Environment

The Suquamish Tribe and two environmental groups have filed notice that they plan to sue the Navy over work on the decommissioned USS Independence that they say is polluting Sinclair Inlet near Bremerton, in violation of the Clean Water Act.

A good weekend for getting outdoors and enjoying nature lies ahead, with mild temps and mostly dry conditions in the Northwest, and sun peeking through the clouds. “It’ll be very nice, said knkx weather expert Cliff Mass on Friday morning. “A ridge of high pressure is building over us as I speak.” He says the low clouds that are hanging around in places such as the South Sound will give way as the day progresses. “It will be partly sunny by the afternoon, temperatures getting up into the upper

Though the Dakota Access Pipeline is more than a thousand miles away, many voices in the fight against it are local — and not just the protestors in the streets. A Seattle lawyer is representing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: Jan Hasselman , with Earth Justice says they will push back against President Trump’s order to push the pipeline through . “All the memo does is essentially say that the president likes pipelines and wants to get the process moving forward. It doesn’t change the underlying

State legislators concerned about oil transportation safety in Washington have introduced new proposals to strengthen spill prevention and response. They’re concerned about the increasing use of pipelines and tankers and the potential impacts that could have on Puget Sound. Canada’s approval of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline is expected to increase oil tanker traffic through Puget Sound by as much as sevenfold. But there’s concern that regulations to keep it safe are lacking. Rebecca

Each year, as lawmakers get to work in Olympia, the state’s largest environmental groups agree on legislative priorities. This session, the Washington Environmental Council and the Washington Conservation Voters are focused on water rights, oil transportation safety and cleaning up toxics. About 23 groups set the agenda for the Environmental Priorities Coalition. Topping their list this session is a recent decision from the state Supreme Court that says new housing development can only be

Donald Trump takes office later this week as President of the United States. After his election, many students in the Seattle area walked out of classes in protest. At a small public school in Redmond, they took a different approach. Students there have vowed instead to counter Trump’s threat to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. They say even if the U.S. doesn’t meet the carbon reduction goals in the accord, they will.

A controversial recreational activity called “suction dredge mining” has led to moratoriums on the practice in California and Oregon. But Washington continues to allow it. Conservation groups have now threatened to sue the state unless new regulations are passed. Suction dredge miners use floating gas-powered vacuums to suck up gravel on the bottom of rivers and streams in search of gold flakes. Conservation groups say it’s destroying habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead. In Washington,

How to protect marbled murrelet habitat in state-owned forests is in the spotlight this week in Washington, as the state’s Department of Natural Resources kicks off a series of public meetings on a range of strategies for a 50-year conservation plan of the endangered seabird. Marbled murrelets nest in old-growth trees, some of which are in prime areas for logging. The state has for many years had in place an interim conservation plan, because scientists wanted extra time to study what the bird

A coalition of activists will gather at the federal building in Seattle Thursday afternoon to demonstrate against the Dakota Access Pipeline. They’re calling on the public to join them in defunding the project by closing accounts at Wells Fargo Bank. The protestors say they’ll start the action across the street from the federal building at the Wells Fargo Center, where a large number of them will close their accounts and lodge complaints. That will be followed by speeches, singing and drumming

In what's being praised by local tribes as a renewed victory for tribal treaty rights, Washington state's Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve is gaining 45 acres that were once left out for possible development. The reserve, located north of Bellingham, has cultural significance for the Lummi Nation, which requested the expansion. The 45 acres are a T-shaped cutout that was originally left out of the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve to accommodate the proposed Gateway Pacific shipping terminal. After the