Legacy - March 2015

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Legacy – March 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI): Established to

advocate for wild game fish, their fragile ecosystems and the cultures and economies that rely on their robust populations.

LEGACY – Journal of Wild Game Fish Conservation: Complimentary, no-

nonsense, monthly publication by conservationists for conservationists

LEGACY, the WGFCI Facebook page and the WGFCI website are utilized

to better equip fellow conservationists, elected officials, business owners and others regarding wild game fish, their contributions to society and the varied and complex issues impacting them and those who rely on their sustainability.

LEGACY exposes impacts to wild game fish while featuring wild game fish

conservation projects, fishing adventures, wildlife art, accommodations, equipment and more. Your photos and articles featuring wild game fish from around planet earth are

welcome for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue of LEGACY. E-mail them with

captions and credits to Jim ([email protected]).

Successful wild game fish conservation efforts around planet earth will ensure existence of these precious natural resources and their ecosystems for future

generations to enjoy and appreciate. This is our LEGACY.

LLeeggaaccyy



Founders

Bruce Treichler Jim Wilcox

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Game-Fish-Conservation-International/123459167750176

http://wgfci.blogspot.com/

mailto:%[email protected]

http://wgfci.blogspot.com/






Contents

Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk ___________________________________________________ 7

Audrey Siegl __________________________________________________________________________________________ 7

Fishing Photos and Funnies _______________________________________________________________________ 8

Kevin Mayer with a wild sea run cutthroat trout, Vancouver Island ________________________________________ 8

Kaitlyn Gabrielle Bogas with a wild British Columbia steelhead ___________________________________________ 8

Special Feature __________________________________________________________________________________ 11

Ocean floor off Vancouver Island will rip open like a zipper when overdue earthquake strikes _____________ 11

WGFCI Writes to Conserve Wild Fish and Those Who Rely on Them ________________________________ 15

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits _____________________________________________ 18

Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby _________________________________________________ 18

HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST QUALITY FISH ___________________________________________________________ 20

Enjoy seasonal wild salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:___________________________________________ 23

Vancouver Costco hit by farmed salmon protests ______________________________________________________ 24

Recommended Reading __________________________________________________________________________ 28

“Great Bear Wild” ____________________________________________________________________________________ 28

Preliminary examination of contaminant loadings in farmed salmon, wild salmon and commercial

salmon feed _________________________________________________________________________________________ 28

Op Ed: Protecting the Rain Forests of British Columbia _________________________________________________ 29

Community Activism, Education and Outreach _____________________________________________________ 30

Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register _________________________________________________________ 30

“Don’t Quit” _________________________________________________________________________________________ 31

Saying NO to farmed salmon __________________________________________________________________________ 32

Sointula – No more Grieg Seafood salmon feedlots _____________________________________________________ 33

Boycott Farmed Atlantic Salmon ______________________________________________________________________ 34

Wild Salmon Warriors: Farmed Salmon Boycott - Remove Salmon Feedlots ______________________________ 35

Fish Farms Make Lousy Neighbors ____________________________________________________________________ 36

Save Galway Bay – Stop Norwegian Fish Farms ________________________________________________________ 37

Sacred Salmon Celebration with Eddie Gardner and others______________________________________________ 38

Clean Up. Mt. Polley Rally _____________________________________________________________________________ 39

We Love This Coast – Stop Kinder Morgan Expansion __________________________________________________ 40

Protestors Crash Kinder-Morgan Party _________________________________________________________________ 41

“You have to live for what you believe in” – Ta’Kaiya Blaney ____________________________________________ 42

Hapless Harper Protest Song _________________________________________________________________________ 43

Deep in the Amazon, a Tiny Tribe Is Beating Big Oil _____________________________________________________ 44

Ban Fracking Rally – Oakland, California _______________________________________________________________ 45

No Mining Through Salmon Streams – Coal Won’t Pay Its Way __________________________________________ 46

Wild Salmon Day – Simon Fraser University ____________________________________________________________ 47

Site C Dam: Protect Their Future ______________________________________________________________________ 48

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Tuesday Mornings ________________________________________ 49

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio – Recent Archives _________________________________________________________ 50

2015 Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy __________________________________________ 51




Salmon feedlots __________________________________________________________________________________ 52

Ottawa extends multi-year aquaculture licences in B.C. _________________________________________________ 53

College investigates salmon disease advisor ___________________________________________________________ 55

VIDEO. "Special Envoy" farmed fish, a business in troubled waters ______________________________________ 57

Do Not Allow Proposed Environmentally Damaging Aquaculture Activities Regulations, says ASF and

Broad Coalition to Canadian Prime Minister ____________________________________________________________ 58

Are We Going To Protect BC Fishing Grounds - 2 NEW Salmon Farms ___________________________________ 59

Fish farms don’t harm wild runs _______________________________________________________________________ 61

Cherry picking Cohen report __________________________________________________________________________ 63

Found virus escaped farmed salmon (translated) _______________________________________________________ 64

Norway must get facilities on land (translated) _________________________________________________________ 66

Bona Fide Evidence for Natural Vertical Transmission of Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus in

Freshwater Brood Stocks of Farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) in Southern Chile _____________________ 68

Mutated salmon louse DNA spread throughout the North Atlantic in 11 years or less ______________________ 69

The Industry is on the Move ___________________________________________________________________________ 72

The escaped fish are very sick (translated) _____________________________________________________________ 73

I'm a little worried about fish my interest for this (translated) ____________________________________________ 75

Escaped rainbow has a new fish disease (translated) ___________________________________________________ 78

Is Norwegian current aquaculture crisis, sneak preview for BC fish farming industry? _____________________ 82

It is unfair that we should clean up after fish farmers ___________________________________________________ 84

Escaped farmed fish tested positive for severe disease (translated) ______________________________________ 85

In case we are forgetting what steelhead actually look like: ______________________________________________ 87

Salmon & Trout Association (Scotland) welcomes dismissal of appeal by The Scottish Salmon

Company against time-limited planning permission for salmon farm _____________________________________ 88

Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar, Tidal, Wind _______________ 91

Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked _________________________________________________________ 92

Petropolis - Rape and pillage of Canada and Canadians for toxic bitumen ________________________________ 92

The oil boom in one slick infographic __________________________________________________________________ 92

Mr. Obama’s Easy Call on Keystone Bill _______________________________________________________________ 93

Big Trainloads Of Tar Sands Crude Now Rolling Through NW ___________________________________________ 95

A Coastal Community In Washington Contemplates Oil Terminals _______________________________________ 98

West Virginia Oil Train Derailment Sends Crude Tanker Into River ______________________________________ 100

CN train carrying crude oil derails, catches fire in Northern Ontario _____________________________________ 103

Protesters march in Oakland, push for Jerry Brown to ban fracking _____________________________________ 105

Draft federal government report says bitumen spill effects unknown ____________________________________ 107

Thurston County firefighters learn to handle crude oil and other hazardous materials ____________________ 110

To the Last Drop: Canada's Dirty Oil Sands (2011) _____________________________________________________ 113

EPA Keystone Review Links Oil Sands to Carbon Emission Jump ______________________________________ 114

Key issues and updates on the Keystone XL oil pipeline _______________________________________________ 116

Anti-oilsands activists in the U.S. are getting visits from the FBI ________________________________________ 119

Exxon won't pay into cleanup fund because oil spilled in Arkansas isn't "oil" ____________________________ 122

What Kinder Morgan is Keeping Secret About its Trans Mountain Spill Response Plans __________________ 125




Oil train trouble in Toronto: citizens demand answers _________________________________________________ 127

Alaska May Provide Solution To Tar Sands Issue ______________________________________________________ 131

Landowners Speak on Injunction Blocking Pipeline ____________________________________________________ 134

Crews to clean up oil spilled into Yellowstone River from Montana pipeline _____________________________ 135

Benzene found in Montana water supply after Yellowstone oil spill _____________________________________ 138

Yellowstone Pipeline Spills Fuel Arguments Over Keystone XL Line ____________________________________ 140

Liquefied Natural Gas __________________________________________________________________________________ 143

Proposed LNG Facilities Put Fisheries at Risk: New Study _____________________________________________ 143

TV Advertisement: Energy Superpower (at what cost?) ________________________________________________ 144

Coal __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 145

Save the Chuitna ____________________________________________________________________________________ 145

When you think of Alaska… __________________________________________________________________________ 146

What do you want to see? ___________________________________________________________________________ 147

Proposal tries to help wean Washington off coal-fired power ___________________________________________ 148

Hydropower / Water Retention __________________________________________________________________________ 150

Federal fish agency opposes Shasta Dam raise _______________________________________________________ 150

Once more into the breach debate ____________________________________________________________________ 154

King County prepares major plan to improve Green River levees _______________________________________ 156

Movement to Take Down Thousands of Dams Goes Mainstream ________________________________________ 159

Lancaster County and Pennsylvania lead nation in removals of old dams _______________________________ 162

Northwest tribes study restoring Columbia River salmon above Grand Coulee Dam ______________________ 164

Advocates: Dams Put Dinosaur-Like River Fish at Risk ________________________________________________ 166

Solar _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 170

Wild Game Fish Management ____________________________________________________________________ 171

California’s Medical Marijuana Farms are Killing Salmon _______________________________________________ 171

Proposal wants big study for Puget Sound's little fish _________________________________________________ 172

Federal government proposes plan to reduce cormorant colony ________________________________________ 174

2015 Salmon Recovery Conference ___________________________________________________________________ 176

2015 Salmon Recovery Conference Topics ______________________________________________________________ 177

Loving the Puget Sound to Death _____________________________________________________________________ 178

Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Bristol Bay Salmon Initiative ___________________________________________ 179

The Toxic Threat to One of the World’s Rarest Killer Whales ____________________________________________ 181

Wildlife Artists: _________________________________________________________________________________ 183

Salmonberry Studios Opening _______________________________________________________________________ 184

Diane Michelin - Fly Fishing Fine Art: "Golden Hour" __________________________________________________ 185

Dan Wallace: Passion for Authenticity ________________________________________________________________ 186

Leanne Hodges: West Coast Wild ____________________________________________________________________ 187

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses __________________________ 188

Riverman Guide Service – since 1969 _________________________________________________________________ 188

Learn to fish: experienced, conservation-minded professional instructors _______________________________ 189

Rhett Weber’s Charterboat “Slammer” ________________________________________________________________ 190

Fishmyster Sport Fishing Adventures ________________________________________________________________ 191




UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS ___________________________________________________________ 192

Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing _________________________________________________ 193

Kingfish West Coast Adventure Tours ________________________________________________________________ 194

Casa Mia Italian Restaurant __________________________________________________________________________ 195

Spirit Bear Coffee Company __________________________________________________________________________ 196

Hidden Paths - Slovenia _____________________________________________________________________________ 197

ProFishGuide: Coastal Fishing at its Best _____________________________________________________________ 198

Silversides Fishing Adventures ______________________________________________________________________ 199

Forward

The March 2015 issue of Legacy marks forty first consecutive months of our

complimentary eMagazine; the no-holds-barred, watchdog journal published by Wild Game Fish Conservation International. As recreational fishermen, conservation of wild game fish is our passion. Publishing “Legacy” each month is our self imposed responsibility to help ensure the future of

these precious gifts that have been entrusted for safekeeping to our generation We continue to urge our readers to speak out passionately and to demonstrate

peacefully for wild game fish and their ecosystems; ecosystems that we are but one small component of.

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International




Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk

Audrey Siegl

“What we do to our earth is what we do to ourselves”




Fishing Photos and Funnies

Kevin Mayer with a wild sea run cutthroat trout, Vancouver Island Photo credit: Kathy Klint

Kaitlyn Gabrielle Bogas with a wild British Columbia steelhead

Photo credit: Kenny Meyers, Fishmyster Sport Fishing

http://www.fishmyster.com/










Special Feature

Ocean floor off Vancouver Island will rip open like a zipper when overdue earthquake strikes

January 19, 2015

PACHENA BAY , B.C. — The low tide, bright

sunshine and constant roar of endlessly

approaching waves display the full power of

the wide-open Vancouver Island shoreline at

the remote beach handed down to Stella

Peters and her family as a wedding dowry.

For generations, Peters and her relatives have

been the keepers of Pachena Bay, the

picturesque beach that scientists forecast as

an epicentre for the next massive earthquake

and tsunami.

Editorial Comment:

The risks associated with large earthquakes to

existing and proposed structures (dams,

pipelines, buildings, bridges and more) are

deliberately ignored by corporations and

government officials in order to reduce

expenses and time to construct.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Vancouver+Island+will+open+like+zipper+when+overdue/10741482/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Vancouver+Island+will+open+like+zipper+when+overdue/10741482/story.html




The bay is also the home to the Huu-ay-aht First Nations village of Anacla, about 300 kilometres

northwest of Victoria, which aboriginal oral history says was devastated when an ancient earthquake

convulsed the West Coast of North America.

First Nations from Vancouver Island to northern California describe the earthquake and tsunami in

similar legends and artwork involving a life-and-death struggle between a thunderbird and a whale

that caused the earth to shake violently and the seas to wash away their people and homes.

When the next megathrust quake hits, residents on the west side of

Vancouver Island will barely have 20 minutes to get to higher ground.

“Every year we hear the same thing, that, ‘Oh, the big waves are going to come, the big waves are

going to come, ”Peters says as she looks out on the Pacific Ocean. “I’m not really too worried about it

actually happening. We’re not ready for it, but in a sense we are. We seem to be on the ball when it

comes to evacuating the place.”

“Nobody (will be) left behind,” says Peters. “All the elders, the kids, even the dogs are all taken out of

here.”

On Jan. 26, 1700 at about 9 p.m., a magnitude 9 earthquake struck the Pacific coast, causing violent

shaking for minutes that scientists believe was felt as far away as the Manitoba border. The shaking

was followed almost immediately by a tsunami that legend and scientists say sucked everybody and

everything along the outer coast into the ocean.

About nine hours later, a tsunami the height of a four-storey building hit the Japanese coast on Jan.

27, 1700, destroying all in its path.

It wasn’t until the late 1990s that scientists linked the tsunami in Japan to geologic reports of the

earthquake off the Pacific coast in North America.

Scientists using earthquake mapping and profiling techniques now believe the ancient quake and

tsunami are eerily similar to the magnitude 9.2 earthquake and tsunami that struck in the Indian

Ocean on Boxing Day 2004, killing more than 250,000 people.

Earthquakes and tsunamis like the Vancouver Island and Boxing Day events are not one-time

occurrences, due to their locations near major fault lines that build up pressure over 300 to 500 years

and eventually cause the earth to buckle and let go, scientists say.

The Cascadia subduction zone off Vancouver Island is the result of two locked geological plates

under the sea floor.

“Right now the two plates are sort of stuck together,” says Alison Bird, a Victoria-area Natural

Resources Canada seismologist. “They’re locked, yet they are still moving toward each other. What’s

happening is there’s a lot of stress building up. The stress builds up over hundreds of years and

when it releases it releases in a megathrust earthquake.”

Following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011, about 70 Pachena Bay residents were

evacuated to the village’s hilltop administration building and long house. Peters says there was no

damage, but the Pachena River shifted from low tide to high tide in minutes.




University of Victoria ocean engineer Kate Moran says the Huu-ay-aht council was wise to accept the

advice of its elders and build its new administration building high above Pachena Bay because it’s

only a matter of time before another devastating tsunami arrives.

Moran, who previously advised the Obama administration in the United States on climate policy

issues, headed the first research team into the Indian Ocean area following the Boxing Day

earthquake and tsunami.

She says there are many similarities between Boxing Day 2004 and Vancouver Island Jan. 26, 1700.

In both cases, there was a major rupture of the earth that triggered deadly earthquakes and

tsunamis, Moran says. She described the events in 1700 and 2004 as ripping open the earth’s

zipper.

“What you can now do is actually put videos to the event and to me that’s really helpful for people

understanding the risks here (on Vancouver Island),” says Moran, who heads the university’s world-

leading Ocean Networks Canada, which includes a 24-hour ocean monitoring program through a

series of Internet connected cables.

She says the university is planning to install a specialized radar at Tofino’s airport this year that can

detect tsunami waves far offshore.

“When scientists want to study subduction zones, I would say that Cascadia, (Japan’s) Nankai,

Barbados and Chile are the (locations) that have been studied the most because of their

significance,” Moran says.

Bird says experts know that the ancient quake and tsunami devastated the western shores of

Vancouver Island and the eastern coast of Japan.

“This completely jibes with First Nations oral history, which talks about the fact it was wintertime and

they’d just gone to bed,” she says. “Sadly, villages along that western coastline were decimated by

this wave. Many people were lost. The (Japanese) recorded the time the wave hit at various points

along the coast and how high the wave went up.”

She says if a similar earthquake occurs now, people living along the outer coast of Vancouver Island

will have between 15 and 20 minutes to escape. Victoria can expect a tsunami wave of between two

and four metres within 75 minutes.

Greater Vancouver would likely escape a tsunami in the event of a megathrust earthquake, but the

shaking would be prolonged and violent enough to damage buildings, says Bird.

The odds of another megathrust earthquake and tsunami on

Vancouver Island happening within the next 50 years are about one-in-

10, says Bird.

Peters says she believes somebody or something has been looking out for her village for the past

315 years, but she also knows that could change at any moment.

“Right where we live we have to deal with what Mother Nature gives us,” she says.

“We’re supposed to be 20 metres above sea level, but now where the village is, we’re six metres

above.”







WGFCI Writes to Conserve Wild Fish and Those Who Rely on Them

Maria Cantwell United States Senator Washington State We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International request that you oppose the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project. This pipeline does not serve America's interest as it will be used to transport carsinogenic asphalt-like material mixed with condensate (kerosene-like liquid), unspecified chemicas and water across and through some of America's most fragile ecosystems for export to expanding Asian markets. This pipeline will do nothing to reduce reliance on burning fossil fuels to provide energy. America and the world must transition away from fossil fuels, not irresponsibly expand infrastructure and reliance on them. Your leadership on this matter is greatly needed and appreciated.










Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits

Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby







HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST QUALITY FISH

Learn the ins and outs of choosing the right fish.

http://nu.spoonuniversity.com/food-thought/how-to-choose-best-quality-fish/




Not all fish are created equal. Before you put anything in your mouth, you should know which fish are

the highest quality and the most nutritious for you. Although customers rarely stop to inquire about

the seafood they purchase, the answers can make all the difference. Let’s break it down.

What’s all this hoopla about omega-3s and fish anyway?

Well, it turns out that eating 1-2 weekly servings of fatty fish, like tuna, salmon and rainbow trout, can

reduce chances of dying from heart disease by more than one-third, according to Harvard School of

Health’s The Nutrition Source. Fish and other seafood provide major levels of healthful omega-3 fatty

acids and other nutrients such as vitamin D and selenium. Plus, they provide you with more protein

and less saturated fat than other protein sources like red meat and processed foods.

So if I purchase some salmon fillet for dinner I’m set right?

Well, no. The origin of the fish can make a huge difference too. The two major methods of fishing in

question are farm-raised versus wild-caught.

FARM-RAISED

Fish farming is the process of raising fish for commercial sale. During this process, the fish are kept

in an enclosed environment — either in ocean cages, surface-land ponds or tank systems — where

everything from their diet to reproduction can be closely monitored.

Pro: Farmed fish are commercially coveted because they’re reasonably priced and more

readily available.

Con: Because farmers can control the feed of their stock these fish suffer several negative

consequences. Rather than using feed that is more easily converted to omega-3s, farmers

tend to use less expensive feed like GMO corn, soy and fish meal. In fact, the American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported in 2011 that farmed salmon, catfish and tilapia contain

two to three times fewer omega-3s than their wild counterparts.

Con: Because the fish are kept in close quarters, they are also more prone to diseases and

therefore, loaded with antibiotics.

WILD-CAUGHT

Due to the expanding human population and the increasing demand for fish, most researchers

predict the natural fish supply will not be able to satisfy the commercial market. The process of

overfishing can eventually lead to the extinction of certain species.

Pro: Wild fisheries follow guidelines that ensure fishers sustainably harvest fish without

depleting the available supply. Fish and shellfish are seen as renewable resources that can

reproduce and replenish their populations naturally. Basically, some fish are caught while

some are left to reproduce for the next time.

Pro: Wild fish can swim freely about the vast ocean, which allows them to develop muscles,

improving taste and texture. These fish are higher in omega-3s and are less contaminated

than farm-raised fish.




