Current Stories
Editor's Top Picks
Arrests in massive shellfish poaching
Seattle Times
03/18/2010
Wildlife police arrested two men in connection with the theft of several hundred thousand dollars worth of oysters and clams from public and private beaches along Puget Sound's Hood Canal.
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Fish-farm foe to walk the talk
Victoria Times Colonist
03/19/2010
Biologist Alexandra Morton, who has fought for years against open-net salmon pens in BC, is walking 300 miles across Vancouver Island to raise awareness about the environmental harm caused by fish farms.
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Thin snowpack has NW farmers worried
KUOW
03/17/2010
From Oregon's Klamath Basin to Washington's Yakima Valley, Northwest farmers know they are in for a tough summer. Growers are scrambling around their crop plans. The region's three governors are considering drought declarations for certain parts of their states.
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BC water meters could cut consumption
BC Local News
03/17/2010
Kamloops will soon join the ranks of most BC cities by installing water meters in every home. The city says the installations could get people to conserve enough water to eliminate or defer $24 million worth of capital projects over a decade.
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Views: In favor of green streets, bike boulevards
Oregonian
03/17/2010
Bicycle boulevards save lives. Bioswales protect our environment. Both make Portland's neighborhoods safer, cleaner, and greener, says Portland Mayor Sam Adams.
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Portland backs $20 million for bikes and bioswales
Oregonian
03/17/2010
The Portland City Council voted today to spend $20 million in sewer contract savings to help build new bike lanes. The vote was unanimous, despite grumbling from the public.
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BC drinks more tap water than the rest of Canada
Vancouver Sun
03/18/2010
When it comes to water, British Columbians are much more likely to turn on the taps to fill up their reusable bottles than other Canadians. They are also better at knowing to turn off the tap to conserve water.
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Klamath drought declaration helps farmers
Bend Bulletin
03/18/2010
Gov. Ted Kulongoski issued a state drought declaration for Klamath and surrounding counties on Wednesday, and asked the Obama administration to follow suit with a federal disaster declaration so farmers can get loans and other assistance.
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BC eyes water conservation legislation
CBC BC
03/18/2010
The BC government is considering ways to revise the 100-year-old provincial Water Act to prompt consumers to reduce growing water consumption.
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Garbage disposals gumming up Seattle sewers?
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
03/16/2010
A convenience in nearly half of US households, the garbage disposal churns food scraps into tiny particles that slip easily down the drain. But some wastewater officials say garbage disposals encourage people to flush down fatty foods that shouldn't go in the drain because they clog up the sewer system, causing overflows.
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Pacific smelt listed as threatened
Seattle Times
03/16/2010
The Pacific smelt, a small silvery fish that was a staple of Northwest American Indian tribes when the Lewis and Clark expedition arrived, is getting federal protection because it's been declining toward extinction due to global warming and other factors.
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Big ideas for small-scale power
Ashland Daily Tidings
03/16/2010
A small Oregon irrigation district is hoping to turn a canal into cash with a small hydropower retrofit that could become a blueprint for creating mini power generators out of the Rogue Valley's irrigation canals.
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Views: Rainwater runoff the key to a green city
Victoria Times Colonist
03/17/2010
Stormwater runoff carries vast quantities of pollution into our streams and oceans. But rainwater management practices have recently been developed that make the 21st-century green city possible. Instead of relying heavily on pipes and concrete, this new approach relies upon soil, trees and open space to naturally absorb, store, evaporate and filter rainwater.
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Pacific smelt listed under Endangered Species Act
Oregonian
03/16/2010
The Obama Administration has decided to list the Pacific smelt population that frequents the Columbia River as threatened. The decision doesn't pack the drama or economic wallop of salmon listings, but it will affect river habitat plans, fishing seasons, water flow from dams and permits for dredging and other work in and around Northwest rivers.
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Thin snowpack worries NW farmers
Oregon Public Broadcasting
03/16/2010
From Oregon's Klamath Basin to Washington's Yakima Valley, Northwest farmers looking at a lack of mountain snowfalll know they are in for a tough summer. Growers are scrambling around their crop plans, the region's three governors are considering drought declarations for certain parts of their state.
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CA farmers hail increased water allowance
San Francisco Chronicle
03/17/2010
The sprinklers will go on this summer in California's Central Valley, but not as much as farmers would like. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday that growers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will receive 25 percent of the water they were hoping to get.
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WA considers stopping some mosquito spraying
Seattle Times
03/15/2010
Citing its toxicity to fish and other wetland animals, the state Department of Ecology is considering banning the spraying of insecticides that target adult mosquitoes near rivers, ponds and lakes.
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Oil company to pay $588,000 to settle spill claim
Seattle Times
03/15/2010
A subsidiary of ConocoPhillips Co. has agreed to pay $588,000 to help compensate the public for environmental harm caused by a crude oil spill that marred 21 miles of Puget Sound shoreline near Tacoma, the Washington Department of Ecology said Monday.
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Views: Federal government needs to justify habitat designation
Juneau Empire
03/15/2010
Alaska's political leadership has condemned the National Marine Fisheries Service's proposed designation of the "critical habitat" needed for Cook Inlet's beluga whale population to recover. The federal agency needs to take these concerns seriously and modify its proposal.
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Would you like water with those fries?
Seattle Times
03/14/2010
The federal government is doing what once had been unthinkable: building a new stretch of pipeline and draining more water from the Columbia River system to aid potato farmers. A lot is riding on what happens next in North America's french fry capital: the fabric of Eastern Washington, a sizable bite of the state's economy, and future management of dwindling salmon runs.
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Gold claims upend Oregon wilderness
Oregonian
03/14/2010
Some are aghast at a plans to dredge one of Oregon's purest rivers for gold and helicoptering crews into a wilderness area to do it. But a neatly barbered real estate developer from Washington state says historic mining law won't let anyone interfere.
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Anti-grazing advocate comes with a rough edge
Boise Idaho Statesman
03/15/2010
Anti-grazing advocate Jon Marvel has single-handedly reshaped the environmental agenda on grazing in the 1990s and has personally done more to pick at the flaws of the current system than the rest of the conservation community combined. But the Idahoan has often callously carried out his agenda to drive cattle ranchers off public lands, ignoring the impacts he has had on ranchers and their families.
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Ocean acidification: new path to carbon limits?
Christian Science Monitor
03/12/2010
Move over global warming. Ocean acidification is getting its day in court. In a legal settlement, the EPA has agreed to help states test coastal waters for acidity, and to weigh whether to tighten rules on carbon emissions to address ocean acidification.
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Small salmon fishermen face rough seas
KPLU
03/11/2010
Federal fisheries managers will soon decide how much salmon can be caught along the West Coast this season. But whatever the outcome, small independent fishermen will likely continue to struggle in the face of forces beyond their control.
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Views: Drought threatens Klamath truce
Oregonian
03/11/2010
The cracks are already beginning to reappear in the bone-dry farmlands that stretch across the Klamath Basin. The challenge now is to ensure that those cracks don't open so wide in the hard months ahead that they swallow years of effort to reach a truce in the Klamath water wars.
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