Monthly News Archive:
July 2007
Table of Contents:
- NE Washington sets pace to save forests
- Chances are getting better for hooking up with king salmon
- Rising sea, rising threat: What Puget Sound risks
- 2,000 set out to care for Rainier
- Pact reached to turn gas from landfill into energy
- A clean house could be a health hazard
- Decisions on species to be reviewed
- Food-trash recycling at homes to be required by Seattle in '09
- Stories of a Wildlife Rescue - "A Mother's Devotion"
- Earth Saving Tips - Shopping for Energy Efficiency
NE Washington sets pace to save forests
REPUBLIC -- Just over 100,000 of our state's 6.5 million residents live in four wide-open northeast Washington counties that extend from the Cascade Crest to the Idaho border.
They've endured city dwellers' jokes, fueled by county commissioners' malapropisms and the tiny minority of militia activists who watch for black helicopters and United Nations infiltrators. George H.W. Bush made his lone 1992 re-election campaign foray into Washington for a speech in Colville demonizing the Endangered Species Act.
Lately, however, lo...Read the full story
July 27, 2007
Add Comments...Chances are getting better for hooking up with king salmon
On Puget Sound they're called king salmon, and not just because they can grow so large their eyes seem as big as hubcaps and their tails as large as mud flaps.
Everything about a mature chinook salmon suggests primal ferocity and dominance, from the way they savagely attack the smaller fish they eat, to the fierce look of their black gum line and streamlined heads, to the way they take off when hooked like a runaway Sounder train.
Being connected by a fishing rod and line to a king salmon -- whether it's 12 pounds or 45 -- feels something like hanging on to a live wire of ev...Read the full story
Rising sea, rising threat: What Puget Sound risks
Rising oceans over the next century can be expected to swamp half of existing Puget Sound estuary beaches, swallow tideflats and alter the spawning habitat for herring, surf smelt and other fish, and could also wreak havoc with the Sound's food web, according to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation.
Using sea-level-rise scenarios projected by an international climate-change panel that met earlier this year, the environmental group predicts that thousands of acres of what are now freshwater marshes could become salt marshes — while other marshland may simply disappear.Read the full story
2,000 set out to care for Rainier
Students lead repairs on storm-damaged Rainier
LONGMIRE -- Looking like a Civil War re-enactment, nine canvas tents sit in a row in the middle of an abandoned campground at Mount Rainier National Park.
Lined up next to the moss-covered remains of picnic tables, under towering Douglas firs, the tents and a converted carnival-concession trailer are base camp for the crew leaders who will be directing an army of 2,000 volunteers on the mountain this summer.
Never before has the 108-year-old park seen or relied upon such an outp...Read the full story
Pact reached to turn gas from landfill into energy
Gas produced by rotting garbage at the Cedar Hills landfill could warm homes and cook food by the end of 2008 under an agreement approved Monday by the King County Council.
Virginia-based Ingenco has agreed to pay $1.3 million a year for the landfill's methane, which would be sold as pipeline-quality gas. The county would receive a share of any revenues if gas prices were to go above a certain amount during the 20-year, renewable contract.
County Executive Ron Sims said the methane plant would capture carbon emissions that have the same climate-altering effect as 22,000 cars...Read the full story
A clean house could be a health hazard
Report tracks risky chemicals in products
Common household cleaning products used to make laundry smell fresh, floors shine and ovens sparkle could also be triggering asthma attacks and causing harm to growing babies.
A new report by an environmental group zeroed in on five chemicals that may pose health risks and tracked down some of the products in which they're found. They include consumer favorites such as certain formulations of Pine-Sol, Formula 409 All Purpose Cleaner, detergents Cheer and Tide, and Easy-Off oven cleaner.
Manufacturers are not...Read the full story
Decisions on species to be reviewed
Methods of Interior official who resigned in question
In the wake of the resignation of a Bush administration official who was rebuked for meddling in scientists' calls about protecting endangered species, federal officials on Friday announced plans to re-examine eight decisions influenced by the disgraced official.
But three Pacific Northwest species that sparked controversy -- the spotted owl, the bull trout and a seabird called a marbled murrelet -- won't be included in the review. Environmentalists labeled the administration's move a "token effort design...Read the full story
Food-trash recycling at homes to be required by Seattle in '09
All single-family homes in Seattle must sign up for table-scrap recycling in 2009, the City Council decided Monday.
While residents will have to pay for the service, the city will not check whether they are actually dumping food in the new separate bin.
Reducing food trash was a piece of a larger plan the council unanimously approved Monday to reduce the amount of garbage sent to the landfill.
"We can reduce the waste stream," said Councilmember Richard Conlin, chair of the utilities committee. "We can treat waste as a resource and continue to recirculate it as we re...Read the full story
Stories of a Wildlife Rescue - "A Mother's Devotion"
By Naturalist Kevin Mack from Earth Share organization PAWS Wildlife Center, published in the June 20, 2007 edition of Wild Again
On January 31, an adult female Black Bear was lying on the PAWS Wildlife Center X-ray table. She was badly injured, and her injuries were not an accident. They were the result of a human choice. In the not too distant past a human had taken away her ability to feed herself and to walk properly. They had accomplished this with two twitches of ...Read the full story
Earth Saving Tips - Shopping for Energy Efficiency
Green tips are provided by Earth Share of Washington organization, Union of Concerned Scientists
Buying energy-efficient home appliances can go a long way toward reducing your household’s electricity costs and contribution to global warming. However, when faced with manufacturers’ claims about energy use and the jargon used on product labels, it can be hard to determine which model will best meet your needs. Here is what to watch—or watch out—for:
Energy Star. This designation and its now-familiar logo are awarde...Read the full story