Con: Having said that, be ready to dig deep in your wallet the next time you search for wild-

caught fish at the grocery store. Since they’re harder to find, they’re much more expensive.

Save money by trying canned wild salmon.

The Final “Catch”

Wild-caught is always the safer, healthier choice when it comes to your seafood dinner. However,

these benefits come at a price. When your bank account is running a little too low to splurge on wild-

caught fish, try these safe and nutritious farm-raised options instead.

Shellfish

American Catfish

Rainbow

Trout

Asian Seabass

Other Fishy Facts

Omega-3 fatty acids are a group of three fats called ALA, EPA and DHA. Omega-3s are

considered essential fatty acids, meaning they cannot be produced by the human body and must be

consumed from outside sources. They are vital for normal metabolism.

Farmed salmon are administered more antibiotics by weight than any other type of livestock.

Scientists worry that these antibiotics, when spread in high amounts to humans, could lead to

antibiotic resistance.

Cooking salmon until its internal temperature breaks 175˚F and removing the skin before eating can

help reduce the amount of contaminants you consume.




Enjoy seasonal wild salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:




A protest group unfurled a "protect wild salmon" banner in front of Costco's downtown Vancouver story on Jan.22.

Vancouver Costco hit by farmed salmon protests

“I can’t believe how many people come up to us and say they want to know about [farmed

salmon] - they’re worried,” said protester Shirley Samples.

January 31, 2015

Customers darting in to Vancouver’s downtown Costco recently for bulk deals on food and

merchandise, got more than they bargained for -- the loud drums of protesters alarmed with the

farmed salmon being sold inside.

Many customers took the activists’ pamphlets.

“I can’t believe how many people come up to us and say they want to know about [farmed salmon] -

they’re worried,” Shirley Samples, one of the opponents at the Jan.22 incident, said.

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/vancouver-costco-hit-farmed-salmon-protests




The group known as “Farmed Salmon Boycott” unfurled their banner on the public sidewalk, and told

passersby that the controversial food source is risky to human health and ecosystems.

Other Costco stores in B.C. in Chilliwack, Richmond and elsewhere are being targeted, as well as

Wal-Marts.

“We’re here today because we want the public to understand the risks associated with farmed

salmon. The government itself paid $26 million for a Cohen report with many recommendations [for]

protecting our wild salmon on the BC coast, and they haven’t followed [them],” Samples said.

Human and environmental risks

“We want to make the public aware of the dangers of farmed salmon - to [customers’] health - but

also to the dangers to our wild salmon,” she added.

Security guards kept a close eye on the group which included members of the Tsleil Waututh Nation.

Many have long been concerned that salmon farms, which were first introduced on B.C. coasts in

2009, hurt the province’s wild salmon.

Elder Eddie Gardner said they’ve tried to get government to remove the farms from B.C.’s coast, but

that’s fallen on deaf ears.

“It seems the only the only recourse we have is a boycott,” said Gardner, in a video statement

uploaded to Youtube.

Elder Eddie Gardner said they’ve tried to get government to remove the farms from B.C.’s coast, but

that’s fallen on deaf ears.

http://www.farmed-salmon-boycott.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE6TSBh5Dj0#t=52




Costco Wholesale did not respond to a request for comment about the incident. But concerns over its

farmed salmon have clearly caught the attention of its public affairs division.

Costco addresses customers' worries

The company posts a question and answer webpage about its farmed salmon product, sold under its

generic “Kirkland Signature Atlantic Salmon” Costco brand. It's not clear if this product contains

Pacific farmed salmon.

Under “do salmon farms spread disease?” the Costco webpage reassures: “Salmon farmers follow

stringent fish health practices where brood-stock and eggs are rigorously tested and the salmon are

raised in disease free water.”

“Costco Wholesale also does monthly testing. We test for pesticides and heavy metals. Micro-

biological testing is also done… after all that, we do the physical testing,” states the website.

The web page however does not offer a question about human health. It says its farmed salmon are

non-GMO, but admits that antibiotics are used -- “only under strict supervision of a licensed

veterinarian” much like the beef and poultry industry.

https://ems02071lb.egain.net/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1005&PARTITION_ID=1&secureFlag=false&TIMEZONE_OFFSET=&CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=2810




But Samples said her group isn’t biting the company's line. She said there are dangerous PCBs and

dioxins that get into the fish, that people then eat and “bio-accumulate.” Pregnant women and their

fetuses are especially vulnerable.

The group references a 2004 study in the journal Science which

concludes that the risks of consuming Atlantic farmed fish outweighs

the health benefits. Cancer and immune system dysfunction are

among the health worries.

“One should avoid farmed salmon like the plague,” writes one of the study’s co-authors, David

Carpenter.

The B.C. protest group’s website says it’s not against all aquaculture farms.

But it does oppose so-called “net-pen salmon farms” - meaning, those

located in open ocean, where currents “deliver oxygen to their fish and

disperse their wastes” according to Living Oceans.

Industry: too much misinformation

Jeremy Dunn of the BC Salmon Farmers

Association said there’s a lot of rhetoric and

misinformation about the industry. “Health

authorities around the world recommend eating

salmon in Canada, two servings a week. They

don’t distinguish between how the salmon was

raised or whether or not it was wild caught

salmon."

“The fact is, it is the species that is the major determining factor of oil content, not the way it is raised.

That is, Atlantic salmon, as compared to several species of Pacific salmon, naturally maintains higher

fats as it has the ability to spawn several times.”

“Our operators in B.C. are the most responsible salmon farmers in the world, putting the environment

first.”

B.C. salmon-farms creates 6,000 jobs on Vancouver Island and produces $800 million in economic

activity for the province, Dunn added.

Samples says [wild] salmon are the “backbone” of the ecosystem, providing food for bears, whales

and wolves. “Someone needs to speak up for them."

Editorial Comment:

Farmed Atlantic salmon from ocean-based

salmon feedlots sited in British Columbia and

elsewhere are in fact recommended for

avoidance by credible scientists.

In contrast, wild Pacific salmon caught in

Canadian waters are a healthy choice for

human consumption and the environment.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/303/5655/226.short




Recommended Reading

“Great Bear Wild”

Watch introduction HERE




Op Ed: Protecting the Rain Forests of British Columbia

Bruce Treichler, WGFCI Co-founder

In the January 25, 2015 Seattle Times Pacific NW news magazine there is an article entitled,

“Fighting For The Rain Forest”. The photographs are stunning and achingly beautiful. Especially so

since where they were taken is threatened by Enbridge Inc’s proposed Northern Gateway twin

pipelines project.

One of these pipelines would transport diluted bitumen from the tar sands of northern Alberta to the

town of Kitimat on the coast of British Columbia for export to Asian markets. The second pipeline

would transport condensate (kerosene-like) material, imported from Asia to the Kitimat terminal, into

Edmonton, Alberta for mixing with bitumen (asphalt-like) material. Diluted bitumen (dilbit) is a

poisonous cocktail of oil and other chemicals that are incredibly destructive to human health and the

environment.

This pipeline project has been approved by the Canadian government even though it has been

strongly opposed by First Nations, conservation organizations, and concerned citizens. At Kitimat,

the dilbit would be loaded onto huge (VLCC-class) tankers that would traverse Douglas Channel’s

dangerous waters; important to a wide variety of fish, sea mammals, birds and other marine life.

The photographs for this article were taken by Ian McAlister and can be found in his new book, Great

Bear Wild, Dispatches from a Northern Rain Forest. The article can be accessed at

http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/.

http://seattletimes.com/html/pacificnw/




Community Activism, Education and Outreach

Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register

http://www.farmed-salmon-boycott.com/




“Don’t Quit”

Shared by Russell Wilson

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit- Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a fellow turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out. Don't give up though the pace seems slow - You may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man; Often the struggler has given up When he might have captured the victor's cup; And he learned too late when the night came down, How close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out -

The silver tint in the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It might be near when it seems afar; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.




Saying NO to farmed salmon

From New Zealand, across Canada and Scotland thousands of people have raised signs

telling Norway they do not want the waters of their homes fouled by this industry. And the

news out of Norway - it's a scandal!

Watch seven minute video HERE

Music: "It's Bad You Know" by R.L. Burnside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uwhfOEToOE&feature=youtu.be




Sointula – No more Grieg Seafood salmon feedlots

Read CommonSenseCanadian Article HERE Watch HERE

http://commonsensecanadian.ca/proposed-new-bc-salmon-farms-net-strong-public-opposition/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVoaVTN7Uu0




Boycott Farmed Atlantic Salmon

Watch HERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE6TSBh5Dj0&x-yt-ts=1421914688&x-yt-cl=84503534&feature=player_embedded




Wild Salmon Warriors: Farmed Salmon Boycott - Remove Salmon Feedlots

Informing the unsuspecting public – rain or shine




Fish Farms Make Lousy Neighbors




Save Galway Bay – Stop Norwegian Fish Farms




Sacred Salmon Celebration with Eddie Gardner and others

“What will you do to save wild salmon?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN24n8W60Yk




Clean Up. Mt. Polley Rally

Vancouver, BC

January 22, 2015




We Love This Coast – Stop Kinder Morgan Expansion

Vancouver Art Museum – February 13, 2015




Protestors Crash Kinder-Morgan Party




“You have to live for what you believe in” – Ta’Kaiya Blaney

Watch, Learn and Listen HERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tkE8AMjoRc&feature=youtu.be




Hapless Harper Protest Song

“Dedicated to proud Canadians who wish for their children a pristine, peaceful and

independent country”, John Clark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5364tW7B79U&feature=youtu.be




Deep in the Amazon, a Tiny Tribe Is Beating Big Oil

Read YES MAGAZINE article HERE

Nina Gualinga, Sarayaku

resident and international

activist on indigenous rights,

traveling on the Bobonaza

River, Sarayaku, Ecuador.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/together-with-earth/deep-in-the-amazon-a-tiny-tribe-is-beating-big-oil




Ban Fracking Rally – Oakland, California




No Mining Through Salmon Streams – Coal Won’t Pay Its Way

http://alaskansfirst.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBXQUkfcoBw




Wild Salmon Day – Simon Fraser University




Site C Dam: Protect Their Future

http://www.stopsitec.org/




Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Tuesday Mornings

“Streaming like wild Pacific salmon”

http://wildsalmonwarriorradio.org/

CCJJSSFF 9900..11 FFMM iiss SSiimmoonn FFrraasseerr

UUnniivveerrssiittyy''ss aarrttss,, ppuubblliicc aaffffaaiirrss aanndd

iinnddiiee mmuussiicc rraaddiioo ssttaattiioonn!!

CCJJSSFF ssttrriivveess ttoo pprroovviiddee ppooiinnttss ooff vviieeww

tthhaatt aarree rraarreellyy eexxpprreesssseedd iinn mmaaiinnssttrreeaamm

mmeeddiiaa..

http://www.cjsf.ca/pguide/index.php

http://wildsalmonwarriorradio.org/




Wild Salmon Warrior Radio – Recent Archives

January 20: Eco Certification

January 27: Wild Salmon Day – Simon Fraser University - Watch video HERE

February 3: Recap – Wild Salmon Day

February 10: Liquefied Natural Gas Resistance – “Over my dead body”

http://www.cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_January_20_10_30.mp3

http://www.cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_January_27_10_30.mp3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI9bJACVC58&feature=youtu.be

http://www.cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_February_03_10_30.mp3

http://www.cjsf.ca/vanilla_archives/2015_February_10_10_30.mp3




2015 Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy

http://www.nwycffa.com/




Salmon feedlots




Ottawa extends multi-year aquaculture licences in B.C.

Licences issued in B.C. by Fisheries and Oceans Canada have previously been limited to

one year, which may have discouraged operators from making significant investments

February 17, 2015

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/resources/Ottawa+extends+multi+year+aquaculture+licences/10818426/story.html#ixzz3S1hcOWfp



2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots The federal government will issue multi-year licences for finfish and shellfish aquaculture facilities in B.C. to promote investment in sustainable design and technology by the industry.

Licenses issued in B.C. by Fisheries and Oceans Canada have previously been limited to one year, which may have discouraged operators from making significant investments in more secure — and more expensive — ocean-based facilities and in land-based hatcheries, according to Jeremy Dunn, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.

Multi-year licences may be issued for up to nine years, according to the Fisheries Act.

“We have been working with one-year renewable licences, which presents some challenges when your fish are in the water for upwards of 18 months,” said Dunn.

Companies are looking for long-term security when they consider multi-million-dollar investments in pens and hatcheries that supply ocean-based facilities with young fish, he said.

“Having multi-year licences would provide more certainty, but we would still need to meet all DFO’s standards and conditions,” said Dunn.

A moratorium on aquaculture development in the Discovery Islands — recommended by the Cohen Commission — remains in effect and multi-year licences will not be available to facilities in that area, according to the DFO.

A proposal tabled in the House of Commons calls for annual fees ranging from a few hundred dollars for “mom-and-pop” shellfish farms to about $10,000 a year for an average-sized ocean-based net-pen farm, said Eric Gilbert, director general of aquaculture for the DFO.

Fees for multi-year licences would be paid in annual increments to avoid creating a financial burden on producers, he said.

There are more than 110 active licences for finfish aquaculture on the West Coast, mainly for ocean-based Atlantic salmon farms, but also for coho, chinook, trout, sablefish and halibut. The industry supports about 6,000 jobs in B.C., mainly in rural communities and 14,000 across Canada.

Alexandra Morton:

The Harper government has locked the BC coast into dirty salmon with these 9-year licences. When this all started, THE FISHERMAN reporter Geoff Meggs reported this industry would see the end of the common property public fishery, he is right. These 9-year licences are just first on the Norwegian's wish list. They also want to own salmon in the ocean, a first for Canada, remove section 36 of the Fisheries Act so that they can use chemicals that kill fish in their ongoing losing drug war on sea lice, the CFIA would like the authority to cull diseased WILD salmon to protect the FARMED salmon (see Proposed Aquaculture Regulations) and they already have licence to transfer diseased fish from their hatcheries into salmon farms on our wild salmon migration routes. Unthinkable back in the 1990s this is biological madness, you cannot recall viruses. I took Canada to court on this, decision pending 8 months now. Oh and BTW it is over $1 million for a salmon farming licence in Norway, currently the industry is paying zero. If you want wild salmon, you are going to have to speak with your MP candidates. Dirty salmon will not exist long enough to pass onto our children, this industry is a flash in the pan, compared to what we already have.

https://www.facebook.com/geoff.meggs




College investigates salmon disease advisor

February 11, 2015

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/02/11/college-investigates-salmon-disease-advisor




The College of Veterinarians of B.C. is investigating a former government employee alleged to have

misinformed cabinet on the potential dangers of a disease that affects the commonly farmed Atlantic

salmon.

Dr. Mark Sheppard was an aquatic animal health vet working for the Ministry of Agriculture in 2007

when, according to a petition filed by environmental advocacy group Ecojustice, he allegedly gave

advice to the minister at the time that live Atlantic salmon eggs are prohibited in imports to B.C., but

has contributed to viral infections in Chile.

Ecojustice member and biologist Alexandra Morton had filed a court petition in December in an

attempt to order the college to investigate Sheppard’s advice, claiming the advice was inaccurate,

and that the eggs had been imported to B.C. since 1985 - alleging that the former provincial

employee “downplayed the risks of ISA (infectious salmon anemia virus) to wild Pacific salmon.”

The allegations contained in the petition have not been proven in court.

In an agreement made public Wednesday, Ecojustice said it’s agreed to drop the court case with the

knowledge that the college will now conduct an investigation into Sheppard.

“It shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to make it happen, but we are pleased that the college has done

the right thing and will be looking into our client’s complaint,” said Morgan Blakley, lawyer with

Ecojustice, in a statement.

Larry Odegard, registrar and CEO at the college, said the investigation “will proceed very quickly,”

but few details will be shared with the public unless the college decides to pursue disciplinary action.

“The case will be assigned to one of the inspectors who will provide a report to our investigation

committee, which is made up of a number of veterinarians from around the province,” he said.

“The report is then considered — whether there’s discipline required and those sorts of things ... the

public would be involved if there’s a discipline, then that’s posted on our website.”




VIDEO. "Special Envoy" farmed fish, a business in troubled waters

The magazine of France 2 broadcasts on Thursday at 20:45, an investigation of the bottom

of the farmed fish industry.

ed: article translated to English, video in French

July 11, 2013

The fish has an image of a healthy and natural food. In fifty years, consumption has more than

doubled in France, a positive development for the company. But the flesh of the animal holds many

secrets. The teams of the magazine "Envoy" visited Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Vietnam to

discover the underside of the global industry of farmed fish. A survey released Thursday, November

7 at 20:45 on France 2.

Massive use of antibiotics and pesticides, use of animal meal, pollution with mercury and PCBs

(Polychlorinated biphenyls), tracking defects: what do we really know fish that lands on our

plates? Does this farmed fish consumption a health risk?

According to Jerome Ruzzin, a researcher at the University of Bergen

(Norway), farmed salmon is five times more toxic than wild salmon

because it contains much more pollutants. The university has

established a link on laboratory rats between food farmed salmon and

the development of obesity and diabetes.

Alexandra Morton:

The French film that made

French people reject farmed

salmon.

http://www.francetvinfo.fr/sante/video-envoye-special-poissons-d-elevage-un-business-en-eaux-troubles_452510.html

http://www.france2.fr/emissions/envoye-special




Do Not Allow Proposed Environmentally Damaging Aquaculture Activities Regulations, says ASF and Broad Coalition to Canadian Prime Minister

Read entire PRWeb article HERE

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/02/prweb12522667.htm






Are We Going To Protect BC Fishing Grounds - 2 NEW Salmon Farms

Despite the uproar in Norway, Norwegian companies trying to expand in British Columbia.

February 8, 2015

The strong reaction by Norwegian fishermen to the massive escape of diseased North American

steelhead into Norway's fjords has not let up. In fact, they have inspired the Norwegian

government to enact a new law that would see fines laid for letting farmed salmon escape.

However, the damage has been done. On Sunday, Feb 8, Dr. Are Nylund, leading virologist at the

University of Bergen, who is testing these steelhead for free because he is so concerned, reports

they were all infected with pancreas disease and that all of these fish should have been slaughtered

while still in the farms according to the laws of Norway. Instead they are swimming up Norwegian

rivers carrying a disease that could harm the last wild Atlantic salmon left.

http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2015/02/norwegian-fishermen-win-now-it-is-our-turn.html

http://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/Oppdretterne-ma-betale-mer-for-romt-oppdrettsfisk-3296276.html

http://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/Oppdretterne-ma-betale-mer-for-romt-oppdrettsfisk-3296276.html




The response by the Norwegian government, while a good step, is tragically late. Norwegian sport

fishermen have removed thousands of the farmed steelhead, but the disfigured and diseased farmed

fish just keep coming.

Two political parties in Norway are now recommending that if Norway

wants to remain competitive, it is time to move the industry onto land!

Ola Borten Moe, leader of Norway's Center Party, suggests waiving the cost of salmon farm licensing

(over $1 million CND in Norway, but given away for free in Canada!) for any salmon farm established

in Norway on land. He suggests this would protect Norway’s environment, stimulate innovation, solve

the industry’s escalating disease and lice problems and increase job opportunities across the

country. Norwegian Green Party Kristin Mørch, made a strong statement aimed directly at the

industry "Aquaculture is causing massive destruction and operates large-scale animal cruelty.

Change can no longer be refused, restructure is going to push forward whether you want to or not...

yes, to farming, but not at the expense of the environment and animal welfare."

Here in BC, it is as if none of this is happening. It is as if the impact of taking a wild foreign fish into a

feedlot has no consequence. It is as if the risk of disease is unknown. A wealthy Norwegian shipping

family, the Griegs, want to put two more salmon farms on the BC coast, in Knights Inlet.

http://www.grieg.no/




LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Fish farms don’t harm wild runs

February 5, 2015

I am writing to update your readers on Grieg Seafood’s new farm site applications in the Clio Channel

area north of Campbell River.

In the first place it is important to ask why? Why do we need to farm fish?

It is well known that wild fish stocks cannot keep up with the growing global demand for seafood.

There are simply not enough fish in the sea to keep up with the needs of our increasing human

population.

Solutions are needed and at Grieg Seafood we are committed to being part of the solution.

Farming fish, just like we farm other food, is the only way to meet this urgent need.

These two farm sites will further enable B.C. to be part of the solution, benefiting wild fish stocks, our

economy and our community.

