Tag Archives: northwest

This Pacific island has so much plastic pollution it might become a Superfund site

by DougE92 Posted on November 20, 2013

This Pacific island has so much plastic pollution it might become a Superfund site

By

Forest and Kim Starr

There’s so much plastic crap floating in the Pacific Ocean and washing up on shorelines that one atoll in the midst of the mess could be declared a Superfund site.

Tern Island is the largest island in the French Frigate Shoals, a coral archipelago 550 miles northwest of Honolulu, part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Replete with lagoons, wildlife, and alluring white sands, the island could be a paradise on Earth. But it’s not. Plastic pollution there is so bad that a year ago the Center for Biological Diversity asked the feds to consider adding Tern Island and the rest of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, plus a part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that’s in federal waters, to its Superfund list — a list of the nation’s most polluted places. From the petition [PDF]:

The reefs and shores of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands are littered with hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic garbage. Derelict fishing gear and debris entangles innumerable fish, sea birds, and marine mammals, often resulting in injury and death. Plastic pollution harms wildlife via entanglement, ingestion, and toxic contamination, causes substantial economic impacts, and is a principal threat to the quality of the environment.

A Superfund designation would help mobilize federal efforts to clean up the area. But it would be unprecedented — out of the hundreds of sites on the Superfund list, none was put there because of plastic pollution. “It’s not really common for people to make petitions like this,” an EPA spokesman said after the petition was filed.

But after giving the unusual request some consideration, the feds are on board with a preliminary study that will help decide whether such a listing is warranted.

Well, they’re kind of on board.

The EPA and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service don’t plan to study the whole region as requested, but they have committed to assessing whether Tern Island, which at 25 acres is the area’s biggest island, should be added to the Superfund list. From Honolulu Civil Beat:

[W]hat has distinguished Tern Island from the other islands, and piqued the EPA’s interest, is that the island’s monk seals are showing elevated levels of PCB’s. The toxic, cancer-causing chemicals may be entering the marine food chain through tiny plastics, said Dean Higuchi, a spokesman for the EPA. …

The environmental study will focus on whether toxic substances are entering the marine food chain through micro-plastics and potentially accumulating at increasing levels, as well as the general effects of micro-plastics on marine creatures and wildlife.

The EPA is also concerned about old landfill sites with buried electrical equipment on the island, which may be releasing PCBs and other hazardous contaminants. Tern Island was the site of a U.S. Naval Station during World War II. 

The federal study could ultimately affect an area larger than the 25-acre island. Improving the government’s understanding of micro-plastics in the environment could lead to more stringent controls on pollution from storm-water drains and water-treatment plants.


Source
Plastic Debris Could Make Remote Pacific Island a Superfund Site, Honolulu Civil Beat

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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This Pacific island has so much plastic pollution it might become a Superfund site

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Greens sue EPA over Pacific Northwest’s increasingly acid waters

by wojciechrak75 Posted on October 17, 2013

Greens sue EPA over Pacific Northwest’s increasingly acid waters

By

Daniel Powell

The rugged waters off Oregon are turning acidic.

Carbon emissions are turning seawater acidic, and environmentalists say that’s a violation of the Clean Water Act.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the EPA, challenging the agency’s assertion that the increasingly acidic ocean off Oregon and Washington meets federal water-quality standards.

Perhaps a quarter of the carbon dioxide that we pump into the air mixes into the sea, where it reacts with water to produce bicarbonate. The byproducts of these reactions are loose hydrogen atoms, which lower the marine pH. The concentration of hydrogen ions in surface ocean waters has risen 26 percent since the Industrial Revolution, reducing pH levels by 0.1 unit.

Rising ocean acidity has hit the Pacific Northwest hard, and local shellfish hatcheries have been in crisis since 2005. That’s because the deep near-coastal waters experience extensive upwelling — in which waters rise and sink, carrying minerals and nutrients up and down like elevators. Strong upwelling zones off Chile and southern Africa are also being severely affected by acidification.

The Center is arguing in federal court that the acidic waters of Oregon and Washington should be defined by the EPA as impaired. If that were to happen, new pollution control measures may be required to repair the water quality, potentially prompting greater government urgency in clamping down on greenhouse gas emissions.

This is not the first time that the Center has taken such action. From EarthFix:

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a similar lawsuit in 2009. Back then, the EPA agreed with the center and determined that it should address acidification under the Clean Water Act.

But the environmental group says the EPA has not taken the necessary actions since then.

