Monthly News Archive:
May 2007
Table of Contents:
- State, feds begin talks on Hanford cleanup
- Study to examine climate change within regions of state
- Wild Sky wilderness bill passes key committee
- Global warming could impact climate, forests and snowpack
- State organic farm acreage up 40 percent, sales up 32 percent
- What "Bike Friendly" Looks Like
- Seattle Metro will order up to 500 hybrids for bus fleet
- Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver ports agree to cut pollution
- Earth Saving Tips - Green Roofs
- 31 states target global warming
- Ink First Part of Antidote for Puget Sound
- Puget Sound steelhead declared "threatened"
- Revival of Washington's Elwha River
- A big move on global warming
- Honeybee die-off threatens food supply
- Sims Proposes Congestion Pricing for Busy Freeways
State, feds begin talks on Hanford cleanup
RICHLAND -- Federal and state officials entered formal negotiations Wednesday over long-stalled projects to clean up the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, including an over-budget plant to treat highly radioactive waste and the retrieval of that waste from underground tanks.
The talks are among the most significant negotiations over cleaning up the 586-square-mile Hanford site since the state and federal governments signed the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement, a pact that established cleanup deadlines.
One deadline long missed is for the vitrificatio...Read the full story
May 31, 2007
Add Comments...Study to examine climate change within regions of state
KENNEWICK -- The University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have been granted $1.5 million for scientists to study the environmental and economic impact of climate change on areas within the state.
"If you're going to cope with climate change, you really have to go to the local level," said L. Ruby Leung, a climate physics scientist at the national laboratory. "Different areas will definitely experience different changes, even on the east side or the west side (of the state)."
The state is funding the study, with the work to ...Read the full story
Wild Sky wilderness bill passes key committee
Senate panel OKs measure, sends it to floor for a vote
WASHINGTON D.C. -- A key Senate committee on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation creating the Wild Sky Wilderness Area, moving the popular -- but long-suffering -- proposal to the edge of reality.
With the support of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the legislation to create Washington state's first new wilderness area in 23 years is all but guaranteed to become law in coming months. The bill now moves to the Senate floor, where it enjoys broad support. ...Read the full story
Global warming could impact climate, forests and snowpack
Research scientist Amy Snover earned a doctorate in environmental chemistry, studying atmospheric methane, a greenhouse gas. She now focuses on the intersection of science and policy at the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington.
Part of her job is briefing local lawmakers and resource managers on the impact of global warming. Whether it's the length of the ski season, the health of Washington forests or the potential for coastal flooding, climate change will transform the state, she says.
Q: If someone were transported 75 years into the futur...Read the full story
State organic farm acreage up 40 percent, sales up 32 percent
The number of acres of certified organic land in Washington rose to 64,325 acres last year, up from 46,181 acres in 2005, according to Washington State University research.
The number of certified organic producers grew to 554 last year from 529 in 2005 and the amount of organic farm sales grew to $101.5 million from $77.4 million.
Researchers at Washington State University's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources said their numbers are on the conservative side.
"We're careful to point out that the figures in the profile are a best estimate because ...Read the full story
What "Bike Friendly" Looks Like
What if cities had no sidewalks and everyone walked on the road? Or, for urban recreation, they walked on a few scenic trails? What if the occasional street had a three-foot-wide “walking lane” painted on the asphalt, between the moving cars and the parked ones?
Well, for starters, no one would walk much. A hardy few might brave the streets, but most would stop at “walk?! in traffic?!”
Fortunately, this car-head vision is fiction for pedestrians in most of Cascadia, but it’s not far from nonfiction for bicyclists. Regular bikers are those too brave or foolish to be dissuaded...Read the full story
Seattle Metro will order up to 500 hybrids for bus fleet
The nation's biggest fleet of hybrid buses is about to triple.
King County Metro Transit announced Wednesday that it will order up to 500 hybrid buses in the next five years, adding those to its 237 hybrids already on the street.
The diesel-electric hybrids, meant to reduce global warming, will be purchased mainly with federal grants, combined with a local sales-tax increase approved by voters last fall. The ballot measure, known as "Transit Now," will fund more frequent bus service throughout the county.