As part of the comprehensive information-gathering process relating to these two farms, an

environmental and habitat evaluation has been undertaken and submitted as part of these

applications.

There is now a robust review of our two proposed farm sites by both federal and provincial

regulators.

This is science-based and thoroughly evaluates the proposals before a decision is made.

The Cohen Commission report in 2012 provides further evidence that salmon farming and wild

salmon stocks can live well together, with farm-raised salmon complimenting wild-caught fish in the

market place.

Commissioner Cohen stated that there was no evidence that salmon farms were negatively affecting

the Fraser River Sockeye (Final Report Volume 3, p.24).

Further, the commissioner concluded that the 2009 collapse was caused by ocean conditions in the

Straight of Georgia.

On-going research has given further confidence that salmon farms do not negatively affect wild

salmon runs here in British Columbia.

http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/opinion/letters/290977591.html?fb_action_ids=10152613571562233&fb_action_types=og.comments




Our sector continues to partner with independent research agencies to investigate wild salmon

population dynamics and health.

It is also worth remembering that there were over 60 recommendations made by Commissioner

Cohen that didn’t relate to aquaculture that will also help to guide fisheries management decisions

into the future. The recommendations that did relate to our farming sector were all endorsed and

fully supported by all of British Columbia’s salmon farmers.

We are also very pleased to note that the Tlowitsis Tribe whose traditional territory these two farms

are in has indicated their full support for these developments.

If approved, these two new farms will directly create six new well-paying, permanent, full time jobs in

the region as well as support and create further employment in our head office in Campbell River, at

the processing plant on Quadra Island, as well as a wide range of service and supplier jobs.

There is an Open House in Port McNeill at the Black Bear Resort from 4 - 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb.

10 for members of the public to come and meet our staff, ask questions and provide comments.

Stewart Hawthorn

Managing Director

Grieg Seafood BC Ltd.

Reader Comments:

Darryl Luscombe · Sointula, British Columbia

"Fish farms don’t harm wild runs." Not according to the latest research from Norway. Or perhaps Stewart Hawthorn doesn't have time

to keep abreast of the latest scientific information from the country that has the greatest concentrations of Salmon farms and the home of his parent company. A recent scientifically peer reviewed paper, "The study, Risk assessment of the environmental impact of

Norwegian Atlantic salmon farming," ICES J. Mar. Sci. first published online September 2, 2014 doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsu132, included a summary of the science of salmon aquaculture and sea lice infestation of wild salmon. ""New analyses reveal strong correlation

between salmon farms and lice infections on wild salmonids in Norwegian coastal waters (Helland et al., 2012; Serra-Llinares et al., 2014). The Norwegian salmon lice monitoring programme on wild salmonids demonstrate annual lice epidemics, most likely connected

to the density of salmon farms in the surrounding areas as well as the seasonal dynamics of salmon lice infections on farmed salmon (Jansen et al., 2012; Serra-Llinares et al., 2014; Taranger et al., 2014). A series of experiments has shown that salmon lice may affect

anadromous salmonids (reviewed in Finstad and Bjørn, 2011; Anon., 2012; Torrissen et al., 2013). "Please see the original paper for the references cited.

Dr. Claudette Bethune · Follow · Top Commenter · University of Washington

I guess making false claims is part of business as usual at Grieg Seafoods. It is well established that farming carnivores like salmon actually depletes global fish supplies and open-net pen farms harm wild fish, including salmon, by the propagation of treatment

resistant sea lice and the diseases they carry, and the significant amount of pollution dumped into the environment which contributes to algal blooms in the area.

In 2012, and published in one of our most distinguished scientific journals Nature: "Cohen recommends that the development of fish farms along a key sockeye migration route be frozen, without any changes in their operation or size, until 30 September 2020 while the

DFO studies the risk to wild fish. If the risk is greater than minimal, farming should not be allowed anywhere in the region.

“Thank you very much, Justice Cohen, because what we are seeing is well above minimal risk,” says Alexandra Morton"

http://www.nature.com/news/government-confusion-is-harming-sockeye-salmon-1.11727

Jim Wilcox · Co-founder at Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Ocean-based salmon feedlots sited in British Columbia's marine waters negatively impact wild salmon and other marine life along

much of North America's west coast. This is a significant, international issue with irresponsible health and environmental risks. These weapons of mass destruction must be moved to land-based facilities in order to reduce these risks.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sointula-British-Columbia/108940259127932

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/comments.php?api_key=221359444546531&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2FDU1Ia251o0y.js%3Fversion%3D41%23cb%3Df17ea9bf88%26domain%3Dwww.campbellrivermirror.com%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.campbellrivermirror.com%252Ffb823314%26relation%3Dparent.parent&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.campbellrivermirror.com%2Fopinion%2Fletters%2F290977591.html&locale=en_US&numposts=10&order_by=reverse_time&sdk=joey&width=626

https://www.facebook.com/UofWA

http://www.nature.com/news/government-confusion-is-harming-sockeye-salmon-1.11727

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Co-founder/106324149403234

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Game-Fish-Conservation-International/123459167750176




LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cherry picking Cohen report

February 12, 2015

Cherry picking should be done while in an orchard , not while “researching” compilations of scientific

data ( Cohen Commission report).

You chose a very minute portion of a comprehensive document to ‘assure’ us that all is well when it

comes to interaction between our wild salmon and your invasive Atlantic salmon in their feedlots.

You use the one sentence that Cohen stated “no evidence “ of negative effects of Atlantic salmon

feedlots on wild salmon to further your cause but choose not to mention Cohen also stated there

should be a moratorium on new feedlot sites, particularly in the Broughton Archipelago, until enough

research has shown they will be “ OK.”

Why is it that back in Norway scientific research has shown that feedlot fish is unhealthy for pregnant

women and their babies?

Needless to say, the scientists were chastised for bringing this to light.

Why it is there a clamour calling for the resignation of Norway’s Fisheries Minister? It is because a

foreign invasive species of fish (steelhead ) escaped from feedlots and are digging up the redds

(spawning beds ) of the struggling-to-survive few remaining wild Atlantic salmon.

Naturally the impoverished Tlowitsis people welcome any kind of hope for a livelihood and need your

money.

Who funds the “ongoing research” you claim shows no harm to our wild fish?

Do you believe it is merely coincidence that the most recent record sockeye runs happened after

your industry’s habit of locating active feedlots on sockeye out-migration routes was forced into

change; i.e., fallowing feedlots during sockeye smolt out-migrations?

Ed Ivanisko

Reader Comments:

Dave Crosby · Campbell River, British Columbia

Cherry picking is a very polite term when describing the tactics used by this industry in their attempts to "green wash" their activity and product.

http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/opinion/letters/291756691.html#.VN02UTqTRSE.facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Campbell-River-British-Columbia/104087959628015




It is proven large amounts of virus in escaped farmed salmon in Norwegian rivers.

Found virus escaped farmed salmon (translated)

It is well known that farmed salmon have lice - now it also detected virus escaped farmed

salmon have swum up river. Thus it constitutes a new threat to wild salmon.

February 2, 2015

Sick, escaped farmed salmon for the first time confirmed in Norwegian rivers, reports IMR .

A study was initiated after an escape in 2012, shows that virus-infected farmed salmon can migrate

up rivers near the plant they escaped from.

Thus these represent escaped salmon a real risk of infection for wild

salmon stocks in the river they escape to.

Large amounts of virus found

- Almost all of the escaped salmon were infected with salmonid alphavirus virus that can cause PD

(pancreas disease) and HSMB virus (piscine reovirus, PRV), says researcher Abdullah Madhun at

IMR.

http://www.nrk.no/sapmi/funnet-virus-i-romt-oppdrettslaks-1.12185085

http://www.imr.no/nyhetsarkiv/2015/februar/romt_oppdrettslaks_med_virus_funnet_i_elv/nb-no




- A portion of the fish had large amounts of virus in tissues that give a strong indication of virus

release into the environment, the researcher explains.

- Can spread infections

Nearly 8 out of 10 salmon were PRV-positive, recent results from screening of escaped salmon that

was caught in the trap salmon in Etne in the period May-November 2014.

On wild salmon is to comparison PRV virus detected in fewer than 1 in 10 salmon.

- We feared that escaped farmed fish can spread the infection in the rivers, and our findings support

this scenario. Thus, wild become infected and possibly ill as a result of escaped farmed fish sick

spreading viruses. It is therefore important to clarify further the effect of virus infection from escaped

farmed salmon on the infection status of salmonids, says Madhun.

The findings are made in the Hardanger Fjord and Steindalselva. While in Northern Norway was

found PRV in 85 percent of the escaped farmed salmon which were recaptured and studied.

Editorial Comment:

Inferior salmon and trout raised in ocean-based feedlots around the world for human

consumption pass their deadly diseases and toxins to ecosystems, wildlife and humans.




Norway must get facilities on land (translated)

Norway risk being ousted as farming nation if it does not open up for more farming land,

according to the Directorate of Fisheries.

January 30, 2015

The conclusion can be read in the new report "salmon on land" .

Fisheries proposes in the report to give deregulation of free licenses of salmon, trout and rainbow

trout on land.

Like the sea sites, paying onshore today a fee of up to 70 million. This fee believes Directorate

onshore facilities will be spared.

12 plants worldwide

http://www.nrk.no/nordland/_-norge-ma-fa-anleggene-pa-land-1.12180588

http://www.fiskeridir.no/akvakultur/rapporter-utredninger/vil-ha-oppdrett-paa-land-utan-vederlag




Jens Christian Holm Fisheries.

Jens Christian Holm Affairs presented the report at a conference in Bodø. He thinks Norwegian

farmers have no choice.

- I do not think we should put us on a pedestal and believe this will not happen if Norway will not.

Frislippet of licenses shall be treated in Parliament in the spring. Fears in the industry has been that

this will lead to the traditional Norwegian aquaculture becomes uncompetitive. Today Norway great

competitive advantages thanks to a long and protected coastline. The advantage disappears if the

plants harbors on land.

Today there are 12 onshore in the world, most in the United States and Canada, two in

Denmark. China, Poland and France also tried themselves.

- Good tool against lice

Holm Fisheries believes Norwegian breeders must be farsighted.

- There is worse to be outdone by foreign companies that get delivered technology from abroad. It is

after all better about Norwegian breeders are leading and delivering technology, he says.

- Greater risk

The industry itself is also not averse to trying, says Jon Arne Grøttum Director in Norwegian Seafood

Federation.

- But to try out onshore plants involves huge risk and large investments. We want to facilitate those

who dare to take the risk, says Grøttum.

- Is this realistic to achieve?

- The general attitude in the industry is that this is a demanding task to get a good economy.

Although, I think that it will be of greatest interest to extend juvenile phase, but a few are already

trying today to bring an entire production cycle on land.

- Will this destroy Norway's competitive advantage?

- Whatever we do in Norway, we cannot stop technology trend towards onshore plants in the

world. When should we build competence in Norway.




Bona Fide Evidence for Natural Vertical Transmission of Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus in Freshwater Brood Stocks of Farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo

salar) in Southern Chile

March 12, 2014

ABSTRACT

Infectious salmon anemia (ISA) is a severe disease that affects farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo

salar), causing outbreaks in seawater in most salmon-producing countries worldwide, with particular

aggressiveness in southern Chile.

The etiological agent of this disease is a virus belonging to the Orthomyxoviridae family, named

infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV). Although it has been suggested that this virus can be

vertically transmitted, even in freshwater, there is a lack of compelling experimental evidence to

confirm this.

Here we demonstrate significant putative viral loads in the ovarian fluid as well as in the eggs of two

brood stock female adult specimens that harbored the virus systemically but without clinical signs.

The target virus corresponded to a highly polymorphic region 3 (HPR-3) variant, which is known to be

virulent in seawater and responsible for recent and past outbreaks of this disease in Chile.

Additionally, the virus recovered from the fluid as well as from the interior of the eggs was fully

infective to a susceptible fish cell line.

To our knowledge, this is the first robust evidence demonstrating

mother-to-offspring vertical transmission of the infective virus on the

one hand and the asymptomatic transmission of a virulent form of the

virus in freshwater fish on the other hand.

IMPORTANCE The robustness of the data presented here will contribute to a better understanding of

the biology of the virus but most importantly will constitute a key management tool in the control of an

aggressive agent constantly threatening the sustainability of the global salmon industry.

http://jvi.asm.org/content/88/11/6012.abstract?sid=590c6acd-6593-491c-91ec-9e3e40160f47






Mutated salmon louse DNA spread throughout the North Atlantic in 11 years or less

A recent study has demonstrated that genetic changes giving the salmon louse partial

resistance towards one of the most commonly used delousing chemicals in marine

aquaculture (emamectin benzoate/Slice) have spread to salmon lice in the entire North

Atlantic in a maximum of just 11 years.

November 19, 2014

This is the first time that scientists have managed to simultaneously document that a mutation that

arose in just one or few animals in the marine environment have spread to the whole population, and

at the same time managed to document how long this process took.

“What´s unique here is that we have managed to document that a trait can spread to the entire North

Atlantic in such a short period of time,” says Kevin Glover who is the research group leader for the

population genetics group at the Institute of Marine Research, and a professor at the Sea lice

Research Centre at the University of Bergen.

http://sciencenordic.com/mutated-salmon-louse-dna-spread-throughout-north-atlantic-11-years-or-less

http://sciencenordic.com/mutated-salmon-louse-dna-spread-throughout-north-atlantic-11-years-or-less




However, Glover cautions - even though the trait has been spread to the entire population of salmon

lice in the North Atlantic, this does not mean that all lice carry the mutation(s).

Mutations are normal

Mutations are constantly occurring in any organism, and they spread in the population through

reproduction. However, it is only when a mutation offers the organism improved survival or

competitive advantage over its siblings that the mutated gene is rapidly spread in the population like

we have documented here.

“The genetic changes we have observed mean that many salmon lice now tolerate higher dosages of

Slice. This can and has resulted in treatment failure on commercial farms throughout the North

Atlantic where this chemical is used to treat salmon lice infestations,” says Glover.

We cannot avoid dispersal

Since the lice supporting these mutations display increased resistance towards Slice, some of them

survived chemical treatments using this agent. These survivors thereafter had offspring that

displayed this increased tolerance. After a short period of time, and more chemical treatments, the

frequency of lice displaying reduced sensitivity in the region where this originated, rapidly increased.

These lice displaying reduced sensitivity, have thereafter been dispersed further afield by attaching to

farmed escaped salmon that have migrated long distances, and/or by infecting wild salmon and trout

migrating past these farms. Wild salmon from both sides of the Atlantic meet on the oceanic feeding

grounds. Here they can cross-infect each other and when they return to their respective countries,

they take with them some of the lice displaying the resistance genes. It is in this manner Slice

resistance has quickly spread across the entire North Atlantic.

Dispersal occurred in just a few years

“Slice was first used in commercial salmon farming in 1999, and the samples for our study were

collected from throughout the North Atlantic in 2010. We are therefore sure that the dispersal of

mutation entailed by increased resistance have spread from one geographic region to all in a

maximal time-scale of 11 years,” says Glover.

Do not know where the mutation first originated

Scientists in the project are confident that the mutation(s) causing the observed decreased sensitivity

to Slice originated in one place.

“We see that in contrast to genetic variation in all other chromosomes, there is strongly reduced

genetic variation in the chromosome where the causative mutations for this increased tolerance are

located. Furthermore, we see that the genetic code in the region on this chromosome is identical or

almost identical in many lice throughout the entire North Atlantic," says Glover.

This demonstrates that the mutation(s) causing the resistance originated in a limited geographic area

and was thereafter quickly spread throughout the North Atlantic.

“We cannot say for sure where these genetic changes first originated. However, we know that the

first reports of treatment failure to Slice, were from fish farms in Ireland in 2005. It is therefore not

unthinkable that the origin of the observed genetic changes was in Ireland,” Glover says.




Represents a challenge for the management of pesticide resistance

The implications of the study are that when salmon lice develop resistance to a new chemical used

for delousing on salmon farms, this will be quickly spread to all regions of the North Atlantic. This

documented example took a maximum of 11 years, but it was probably spread faster.

“In the real world this means that how one country chooses to manage resistance development on

their farms, will affect other countries throughout the entire North Atlantic”.

Basically, we are all in the same boat together so to speak, indicates Glover. This is an important

point that the management authorities need to take home.

Editorial Comment:

Salmon lice are known vectors for deadly salmon diseases including Infectious Salmon

Anemia.

Sea lice and the diseases they carry are transferred from ocean based salmon feedlots to

wild salmon and trout.

Ocean-based salmon feedlots must be transferred to land-based facilities to protect

ecosystems, cultures and economies that rely on wild salmon.




The Industry is on the Move

http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2015/01/the-industry-is-on-the-move.html




The picture shows escapees were caught around Askøy on Sunday. Analyses made of fish shows that it is very sick

The escaped fish are very sick (translated)

A new analysis done by escapees around Askøy shows that fish is very ill.

Are Nylund at the Department of Biology at the University of Bergen has been commissioned by

Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers analyzed some of the escaped farmed fish were

caught around Askøy on Sunday.

http://www.ba.no/__Den_r_mte_fisken_er_sv_rt_syk-5-8-9622.html




- Adverse findings

- All of the fish that have been analyzed were very sick. It is also found a virus that can spread to wild

fish. Both trout and salmon, says Are Nylund, a professor of fish diseases at the University of Bergen

He cannot at this time say something more specific to BergensAvisen about which diseases fish had.

- But I can say that one cannot look away the fact that there infectious virus can be deadly for fish,

says Are Nylund.

Which consequences this can have is yet uncertain, but he believes that the findings are serious.

Pancreatic disease

According NRK has one of the seven steelhead tested gotten hits for the virus that gives pancreatic

disease. The tests done by UIB show that rainbow trout were sexually mature, and thus will be ready

to spawn in the spring.

BACKGROUND: - This is the worst I've seen in my entire life

After the storm "Nina" ravaged have large amounts of farmed fish escaped from facilities in the fjords

around Bergen.

The fish that have escaped popping up all over. As Vest24 already written tribes 63,000 rainbow

trouts from Sjøtroll plant on Osterøy.

150,000 fish on the run

According to Dagens Næringsliv also between 40,000 and 50,000 salmon escaped from Lindas and

11,000 salmon escaped from a facility in Masfjorden while the storm ravaged.

The newspaper writes that if one counts the 18,000 fish that escaped from Marine Harvest plant in

Hardanger right before the storm "Nina," has 150,000 salmon and rainbow trout escaped in

Hordaland year.

ALSO READ: Sjøtroll director does not understand why fishermen are angry

Fearing mass deaths

Regine Emilie Mathisen from Askøy Hunters and Anglers were quick to comment on NRK news

report social media.

- This is what we suspect, and what we feared most. This is an environmental catastrophe that only

escalates, says Regine Emilie Mathisen to BA.

She now fears the worst.

- The tribe we have wild fish in Askøy is already very fragile. I know a lot about.Both stem of wild

salmon and sea trout wild. If the virus is contagious lethal to fish, I fear indeed that whole tribe may

die, says Regine Emilie Mathisen.

Now she believes a poltikerne must pitch.

- I feel that those who govern this country stealing nature of youth. We cannot keep on like this

anymore! Regine says Emilie Mathisen upset.

http://www.nrk.no/hordaland/fant-alvorlig-sykdom-hos-romt-fisk-1.12175240

http://www.ba.no/__Dette_er_det_verste_jeg_har_sett_i_hele_mitt_liv-5-8-8125.html

http://www.vest24.no/Sj_troll_direkt_r_forst_r_ikke_hvorfor_fiskerne_er_sinte-5-82-2050.html

http://www.vest24.no/Sj_troll_direkt_r_forst_r_ikke_hvorfor_fiskerne_er_sinte-5-82-2050.html

http://www.dn.no/nyheter/naringsliv/2015/01/23/2154/Fiske/koker-av-rmt-fisk

http://www.vest24.no/Sj_troll_direkt_r_forst_r_ikke_hvorfor_fiskerne_er_sinte-5-82-2050.html?ns_campaign=article&ns_mchannel=recommend_button&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=facebook&ns_fee=0




I'm a little worried about fish my interest for this (translated)

February 6, 2015

Upcoming Saturday at 18.45 do not miss reading the magazine on TV2. The past week has namely a

camera crew from channel hung on the heels of fish celebrity and natural champion Kenneth Bruvik,

in his quest for good answers why fjords in Hordaland are full of farmed fish and why the

aforementioned fish are in such bad shape . The protagonist himself promises an eye-opener of a

fixture.