“We need fast action to save marine diversity, because when the harm of ocean acidification deepens we’ll realize how much we all depend on the ocean,” Miyoko Sakashita, the Center’s oceans director, said in a statement. “The Pacific Northwest is among the places getting hit hardest at the outset of this crisis. Although some state officials in Washington are taking it seriously, we need the EPA and the Clean Water Act to truly begin addressing it on a broader scale.”


Source
Lawsuit Asks EPA to Save Pacific Ocean Shellfish, Wildlife From Acidification, Center for Biological Diversity
Group Sues EPA To Address Ocean Acidification Under Clean Water Act, EarthFix

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Greens sue EPA over Pacific Northwest’s increasingly acid waters

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Cutting soot and methane emissions would not help the climate as much as hoped

by keithmelendez866 Posted on August 14, 2013

Cutting soot and methane emissions would not help the climate as much as hoped

By John Upton

Tilemahos Efthimiadis

We need to keep cutting soot pollution from wood fires, but that’s not nearly enough.

We’re not making great progress cutting carbon dioxide emissions on a global scale, so the U.S. has been working with other nations on the less controversial strategy of reducing methane and soot. These pollutants have more severe immediate impacts on the climate than does CO2, and they break down much more quickly in the atmosphere.

But research published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that this strategy would be less effective than previously believed.

Scientists modeled the climatic effects of a dreamy scenario: Methane emissions are reduced to the greatest extent thought possible; the use of wood- and coal-burning stoves and heating systems is phased out worldwide by 2035; and strict controls are placed on vehicle exhaust. They found that this would reduce global average temperature just 0.04 to 0.35 degrees Celsius by the year 2050, much less than the 0.5-degree reduction suggested in previous research.

From a press release from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which conducted the research:

“Cutting back only on soot and methane emissions will help the climate, but not as much as previously thought,” said the study’s lead author, climate researcher Steve Smith of the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “If we want to stabilize the climate system, we need to focus on greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. Concentrating on soot and methane alone is not likely to offer much of a shortcut.”

Sigh. If only shortcuts could get us closer to solving global environmental catastrophes.

Still, as David Roberts pointed out in May, it is critically important that we continue to reduce these short-lived pollutants as we work to tackle climate change. It’s just that we also need to keep working tirelessly to reduce CO2 emissions.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Cutting soot and methane emissions would not help the climate as much as hoped

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Volcanic rock may be used as giant wind-energy battery

by SFGJrg Posted on July 3, 2013

Volcanic rock may be used as giant wind-energy battery

By John Upton

Shutterstock

A volcanic idea.

The Pacific Northwest’s powerful rivers and sweeping winds can generate a lot of electricity, but not continuously. Where better to store some of that energy when there’s a surplus than in the rocky residue of a volcanic eruption?

Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Bonneville Power Administration think underground porous rocks produced by volcanic eruptions could be used as a large battery system. They say excess power produced by wind farms in the region could be stored for months as pressurized air before being converted into electricity. From National Geographic:

This is much more than an academic exercise in a region that’s home to one of the largest networks of hydroelectric dams in the United States, a recent boom in wind installations, and state mandates for renewables on the grid. …

Focusing on subterranean basalt reservoirs in eastern Washington State, the authors of this new study have examined the feasibility of deploying a system known as compressed air energy storage, or CAES. They analyzed geological data from petroleum exploration to identify a pair of sites where these volcanic rocks could store enough energy to power a total of about 85,000 homes per month.

“We’re talking about air far below the water table, in the kinds of places where you would find things like fossil fuels,” said Haresh Kamath, energy storage program manager with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Natural gas and other fuels can and have been held in “similar rock formations for millions of years under pressure, and nobody notices anything at ground level,” he said. In a CAES plant, the underground reservoirs could provide the vessels where compressed air could be pumped and stored using surplus wind energy. During times of higher demand, such as hot summer afternoons, the air would be uncorked, heated, and used to turn a turbine to generate electricity.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Volcanic rock may be used as giant wind-energy battery

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Massive Montana mine has tribes fighting over coal exports

by rezhh8j Posted on June 22, 2013

Massive Montana mine has tribes fighting over coal exports

By Claire Thompson

A huge new coal-mining project just approved by the federal government pits a Montana tribe against native communities in the Pacific Northwest.

Lance Fisher

They may soon have a lot more than litter to worry about.

The Crow Nation in southern Montana overlaps the coal-rich Powder River Basin. The tribe is sitting on a deposit of up to 1.4 billion tons of coal — more than the United States produces in a year — and on Thursday, the federal government approved the lease of that coal to mining company Cloud Peak Energy. The company has begun preliminary work on a mine that could eventually produce up to 10 million tons of coal every year, much of which it hopes to move through three proposed export terminals in Washington and Oregon to sell to Asian markets.