An initial shipment of 22 hybrid buses will arrive next year. ...Read the full story
Seattle, Tacoma, Vancouver ports agree to cut pollution
Puget Sound ports are moving to cut air and water pollution in two initiatives announced Tuesday, both of which were hailed by traditional critics as important shifts in industry policy.
The ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver, B.C., announced a collective plan under which by 2010 they will cut toxic soot by 70 percent for ships at docks and 30 percent for the equipment on shore that hauls the cargo.
At the same time, the cruise-ship industry, the Port of Seattle and the state said they have reached a deal to ban wastewater dumping in a federal m...Read the full story
Earth Saving Tips - Green Roofs
Green tips are provided by Earth Share of Washington organization, Union of Concerned Scientists
Is your roof in need of replacement? If so, you might consider one of the following high-tech roofing options, which reduce your home’s energy demand while avoiding the use of fossil fuel-derived asphalt shingles.
Green Roofs
A “green” (or “living”) roof is, in most cases, exactly what the name implies: plants growing on a building’s roof. Depending on the slope, strength, and size of your roof, you can have a ...Read the full story
31 states target global warming
They form a climate registry that will measure and track greenhouse gas emissions by industry.
Led by California, 31 states representing more than 70% of the U.S. population announced Tuesday that they would measure and jointly track greenhouse gas emissions by major industries.
The newly formed Climate Registry is the latest example of states going further than the federal government in taking steps to combat global warming. State officials, along with some industrial groups and environmentalists, say the registry is a crucial pre...Read the full story
Ink First Part of Antidote for Puget Sound
Signing partnership into law, governor calls for a new era in cleanup and restoration of the fragile waterway.
The new Puget Sound Partnership promises an aggressive, unprecedented approach to saving Puget Sound, officials say.
Yet the legislation signed into law Monday contains no new regulatory authority for any level of government.
"It’s a lot more about bringing people together and building a consensus," said state Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Bainbridge Island, chief architect of the legislation. "Our goal is to integrate diverse efforts that have b...Read the full story
Puget Sound steelhead declared "threatened"
Puget Sound steelhead, a fish prized by anglers and found in streams reaching far into the surrounding mountains, will now be protected under the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced today.
The listing, which declares the fish as "threatened," or at risk of going to the brink of extinction, covers naturally spawned steelhead from river basins of Puget Sound, Hood Canal, and the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The steelhead now join Puget Sound Chinook salmon, resident orcas, and Hood Canal chum salmon as being federally protected...Read the full story
Revival of Washington's Elwha River
PORT ANGELES, Wash. — High hopes ride on knocking down two aging hydroelectric dams along the blue-green waters of the Elwha River: robust salmon runs, replenished beaches, restored wildlife habitat, a tourism windfall, access to sacred Indian sites long submerged.
But the dams' demise — one would be the tallest ever demolished in the USA — may play a larger role. Hundreds of dams built in the past century are near the end of their usefulness and pose dilemmas for policymakers: remove them or make costly upgrades to keep them funct...Read the full story
A big move on global warming
New law limits power from coal, sets goal for cutting greenhouse gases
Scientists have spoken for years about melting glaciers on Mount Rainier and a potential future of increasing conflicts over water with less of a snowpack in the Cascades.
But up until this point, there hasn’t been a lot of political action on the state level on climate change. On Thursday, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into a law a bill that could be the basis for state efforts to reverse that.
The new law sets a goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 50 percent below 1990 levels over t...Read the full story
Honeybee die-off threatens food supply
BELTSVILLE, Md. -- Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet.
Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberrie...Read the full story
Sims Proposes Congestion Pricing for Busy Freeways
A report prepared at the direction of King County Executive Ron Sims advocates turning all major freeways from Everett to Lakewood, near Fort Lewis, into payas- you-go roadways. According to the draft report, dated March 5, 2007, all vehicles except transit and emergency responders would pay a fee to travel within this network of major highways, with cost determined by time of day and distance driven.
The report calls for a “transportation improvement fee? (TIF) that it says could produce $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion in “user fees? per year, or $36 billion over the next 20 years, “w...Read the full story