- I've got a bit muzzled in the details, but I can promise that this will be both interesting and probably

also quite shocking to many. In brief trades weft on a 100 000 NJFF members their experience of the

system when he just wants answers on a few very simple and straightforward question, says

Kenneth Bruvik to Hooked.

He does not deny that the last few weeks have been very demanding, and more than once has he

really doubted how continuation should look like.

- I'm quite frankly admit that I am a little worried fish my interest after this. When you are watching a

great spawning brook trout for completely invaded by ugly and sick farmed fish, you lose just

completely discouraged, he says frankly.

http://www.hooked.no/artikler/jeg-er-litt-bekymret-fiskeinteressen-min-etter-dette




Kenneth Bruvik with salmon

Kenneth Bruvik fighting wild fish case on TV2 at the weekend.

Bruvik, including known from NRK programs Dronninga in the Depths, In the shade of salmon and

pike - Nordic crocodile, has stood with both feet firmly planted in the escapees after the storm "Nina"

sent hundreds of thousands of rainbow trout and salmon out of Hordaland Fjords early January.

Along with a number of helpers, he has tried to get as much farmed fish as possible from the sea,

rivers and streams.

- We have dried tears over the destruction more than once, but people have really worked hard to get

up farmed fish. In particular I would like to highlight Regine Emilie Mathisen and Erlend Vivelid

Nilssen from Askøy JFF. There are enormous respect of job they have done to get the people

voluntarily, and I'm very proud to know both. I would also say a big thank you to the many fishermen

who have contributed in volunteer work. A good number have also come from afar, from eastern

Norway, to help. It puts incredible we greatly appreciate, says bruvik to Hooked.

Saturday at 18.45 will bruvik ie to see in magazine on TV2. The morning after, Sunday at 10:00, set

the same man to a half hour long debate against Undersecretary Amund Drønen Ringdal live on TV2

News Channel. Neither this you must not miss, for bruvik warrants that he has a lot of ordnance to

come by.




Rainbow 2 This fish could have been taken straight out of a bad B-movie, but this is altsp realities of

fjords in Hordaland currently.

For us anglers have problems related to aquaculture been known for years, but bruvik think quite

seriously that it now is finally about to happen a major upheaval in billion industry. This underpins he

partly with some interesting observations he has made in recent weeks.

- I feel that if things go the way I think they're going to go now, we'll get more done than for many,

many years. The biggest change now versus previously namely that also the common man in the

street begins to question the farmed fish. Things have gone over all boot shafts too long, and the

situation is untenable. When even people outside the angling community perceives this, we are

certainly on the right track, says bruvik to Hooked.

Alexandra Morton:

People in British Columbia, Canada are also trying to protect wild salmon from salmon farms and

we are cheering for the efforts being made in Norway. Here is a film I produced on salmon

farming and dirty politics in Canada. It is very, very sad to see this industry make so many

mistakes. If it just went onto land we could have both, but with all their diseases and sea lice, I

fear our children will get neither. This film has won many awards and was shown at the film

festival in Bergen.www.salmonconfidential.ca

http://www.salmonconfidential.ca/




Alf Arne Bright, project manager for wild salmon in Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers, is

not surprised that the Veterinary Institute came to roughly the same conclusion as Professor Are

Nylund

Escaped rainbow has a new fish disease (translated)

Now Veterinærinstituttet PD virus in escaped rainbow trout. Two of the fish also had virus

Y, a new fish disease that is not yet know the consequences of.

February 15, 2015

In little over a month the theme escapees after extreme weather "Nina" boiled in the media.

Are Nylund, a professor at the University of Bergen and one of the nation's foremost experts on fish

diseases, found obvious signs of disease and PD virus at 15 rainbow trouts he has analyzed.

BACKGROUND: Escaped farmed fish tested positive for severe disease

http://www.ba.no/R_mt_regnbue_rret_har_ny_fiskesykdom-5-8-20530.html?ns_campaign=article&ns_mchannel=recommend_button&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=facebook&ns_fee=0

http://www.ba.no/R_mt_oppdrettsfisk_testet_positivt_for_alvorlig_sykdom-5-8-16891.html




Technical director for Fish and Shellfish Health, National Veterinary Institute, Brit Hjeltnes, went out

in the online newspaper ilaks.no to fishermen urged to seek official diagnostic laboratories.

They have now done.

A recent report from the National Veterinary Institute Bergen newspaper has gained access to show

that they found the PD virus in 10 of 12 rainbow trout they have analyzed.

Two of the fish were also detected virus Y , which is a new fish disease are not yet known

consequences.

- It is not unexpected. It keeps popping up new parasites and diseases, and there is great cause for

concern. It does not exist at all something precautionary principle, says Alf Arne Bright, project

manager for wild salmon in Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers.

"Fresh" fish also infected

Professor Are Nylund also investigated several fish in retrospect of the first report.

- I've seen nine fisherman. Total 24 rainbow trouts. Each was chock full of PD virus, says Are Nylund.

Many of the fish that have been diagnosed PD virus by Nylund as seemingly healthy.

- But it is until you open them up. Pisces healthy looking now would eventually have begun to

outward signs of disease. But a fish with PD virus that still do not have clear signs are still a carrier,

says Are Nylund.

ALSO READ: - This is the worst I've seen in my entire life

It is some of the same fish Nylund has examined Veterinary Institute has seen.

- Our findings of PD virus was moderate, but ten of the twelve fish were infected. When it comes to

virus Y, this is something we have started research on, and it is not possible to say anything definite

about the disease and the virus yet, says Brit Hjeltnes.

Approximately 127,000 farmed fish escaped in Hordaland for "Nina," according to the latest figures

from the Directorate of Fisheries.

62,500 of them are rainbow trout from Sjøtroll Aquaculture its plant at Angelskår in Osterfjorden.

According iLaks.no was Sjøtroll Aquaculture quick to dismiss it was found PD virus at some of the

many samples taken of fish from this site in the current production cycle. In retrospect, it appears that

Sjøtroll has reported on suspicion of PD on one of the localities fish escaped, according to the online

newspaper.

The species is banned in Norway, and it is native to North America. Here in this country, it is only

farmers who have permission to put out this species in the ocean.

So far 36,683 rainbow trout recaptured.

- Not applicable to track fish

Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers are among those who

have criticized the Directorate of Fisheries and the FSA for its lack of

preparedness.

http://www.ilaks.no/oppfordrer-sportsfiskere-a-henvende-seg-til-offisielle-diagnoselaboratorier/

http://www.vetinst.no/Faktabank/Regnbueoerret-ny-sykdom-og-virus-Y

http://www.ba.no/__Dette_er_det_verste_jeg_har_sett_i_hele_mitt_liv-5-8-8125.html

http://www.ilaks.no/ikke-pavist-pd/

http://www.ilaks.no/mistanke-om-pd-hos-sjotroll/




They also think it is too bad that the public not checking fish health in escaped farmed fish.

ALSO READ: The professor checks escapees without charge

Regional Director FSA South and West, Hallgeir Herikstad, has since stated in a press release that

he is not surprised that it is found in PD escaped fish.

- In the area where escapes have occurred and where escapees are recaptured, the PD is very

widespread. The disease is established here, and annual reports of many PD cases. It is therefore

not applicable to the FSA to ask Fisheries assistance to trace the fish now, says regional director.

- Is it okay for the FSA that there are frequent cases of PD in the area, and that the disease is

established?

- FSA is working to limit the spread and has partly made areas to coordinate their operations so that

all plants are empty for some time before it is put into new products, says Hallgeir Herikstad.

- We take action against any facility receiving PD. FSA is trying to prevent the spread of the disease

internally in western Norway, says regional director.

According to him getting farmers for example not allowed to transport the fish wherever they want.

But they will not impose routine slaughter of all units with PD in

Western Norway because there are so many plants that are infected.

They reckon disease endemic disease (a disease frequently is detected within a range journ.anm.).

- But is it okay, meaning that the disease prevalent and established here?

- No, this is an unsatisfactory situation. Therefore jobs FSA systematically to improve the situation,

says Hallgeir Herikstad.

Will not speculate

BergensAvisen have been in contact with the Directorate of Fisheries after the results from the

National Veterinary Institute was ready Friday afternoon.

- Changes this somewhat in relation to how you work on?

- No, recapture continues as before. What we have to deal with is that we have clarified with Sjøtroll

Aquaculture they using Uni research environment will undertake a screening of the escaped

fish. Then comes another result, says Vidar Ulriksen, Regional Director of Fisheries.

- So if this result also shows that the fish have PD virus, will you try to trace the fish?

- This I cannot comment until we have received any such results. Then we consider the next

move. But I will not speculate any results, says Vidar Ulriksen.

- If it turns out that sick fish have escaped, it should not have any consequences for the farmer?

- I cannot comment right now, says regional director.

Alf Arne bright believes that this case shows that no public administrative agencies currently

responsible for possible spread of disease to wild fish or other farms as soon as the fish is outside

the facility.

http://www.ba.no/Professoren_sjekker_r_mt_oppdrettsfisk_uten___ta_betalt-5-8-13459.html




- There are no agencies that will take responsibility for tracking escapees back to the plant they have

escaped from. If the fish had been labeled the problem had been solved. Today, commercial actors

marking to 30 cents per fish. This industry can afford! says Alf Arne Light.

Will be harvested as planned

CEO Sjøtroll Aquaculture, says that fish health took out new samples of fish on Angelskår Friday

30th January and reported that there were traces of PD virus on these tentative.

- This information was FSA early in the week after. There is now no per disease present, the fish is

fresh and will be harvested as planned, writes Willy Berglund in an e-mail BergensAvisen.

- We are not yet informed of Veterinary Institute, but considers it likely that the virus Y is present in

fish on Angelskår. Virus Y occur on trout in several hatcheries and can also be detected in random

historical material several years back in time, adds the director added.

He stressed that the virus is not finally confirmed to be the cause of disease in either rainbow trout or

salmon. Sjøtroll and Mattilsynet surveys indicate that the virus is not contagious between individuals

in the sea.

- Sjøtroll has maintained a high activity on recapture work and per Friday caught around 42,000 of

the 62 500 who escaped over a month ago, writes Director.

There are now about 20,000 individuals who are not accounted for.

- It still fished with several hundred nets in the sea and we have engaged Uni Research to monitor

salmon rivers in the region as well as take out trout which may go up in rivers. So far we have not

received notification of recovery, writes Willy Berglund.




Is Norwegian current aquaculture crisis, sneak preview for BC fish farming

industry?

BC and Norway mirror images of a salmon farming disaster

February 6, 2015

One month ago, on January 10, 2015, the Norwegian coast was hit by a hurricane. After the storm,

the first sport fishermen in the fjords near the west coast city of Bergen got a nasty surprise. Schools

of farmed steelhead (sea run rainbow trout) escaped from damaged fish farms were visible from the

surface. They were so numerous, NRK national news, reported the fjords of Western Norway were

boiling with farmed rainbow trout on the run.

The sports fishermen immediately realized that these non-native steelhead were a potent threat to

the few wild Atlantic salmon left in Norway. They could see many were ready to spawn and were

determined to eliminate them before they could do incalculable damage by digging up river gravel

where fragile wild Atlantic salmon eggs were incubating.

The irony is inescapable. The situation in BC and Norway are mirror images - British Columbians

focused on protecting wild Pacific salmon from infected farmed Atlantic salmon, with Norwegians

engaged in protecting wild Atlantic salmon from infected steelhead – a North American fish.

http://www.huffstrategy.com/MediaManager/release/Alexandra-Morton/5-2-15/Is-Norwegian-current-aquaculture-crisis-sneak-preview-for-BC-fish/3088.html

http://www.huffstrategy.com/MediaManager/release/Alexandra-Morton/5-2-15/Is-Norwegian-current-aquaculture-crisis-sneak-preview-for-BC-fish/3088.html




BC’s wild steelhead are much loved in British Columbia. People spend thousands of dollars to come

here for the chance to fish steelhead. But in Norway, they are now hated escaped farmed fish.

Initial estimates of tens of thousands of escapees escalated to over 120,000. The fishermen went

very public. There were warnings not to eat the farm fish, that they contained de-lousing drugs. This

rapidly became political, since Norway had just announced a zero-escape farm salmon policy.

It was then that an extraordinary thing happened. The Askøy Hunter & Fisherman's Association,

alarmed by the horribly sick appearance of the steelhead, sent samples to Dr. Are Nylund, a leading

salmon disease scientist based at the University of Bergen. “All of the fish that I have analyzed were

very sick,” reported Nylund to the Norwegian newspaper BA Bergensavisen. It was Nylund and his

team who tracked the ISA virus from Norway into Chile where it caused $2 billion in damages killing

millions of farmed salmon.

The Norwegian government, slow to respond to the massive escape, was very quick to discourage

public disease testing, asking people to only use the “official” labs. A government spokesperson

noted that just because the dreaded salmon pancreas disease, spreading through Norwegian salmon

farms was detected in the escaped steelhead did not mean the fish were sick. However, she failed to

capture the concern.

The issue was not whether the farm fish were sick, but could they infect the fragile wild salmon

populations with viruses they carry. There are only about 500,000 wild Atlantic salmon left in Norway.

This is less than half the fish often found in a single farm and .01% of the entire Norwegian farmed

salmon population.

The salmon aquaculture industry was invented in the mid 1970's by Norwegians, ten years before

Norwegian companies came to BC to set up farms in the early 1980's. In Norway, salmon farms are

now considered a major cause of the loss of wild salmon.

On January 29, 2015, Ola Borten Moe, leader of the Centre Party, suggested it is time for Norway to

waive the high cost of salmon farm licences (over $1 million CDN) for any salmon farm established

on land. He suggested this would protect Norway’s environment, stimulate innovation, solve the

industry’s escalating disease and lice problems and increase job opportunities across the country.

This was quickly echoed by Norwegian Green Party representative Kristin Mørch, "Aquaculture is

causing massive destruction and operates large-scale animal cruelty. Change can no longer be

refused, restructure is going to push forward whether you want to or not... yes, to farming, but not at

the expense of the environment and animal welfare."

Norway is the cradle of the salmon farming industry, it was born there, the head offices are there.

When Norwegian politicians declare it is time to move the industry into closed tanks, perhaps it really

is time. BC First Nations, scientists, environmentalists, fishermen hold the same point of view. No

one wants farmed salmon to push wild salmon off our plates.

In an open letter Norwegian sportfishermen have asked their Minister of Fisheries to resign.

Alexandra Morton

Independent Biologist based in Sointula, BC




It is unfair that we should clean up after fish farmers

January 26, 2015

"Hundreds of kilos of escaped rainbow trout (not a native species) have been dragged ashore by

volunteers in Askøy, Norway. The fish farmers should have been here and helped, says Regine

Emilie Mathiesen.

She is a director of Askøy hunting association and initiator of the fish volunteer campaigns that were

held Sunday.

- People come with crate after crate, so we'll probably upwards of 200 fish just today. It is an

absolutely enormous amount of fish around Askøy, with hundreds of rainbow trout in every bay, says

Mathiesen to NRK.

She believes the fish farmers have not taken enough responsibility to clean up after the escapes.

- We got a little pissed here on Askøy, for we do not see farmers anywhere. They should have been

here and helped us. We have spent an enormous number of hours working on this, and we think it is

simply unfair that individuals should clean up after the farmers.

But there are so many major environmental challenges with these

escapes that we do not dare to leave it as is, she said.

Norwegian Seafood Federation says farmers have followed up in consultation with the Fish

Directorate.

- There are initiated recaptures that the regulations require, says communications director Are

Kvistad.

He points out that there are also established facilities. A rainbow trout is paid with 50 NOK if

presented."




The final results of the analyzes are ready. All 15 escaped steelhead that were examined had serious

fish disease

Escaped farmed fish tested positive for severe disease (translated)

"The fish had extensive skin ulcers and fin erosion, pale gills, and some fish had snutesår.

The fish had empty stomach bleeding internal organs, swollen spleen and bloody

hindgut."

February 8, 2015

This is written in the final report by the analyzes of 15 rainbow trouts caught by Askøy.

But fish had more injuries than we could see with the naked eye.

- All the fish were positive for PD (Pancreas Disease journ.anm.).That it was detected in all came as

a surprise to us. This poses a threat to wild fish and fry in rivers when spawning rainbow trout coming

up there, says Alf Arne Bright, project manager for wild salmon in Norwegian Association of Hunters

and Anglers.

http://www.ba.no/R_mt_oppdrettsfisk_testet_positivt_for_alvorlig_sykdom-5-8-16891.html?ns_campaign=article&ns_mchannel=recommend_button&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=facebook&ns_fee=0




- Should have been destroyed

The surveys are done by Are Nylund, a professor at the University of Bergen and one of the country's

foremost experts on fish diseases, commissioned by Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers.

"Skin abrasions showed large amounts of varying types of bacteria," it also states the report.

- These fish should to have been undergone emergency slaughter and

destroyed says Alf Arne Light.

Approximately 120,000 farmed fish has been on the run since extreme weather "Nina" in January,

according to the Directorate of Fisheries.

Suspected virus infection

Sjøtroll Aquaculture is the only company that has reported that they have lost the rainbow.

Over 60,000 will be on the run. The species is banned in Norway, and is native to North America.

According to an article in the online newspaper iLaks.no was Sjøtroll fish health boss Bjarne Reinert,

quick to confirm that the document that has not been proven PD virus at some of the many samples

taken of fish from this site in the current production cycle.

Wednesday came, however, evidence that shows that Sjøtroll subsequently notified of

suspicion about PD in one of the localities fish escaped, according to the online newspaper.

CEO Willy Berglund Sjøtroll Aquaculture would not comment Sunday this above BergensAvisen.

Mystery

Saturday broadcast TV 2:01 reportage, where among other Berglund shows how recapture near a

construction going on.

- The strange thing here is that I can actually see that the fish displayed in the report does not

resemble the ugly fish caught outside Askøy. Whoever Berglund showcase in the report looks

relatively nice, says Alf Arne Light from Norwegian Association of Hunters and Fish Association.

Today there are farms even as reports to the Directorate of Fisheries if fish escape.

Sjøtroll Aquaculture is not the only facility in the area engaged in farming of rainbow trout.

- It may be the case here, is that some have also failed to report an

escape. If this is the case it is a clear sign of how badly the current

system actually is, says Alf Arne Light.

BergensAvisen has previously asked the Directorate of Fisheries this may be possible.

- Can you see past the fact that there may have happened escapes that are not reported?

- As long as the arrangement is such that farmers themselves must report it is difficult to look away

sire. But we come to, and must, relate to the foundation we have, stated Hans Haddal Directorate of

Fisheries to BA.

http://www.ilaks.no/ikke-pavist-pd/






In case we are forgetting what steelhead actually look like:

Not this:

WWWiiilllddd

FFFaaarrrmmmeeeddd

http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2015/01/farmed-steelhead-threaten-norwegian-wild-salmon.html#sthash.ZQQSQbtI.dpuf




Salmon & Trout Association (Scotland) welcomes dismissal of appeal by The

Scottish Salmon Company against time-limited planning permission for

salmon farm

January 23, 2015

Reporter acknowledges threat to wild fish stocks of sea lice emanating from salmon farming

The Salmon &Trout Association (Scotland) (S&TA(S)) has welcomed the decision this week by the

Scottish Government’s Reporter to dismiss an appeal by The Scottish Salmon Company against

planning permission for one of its salmon farms being limited to ten years.

In March 2012 Highland Council granted planning permission to The Scottish Salmon Company for a

new salmon farm at Sgeir Dughall in Loch Torridon (Wester Ross), one of the most intensively

farmed sea lochs in the north-west. This permission was limited to a period of ten years in order to

“allow alternatives to controlling sea lice to be provided within that time in recognition of the ongoing

concern s with regard to the impacts on wild fisheries, whilst allowing the operator time to find

alternative culture techniques for the site, for example, closed containment”.

The company appealed against this condition on several counts, for example arguing that “The site

has now been operating for 18 months and it can now be demonstrated that the concerns, raised

both by individual objectors and the Wester Ross Area Salmon Fishery Board, have not been

realised.”