As demand for coal in the U.S. fizzles thanks to the natural-gas boom, the coal industry is banking on a growing Asian appetite for cheap power to keep it afloat. And the Crow Nation is banking on the deal with Cloud Peak to turn its fortunes around. The Associated Press details what’s in it for the tribe:

Cloud Peak paid the tribe $1.5 million upon Thursday’s [Bureau of Indian Affairs] approval, bringing its total payments to the tribe so far to $3.75 million.

Future payments during an initial five-year option period could total up to $10 million. Cloud Peak would pay royalties on any coal extracted and has agreed to give tribal members hiring preference for mining jobs.

The company also will provide $75,000 a year in scholarships for the tribe.

It would have been tough for tribal leaders to turn down such a deal. The New York Times describes bleak life on the reservation:

While coal mining is the largest private sector provider of jobs, half the adult population is unemployed. Homelessness would be pandemic if it were not customary for three or four families to cram into small trailers so crowded that couples sometimes go to motels for moments of privacy and children struggle to do homework through a blare of television.

Three bright days a year come when families receive small bonuses from the tribe, thanks to one coal mine that operates on the reservation, to buy presents for Christmas and beads and tepee canvas for the tribe’s annual powwow. …

The Crow Nation chairman, Darrin Old Coyote, insisted that coal was a gift to his community that goes back to the tribe’s creation story. “Coal is life,” he said. “It feeds families and pays the bills.”

But tribal leaders in western Washington and Oregon feel differently about coal. They’ve been some of the most vocal opponents of the proposed export terminals, warning of the harm that would be done to fisheries, human health, the natural environment, and sacred cultural sites if more and more coal trains start rumbling through the region toward coastal ports. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission have come out against coal exports. The Crow reportedly lobbied other tribes while trying to win federal approval for the Cloud Peak deal, but it doesn’t look like any officially expressed support.

Cloud Peak says it will take about five years to get the new mine up and running. But if coal opponents succeed in blocking proposed terminals, the whole deal could fall through.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

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Massive Montana mine has tribes fighting over coal exports

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Coal foes suffer setback in fight against exports

by Shicsshaw Posted on June 19, 2013

Coal foes suffer setback in fight against exports

By John Upton

Kurt Haubrich

Coal dust for everybody!

Bad news for climate hawks, coal haters, and Northwesterners who don’t like breathing coal dust: The Army Corps of Engineers says it won’t consider climate change or other big-picture issues when it reviews the environmental impacts of proposed coal export terminals.

Plans are afoot to build or expand coal export facilities at three ports in the Pacific Northwest. The governors of Oregon and Washington, other elected leaders in the states, and enviros have all been calling for the Army Corps to do a comprehensive study considering the wide-ranging, cumulative impacts of a big coal export push through the region — including coal dust, diesel exhaust, railroad and port congestion, road traffic, water pollution, and, yes, climate change.

But this week, the Army Corps said no. From the Associated Press:

[A] top agency official said Tuesday that a more sweeping study to include all three terminals and impacts further afield was not appropriate.

“Many of the activities of concern to the public, such as rail traffic, coal mining, shipping coal outside of U.S. territory, and the ultimate burning of coal overseas, are outside the Corps’ control and responsibility,” the agency’s acting chief of regulatory affairs, Jennifer Moyer, said in testimony submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

It’s not like “the public” is asking for much — just for the corps to take its responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act seriously and review all of the impacts of the planned export rush. Instead, it’s taking a very limited view. From the McClatchy news service:

“The corps will limit its focus on emissions to those associated with construction of the facilities,” Jennifer Moyer … told lawmakers. “The effects of burning of coal in Asia or wherever it may be is too far to affect our action.”

Coal exports have become a big target for climate activists; if they can keep export terminals from being built, that will help keep coal in the ground, because domestic demand for coal has declined markedly in recent years. Activist opposition may have helped kill three of six proposed export terminal proposals in the Northwest since last year.

Why is the Army Corps refusing to do a comprehensive study? In part, it seems to be throwing its hands in the air and saying it would be just too darn hard. Again from McClatchy:

Moyer noted in her testimony that … it was beyond the realm of the agency’s expertise to judge what increased coal shipments would mean for the region.

The Corps will have to work on expanding its expertise if the White House ever actually finalizes its plan to require federal agencies to consider climate change when analyzing the environmental impacts of major projects. It couldn’t hurt the Corps to start practicing now.

