youth development organization, actively works to reduce carbon emissions and sequester carbon through reforestation...Read the full story
Storm Wipes Out Roads and Trails in the Backcountry
Adds to the pain of stretched recreation budgets
Nov 17, 2006 – For the past decade, land agencies like the USDA Forest Service and National Park Service and volunteer groups like Washington Trails Association (WTA) have worked tirelessly to restore our trail system to an acceptable condition, with fewer and fewer dollars to work with. At a time when the maintenance and upkeep of our public lands continues to get short shrift, a single large storm can cause grave damage. Last week’s record rains in the Northwest did just that.
“L...Read the full story
Growing our Energy Independence: The 25 by '25 Vision
- By Read Smith of Earth Share organization Climate Solutions
American farmers are vulnerable to skyrocketing oil and gas prices caused by everything from hurricanes to Mideast instability. So it is poetic justice that American farmlands are now viewed by experts of all stripes as a crucial long-term solution to America’s energy supply challenges.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently noted how energy price volatility is eroding farmer bottom lines.
"Last year, farmers spent $3 billion more on fuel, and $1.4 billion more ...Read the full story
IKEA Selected as 2006 EnviroStars Recognized Leader
SEATTLE – EnviroStars has selected IKEA as the 2006 EnviroStars Recognized Leader (ERL) recipient. The annual distinction is awarded by the regional business certification program, EnviroStars, to a select group of highly successful businesses that are taking substantial steps towards reducing their environmental footprint in the Puget Sound region and beyond. The award was presented yesterday to IKEA by Executive Ron Sims at the “Salute to the Sound� event hosted by PugetSoundkeeper Alliance.
"IKEA is ...Read the full story
For sale: CO2 by the ton
How about a few tons of carbon dioxide in your stocking this Christmas?
It's just what some environmentally conscious people might be dreaming of: a gift certificate for 10 tons of carbon-based gas and the promise that someone else won't puff the globe-warming stuff into the atmosphere.
They're called "carbon offsets," based on the idea that individual consumers can make up for the amount of greenhouse gas they produce in everyday life by paying someone else to cut back. And they might be the next big thing in eco-friendly marketing, especially with concern about climate cha...Read the full story
Wild Sky Wilderness headed for fast approval
Key opponent's ouster clears way for new wilderness area
The Wild Sky Wilderness bill - a proposal to set aside 106,000 acres of forest north of Index and Skykomish - long lingered on life support.
It's been resuscitated with the Democratic takeover of Congress.
Washington lawmakers are gearing up in January to renew an effort to preserve the land.
"The Wild Sky Wilderness is my top environmental priority going into the next session of Congress," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash. "The importance of Wild Sky is it will give people for generations...Read the full story
Scientists fear for the health of Puget Sound
Experts criticize plan by governor's panel as inadequate
If you want to fix a technically challenging problem, you go to the experts, right?
Not if you're the governor's task force sent forth to save Puget Sound.
A group of 14 experts on controlling stormwater runoff is criticizing the Puget Sound Partnership's draft plan for returning local marine waters to health. None was part of the science team advising the partnership.
The scientists expressed "little hope" for the restoration of the Sound unless the draft recommendations on stormwater ...Read the full story
Voters shun rollback of land-use laws
Initiative 933, a controversial measure championed by private property rights groups, was summarily rejected by state voters Tuesday night.
The initiative would have required local governments and state agencies in most cases to waive land use regulations adopted since 1996 that deprived property owners of full use of their property, or compensate landowners instead.
But critics of the initiative, who outspent initiative backers about $3.7 million to $1.3 million in the  emotion-charged campaign, drove home the message that passage of the initiative could disrupt community-...Read the full story
No more seafood by 2050?
There may be no more commercial fish stocks left in the sea by 2050, according to a new study cataloguing the global collapse of marine ecosystems.
It blames not just over-fishing, but also mankind’s wider attack on the health of ocean ecosystems, for instance from pollution. “Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working eco-systems, then this century is the last century of wild food,� says Steve Palumbi at Stanford University in California, US, who carried out the four-year investigation with colleagues.
...Read the full storyGlobal Warming Could Trigger Insect Population Boom
A rise in the Earth’s temperature could lead to an increase in the number of insects worldwide, with potentially dire consequences for humans, a new study suggests.
New research shows that insect species living in warmer areas are more likely to undergo rapid population growth because they have higher metabolic rates and reproduce more frequently. The finding has scientists concerned that global warming could give rise to more fast-growing insect populations and that we could see a spike in the number of six-legged critters.
The consequences could be more serious than just a...Read the full story
A farewell to farms in South Puget Sound
Orting, long a farming community, is on the verge of losing its last two farms to add commercial and residential development. It shows what can happen when cities run out of room to grow.
As visitors enter Orting heading south, they are greeted by a spectacular Mount Rainier view and rows of new homes along Highway 162.
About 60 acres of pastureland opens on the left. Wooden barns with collapsed roofs have seen better days.
John Engfer grows just enough vegetables for himself and his mother, Barbara. A neighboring farmer leased the rest of the land t...Read the full story
REI Mobilizes Environmental Volunteers
SEATTLE, Nov. 1, 2006 - Recreational Equipment, Inc. is dramatically expanding its ability to connect customers with opportunities for environmental stewardship through a new partnership with VolunteerMatch, the online nonprofit dedicated to connecting volunteers with local community service.
Visitors to REI.com may now search and sign up for more than 37,000 volunteer opportunities available through VolunteerMatch, and match themselves to preferred opportunities by ZIP code, personal interests and skills...Read the full story
State's shrinking glaciers: Going ... going ... gone?
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK -- Like tiny doctors on the belly of a sleeping giant, three National Park Service workers trudged up the middle of the Nisqually Glacier, stepping over tiny creeks and peering down a dizzying chute where water from the melting glacier wormed into the 300-foot-thick slab of ice.
Nearby, a tall plastic pole arced from the ice into the sky. Park scientist Rebecca Doyle knelt at its base, whipped out a tape measure, and began jotting down numbers.
The pole is 41 feet long. Six months ago, in April, it was totally buried in s...Read the full story