This statement is at odds with the figures published by the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation,

which demonstrated that sea lice numbers reached the very high level of an average 12 adult female

lice per farmed fish in Loch Torridon in September 2013.

http://www.salmon-troutscotland.org/news_item.asp?news_id=340






The Scottish Government Reporter has now dismissed the appeal, stating that the “imposition of a

time limit on the duration of this permission cannot be regarded as unreasonable”. See

http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?id=115376&T=20

Guy Linley-Adams, Solicitor to the S&TA (S) Aquaculture Campaign, said:

“In supporting and upholding this temporary planning permission, the S&TA(S) is delighted to see

that the Reporter has recognised that the possible damage to wild salmonids from fish-farming could

be significant.

Importantly, the Reporter also agrees that the Aquaculture Act 2007 cannot be used to control sea

lice on fish farms for the benefit of wild fish or to reduce emissions of sea-lice into the wider sea loch

environment.

The S&TA(S) has been asking Scottish Government to change the law on this specific and critical

point for some time.

Ministers must now provide inspectors with the powers to order early harvest or culling of badly-

infested farmed fish, specifically in order to protect wild salmonids.

In the meantime, the Reporter has confirmed that it is local authorities that currently have the

statutory function of protecting wild salmon and sea trout from sea-lice emitted from fish-farms.

We look forward to all councils taking a robust approach to fish-farm development, as the Highland

Council has in this case”.

The Wester Ross Area Salmon Fishery Board submission to the Reporter argued that: “The Council’s

decision to grant time limited permission reflected the considerable uncertainties or ‘known

unknowns’ regarding the cumulative impacts on wild salmonids of yet another farm in this sensitive

location where there is already a high level of salmon production. The impact on local salmonids will

depend on a number of local factors including cumulative impact, local hydrographic conditions and

farming practice. Local salmonid stocks are already under great pressure and the ‘time limited’

permission reflects a desire to ensure that a valuable local resource is not permanently

compromised.”

Why are sea lice from fish-farms such a threat to wild salmonids?

The negative impact of sea lice, produced in huge numbers by fish

farms, on wild salmonids (salmon and sea trout) is widely accepted by

fisheries scientists including the Scottish Government’s own Marine

Scotland Science.

In other salmon farming countries, the impact is more readily accepted. The Norwegian

Government's Institute for Nature Research has recently published a detailed review of the available

science and has concluded that there is “evidence of a general and pervasive negative effect of

salmon lice on sea trout populations in intensively farmed areas”.

The Irish Government’s Inland Fisheries Ireland has also noted that

“salmon farming increases the abundance of lice in marine habitats

and that sea lice in intensively farmed areas have negatively impacted

wild sea trout populations”.

http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?id=115376&T=20




A joint 2013 paper from a group of fisheries experts from Norway, Canada and Scotland re-analysed

data from various Irish studies and shows that the impact of sea lice on wild salmon causes a very

high loss (34%) of those returning to Irish rivers.

ENDS

Notes

1) For further details (including all the submissions) on the Sgeir Dughall case, see

http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx

2) Just what is the problem with sea lice?

Adult wild salmon are perfectly adapted to coping with a few sea lice. Background levels of these

parasites occur naturally in the sea. However the advent of salmon farming, particularly in fjordic sea

lochs, has led to a fundamental change in the density and occurrence of sea lice in parts of the

coastal waters of the west Highlands and Islands. Even one or two mature female sea lice per fish

within a set of cages housing hundreds of thousands of farmed salmon amounts to a rampant

breeding reservoir pumping literally billions of mobile juvenile sea lice out into the local marine

environment. The consequences when wild salmon and sea trout smolts, the metamorphosing fragile

skin of which is not adapted to cope with more than the odd louse, migrate from local rivers into this

“sea lice soup” are devastating.

A burden in excess of 13 pre-adult sea lice is known to compromise severely the survival of juvenile

migratory salmonids. Lice feed by grazing on the surface of the fish and eating the mucous and skin.

Large numbers of lice soon cause the loss of fins, severe scarring, secondary infections and, in time,

death. Quite literally, the fish are eaten alive. Badly infested salmon smolts disappear out to sea,

never to be seen again. In contrast afflicted sea trout smolts remain within the locality and they,

together with the impact of the deadly burdens they carry, are more easily monitored through sweep

net operations.

3) Marine Scotland Science (2013) Summary of information relating to impacts of sea lice from fish

farms on Scottish sea trout and salmon - 4th April 2013 – see www.standupforwildsalmon.orgNote

that Marine Scotland Science acknowledges that compliance with the thresholds within the Code of

Good Practice is not necessarily sufficient to ensure that juvenile sea lice emanating from the fish

farms do not damage wild fish.

See also S&TA (2013) Recent research and findings on the impact of salmon aquaculture on wild

salmonids – see www.standupforwildsalmon.org

4) NINA (2014) Effects of salmon lice on sea trout – a literature review. Norwegian Institute for

Nature Research Report 1044.

5) Inland Fisheries Ireland (2014) Salmon Farms can have significant impact on wild salmon and sea

trout stocks. Statement issued 18th September 2014. http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Press-

releases/salmon-farms-can-have-significant-impact-on-wild-salmon-and-sea-trout-stocks.html

6) M Krkosek, C W Revie, B Finstad and C D Todd (2013) Comment on Jackson et al. "Impact of

Lepeophtheirus salmonis infestations on migrating Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., smolts at eight

locations in Ireland with an analysis of lice-induced marine mortality" - Journal of Fish Diseases.

http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx

http://www.standupforwildsalmon.org/

http://www.standupforwildsalmon.org/

http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Press-releases/salmon-farms-can-have-significant-impact-on-wild-salmon-and-sea-trout-stocks.html

http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Press-releases/salmon-farms-can-have-significant-impact-on-wild-salmon-and-sea-trout-stocks.html



2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar, Tidal, Wind




Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked

Petropolis - Rape and pillage of Canada and Canadians for toxic bitumen

Watch video HERE

http://vimeo.com/84170239

http://vimeo.com/84170239




Mr. Obama’s Easy Call on Keystone Bill

February 13, 2015

Congress has delivered to President Obama a bill commanding him to approve construction of the

Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, accompanied by a warning from House Speaker John

Boehner to ignore the “left-fringe extremists and anarchists” who oppose the project.

It was not immediately clear whom Mr. Boehner had in mind, unless he meant the 90 scientists,

economists and Nobel laureates who appealed this week to Mr. Obama to reject the pipeline on the

grounds that the United States should not be complicit in unlocking some of the dirtiest fuel on the

planet. In any case, Mr. Obama should ignore the speaker and, as he has promised, veto the bill.

Because the pipeline would cross an international border, the decision about whether to proceed is

his to make, not Congress’s, and the State Department review that will help guide that decision is not

yet complete.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/opinion/mr-obamas-easy-call-on-keystone-bill.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/us/politics/house-passes-keystone-bill.html




The veto is the easy call. The tougher one — for the president and his secretary of state, John Kerry

— is whether eventually to say yes or no to the pipeline, which would carry about 800,000 barrels of

oil a day from Alberta’s tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast. In the great scheme of things, this

would not be a big addition to a global oil output that now exceeds 90 million barrels a day. And the

oil would come from a reliable friend, Canada. Building the pipeline would also provide about 3,900

temporary construction jobs over two years, but no more than 50 permanent jobs thereafter.

At the same time, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry have declared, without reservation, that climate

change is a grave and increasingly tangible threat to world stability. The Canadian tar sands oil can

only add to that threat.

One reason is that tar sands oil yields roughly 17 percent more greenhouse gases than conventional

crude oil. A bigger reason is that there is so much of it — 170 billion barrels recoverable with today’s

technology and maybe 10 times that amount in potential resources. Mainstream climate scientists are

virtually unanimous in saying that as much as two-thirds of the world’s deposits of fossil fuels must

remain in the ground if climate disaster is to be avoided. Alberta’s tar sands oil should be among the

first such deposits we decide to leave alone.

Saying no to the pipeline will not prevent the Canadians (and American oil companies that have

invested in Alberta) from extracting the oil. But it could make the job much harder. The industry

hopes to expand daily production to about five million barrels in 2030 from the current 1.9 million.

Doing this profitably will require robust oil prices and access to pipelines, which are a much cheaper

way of moving oil than rail. And with oil prices falling fast, pipelines become even more necessary.

Not building a pipeline means that more oil — and more carbon dioxide — will be left in the ground.

That is the main reason to say no. Another is that, at least right now, this country does not need the

oil. Improved technology, chiefly hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, has opened up vast new

deposits of not only natural gas but crude oil; in January 2014, Mr. Obama was able to announce that

for the first time in decades the United States was producing more oil than it imported, and the

Energy Information Administration has forecast that reliance on overseas oil will continue to fall.

The stars seem very much in alignment for a courageous presidential decision that would command

worldwide attention and reinforce America’s leadership role in the battle against global warming.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/politics/epa-review-of-keystone-pipeline-notes-potential-rise-in-greenhouse-gases.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/politics/epa-review-of-keystone-pipeline-notes-potential-rise-in-greenhouse-gases.html




Since 2012 Union Pacific has been moving oil through Oregon on mixed freight trains. In late 2014,

the railroad began moving several mile-long trains of crude oil per month through the Northwest.

Big Trainloads Of Tar Sands Crude Now Rolling Through NW

February 9, 2015

Trains carrying mass loads of heavy crude oil from Canada’s tar sands have begun moving through

the Northwest, creating the potential for an oil spill in parts of Oregon and Washington where

environmental agencies have no response plans or equipment in place.

Union Pacific now moves between seven and 10 of these mile-long trains of Canadian crude per

month through Northwest states, according to railroad spokesman Aaron Hunt. They can carry more

than a million gallons of oil.

The trains originate in Alberta, moving through Idaho to Washington. From there, some are bound for

refining in Western Washington and others travel along the Columbia River into Portland and south

into California.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/tar-sands-crude-oil-moves-through-northwest-in-mile-long-trains-as-spill-planning-lags/




The seven to 10 monthly trains represent a

big increase over Union Pacific trains that

had previously been hauling mixed freight that

included oil tank cars. The mile-long “unit

trains” began in late November, according to

the railroad, but spill planners at Oregon’s

Department of Environmental Quality and

Washington’s Department of Ecology didn’t

learn of the new shipments until late January

and early February, respectively.

Both agencies, along with emergency

responders and rail safety inspectors, were

previously caught unprepared in 2013 when

shipments of sweet light crude from North

Dakota’s Bakken oil fields started moving

through the region.

Railroads are required to notify states about oil shipments larger than one million gallons under an

emergency order from the federal Department of Transportation. The order was filed in response to

national concerns about local fire departments being caught unaware or kept in the dark when these

“rolling pipelines” were passing through their jurisdictions.

That order applies only to Bakken crude; shipments from Canada are exempt. Oregon Sens. Ron

Wyden and Jeff Merkley have called on the federal DOT to expand its regulation to include all

shipments, with the aim of avoiding a situation like mile-long trains of tar sands crude moving without

knowledge from the agencies tasked with oil spill cleanup.

“It is unacceptable that volatile tar sands oil has been moving through our communities for months

and yet Oregon officials only found out about it last week,” Wyden said in a statement released to

OPB/EarthFix. “This apparent lack of communication with state officials responsible for Oregonians’

health and safety is exactly why I have been pushing for an iron-clad rule to ensure first-responders

in our communities are notified about these oil trains.”

Officials in Oregon and Washington said they lack the resources and

authority for adequate spill planning along rail corridors. Rail lines

touch more than a hundred watersheds in Oregon and cross more than

a thousand water bodies in Washington.

Unlike plans for marine transports and storage facilities, plans for who responds, how and with what

equipment are lacking in Oregon and Washington when it comes to rivers and lakes.

“We will respond, but our response won’t be as effective as it would be with the facilities where we’ve

reviewed their plans, we know what they contain,” said Bruce Gilles, emergency response program

manager at Oregon’s DEQ.

Should a train full of tar sand oil spill today, response teams will be “going in somewhat blind,” and

that means they won’t be able to work as quickly as they should, Gilles said.

Editorial Comment:

It is unbelievable that these highly-paid,

hazardous material spill planners didn’t

connect the dots between ongoing efforts to

expand oil storage capacity in Oregon and

Washington with the desire to export Canada’s

diluted bitumen, as well as Bakken shale

deposit oil and liquefied natural gas from the

US and Canada.

With the lack of adequate pipeline capacity,

unsafe unit trains on aging rails are the only

available resources to transport these

hazardous, carcinogenic, chemical cocktails

across the Pacific Northwest.




“You’re going to lose time, and that time translates into increased environmental damage and costs

to clean up,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

David Byers, response manager for Washington’s Department of Ecology, said the state has begun

filling the regional gaps where it lacks response plans, but the effort will take years.

Byers said tar sands crude presents many cleanup challenges the state’s never handled before.

Bitumen is a hydrocarbon extracted from Alberta’s tar sands. It’s too thick to be transported like

conventional crude. It’s either refined into a synthetic crude — making it more like conventional crude

oil — or combined with additives that give it a more liquid consistency.

A heavy tar-like substance, bitumen can sink when it hits water. It’s also stickier, meaning it’s tougher

to remove from wherever it spills. That’s what happened when a pipeline burst and spilled into the

Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The cleanup cost (to date) exceeded $1 billion.

Frequent rain and fast-moving rivers in the Northwest mean a lot of sediment that oil can stick to,

further complicating cleanup.

Byers and Gilles say they have no way of knowing what specific type of crude is in a given oil tanker

car. Knowing that they’re dealing with a tar sand crude oil spill would dramatically influence

their response.

“It’s much harder to clean up on the bottom of a river bed,” Byers said.

“Or if it sinks in, for example, Puget Sound, it’s going to be more

difficult to clean up, and even more challenging for us to even locate

and detect where the oil has migrated to.”

It wouldn’t just be up to Oregon or Washington officials to handle spill-response duties if an oil train

derailed in their state. Union Pacific has 30 hazardous materials responders across its 32,000 mile

network and relies on private contractors for handling spill incidents.

“This team of experts directs training, preparation and response for any type of accident involving

hazardous materials,” spokesman Aaron Hunt said in an email. “We move hazardous materials on

behalf of our customers because it is our job.”




A Quinault Indian Nation fishing boat comes in to unload its catch in Grays Harbor, not far from the locations of three proposed oil train-to-ship facilities.

A Coastal Community In Washington Contemplates Oil Terminals

February 9, 2015

HOQUIAM, Wash. — Grays Harbor, with its deep-water berths and fast access to Pacific Ocean

shipping routes, has all the ingredients to be a world-class port.

In some respects, it already is. The Port of Grays Harbor once bustled with shipments of lumber from

nearby forests. Next came cars, grains and biofuel. Now, local leaders are warming up to the idea of

adding crude oil to the mix.

http://earthfix.info/news/article/a-coastal-community-in-washington-contemplates-oil-terminals/




Roughly 3 billion gallons of crude move from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota into Washington

state by rail each year. As oil companies look for the fastest and most cost-effective way to get their

product to West Coast refineries, proposals for new oil facilities are popping up around the region.

Washington has five refineries. Four are already receiving oil by rail and the fifth is seeking a permit

to do so as well. There are six proposed train-to-ship oil facilities in Washington and two operating on

the Oregon side of the Columbia River.

Three of those facilities could be built in Grays Harbor. That could mean more than 700 ships and

barges arriving and departing each year and eight oil trains, empty and full, traveling through Grays

Harbor County each day.

The proposed facilities present the community with some hard questions about economic growth,

environmental risk and quality of life.

Oil on the Move

Forty-five permanent jobs would be created at the proposed Imperium and Westway terminals, with

103 estimated jobs in rail and marine operations, according to a report from the terminal companies.

Information on the potential job creation for the third, and largest, of the proposed terminals is not yet

available. That terminal is backed by US Development Group. It is in the discussion phase, according

to the State Department of Ecology.

“These are projects that will provide jobs and economic development and tax revenue for Grays

Harbor,” said Paul Queary, spokesman for Westway and Imperium. “They will help support the

existing refinery jobs elsewhere in Washington and they will bring domestically produced oil to U.S.

refineries and help maintain and increase U.S. energy independence.”

Imperium and Westway plan to move North Dakota crude on to refineries on the West Coast. U.S.

law prohibits the export of domestically-produced crude oil. However, there’s no such restriction on

exporting crude brought in from Canada. Canadian crude is already moving through the region and

more could travel through new terminals in the future.

Canadian oil producers are eager to find ways to ship their product beyond North America, suggests

Tom Kluza, global head of energy analysis for Oil Price Information Service.

“Really the biggest losers in the oil price slide have been the Canadians,” he said. “They are

compromised by their inability to move that to any customers beyond the U.S.”

Despite the recent drop in oil prices, Kluza said the development of infrastructure needed to serve

the oil boom in the North American interior — ports, rail capacity and pipelines — is lagging behind

the rate of oil production. Canadian and U.S. oil producers need access to refineries and terminals in

the Northwest, and the regional refineries need access to their product, particularly as output from

Alaskan oil fields continues to decline.

“Whether [the Northwest is] the most hospitable is going to depend on the way the local communities

and regulators look at the environmental consequences,” he said.

Read entire EARTHFIX article HERE

http://www.graysharbor.org/downloads/CBR/Economic_Impact_Analysis_of_Bulk_Liquid_at_Port%20_of_Grays%20_Harbor.pdf

http://earthfix.info/news/article/tar-sands-crude-oil-moves-through-northwest-in-mile-long-trains-as-spill-planning-lags/

http://earthfix.info/news/article/a-coastal-community-in-washington-contemplates-oil-terminals/




West Virginia Oil Train Derailment Sends Crude Tanker Into River

Related: NY Times – with video

February 16, 2015

MOUNT CARBON, W.Va. (AP) — A train carrying more than 100 tankers of crude oil derailed in

southern West Virginia on Monday, sending at least one into the Kanawha River, igniting at least 14

tankers and sparking a house fire, officials said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/16/west-virginia-oil-train-derailment_n_6693634.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/us/west-virginia-train-derailment-dumps-oil-into-river.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0




One person was being treated for potential inhalation issues, but no other injuries were reported,

according to a news release from CSX, the train company. Nearby residents were told to evacuate as

state emergency response and environmental officials headed to the scene about 30 miles southeast

of Charleston.

The state was under a winter storm warning and getting heavy snowfall at times, with as much as 5

inches in some places. It's not clear if the weather had anything to do with the derailment, which

occurred about 1:20 EST along a flat stretch of rail.

As federal railway and hazardous materials officials were heading to the scene, the company said it's

still investigating what caused the train to come off the tracks.

Public Safety spokesman Lawrence Messina said responders at the scene reported one tanker and

possibly another went into the river. Messina said local emergency responders were having trouble

getting to the house that caught fire.

Kanawha County Manager Jennifer Sayre said a reported 14 to 17 tankers caught fire or exploded.

James Bennett, 911 coordinator for Fayette County, said a couple hundred families were evacuated

as a precaution.

The rail company said it's still sorting out many specifics in its response.

"CSX teams also are working with first responders to address the fire, to determine how many rail

cars derailed, and to deploy environmental protective and monitoring measures on land, air and in

the nearby Kanawha River," CSX spokesman Gary Sease said in a news release.

The fire continued burning along a hillside Monday evening, and small fires could be seen on the

river.

David McClung said he felt the heat from one of the explosions at his home about a half mile up the

hill.

His brother in law was outside at the time of the derailment and heard a loud crack below along the

riverfront, then went inside to summon McClung, his wife and their son.

One of the explosions that followed sent a fireball at least 300 feet into the air, McClung said.

"We felt the heat, I can tell you that," McClung said. "It was a little scary. It was like an atomic bomb

went off."

Becky Nuckols heard the train hit the house directly across the river from her house in the community

of Boomer.

"I thought it was a snow plow," she said. That's what made me look out. All you heard was a big

boom."

After calling 911 Nuckols said she ran outside and saw a man leave the house and take off running.

The office of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, which has issued a state of

emergency, said the tanker cars were loaded with Bakken crude from

North Dakota and headed to Yorktown, Virginia.




Local emergency officials said all but two of the 109 cars being hauled were tanker cars.

West Virginia American Water spokeswoman Laura Jordan said the company shut down a water

treatment plant, located about 3 miles from the derailment, at about 2:30 p.m. The plant serves about

2,000 customers.

State health officials said another water plant downstream in the town of Cedar Grove also closed its

intake. They asked customers from both water systems to conserve water.

The U.S. Transportation Department is weighing tougher safety

regulations for rail shipments of crude, which can ignite and result in

huge fireballs.