Northwest political leaders and enviros plan to keep pushing for broader review. U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is pushing too: “I think the Corps is making a big mistake,” he told Moyer, later adding, “I think you should reconsider your position.”

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Coal foes suffer setback in fight against exports

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Coal-export plans going off the rails in Pacific Northwest

by t07c6o Posted on May 10, 2013

Coal-export plans going off the rails in Pacific Northwest

By Claire Thompson

Scott Granneman

You shall not pass.

Plans for two Oregon coal-export terminals have gone up in smoke in the last two months. That makes for a total of three scrapped terminals in the Pacific Northwest, after a proposed facility in Grays Harbor, Wash., bit the coal dust last year. Three others in the region remain in the works, but they face many of the same challenges — permitting and zoning issues, stalled negotiations, and delayed environmental reviews, not to mention fierce public opposition.

A spokesperson for Kinder Morgan, which announced Wednesday it was abandoning plans for a coal-export terminal at Oregon’s Port of St. Helens, “blamed site logistics for stopping the project, not the intense controversy over exporting coal from the green Northwest,” reports The Oregonian. He said Kinder Morgan would continue to explore options for a West Coast terminal.

The abrupt announcement came barely a month after the Port of Coos Bay ended negotiations with a California company looking to build a terminal there. There’s a chance the port could consider coal-export options with other companies, but the expensive rail improvements any project would require make a coal deal unlikely, said David Petrie, founder of Coos Waterkeeper.

Meanwhile, as options for shipping coal dwindle, the supply side has its own struggles. A deal to give Australian company Ambre Energy full control of a mine in Decker, Mont., has stalled amid reports of Ambre’s financial instability, and after the mine laid off 59 people — a third of its workforce — in December. The Associated Press reports:

Ambre has been seeking to ramp up production from the once-bustling mine, and ship coal to growing Asian markets through a pair of proposed ports along the Columbia River.

But the company faces stiff opposition in Oregon and Washington state, and critics have questioned whether Ambre has the financial wherewithal to see its ambitious plans to fruition.

And speaking of setbacks, the state of Oregon has delayed permits for a transfer station at the Port of Morrow — one of the three still-viable proposed terminals — where Powder River Basin coal would arrive by train, be loaded onto barges, and be shipped down the Columbia River. The state will give Ambre Energy until Sept. 1 to put together more information about the terminal’s potential impacts.

As for the other two proposed coal-export sites in the Northwest? Officials are still deciding what to cover in their environmental review of the Cherry Point terminal in Bellingham, Wash. (prompting one scientist to go rogue with his own crowdfunded investigation). The results won’t be out until 2014 or 2015. And the review process for the final proposed terminal, in Longview, Wash., lags behind by another year.

Meanwhile, China — the supposed market for all this coal — continues to boost renewable energy production and gradually wean itself off coal. If any of these terminals do finally start operating, will China even want our dirty coal anymore?

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

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Coal-export plans going off the rails in Pacific Northwest

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Infectious Salmon Anemia Threat Divides Scientists

by pwh63qn7 Posted on May 2, 2013

green4us

Codex: Tau Empire – Games Workshop

Codex: Tau Empire is your comprehensive guide to unleashing the might of the Tau upon the battlefields of the 41 st Millennium. This volume introduces the four Tau castes, the Ethereals, and their mercenary allies. This dynamic race has begun its Third Sphere Expansion, setting forth into the stars to grow the borders of their burgeoning empire and bring the […]

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Trident K9 Warriors – Michael Ritland & Gary Brozek

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Warhammer: High Elves – Games Workshop

Warhammer: High Elves is the indispensible guide to the mighty realm of Ulthuan, its regal lords and glorious armies. This book details Ulthuan’s turbulent history from the first cataclysmic war against Chaos, through years of schism, decline and determined defiance, and provides you with full rules to field a High Elf army in games of Warhammer. […]

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Inside of a Dog – Alexandra Horowitz

A fresh look at what goes on inside the minds of dogs “that causes one’s dog-loving heart to flutter with astonishment and gratitude” (The New York Times Book Review)—from a cognitive scientist with a background at The New Yorker. As one of the millions of dog owners in America, Horowitz is naturally curious to learn what her dog thinks about and knows. And […]

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How to Raise the Perfect Dog – Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer , the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, says, “Yes, […]

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The Honest Life – Jessica Alba

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The Genius of Dogs – Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods

