Monthly News Archive:
April 2007
Table of Contents:
- Oil-spill tug left short of funding
- $8 billion Puget Sound bill passes
- Washington state moves forward with climate change legislation
- House approves Wild Sky wilderness
- Supreme Court Decision Forces EPA to Reconsider Greenhouse Gas Regulation
- Boeing recycling practices nets $60 million
- Storm-battered Mount Rainier park to reopen May 5
- Washington is 5th among wind-powered states
- Study: NW shipping industry is major air polluter
- Rotting sea lettuce a foul sign of Sound pollution
- A new Bellevue: Step by step to a pedestrian-friendly downtown
- West Coast leaders pledge to fight climate change, together
- Washington state oil spill response upgraded
- Washington state lawmakers may boost farmland protections
- Washington State first in the nation to ban PBDEs
Oil-spill tug left short of funding
State looks to the other Washington for needed money
For the eighth consecutive year, the Legislature failed to nail down a permanent way to fund a rescue tugboat that prevents oil spills in sensitive Washington waters. Legislators' new approach this year: Let's hope the federal government will take care of it.
Lawmakers also balked at a request to build up the state's oil-spill watchdog council, leaving it with two staffers -- just half the number of, for example, the Washington Beef Commission.
To raise more money for oil-spill prevention, legislat...Read the full story
April 23, 2007
Add Comments...$8 billion Puget Sound bill passes
Lawmakers end deadlock without halting island gravel pit expansion
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire's Puget Sound restoration initiative passed out of the Senate on a 43-4 vote Friday after a related bill that would have protected the Maury Island aquatic reserve died, ending a last-hour standoff between the House and the Senate.
The Senate had been holding up Senate Bill 5372, which will launch the $8 billion Puget Sound restoration, insisting that it made no sense to embark on the effort at the same time mining expansion is allowed ...Read the full story
Washington state moves forward with climate change legislation
The Legislature has passed a bill meant to curb climate change in the state, setting goals to reduce emissions over the next four decades and prohibiting utilities from entering into long-term contracts with coal-fired power plants that produce excessive greenhouse gases.
The Senate passed the measure Tuesday on a bipartisan 37-10 vote, after agreeing with changes made in the House. It now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it.
"I think that we are leading the nation in a time of a bit of a vacuum at the national level on this issue," said Senate Majority L...Read the full story
House approves Wild Sky wilderness
WASHINGTON -- The House on Tuesday approved a bill to create a Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle, the first new wilderness area in Washington state in more than 20 years.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., would designate 167 square miles in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest north of Sultan, Wash., as wilderness, the government's highest level of protection.
The voice vote sends the bill to the Senate, which has approved the Wild Sky proposal three times in recent years.
Sen. Patty Murray, who has championed t...Read the full story
Supreme Court Decision Forces EPA to Reconsider Greenhouse Gas Regulation
WASHINGTON D.C., April 2 -- In one of its most important environmental decisions in years, the Supreme Court ruled today that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate heat-trapping gases in automobile emissions.
The court further ruled that the agency cannot sidestep its authority to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change unless it can provide a scientific basis for its refusal.
The 5-to-4 decision was a strong rebuke to the Bush administration, which has maintained that it does not have the r...Read the full story
Boeing recycling practices nets $60 million
At The Boeing Co., being green isn't just good for the environment -- it's good for business.
The aerospace company said it made more than $60 million last year as part of its massive recycling efforts, which included selling scrap metal and hawking used drill bits, safety glasses, wood containers and other excess goods at its six surplus stores in three states.
"It's a sound business practice," said Bob Jorgensen, a Boeing spokesman. "When we look at Earth Day, we don't jump up and down and say, 'Let's get a campaign.' Every day is Earth Day at Boeing. We do this for two re...Read the full story
Storm-battered Mount Rainier park to reopen May 5
Wrecked roads, trails to limit access for visitors
Mount Rainier National Park is scheduled to reopen May 5 while repairs continue from last year's flooding and windstorms that caused $36 million in damage.
Visitors should be prepared for limited access, as well as repair crews in some parts, park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said Thursday.
All opening dates are tentative and should be made final in about two weeks, she said.