Responding to a series of fiery train crashes, including one this spring in Lynchburg, Virginia, the

government proposed rules in July that would phase out tens of thousands of older tank cars that

carry increasing quantities of crude oil and other highly flammable liquids. It's not clear how old the

tankers were on the derailed train.

The Lynchburg train also was hauling Bakken crude oil from North

Dakota to Yorktown, Virginia.




CN train carrying crude oil derails, catches fire in Northern Ontario

February 15, 2015

A Canadian National Railway Co. train carrying 100 tank cars of crude oil derailed and caught fire in

Northern Ontario early Sunday morning.

A CN spokesman said there were no injuries in the derailment that happened around midnight on

Saturday about 80 kilometres south of Timmins, Ont., on the CN mainline in a remote area

inaccessible by road.

Twenty-nine cars jumped the tracks and seven were still on fire on

Sunday afternoon.

Rob Johnston, an investigations team manager with the Transportation Safety Board, said the train

was travelling eastbound at 40 miles an hour when the crew felt an impact and saw flames about 10

cars behind the locomotive. They halted the train and detached the engines and pulled ahead,

according to safety procedures.

The TSB investigators, who are not yet on the scene, will face difficult conditions determining the

amount of any spill and the cause due to the site's remote location and the cold weather, Mr.

Johnston said in an interview.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cn-train-carrying-crude-derails-catches-fire-in-northern-ontario/article23006415/




"There is a fire at the scene," said CN's Patrick Waldron. "CN has initiated its emergency response

plan and has crews responding to the site. That includes firefighting and environmental crews and

equipment."

The train was visually inspected and went through a checkpoint that automatically detects

mechanical problems 20 miles before the derailment. The track was visually inspected on Saturday

and cleared by a rail flaw detector in the past week, Mr. Waldron said.

The increase in the amount of crude moving on the rails has raised

safety concerns that were highlighted by the 2013 tragedy in Lac

Megantic, Que., where a runaway train derailed, exploded and killed 47

people.

Since then, governments in Canada and the United States have begun phasing in tougher crash

standards for tank cars and lower speeds for oil trains. But several trains carrying oil and other

petroleum products have crashed and caught fire since the tragedy in Lac Megantic, including

derailments in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan in 2014.

Oil producers have increasingly used trains to move crude amid a shortage of pipeline space, and to

enjoy the flexibility railways offer. The plunge in oil prices has dampened growth in the crude-by-rail

business since the fall, but the number of trains carrying oil is expected to rise this year as new

terminals are opened.

For CN, hauling crude and related products accounts for less than 10 per cent overall revenues, a

similar amount as that of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.

Via Rail said it has cancelled passenger rail service between Toronto and Winnipeg until the rail line

has been cleared. Via said it will offer alternate arrangements for those already en route or due to

travel Sunday.




Protesters march in Oakland, push for Jerry Brown to ban fracking

February 7, 2015

Thousands (8,000) of antifracking activists took to Oakland’s streets Saturday to call for Gov. Jerry

Brown to change his stance and ban the controversial practice, which uses large amounts of a

pressurized water mixture to crack subterranean rocks and release oil or natural gas.

Chanting, playing music and waving signs reading “Don’t Frack Your Mother” and “There’s No Planet

B,” demonstrators wove their way along an almost two-mile route, starting at Oakland’s City Hall and

then moving through downtown Oakland to Lake Merritt.

“We’re here, marching in Jerry Brown’s hometown, to let him know climate leaders don’t frack,”

said Linda Capato Jr., fracking campaign coordinator for 350.org, an international organization that

fights climate change and one of the partner groups in the protest, called the March for Real Climate

Leadership.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Anti-fracking-demonstrators-march-through-Oakland-6068760.php#photo-7495268

http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=bayarea&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Jerry+Brown%22

http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=bayarea&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Jerry+Brown%22

http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=bayarea&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Linda+Capato%22




Saturday’s march, billed as the country’s largest demonstration against hydraulic fracturing, drew a

wide range of supporters, including labor unions, students, environmental justice groups, health

activists and people who just feel strongly that fracking worsens climate change, jeopardizes health

and exacerbates the already historic drought.

The demonstrators called on Brown to change his position on fracking, which has put the governor at

odds with many who saw him as an environmental leader dating back to the 1970s.

While the governor sees the oil production spurred by fracking as a potential source of money and

jobs in a state whose economy is still recovering, activists want him to follow the lead of New York

and Vermont, as well as California’s San Benito and Mendocino counties, in banning the practice for

health and environmental reasons.

Andrés Soto, Richmond organizer for Communities for a Better Environment, accused Brown of

caving to oil company interests and building the state’s infrastructure on the “carbon economy.” “If

you don’t get on our side, Jerry Brown,” he said, “Frack you!”

Brown’s administration has said there’s no direct evidence of harm from fracking in the state, a

sentiment echoed by Sabrina Lockhart, spokeswoman for Californians for Energy Independence, a

coalition that includes energy companies.

“California is the third-largest consumer of oil and gas on the planet,” Lockhart said. “All the oil we

produce in California is used here, so if we did not produce oil here under the strictest standards,

we’d have even greater reliance on imported oil from places like Iraq and Venezuela.”

Lockhart said that any potential health effects will be offset by state regulations and that the state’s

geology requires less water than fracking activities in other states. “Water is used, but when you look

at the large-scale water usage in California, it accounts for a small fraction of that,” she said.

The activists weren’t buying those arguments.

“No matter how profitable a practice is, if it harms people, there’s absolutely no justification

whatsoever for that practice to continue,” said Eva Malis, a student at UC Berkeley serving as the

outreach coordinator for Students Against Fracking at the university.

More than 700 chemicals are used in fracking, 25 percent of which are

known to cause cancer, said Sahru Keiser, program manager at San

Francisco’s Breast Cancer Action. “Fracking produces a toxic legacy

that threatens our health for years to come,” she said.

Sofia Parino of Sacramento traveled to Oakland for the march, and was carrying her 9-month-old

daughter, Aurora.

“This is their future,” said Parino, 37, who works for an environmental justice organization and is also

the mother of a 3-year-old. “It’s the future generations that are going to suffer if we don’t look at new

energy solutions.”

http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=bayarea&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Sabrina+Lockhart%22

http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=bayarea&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Californians+for+Energy+Independence%22

http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=bayarea&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Eva+Malis%22

http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=bayarea&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Sahru+Keiser%22




Douglas Channel, the proposed termination point for an oil pipeline in the Enbridge Northern

Gateway Project, is pictured in an aerial view in Kitimat, B.C

Draft federal government report says bitumen spill effects unknown

February 2, 2015

An unpublished federal report on environmental threats from oil and bitumen pipelines says little is

known about the potential toxic effects of oilsands products in oceans, lakes or rivers.

"In particular, research on the toxicology of bitumen is lacking," says the draft report, commissioned in

response to concerns raised at the Northern Gateway pipeline hearings.

The document comes as Canada debates pipeline proposals for moving large amounts of diluted

bitumen from Alberta's oilsands to refineries and ports on both coasts and into the United States. It

was obtained by Greenpeace under freedom-of-information legislation.

Although it has been through several versions, the 2013 report has never been released.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/draft-federal-government-report-says-bitumen-spill-effects-unknown-1.2216313#ixzz3Qc6ZHb1S




"A more complete, peer-reviewed report was produced by (Fisheries and Oceans), and will be

published in the coming months," wrote department spokesman David Walters in an email.

All drafts of the report warn that the behaviour and effects of bitumen remain largely unknown.

"Research on the biological effects of oilsands-related products on aquatic organisms is lacking," it

says.

An early draft lays out 10 specific "knowledge gaps" about bitumen and the various substances used

to dilute it when it's pumped through pipelines.

"Very little information is available on the physical and chemical characteristics of oilsands-related

products following a spill into water," it says.

"A better understanding of the fate and behaviour of these products is

critical for assessing the potential risk to aquatic organisms."

More research is needed on what would happens to heavy metals in bitumen in the case of a spill.

There is a "lack of information" on how condensate -- a lighter hydrocarbon used to dilute bitumen for

pumping -- would behave in water.

The understanding of how chemicals in bitumen would interact with fish should be improved, the

report says. Specific research on possible oil impacts on the Pacific, Arctic and Great Lakes is

needed.

The impact of sunlight, which can make some chemicals in bitumen vastly more harmful, is also

unknown, says the report. The combined effect of bitumen and dispersants -- chemical agents used

to break up oil spilled in water -- hasn't been studied.

As well, little is known about the potential impacts of a spill in the Arctic.

The early draft of the report examines research on Orimulsion, a Venezuelan product about two-thirds

bitumen and one-third water.

Studies say Orimulsion tends to sink in fresh water, but remain suspended throughout the water

column in salt water. It is also "highly toxic to fish" -- 300 times more toxic to embryos than heavy fuel

oil.

The 61-page draft includes 14 pages of references to peer-reviewed academic studies as well as

government and industry publications. They date from 1976 to 2013 and include articles from a wide

variety of scientific journals.




Walters said new research is already underway.

"The information collected during this exercise has already resulted in (the department) providing

Canadian universities with funding for five projects related to the effects on fish and shellfish," he

said.

The government also recently released research that found bitumen tends to float on sea water, but

responds poorly to dispersants and shows "significant" differences from conventional crude.

Prominent ecologist David Schindler, whose work is cited in the review, said the real state of

knowledge about the potential effects of a bitumen spill is even sketchier than the review suggests.

The report adopts a piecemeal, substance-by-substance approach instead of considering the

combined effect of all chemicals, he said. It also doesn't ask what happens if a spill gets under river

ice, which has already happened on Alberta's Athabasca River.

"The recommended list of new activities will not solve these

shortcomings," Schindler said in an email. "They are simply

recommending more of the same deficient tests, fine for initial

screening, not for protecting ecosystems."




Firefighters from Olympia, Tumwater, Lacey, South Bay and East Olympia listen to BNSF Railway hazardous materials manager Justin Piper (pointing at left) as he explains setting the brakes for an 11,000-gallon railroad tanker during hazardous material training with the BNSF Railway north of Tenino on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015.

Thurston County firefighters learn to handle crude oil and other hazardous materials

February 13, 2015

http://www.theolympian.com/2015/02/13/3576425_thurston-county-firefighters-learn.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

http://www.theolympian.com/2015/02/13/3576425_thurston-county-firefighters-learn.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy




Although it’s been a contentious issue in recent years, East Olympia Fire Chief Warren Peterson said

crude oil is far from the most hazardous substance transported by rail through Thurston County.

Chlorine and sulfuric acid — both classified as toxic inhalation hazards — pose a higher danger and

are moved through the county relatively frequently, Peterson said. But with proper training of

emergency responders, it’s still possible to keep the public safe in the event of a spill.

One of these training events brought area firefighters to rural Thurston County on Friday.

Firefighters from several departments — including East Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater and Olympia —

gathered for training sessions with BNSF Railway. About 100 turned out for the four days of training.

Peterson said he scheduled the session because of growing concerns in the community regarding

crude oil shipping — especially in light of recent explosions in Canada and the United States.

“In reality, I think the chances of that happening here are very small,” Peterson said. “But it’s our job

to be prepared.”

BNSF spokeswoman Courtney Wallace explained that the company operates most of the Class 1

track in Washington. Other organizations, including Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad, Tacoma Rail

and Western Washington Railroad, operate short-line railroads. Friday’s training was conducted on a

Western Washington Railroad track running parallel to Offut Lake Road near Tenino.

Between 2004 and 2014, BNSF has conducted training for about 4,000 Washington firefighters,

Wallace said.

The Thurston County firefighters got a first-hand look at a tanker car similar to those used to haul

hazardous materials. Justin Piper, the regional director of hazardous material training for BNSF,

explained that the tanker car was formerly a functioning DOT 111 car, but it was converted into a

training car.

Hazardous materials are transported in either

DOT 111 cars or newer, more sophisticated

CPC 1232 cars, Piper said. On both kinds of

cars, the tanks are made from half-inch thick

steel, and some cars are “jacketed” in an extra

layer of steel.

“They’re made from very strong, ductile steel,”

Piper said. “In derailments they tend to hold up

pretty well.”

Piper said the heads — or the ends — of the

CPC 1232 cars are also fitted with protective

shields, and the valves on top of the cars have

stronger protective coverings. All of the cars

made in 2011 or later were constructed to

those standards.

Editorial Comment:

This article does little to ease the concerns

associated with derailments of tank cars carrying

oil, especially oil (diluted bitumen) from Canada's

tar sands and oil from the Bakken shale deposits.

Both products are highly volatile. In addition,

diluted bitumen is impossible to clean up when

spilled into water.

It's been documented many times that the DOT

111 rail cars (many of which are still in service)

and the updated tank cars are not adequate for

carrying these hazardous products.




Wallace said BNSF doesn’t own rail cars. They’re simply moved on BNSF lines using BNSF engines.

The company also can’t legally prevent customers from shipping certain materials — such as crude

oil.

Like a working car, the training tanker is printed with information about the car’s capacity and

pressure, and it’s fitted with ladders, steam coils (for heating certain materials) and a GPS tracker.

But unlike a functioning car, the training car is fitted with several types of valves and a door to allow

access inside.

Piper explained that different rail cars are fitted with different valves depending on their contents.

Propane cars, for example, are fitted with different valves than chlorine cars even though both

substances are transported under pressure.

The majority of cars transport substances under low pressure, and those cars are fitted with still

another type of valve.

And unlike other types of rail cars, tanker cars are designed to separate from each other if they

derail, Piper said. That way, one car won’t pull the others off the tracks, and the couplings won’t

puncture the cars.

The tanks on the cars also can separate from the heavy wheels, he said.

Piper also demonstrated the car’s emergency brakes, which are controlled by a large wheel and lever

at one end of the car. He explained that it’s much easier to get a car rolling than one might expect

because most railroad tracks are on a slight grade, even if they look perfectly level. There’s also very

little resistance, as the area of contact between the wheels and the rails is only about as wide as a

dime.

The wheels themselves are monitored by wayside detectors while the cars are in motion, Piper said.

The sensors also keep an eye on a train’s cargo. All problems are reported to BNSF headquarters in

Fort Worth, Texas, which in turn notifies the people aboard the trains of any issues.

“We want to find the problem before it causes the derailment,” Piper said.

BNSF also sends geometry cars down the rail lines to detect problems with the tracks and the

underlying structure. Peterson said a geometry car recently discovered a flaw at a railroad crossing

on Rich Road, and the entire track was torn up and rebuilt.

“I think people assumed they were doing it to make the crossing smoother,” Peterson said. “But that

was just an added bonus.”

But one of the most important steps firefighters can take to avoid catastrophe is to prevent a collision

with an oncoming train, Piper said. He advised them to station flaggers 2 miles on either side of a

collision.

“You have to expect something coming at any time on any area of the track,” Piper said.




To the Last Drop: Canada's Dirty Oil Sands (2011)

View HERE

Editorial Comment:

This video identifies many of the health

and environmental risks associated with

extracting, transporting and burning

bitumen from Alberta’s tar sands..

The controversial Keystone XL pipeline

would transport diluted bitumen across

America for export to Asian markets.

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/to_the_last_drop_canadas_dirty_oil_sands_part_1/




Oil sands mining operation near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada.

EPA Keystone Review Links Oil Sands to Carbon Emission Jump

February 3, 2015

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said developing Canadian oil sands would significantly

increase greenhouse gases, a conclusion environmental groups said gives President Barack Obama

reason to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

“Until ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of oil

sands are more successful and widespread,” developing the crude “represents a significant increase

in greenhouse gas emissions,” the EPA said Tuesday in a letter to the State Department, which is

reviewing the project.

The proposed pipeline has pitted Obama’s allies in the environmental movement against the U.S.

energy industry. Obama has said he’ll reject TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone if it would lead to a

significant increase in carbon pollution.

Proposed in 2008, Keystone would deliver Alberta oil sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. The

Republican-led House next week probably will pass a Senate bill to approve the pipeline and

circumvent the State Department review. Obama said he will veto the measure and continue with his

administration’s review. Supporters don’t appear to have the votes to override a veto.

‘Taken Apart’

“The EPA, in polite, knife-sharp Washingtonese, has taken apart the State Department on” Keystone

“and shown it to be a climate disaster,” Bill McKibben, who has led protests against the project, said

in a message on Twitter.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-03/epa-keystone-review-links-oil-sands-to-higher-carbon-emissions




Shawn Howard, a TransCanada spokesman, didn’t return telephone and e-mail messages seeking

comment on the EPA report. TransCanada rose as much as 2.8 percent in Toronto trading, to

C$59.05 ($47.53), after the letter was released.

The Natural Resources Defense Council said the assessment means the pipeline fails the standard

Obama has said he’ll use to judge the $8 billion project.

“There should be no more doubt that President Obama must reject the proposed pipeline once and

for all,” Danielle Droitsch, Canada project director for the NRDC, said in a statement.

The State Department in an environmental impact statement released a year ago said Keystone

probably wouldn’t increase emissions, even though oil sands are more carbon intensive, because the

crude would be produced with or without the project.

Lower Prices

The 11-volume analysis included a scenario under which Keystone could play a larger role in

spurring oil sands development. If oil fell below $75 a barrel, the extra cost to ship using alternatives

such as rail may no longer be viable, the 2014 report concluded.

The “low-price scenario” should be given “additional weight during decision making, due to the

potential implications of lower oil prices on project impacts, especially greenhouse gas emissions,”

the EPA said. Benchmark U.S. crude last week fell to $44.45, the lowest since March 2009.

The American Petroleum Institute, an industry lobbying group based in Washington, said the EPA’s

letter was just an excuse to put off a decision.

“Suggesting that the drop in oil prices requires a re-evaluation of the environmental impact of the

project is just another attempt to prolong the KXL review,” Louis Finkel, API’s executive vice

president, said in a statement.

Emissions Increase

In the letter, EPA said the crude oil carried by Keystone could lead to the release of more than 27

million metric tons of carbon annually compared with other, less carbon-heavy crude.

That’s the equivalent of emissions from 7.8 coal plants, the EPA said. But it’s just one-half of one

percent of total greenhouse gases released annually in the U.S., according to government data.

The EPA letter “continues to give the president a rationale if he wants to reject it,” Lowell Rothschild,

a Washington-based environmental litigator at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, said in a phone interview.

The EPA also calls the State Department analysis comprehensive and says it responded to concerns

the agency had voiced to a draft.

Kevin Book, an analyst at Clear View Energy Partners LLC, said in a note today that the general

tenor of EPA’s comments was positive.

“But the agency’s arguments could create additional headwinds for the project,” Book wrote.

Book said that it’s possible the State Department could take additional time to study the impact of low

crude prices on the project.




In this Jan 15, 2015 file photo, attorney Dave Domina, reflected in the mirror top left, briefs landowners and activists on strategy and recent developments in the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline, during a meeting in York, Neb. Officials with TransCanada said Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, they've filed paperwork in nine counties to acquire access to land that's needed for the construction and operation of the pipeline. The route still faces challenges as opponents have filed lawsuits to try to prevent the Calgary, Alberta-based company from using eminent domain and to overturn the state law that allowed ex-Gov. Dave Heineman to approve the route.

Key issues and updates on the Keystone XL oil pipeline

January 21, 2015

WASHINGTON — To build or not to build?

That question is at the heart of the debate over the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The answer, and the fate of the $8 billion project, depends on what happens in Congress, the courts,

the White House and with TransCanada, the company planning to construct it.

The odds of building seem to change almost daily.

http://www.theolympian.com/2015/01/21/3537230/key-issues-and-updates-on-the.html




A lawsuit is tossed out, then some others filed. The Republican-controlled Congress is poised to

approve a bill authorizing construction, despite a White House promise of a veto. The State

Department, after stalling its review because of a Nebraska court case, gives federal agencies a new

deadline to weigh in.

The 1,179-mile pipeline, first proposed in 2008,

would carry an estimated 800,000 barrels of tar

sands oil from Canada into the United States,

connecting with existing pipelines leading to

Gulf Coast refineries.

For environmentalists, approval would prove

catastrophic for the global climate and erode

efforts by President Barack Obama to rein in

heat-trapping emissions.

For Republicans, who have made it their first order of business in the new Congress they control, the

pipeline is critical to supplying the country with jobs and with oil from a friendly neighbor, rather than

the Middle East.

A look at the major players and where they stand:

CONGRESS

The House this month passed legislation approving, for the 10th time, the pipeline's construction.