Brian Hare, dog researcher, evolutionary anthropologist, and founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, and Vanessa Woods offer revolutionary new insights into dog intelligence and the interior lives of our smartest pets. In the past decade, we have learned more about how dogs think than in the last century. Breakthroughs in cognitive science, pioneered by […]

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The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) – Monks of New Skete

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All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition – Mel Bartholomew

Rapidly increasing in popularity, square foot gardening is the most practical, foolproof way to grow a home garden. That explains why author and gardening innovator Mel Bartholomew has sold more than two million books describing how to become a successful DIY square foot gardener. Now, with the publication of All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition , t […]

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Cesar Millan’s Short Guide to a Happy Dog – Cesar Millan

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Infectious Salmon Anemia Threat Divides Scientists

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Climate change is melting open the North Pole

by Felixct7yh Posted on March 4, 2013

Climate change is melting open the North Pole

By Susie Cagle

It’s time once again for your regular update on the melting ice in the Arctic, where temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on earth!

By 2040, the melt will be so intense that some ships could be able to navigate straight across the North Pole during the summer months, according to new research out of UCLA, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It’s bad news for people who care about a livable climate, but good news for shipping companies that want to spread cheap goods far and wide.

NASAPonds on the surface of Arctic ice.

From Smithsonian.com:

Currently, the Northwest Passage is inaccessible for normal vessels, and has only been transited a handful of times by reinforced ice-breaking ships. Under both of the [climate] scenarios [the researchers studied], though, it becomes navigable to Polar Class 6 ships every summer. At times, it could even be open to unreinforced vessels as well—the study shows that, when multiple simulations were run in both medium-low and high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, open sailing was possible for 50 to 60 percent of the years studied.

Finally, the straight shot over the North Pole—a route that would currently take would-be captains through a sheet of ice as much as 65 feet thick in areas—could also become possible for Polar Class 6 ships in both scenarios, at least in warmer years. “Nobody’s ever talked about shipping over the top of the North Pole,” [UCLA researcher Laurence] Smith said in a press statement. “This is an entirely unexpected possibility.”

These kinds of reports predicting the end-all of Arctic sea ice have been coming out at a fast pace recently, right in line with the Arctic’s temps. Will the ice be gone by 2016, 2020, 2040? Unfortunately, we’ll probably find out sooner than we’d like.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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Fixing a broken gas tax could fix broken roads

by u60uurf Posted on January 11, 2013

Fixing a broken gas tax could fix broken roads

By Susie Cagle

Too many people are driving too many dang efficient cars in the Pacific Northwest lately, and Washington and Oregon have had enough. Between those efficient cars and a population that’s just generally driving less, gas tax intake has fallen nationwide, meaning less money for road maintenance and repairs that all cars (and bikes!) need. Now some states are looking at new ways to make up the difference.

deborahfitchett

Starting next month, Washington will begin taxing electric vehicle owners $100 per year, though with about 1,600 electric cars in the state, that’s not likely to fill those empty coffers. In Oregon, lawmakers are considering a proposal to tax through a flat fee like Washington or by taxing drivers of fuel-efficient cars based on the number of miles they drive. (A new report to the Washington state legislature says a mileage tax there would be “feasible.”)

Some say that taxing based on vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, will be the gas tax of the future not just for West Coast hippies, but for everyone. From CNBC:

Either way, what’s happening in the Pacific Northwest is raising a number of questions. The primary one being: Is it only a matter of time until anybody owning a car or truck is paying a special tax based on how much they drive their car?

Supporters of VMT or per mile taxes point out that electric car and even hybrid car owners are paying nothing or very little to help maintain state roads.

Take a look at the Washington electric vehicle tax and compare it to the state’s current gas tax of 37 cents per gallon. If somebody drives an internal combustion car that gets 30 MPG and they average 12,500 miles driven each year, they’ll pay about $154 a year in state gas tax. By comparison, electric car owners will be paying less at just $100 per year.

On the flip side, critics of VMT or per mile taxes say it’s hypocritical of state governments to promote electrical vehicle ownership and then turn around and tax those who are the “early adopters”.

It might be nice if states provided other incentives for more efficient vehicles, but that’s not really the spirit of the gas tax. If its goal were penalizing and shaming us over fossil fuels, I could understand this annoyance, but it’s not! It’s how we fund our roads. Not that we couldn’t use some shaming, but we could really use some investment in crumbling infrastructure. This is how taxes work! (USA! USA!) We all use the roads, so let’s please all pitch in to fill the potholes. You can still do that while feeling righteously smug, Volt drivers.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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Fixing a broken gas tax could fix broken roads

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