Popular park destinations are expected to be open, but it might be impossible to travel some routes.
Beginning May 5...Read the full story
Washington is 5th among wind-powered states
Washington has leapfrogged into fifth place among the country's most wind-powered states thanks to two wind farms that came online in 2006, according to an industry organization.
The American Wind Energy Association in Washington, D.C., moved Washington ahead of Oklahoma in its assessment of wind-power capacity after Washington added several hundred new megawatts of energy from the Big Horn and Wild Horse facilities.
"These wind-power rankings tell the story of a vibrant industry that is growing fast, competing hard, gaining market share and all the...Read the full story
Study: NW shipping industry is major air polluter
Study meant to help ports, private industry cut future emissions
To prepare the Puget Sound region for the immense amount of trade thought to be coming this way from Asia, the local ports and their private industry partners are planning to reduce the amount of toxins the ships, trucks and other transport devices pump into the air.
To do that effectively, they had to know just how much of that stuff the maritime industry was producing. On Tuesday, they got what they needed: the fullest account of a year's worth of maritime air emissions ever produced here.Read the full story
Rotting sea lettuce a foul sign of Sound pollution
Blooms fed by excess nitrogen stink up the air in summer
Sitting outside to enjoy a summer day while she did some embroidery, Judy Pickens noticed her eyes were beginning to bother her. Was it her contacts? Pollen? But she also had a sore throat. Was she coming down with a cold?
Pickens went inside, and she got better. But the irritation returned when she ventured outside again the next day, and then again soon after.
"I kept thinking: What is wrong with me?" Pickens said. Pretty soon, she realized it probably had something to do with that awful smel...Read the full story
A new Bellevue: Step by step to a pedestrian-friendly downtown
Downtown Bellevue is less than one square mile.
But here's the rub: To a pedestrian, it feels much bigger. The blocks are more than twice the size of those in Seattle, cars zoom along wide streets, and intersections can seem as wide as football fields.
Many buildings are surrounded by parking lots, and much of the development is so generic and set back, pedestrians say, that a walk through one of the region's premier shopping destinations is more a chore than an inviting stroll.
But don't put away your walking shoes just yet.
The city built with cars in mind ...Read the full story
West Coast leaders pledge to fight climate change, together
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Pacific Coast states and British Columbia will work together to fight the effects of global warming that threaten the region's shared climate and coasts, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell said Thursday.
The two leaders met just days after the Supreme Court rebuked the Bush administration for its inaction over climate change, vindicating states' efforts to combat greenhouse gases and other air pollutants that scientists say contribute to global warming.
California, Oregon and Washington state ...Read the full story
Washington state oil spill response upgraded
OCEAN SHORES -- The first hours after an oil spill are crucial to limiting environmental damage, so the state Department of Ecology has made new equipment available to help local law enforcement and emergency crews make an initial response until more help arrives.
Crews from all over the county took part in a training session at Ocean Shores on Tuesday.
In February, the state gave the Quinault Indian Nation a trailer that is seven feet wide and 18 feet long. It carries 800 feet of containment booms, absorbent material and responder safety equipment....Read the full story
Washington state lawmakers may boost farmland protections
OLYMPIA -- The Legislature is seriously considering a measure to roll back a key piece of environmental law in order to protect farmland threatened by new buffers around areas deemed to be environmentally sensitive.
At the least, lawmakers appear poised to declare a two-year time out for farmland so the issue can be studied.
With Democrats enjoying their strongest grip on power in Olympia in almost a half-century, the environmental lobby is largely having its way in Olympia. But it has reluctantly accepted at least a delay in the full implementation...Read the full story
Washington State first in the nation to ban PBDEs
Substitute must be found for making objects fireproof
Washington became the first state in the nation Tuesday to ban the use of chemical flame retardants in some common household items.
With a 41-8 vote, the Senate passed a limited ban of the widely used chemicals, which research shows can cause health problems including neurological damage to mice pups in lab experiments.
"It's a great victory for children's health over the scare tactics of the (flame retardant) industry," said Laurie Valeriano, policy director for the Washington Toxics Coalition, a...Read the full story