Identical legislation cleared an initial hurdle in the Senate, where a 63-32 vote was three more than

the 60 required, but not enough to override a veto.

The Senate is now considering dozens of amendments. On Wednesday, it overwhelmingly adopted,

98-1, a measure saying climate change is not a hoax and real, but Republicans refused to back two

others that said human beings contributed to the problem. The scientific consensus is that burning

fossil fuels is behind climate change.

Republicans intend to offer other additions, including one that would say the Senate rejects

international agreements to reduce heat-trapping pollution that would harm the U.S. economy.

THE WHITE HOUSE

The White House explained the veto threat by saying it had to wait for the outcome of a Nebraska

court case and the State Department review to play out.

Obama's remarks about the pipeline have gotten increasingly negative in recent months,

emboldening environmental groups who have called on him to reject the pipeline outright. In his State

of the Union address Tuesday night, Obama urged Congress to "set our sights higher than a single

oil pipeline."

THE COURTS

Opponents in Nebraska reignited the legal fight last week, filing two new suits over its proposed

route.

They came from seven landowners in Holt and York counties who have received written warnings

that TransCanada plans to file eminent domain papers to gain access to their land.

Editorial Comment:

The diluted bitumen (dilbit) transported in

this proposed pipeline IS NOT oil. It is a

carcinogenic, asphalt-like material mixed

with condensate (kerosene-like) material,

other chemicals and water.

All products refined from this lethal mixture

will be exported to Asian markets.




The landowners' lawyer, Dave Domina, said TransCanada's written warnings give the plaintiffs a

clear legal basis to challenge the project. That's a key issue, because the Nebraska Supreme Court

tossed an earlier, similar suit, with three judges saying those plaintiffs failed to meet the threshold.

The judges' decision removed an obstacle to the project and was a major reason the White House's

threatened a veto.

THE STATE DEPARTMENT

The department has given federal agencies

until Feb. 2 to weigh in on whether the pipeline

serves the national interest, a determination

required for all border-crossing pipelines. That

gives agencies specializing in the environment,

commerce and other matters just weeks to file

their opinions.

The department didn't set a timeline for when it would make its long-awaited judgment on whether

the pipeline was in the U.S. national interest.

THE COMPANY

With the state court removing a legal barrier, TransCanada has filed paperwork in nine counties to

acquire access to the remaining land that's needed to construct, operate and maintain the pipeline.

By law, TransCanada can use the courts to force landowners to sell access to their land. Company

officials say they still need to acquire 12 percent of the total land easements from landowners who

have not yet reached a deal. Some holdouts have said they won't negotiate.

The route still faces legal challenges in Nebraska, where two new suits have been filed.

Editorial Comment:

Transporting dilbit from Canada, across the

United State for export to Asia does not serve

America’s national interest.

It does increase Asia’s increasing demand for

deadly fossil fuels.




Anti-oilsands activists in the U.S. are getting visits from the FBI

February 7, 2015

WASHINGTON — Unexpected visitors have been dropping in on anti-oil activists in the United

States — knocking on doors, calling, texting, contacting family members.

The visitors are federal agents.

Opponents of Canadian oil say they’ve been contacted by FBI investigators in several states

following their involvement in protests that delayed northbound shipments of equipment to Canada’s

oilsands.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Anti+oilsands+activists+getting+visits+from/10796459/story.html




A lawyer working with the protesters says he’s personally aware of a dozen people having been

contacted in the northwestern U.S. and says the actual number is probably higher.

Larry Hildes says it’s been happening the last few months in Washington State, Oregon and Idaho.

He says one person got a visit at work, after having already refused to answer questions.

“They appear to be interested in actions around the tarsands and the Keystone XL pipeline,” Hildes

said in an interview.

“It’s always the same line: ‘We’re not doing criminal investigations, you’re not accused of any crime.

But we’re trying to learn more about the movement.”‘

He’s advised activists not to talk — and they mostly haven’t. That lack of communication has made it

a little complicated to figure out what, exactly, the FBI is looking for.

The bureau hasn’t offered too many clues.

One agent left his name, number, and the following message in a voicemail for Helen Yost of the

group Wild Idaho Rising Tide: “I work with the FBI. Could you give me a call back — I would

appreciate it.”

Is anti-oilsands activity an actual focus of the FBI investigation, or is it merely incidental? The bureau

won’t say.

What it will say is that it only investigates potential crimes, not political movements.

“The FBI has the authority to conduct an investigation when it has reasonable grounds to believe that

an individual has engaged in criminal activity or is planning to do so,” said FBI spokeswoman Ayn

Dietrich.

“This authority is based on the illegal activity, not on the individual’s political views.”

But activists say oilsands opposition appears to be the common thread among people being

contacted. Police have been in touch with people from different groups, who in some cases don’t

agree on much, but one thing they share is mutual participation in the so-called megaload protests.

Those are the intermittent highway blockades set up the last few years to complicate the enormous,

football-field-sized shipments of processing equipment up to the oilsands.

Yost said only two people from her group participated in that anti-oilsands action — and those are the

people who’ve been contacted by the FBI. She has refused to co-operate.

The other person, Herb Goodwin, was visited at home by an FBI agent and a veteran detective from

the local police force in Bellingham, Wash. He said the federal agent told him: “We’re here to ask

whether you’ll answer some questions for us about Deep Green Resistance.”

That group, DGR, calls itself a radical environmental movement that believes the biggest problem

with the planet is human civilization itself. It proposes a shift back from agriculture to a hunter-

gatherer horticultural lifestyle.

It also proposes a four-step program called decisive ecological warfare, a long-term plan calling for

the sabotage and dismantling of planet-harming infrastructure.




The group has repeatedly stated that it wouldn’t participate itself in any such actions. But Lierre Keith,

one of its founders, laid out the plan in a speech last year at an environmental conference at the

University of Oregon.

“I would vastly prefer to wage this struggle non-violently,” Keith said. “But my blogging will not bring

forth the necessary numbers. So given a realistic assessment of what we actually have, the only

viable strategy left that I can see is direct attacks against infrastructure. In the plainest terms, we

need to stop them.”

There was some controversy about inviting her to the conference. Other groups wanted her event

cancelled because of her views on transgender people — Keith dismisses the notion that a sex

change can undo someone’s gender perspective.

Hildes said the FBI tried asking people about that Oregon speech. Since Yost’s group was among

those voicing opposition to DGR, she believes the FBI might be trying to sow division in the

movement.

The Canadian government said it wasn’t involved in any U.S. law-enforcement effort. A spokesman

said it was aware of the megaload protests, but hadn’t discussed them with any American agency.

Goodwin said he won’t stop protesting. He’s among the nearly 100,000 people who have signed a

pledge to engage in civil disobedience, should the Obama administration approve the Keystone XL

pipeline.

He called it a life mission to help thwart the development of the oilsands in Canada and the Bakken

fields in the U.S. “If we don’t stop that stuff we’re never going to convert to alternative energies that

don’t pollute the atmosphere,” he said.




Exxon won't pay into cleanup fund because oil spilled in Arkansas isn't "oil"

April 3, 2013

Despite spilling tens, if not hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil and chemicals into an Arkansas

neighborhood, thanks to a loophole in a law from 1980, ExxonMobil will not be paying into a federal

oil spill cleanup fund because the oil they spilled is not the right type of oil. It is a twisted example of

the legal technicalities and lax regulations that all too often favor oil companies, but a coalition of

environmental groups are working to close the loophole.

According to Congress and the IRS, diluted bitumen or dilbit, which is the type of oil that has spilled

in Arkansas, is not classified as oil and companies shipping it are not required to pay an 8-cents-per-

barrel excise tax into the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, as companies shipping conventional oil

do.

Think Progress reported on this loophole and importance of this fund:

Other conventional crude producers pay 8 cents a barrel to ensure the fund has resources to

help clean up some of the 54,000 barrels of pipeline oil that spilled 364 times last year.

http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/exxon-wont-pay-cleanup-fund-because-arkansas-oil-spill-isnt-oil.html

http://www.treehugger.com/energy-disasters/oil-spill-arkansas-exxon-pipeline-breaks-spilling-84000-gallons-dangerously-close-lake-conway.html


http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/02/1810571/exxons-duck-killing-pipeline-doesnt-pay-taxes-to-oil-spill-cleanup-fund/




As Oil Change International said in a statement today:

“The great irony of this tragic spill in Arkansas is that the transport of tar sands oil through

pipelines in the US is exempt from payments into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Exxon, like

all companies shipping toxic tar sands, doesn’t have to pay into the fund that will cover most of

the clean up costs for the pipeline’s inevitable spills.”

In July of last year, Lisa Song at Inside Climate News noted that both Congress and the

IRS acknowledge this distinction:

Dilbit is exempt from the tax, because the 1980 legislation that created the tax states that "the

term crude oil does not include synthetic petroleum, e.g., shale oil, liquids from coal, tar sands,

or biomass..."

The Internal Revenue Service cited that 1980 text in a 2011 memo that confirmed the

exemption for at least one company.

While these substances are different, the ways the government does and does not recognize these

differences seems be the exact opposite of how it should be.

According to the oil industry, tar sands oil is oil when the oil industry needs oil spill cleanup funds, but

it isn't oil when it comes to paying for that cleanup fund. The industry also opposes changes to how

tar sands oil pipelines are regulated. So again, they consider tar sands oil just like conventional oil

when it comes to their pipelines, but not when it comes to cleaning the spills those pipelines create.

It's unbelievable.

Whether it is tar sands oil, dilbit or conventional crude, oil spills are a mess to clean up and the oil

industry should pay a cleanup fee for a barrel of one type of oil as it does for another. But when it

comes to the safety regulations for how these oils are transported via pipeline, they should be

regulated differently, considering that tar sands oil is more corrosive and harder to cleanup.

In a series of updates to my initial post on the Arkansas spill, I highlighted the differences in dilbit

from conventional oil and what it meant for the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline and

communities at risk from future spills.

First, for background, InsideClimate News produced a good primer on the differences between dilbit

and conventional oil:

Bitumen is a kind of crude oil found in natural oil sands deposits—it's the heaviest crude oil

used today. The oil sands, also known as tar sands, contain a mixture of sand, water and oily

bitumen.

Conventional crude oil is a liquid that can be pumped from underground deposits. It is then

shipped by pipeline to refineries where it's processed into gasoline, diesel and other fuels.

Bitumen is too thick to be pumped from the ground or through pipelines. Instead, the heavy

tar-like substance must be mined or extracted by injecting steam into the ground. The

extracted bitumen has the consistency of peanut butter and requires extra processing before it

can be delivered to a refinery.

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120731/oil-spill-liability-trust-fund-coast-guard-tar-sands-refineries-excise-tax-irs-epa-enbridge

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120731/oil-spill-liability-trust-fund-coast-guard-tar-sands-refineries-excise-tax-irs-epa-enbridge


http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120626/dilbit-primer-diluted-bitumen-conventional-oil-tar-sands-Alberta-Kalamazoo-Keystone-XL-Enbridge?page=show

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120626/dilbit-primer-diluted-bitumen-conventional-oil-tar-sands-Alberta-Kalamazoo-Keystone-XL-Enbridge?page=show




To make the thick bitumen flow through a pipeline, chemicals and water are added to dilute it.

Benzene, a known carcinogen, is often part of the diluents mixture.

Because this oil is so different from conventional crude, a coalition led by the National Wildlife

Federation is demanding a moratorium on building new tar sands pipelines—including the Keystone

XL—until regulators update the rules regarding this type of oil.

Lisa Song at InsideClimate News reports:

Filed on behalf of 29 environmental and community groups and 36 individuals, the petition

includes a list of nine policy recommendations for the safe transport of dilbit, a type of crude oil

produced from Canada's oil sands region.

"Simply put, diluted bitumen and conventional crude oil are not the same substance," the

petitioners wrote. "There is increasing evidence that the transport of diluted bitumen is putting

America's public safety at risk. Current regulations fail to protect the public against those risks.

Instead, regulations ... treat diluted bitumen and conventional crude the same."

Dilbit isn't just potentially more corrosive and dangerous inside the

pipeline, it sinks when it is spilled into water.

The problem, as I lay out in Update X here, is that dilbit sinks, making boom ineffective in containing

and cleaning up spills.

So while the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund will be tapped to clean up spills of tar sands oil, like the

Arkansas spill, because of this loophole, ExxonMobil and other oil companies dealing in tar sands

dilbit are not helping replenish these funds.

If the oil industry wants to pipe these dangerous tar sands oils over

our water sheds and aquifers, putting our drinking supply and

neighborhoods at risk, they should not only be required to pay into the

cleanup fund, they should be paying far more than the 8 cents per

barrel they pay for conventional oil since these tar sands oils are not

just worse for the environment, but potentially pose a greater risk of

spills and are even harder to clean up.

UPDATE: I'm seeing more and more press reports covering Exxon's statement that they will "pay all

costs for the Arkansas oil spill cleanup." Exxon is parsing words and sidestepping the issue I and

other journalists have raised about the technicality over how tar sands oil is classified.

Exxon may indeed end up paying for all of the oil spill cleanup in Mayflower, but they are not paying

the 8-cents-per-barrel fee for the tar sands oil, as they would if they were transporting conventional

oil. While I think there is legitimate cause for concern as to whether Exxon really will pay for the

damage they have caused (Ben Jervey has a good post on this point), the broader concern is that

this 1980 law is currently allowing oil companies shipping tar sands oil to get away without

contributing to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. With so much of this oil crossing the United States via

pipeline and rail, there is considerable risk of spills and it is not right that they are able to avoid these

oil spill liability trust fund fees.

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20130401/federal-agencies-asked-delay-keystone-over-pipeline-safety-issues?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20solveclimate%2Fblog%20%28InsideClimate%20News%29


http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext?nxd_id=650792

http://abcnews.go.com/US/exxon-mobil-pay-arkansas-oil-spill/story?id=18873237#.UV2IsFvEIWE

http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/04/03/can-we-trust-exxon-pay-pegasus-tar-sands-spill-cleanup




What Kinder Morgan is Keeping Secret About its Trans Mountain Spill

Response Plans

February 12, 2015

Kinder Morgan, the company currently seeking permission to nearly triple the capacity of the Trans

Mountain pipeline to carry Albertan crude to the west coast, has engaged in a protracted fight with

the province of British Columbia in an effort to keep its oil spill response plans a secret.

The company alleges its motivation has to do with ‘security concerns’ although a look back at the to

and fro with the province of B.C. paints a story of either incompetence or pure, defenseless hubris.

Either way, what Kinder Morgan is refusing to produce for B.C.and other intervenors in the pipeline

review process, the company willingly disclosed south of the border for portions of the pipeline that

extend to Washington State.

A read through the detailed spill response plans Kinder Morgan has in place for the U.S. shows just

how far the company went to prove they can handle a pipeline spill.

http://www.desmog.ca/2015/02/12/what-kinder-morgan-keeping-secret-about-its-trans-mountain-spill-response-plans-and-why-it-s-utterly-ridiculous


http://www.desmog.ca/2015/01/19/national-energy-board-rules-kinder-morgan-can-keep-pipeline-emergency-plans-secret-weakens-faith-process

ftp://ecy.wa.gov/spills/C-plans/KinderMorganCanadaTMPLDec2014EmerResponsePlan.pdf




It also highlights how outlandish it is that Kinder Morgan has not released similarly-detailed plans to

the province of B.C.

It is also troubling that Kinder Morgan expects the government of B.C. to consent to a massive

pipeline expansion — the proposal calls for a twinning of the pipeline which would lead to a fivefold

increase in tanker traffic — without adequate assurances the best available emergency plans are

in place.

So, what did Kinder Morgan tell Washington State that it refuses to tell B.C.?

1. Details for every unique section of the pipeline

In its Emergency Management Plan (EMP) documents released to regulators in Washington State,

Kinder Morgan provides detailed information about every individual section of the pipeline, including

the thickness of the pipeline’s walls, where it crosses water, the location of shutoff valves, peak

volumes and a ‘spill volume profile’ for each geographical 'zone' of the line.

A map from Kinder Morgan shows worst case scenario spill zones.

Read entire DESMOG CANADA article HERE

ftp://ecy.wa.gov/spills/C-plans/KinderMorganCanadaTMPLDec2014EmerResponsePlan.pdf





Oil trains rolling past a Toronto west end homeowner's backyard at dusk.

Oil train trouble in Toronto: citizens demand answers

A Toronto neighbourhood is taking the unusual step of asking the Auditor General of

Canada to get answers to the urban community's oil train concerns.

February 4, 2015

A Toronto neighbourhood group, alarmed by what appears to be a surge in oil trains rumbling past

their urban backyards, is taking the unusual step of urging the Auditor General of Canada to

intervene to help it get answers to safety concerns.

The group, called Safe Rail Communities, says it has been asking basic questions to CN, CP Rail

and the federal government about the safety of transporting these explosive fuels, but found the

responses lacking.

“We’re getting stonewalled,” said Helen Vassilakos, co-founder of Safe Rail Communities, who lives

near the train tracks.

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/oil-train-trouble-toronto-citizens-demand-answers

http://saferail.ca/




“Transport Canada is refusing to speak with us and the minister is actually refusing to send anyone

out to our meetings.”

The group was formed by home owners in Toronto's west end in 2014 after the Lac-Megantic rail

disaster, in eastern Quebec, killed 47 people in 2013.

Many residents have expressed concern a similar catastrophe could happen in their own

neighbourhood, in the heart of Canada's biggest city.

The trains often move past their homes in the middle of the night.

It's not clear how many oil trains roll past, but nationally, the number is climbing quickly, as oil sands

and Bakken shale producers struggle to get burgeoning fuels to market.

In a five-page environmental petition sent to Ottawa last week, members of Safe Rail Communities

said it had no other choice but to contact the Auditor General. That office has broad powers to

investigate federal government operations.

The group's petition lays out 17 questions directed at Transport Canada and Environment Canada.

They include questions about the safety of tank cars currently being used to transport oil, and

whether the government has sufficiently studied the environmental and public health risks associated

with the substantial increase in shipments of oil by rail.

Oil train data kept secret: CN

Canadian National Railway said it cannot share the information with

citizens easily because it's commercially sensitive.

It said it discloses information about the dangerous goods it transports with municipalities across

Canada including Toronto, but due to non-disclosure agreements, that information is kept secret and

only accessible to emergency response officials.

“It’s unbelievable that ordinary citizens have to do so much work to get an answer about things that

affect us,” said Patricia Lai, a mother of three young children and member of the Safe Rail

Communities group.

“We all assume that everything is being done to the strictest and the highest safety standards that

could possibly exist, but they aren’t,” she added.

Lai said the only contact they’ve had with Transport Canada was during a brief community meeting in

April 2014 that was held in another riding.

“It was quite promising that they were there and we thought 'Fantastic, we can voice our concerns,

we will be heard,'” said Lai.

But since then the group has tried unsuccessfully to contact Transport Canada on four occasions,

including sending a formal invitation to Lisa Raitt, the Minister of Transport, to attend a meeting in

their area in September.

In an email from Transport Canada, it confirmed Raitt received Safe Rail Communities latest

correspondence including a review of the Canadian Transportation Act on January 21.




“The department is currently looking at this proposition and will provide comments in due time,” said

Mélany Gauvin, a spokesperson for Transport Canada said Monday.

The ministry did not explain why the minister or department did not to respond to the group’s three

other inquires last year.

Oil trains in Toronto

Oil trains skyrocketing

In 2009, there were 500 railcars of crude oil and other hazardous goods transported across Canada.

That number jumped to more than 130,000 in 2014, according to the Railway Association of Canada

(RAC).

That number is expected to quadruple to 510,000 railcars by 2016, according to comments made by

Bob Bleaney, vice-president of external relations for the Canadian Association of Petroleum

Producers, during a House of Commons committee meeting in 2013.

Last year in a report by the Transportation Safety Board, it described the amount of oil being shipped

by rail as “staggering” and went on to state that the risks to the public and the environment have

increased significantly.




“We’re not opposed to it being shipped by rail, as long as it is shipped in the safest way possible,”

said Vassilakos, who explained that they understand shipping oil by rail is an economic reality.

In October, Transport Canada introduced a number of new safety rules in response to the Lac-

Mégantic train disaster, including hiring 10 additional auditors to audit rail companies’ safety

management systems.

“It’s been a year a half since Lac Megantic and we still really have not had a commitment from the

minister that all these recommendations are going to be enforced,” said Peggy Nash, a Toronto MP

who represents a community bound on three sides by rail lines.

