Environment

Scientific Diagnosis of Global Warming, and a bit of a book review

The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, both historians of science, is a fictional look back from a future in which global warming has had devastating consequences on planet earth. The book claims that scientists working in the 20th and early 21st Centuries were partially to blame for having let this happen. Specifically, the scientists were not forceful enough in explaining to the general public what it means when they assert that global warming is a scientific fact. I am a retired scientist so this accusation got my attention. Public policy debates often pit scientists’ cautious warnings about potential dangers of global warming against forcefully stated denials from ideologues. So even though global warming is now an accepted scientific fact, one would hardly know that from reading rantings on the internet or listening to blowhards on talk radio and cable television, or on the floor of the US Senate. Read more

Bakken Crude Update

The Swinomish Reservation is north of Seattle and stands strategically between the Columbia River and two refineries at Anacortes.  Most of the Bakken Oil Trains in Washington move between the Columbia River and the refineries and cross the Reservation. On Tuesday, April 7, the tribe filed in federal court that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway had violated a 1991 settlement agreement of a fifteen year old lawsuit that limited BNSF to two trains of 25 rail cars each crossing the Reservation each day. According to the information filed by the railroad, its own trains may number as high as 44 trains of 100 cars across Snohomish County per month, a number significantly higher than the two daily trains of 25 cars in the agreement with the tribe.  When one considers that the agreement calls for 25 cars per train and Bakken Crude trains have more than 100 cars and a million barrels of crude, this may well become a discussion of apples and oranges. The Pierce Progressive reported in a previous article on the history of the issue, based in part on official filing reports with the State Emergency Response Commission and the Military Department. Read more

Pierce County Land Development and Environmental Preservation Workshop

When the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County promised a panel of Pierce County leaders in the land development and environmental preservation, on Saturday, April 13 in the Rhodes Center with free parking and refreshments, it was an intriguing invitation. As it turned out, the prosciutto wrapping on the melon was exquisite as were the dates in their cozy little blankets of elegant and well-salted dead pig. The Russell Family Foundation, one of the real leaders in environmental education, hosted the refreshments and Henry Izumizaki, Director of Programs for the Russell Family Foundation, and Holly Powers, Russell’s Program Officer, certainly ended the two hour forum with a networking opportunity that stands among the very best. Read more

Saying "No" to Coal Trains in Pierce County: A Personal Report on Progress

SSA Marine plans to build a port terminal along the Straight of Georgia in Washington State to receive coal transported from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming for transshipment on to Asia. This coal would travel by train through Sumner, Puyallup, and Tacoma. Worried by the potential for damage to our environment and our health a group of Pierce County residents met on Jan. 24, 2013 to start organizing to fight the coal trains. We discussed plans to prevent  the construction of the Gateway Pacific Coal Export Terminal at Cherry Point, north of Bellingham. We made a list of potential allies, formed work committees, touched on future events and enjoyed Trackside Pizza. The noise of the passing trains occasionally drowned out our voices. Read more

Jeanette Dorner Elected to Pierce Conservation District Board of Supervisors

Jeanette Dorner was elected to the Pierce Conservation District Board of Supervisors with the unofficial election results certified on April 20, 2012.  The results then go to the Washington State Conservation Commission for final certification at their May 12, 2012 Commission Meeting.  Dorner was elected to a 3 year term expiring in 2015.  Learn more about how you, too, can participate in conservation district activities, e.g., volunteering for Stream Team and other actions. Read more

Smoke from Debris Burning Fills the Skies of Pierce County Causing Death and Suffering to Many

From The Mountain News.

Although our area has been graced this month with several days of sunshine and cloudless skies, it has spelled doom and suffering for many residents of Pierce County as the air – particularly on weekends – fills with wood smoke from numerous debris fires.  Hundreds of homeowners and some businesses are using the drier weather to clear their lands of downed trees and limbs deposited by the Big Storm in January.  The wood smoke is increasingly seen as a serious public health issue, and the statistics for health impacts are staggering.  The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency reports that 140 deaths in Pierce County are caused by chronic exposure to wood smoke.  Statewide, this number soars to an estimated 1,100-4,000 deaths, and wood smoke also causes at least 1,500 non-fatal heart attacks.  In addition, there are thousands of hospitalizations for aggravated asthma attacks, pneumonia and bronchitis, along with other pulmonary disorders.  The PSCAA estimates that the health costs caused by wood smoke approaches $190 million statewide. Read more