“The fact that a local citizen group should have to try and force Transport Canada to do its job and

the minister to do her job seems ridiculous. The government hires experts on this topic and they

should be the ones safeguarding public safety,” she said.

In December, Toronto Mayor John Tory said he wanted to stop the movement of dangerous

substances through Toronto and demanded greater transparency from railway companies on what

goods are being transported through the city.

A spokesperson for the mayor said last week that Tory had nothing further to add.

CN said they have previously met with Toronto officials about the dangerous goods transported

through the city, and the company is ready to meet the mayor again, said Mark Hallman, Director of

Communications for CN last week.

The office of the Auditor General confirmed they received the Safe Rail Communities petition.

So far this year the auditor general has received five environmental petitions since June 2014,

according to Ghislain Desjardins, a spokesperson for the auditor general’s office. Last year the

auditor general received 16 environmental petitions.

According to a public catalogue of the petitions, this is the first environmental petition about rail safety

directed at Transport Canada and Environment Canada.

Once a petition has been accepted and forwarded to the appropriate ministries, ministers must

respond within 120 days.




Alaska May Provide Solution To Tar Sands Issue

February 9, 2015

The U.S. Congress is nearing final approval of a bill that would green light the Keystone XL pipeline.

But with the President set to veto the legislation when it reaches his desk, the ability of companies in

Alberta to get their tar sands oil out of the country looks highly uncertain.

With a southern route through Keystone XL potentially blocked, there have been alternative routes

east and west. Enbridge has proposed the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would travel to British

Columbia’s Pacific coast, but that has faced stiff environmental opposition from provincial residents

and indigenous groups. TransCanada is also pushing its Energy East project, a 4,600-kilometer

pipeline that would take 1.1 million barrels of tar sands from Alberta to the Atlantic coast. That too

has faced regulatory hurdles and strong environmental opposition, putting its ultimate fate in doubt.

What is a tar sands producer to do when routes east, west, and south have all run into a brick wall of

opposition? Go north. Or, more specifically, northwest. Bloomberg reported that the province of

Alberta is considering a pipeline that would run from the major tar sands projects in Alberta, and

travel through the U.S. state of Alaska to the coast. The pipeline would have to be constructed

through the Canada’s Northwest Territories and Yukon, reaching ports on the Pacific coast in Alaska.

Related: Why The World Needs Both Shale And Tar Sands

The advantage that this northwestern tar sands route would have over the stalled alternatives is that

it would be constructed in a much more politically favorable environment. It would not run into the

political buzz saw that pipeline companies have found in the U.S., British Columbia, and Ontario.

The governments in Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Alaska are all supportive of the

expansion of the Athabasca tar sands. Governor Bill Walker, “welcomes all constructive dialogue on

growing Alaska’s economy, and looks forward to sharing experiences with another world-class

energy-producing region,” a spokeswoman for the Alaskan governor confirmed.

On the other hand, a tar sands pipeline running through such harsh terrain in Canada’s northwest

and Alaska could certainly face significantly higher costs. In fact, it is not at all clear that such a route

even makes economic sense. “It’s technically feasible,” Alberta Premier Jim Prentice told Bloomberg

in an interview. “Whether it’s economically feasible has yet to be determined, so we’re working on

that.”

Separately, a Canadian rail company is proposing a $15 billion rail project that would open the door

to moving tar sands by rail to Alaska. The rail project would connect Fort McMurray, a major hub for

tar sands production, to Delta Junction, Alaska, where it could link up to the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline

System (TAPS).

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Alaska-May-Provide-Solution-To-Tar-Sands-Issue.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/scheduling/232048-this-week-immigration-and-keystone-top-agenda

http://www.transcanada.com/energy-east-pipeline.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/transcanada-chief-slams-ludicrous-arguments-by-energy-east-opponents/article22233005/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-09/alberta-pitching-oil-pipeline-to-alaska-prentice-says

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Why-The-World-Needs-Both-Shale-And-Tar-Sands.html




http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/02/04/canadian-group-pitches-alaska-rail-line-for-oil-sands/




The proposal calls for moving over 1 million barrels of oil a day, a rail

project of unprecedented size and scope. To move oil at that rate, “it

would require unloading 200 freight trains every 45

minutes,” according to the AP.

Related: Keystone XL Pipeline: Why The Big Fuss?

Still, it is far from clear whether the rail project is feasible economically or even technically. A state

representative from Alaska voiced some concerns after listening to a presentation of the project. “I

don’t know if anybody in that study has talked to the owners of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. They

would obviously have a great deal to say about what gets put into their pipeline,” Rep. Eric Feige (R-

Chickaloon) said. “… A million barrels of bitumen a day will not go into TAPS. Technically, you don’t

have the capability to do that.”

As an alternative, Feige recommended building the railway to the port of Valdez, home to one of the

worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. Otherwise, if the rail company wants to link up to

TAPS, the sticky, heavy tar sands oil would need to be refined first, Feige said.

A massive pipeline or a railway crisscrossing northern Canada and Alaska underscores the quandary

that tar sands producers find themselves in. Producers lack adequate access to market, which is

currently constraining their ambitious long-term production plans. The northwest route raises

enormous environmental, economic and safety-related questions. But given the fact that all of their

other routes have been blocked, tar sands producers are running out of other options

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/02/04/canadian-group-pitches-alaska-rail-line-for-oil-sands/

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Keystone-XL-Pipeline-Why-The-Big-Fuss.html







Landowners Speak on Injunction Blocking Pipeline

February 12, 2015

After months and years of planning and preparation, more than 50 landowners arrived in Holt County

at the district courthouse against TransCanada and their attorneys. The result is an injunction that

helps not only the landowners, but their families as well.

"We were ecstatic. We were just so shocked," landowner Kim Hansen said. "It took us awhile, but it

was just a big sigh of relief, and we were very, very relieved."

The relief came for landowners in northern Nebraska, who were granted a temporary injunction in

Holt County district court against TransCanada, halting the condemnation area along the proposed

route.

"There are about 90 landowners across the state that can sleep tonight, and know that somebody's

not going to be knocking at their door tomorrow saying here's a stack of paper because

TransCanada wants to steal your land," landowner Art Tanderup said.

TransCanada agreed to the injunction due to the corresponding lawsuits, including an upcoming

hearing in York County, and as one landowner says, this is more than just protecting their land, it can

also hit even closer to home.

"My family farm is the land that is crossing, and we came back to live on that farm so we could retire,"

Hellen Tanderup said. "We wanted it to be kept safe for us, for our children if they wanted to be using

it and our grandchildren."

http://www.nbcneb.com/home/headlines/Landowners-Speak-on-Injunction-Blocking-Pipeline-291795901.html




Crews to clean up oil spilled into Yellowstone River from Montana pipeline

January 19, 2015

At least 42,000 gallons of oil has leaked into the Yellowstone River from a broken pipeline, leaving the Glendive city water supply smelling and tasting like petroleum.

State and federal officials said Monday preliminary tests indicate that some oil from Saturday’s Bridger Pipeline break got into Glendive’s public water supply. The Environmental Protection Agency is bringing in water for the town’s 6,000-plus residents as a precaution as it determines whether the pollutants found in the water are a health threat.

Bottled water will be distributed at The EPEC building located at 313 S. Merrill Ave. on Tuesday. Times have not been announced.

“We tested the water and at some taps we detected hydrocarbons. We’ve ordered in drinking water that we’re going to make available,” said Paul Peronard, of the EPA.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/crews-to-clean-up-oil-spilled-into-yellowstone-river-from/article_89bcd50d-60ed-5a98-9a3d-4cecffa020e4.html#ixzz3PL0rlSyU




Monday, water samples were sent to a laboratory in Billings for further testing. Results are expected Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Glendive water treatment plant has stopped drawing water from the Yellowstone River. The community has enough reserve water to last a few days, but will have to begin drawing water from the river eventually to maintain pressure. Peronard said engineers are on the way to Glendive to determine how to clean the treatment plant and how to safely draw water from the oil-contaminated river.

The discovery came as a surprise to cleanup officials because Glendive’s water intake is 14 feet beneath the river surface. Oil floats on top of the water. Officials had assumed the oil would pass over the area without interacting with the city water intake.

Glendive residents like Carrie Flynn Keiser began reporting the taste and smell of oil in their drinking water Sunday.

“We heard about it about an hour before we tasted it (in) the water,” she said.

Keiser, who lives at 600 Snyder Ave., said she was alerted to the spill because her mother in-law saw a friend’s Facebook post about it.

Her in-laws across town also were reporting an oily smell and taste in their water.

The mother of five said she does not want her children, the three other children she cares for, her husband or pets to drink the tainted water, she said. Her family is relying on a small storage tank in their basement. When that runs out, they’ll buy bottled water, Keiser said.

Monday morning, Keiser was still waiting for authorities to explain what was going on with her water.

“There’s a big impact. The water’s not drinkable at all,” she said.

Ice on the river is complicating cleanup efforts. Much of the oil from the pipeline break six miles upstream from Glendive is trapped beneath a sheet of river ice and cannot be seen, according to EPA.

Crews need to get equipment onto the river for cleanup, but in most areas the ice is too thin. The area with the thickest ice appears to be near Crane, some 30 miles downstream from the spill. There, crews are cutting slots in the ice, into which sheets of plywood will be inserted to force the oil upward so it can be sucked out. The Crane site will serve as a backstop Peronard said.

Closer to the broken pipeline, crews will work to recover oil from an opening in the ice.

But where the ice is too thin, the cleanup efforts will be called off.

“If the ice isn’t thick enough and we cannot operate safely, then we’re not going to do it,” Peronard said. “The fact is, I’m not risking any lives.”

Trapping the oil in clear water downstream from ice is also difficult. Containment booms — floating, rope-like material used to hem in oil spills on water bodies — doesn’t stand up well to floating ice chunks.

The ice does slow down the oil’s progress, though. The rough underside of the river’s frozen cap is slowing the oil’s trip downstream. In some cases, the oil may travel one-third to one-fifth the speed of the river water.

At the pipeline site Monday, excavation crews were digging up sections of the Bridger Pipeline on both banks of the river. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Bridger Pipeline LLC would try to recover oil believed to be still trapped in the broken pipeline.

It still wasn’t clear exactly where the leak was. The pipeline section crossing the river is roughly a mile long and bookended with safety valves located several yards away from the river’s edge.




Bridger Pipeline monitoring data suggests that at least 300 barrels of oil spilled from the breach before safety valves shut down the flow. But the mile-long section of pipe also holds roughly 900 additional barrels, of which it’s uncertain how many may have leaked into the river after the shutdown.

By late Monday, officials were estimating the spill to be 1,000 barrels.

Bridger spokesman Bill Salvin said Monday that the company is confident that no more than 1,200 barrels — or 50,000 gallons — of oil spilled during the hour long breach.

“Oil has made it into the river,” Salvin said. “We do not know how much at this point.”

An oil sheen was seen near Sidney, nearly 60 river miles downstream from Glendive, said Paul Peronard, the on-scene coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Bridger Pipeline crews were still working Monday to determine exactly where the breach occurred.

If it happened on the bank, some of the oil may be trapped in the soil near the river.

“If it happened underneath the river, then it’s all in the river,” Peronard

said.

Bridger Pipeline is part of the Poplar Pipeline system, which runs from Canada to Baker and carries crude oil from the Bakken oilfield. It remained shut down Monday. The pipeline receives oil at the Poplar Station in Roosevelt County, Fisher and Richey Stations in Richland County and at Glendive in Dawson County, all in Montana. It was last inspected in 2012, Salvin said.

Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of True Cos., also owns and operates the Four Bears Pipeline System in North Dakota along with the Parshall Gathering System and the Powder River System in Wyoming, according to the company’s website.

The Bridger Pipeline is 55 years old, according the EPA. It was buried 8 feet beneath the Yellowstone River at last inspection.

The pipeline was a moderate risk for failure in 2011, according government reports.

Bank erosion along the south side of the Bridger Pipeline crossing had made the 12-inch diameter oil line more vulnerable to damage, according to the Yellowstone Pipeline Risk Assessment.

The report was compiled by the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council in 2012 after the 2011 rupture of the Silvertip Pipeline near Laurel.

The assessment, the most recent available, indicated a risk for accelerated future erosion because of a recent upstream change in the river’s path near the site of Saturday’s spill. It was also in the path of a major ice scour in 2014 that leveled trees and in some areas altered the course of the river.

Four pipelines run near the Yellowstone River in Dawson County. Two

run parallel to the river and two cross beneath the riverbed.

All four were evaluated in 2012. Two of the pipelines were at a low risk of rupture.

A natural gas pipeline owned by the Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Company, which runs under the river parallel to a railroad bridge upstream from Highway 10, was considered high risk for damage. As with the Bridger Pipeline, erosion was the main culprit for the gas line.

The Williston pipeline is girded by the railroad bridge abutment on both sides of the river, but has had erosion problems for many years.

Editorial Comment:

North America’s aging pipeline infrastructure

is problematic for our fragile ecosystem




Officials said that they were bringing truckloads of drinking water to Glendive, Montana, after traces

of oil that spilled into the Yellowstone River were found in the city’s water supply.

Benzene found in Montana water supply after Yellowstone oil spill

A cancer-causing component of oil has been detected in the drinking water supply of an

eastern Montana city downstream from a crude oil spill

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/20/benzene-montana-water-supply-yellowstone-oil-spill




A cancer-causing component of oil has been detected in the drinking water supply of an

eastern Montana city just downstream from a crude oil spill that entered the Yellowstone River.

Elevated levels of benzene were found in samples taken from a water treatment plant that serves

about 6,000 people in the agricultural community of Glendive, near the North Dakota border, officials

said.

Truckloads of bottled water were expected to be brought in on Tuesday, and residents were warned

not to drink or cook with water from their taps.

Up to 50,000 gallons of oil spilled on Saturday from a break in a 12-inch pipeline owned by Wyoming-

based Bridger Pipeline Co.

Representatives from Montana and the US Environmental Protection Agency said preliminary tests

did not show cause for concern but additional tests ordered after residents complained of a petroleum

or diesel-like smell from their tap water revealed the benzene.

Wesley Henderson, a 36-year-old oilfield worker, said he bought five gallons of water after his wife

noticed a strange odor coming from their tap water. An advisory against ingesting water from the

city’s treatment plant was issued late on Monday.

“It sucks,” Henderson said on Tuesday. “I didn’t find out about the advisory until after I’d been drinking

it. My stomach hurt all day yesterday. I don’t know if that was just in my mind.”

Shawn Edman said officials should have issued the advisory earlier.

“It seems like a late advisory,” he said. “That’s two days later.”

Scientists from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the elevated amounts of

benzene are above the levels recommended for long-term consumption but don’t pose a short-term

health hazard.

Federal, state and local officials were working on a plan to decontaminate the water system.

Another pipeline spill along the Yellowstone River in Montana released 63,000 gallons of oil in July

2011. An Exxon Mobil pipeline broke during flooding, and oil washed up along an 85-mile stretch of

riverbank.

Exxon Mobil is facing state and federal fines of up to $3.4m from the spill. The company has said it

spent $135m on the cleanup and other work.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/montana




Yellowstone Pipeline Spills Fuel Arguments Over Keystone XL Line

January 29, 2015

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Oil pipeline accidents have become increasingly frequent in the U.S. as

Congress pushes for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline — a project that would pass near the spot

where 30,000 gallons of crude spilled into Montana's Yellowstone River earlier this month.

The recent spill temporarily fouled a city's water supply and became the latest in a string of accidents

to highlight ongoing problems with maintenance of the nation's 61,000 miles of crude oil pipelines.

Yet in the politically charged debate over Keystone, its detractors aren't the only ones seizing on the

Yellowstone spill. So are lawmakers who support the project.

In a floor speech Wednesday, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., pointed to the Jan. 17 spill in Montana as

an example of why new pipelines like Keystone are needed.

Keystone would be different than the half-

century-old line that failed near the city of

Glendive, Montana Sen. Steve Daines told The

Associated Press.

"What this oil spill has done, is it makes clear

that we need to be building the most

technologically advanced and state-of-the-art

infrastructure, pipelines like the Keystone," said

Daines, a freshman Republican.

Editorial Comment:

North America’s problematic aging pipeline

infrastructure used to transport diluted bitumen

from Canada and crude oil must be upgraded

prior to new pipelines being added.

Ignoring these failing pipelines is an irresponsible

recipe for disaster!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/yellowstone-pipeline-spills-keystone-xl_n_6568624.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000044




The number of significant pipeline-related accidents involving crude oil has been growing each year

since 2009, reversing a decade-long declining trend, according to an Associated Press review of U.S.

Department of Transportation records.

At least 73 such accidents occurred in 2014 — an 87 percent increase over 2009. Because of a lag

in reporting by companies, the 2014 figure still could rise.

The tally includes accidents in which someone was killed or hospitalized, five or more barrels of oil

were released, a fire or explosion occurred, or costs from the accident topped $50,000.

The increase came as surging domestic oil production boosted crude shipments by pipeline by about

20 percent, to 8.3 billion barrels annually, between 2009 and 2013, the most recent year available.

Meanwhile, pipes that were put in the ground decades ago are wearing

out, said Rebecca Craven, program director for the advocacy group

Pipeline Safety Trust.

Almost half the pipeline-related accidents since 2009 involved lines or equipment installed more than

40 years ago, according to records on more than 250 accidents that were reviewed by The AP and

included age information.

Pipeline industry representatives say the increase in accidents is less straightforward than the federal

data suggest.

An industry examination of crude oil and other hazardous liquid accidents in 2013 showed that in

two-thirds of cases, the spill did not leave the responsible company's property, said John Stoody,

vice president of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines. Most of the accidents involved fewer than five

barrels, or 210 gallons.

The recent Montana spill was the second in less than four years on the Yellowstone, a largely

untamed river that flows from Yellowstone National Park and across the breadth of Montana before

feeding into the Missouri River in North Dakota.

The accident happened after a 120-foot section of Bridger Pipeline LLC's Poplar Pipeline became

exposed beneath the river, increasing its vulnerability to underwater debris. The section that failed

was installed in 1967.

The 12-inch steel line had been at least 8 feet beneath the river as recently as 2011, when a survey

was performed in response to an earlier Exxon Mobil pipeline break beneath the Yellowstone.

For Keystone, project sponsor TransCanada plans to drill the 36-inch pipeline dozens of feet beneath

major rivers to protect it from floodwaters or other outside forces.

Keystone's critics say no pipeline is entirely safe.

"You know what they say about pipelines? There's only two kinds: The ones that are leaking, and the

ones that are going to leak," said Dena Hoff, a farmer and rancher whose property fronts the

Yellowstone at the site of the Poplar Pipeline spill.

Keystone would move up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day. A break in the line could dwarf the recent

Montana accident, on a line with a capacity of just 42,000 barrels daily.




TransCanada says Keystone would be buried deeply enough — at least 25 feet beneath the

Yellowstone — to avoid even a 500-year flood event, said Keystone spokesman Shawn Howard.

Precautions at 13 other major water crossings would be similar.

Yet even with the latest technologies, protecting pipelines beneath rivers presents challenges.

In 2011, days after flooding across the Northern Plains broke the Exxon pipe, U.S. Geological Survey

researchers found "scour holes" as deep as 53 feet along the Missouri River.

While engineers have equations they can use to forecast locations where floodwaters may eat away

at a river bottom, the USGS' Brenda Densmore said the dynamic nature of rivers can make them

unpredictable.

"It's nature," Densmore said. "Is it going to follow the equation? I don't know for sure."

Map of major natural gas and oil pipelines in the United States (2.5 million miles). Hazardous liquid

lines in red, gas transmission lines in blue. Source: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety

Administration.




Liquefied Natural Gas

Proposed LNG Facilities Put Fisheries at Risk: New Study

A new study from Simon Fraser University shows that two, multi-billion-dollar LNG marine export

facilities slated for the province’s northwest are located in the worst possible place for fisheries.

They are both in the heart of the most critically important waters for

rearing millions of wild B.C. salmon.

“The worst case scenario is the Skeena salmon population would collapse, and to levels that would

not allow commercial fishing,” Assistant Professor Jonathan Moore with SFU’s School of Resource

and Environmental Management told The Vancouver Observer this week.

Malaysia’s state-oil company Petronas is seeking to build the $11-billion “Pacific Northwest LNG”

terminal on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert. Next to it, a British-company — BG Group — wants to

build the $16-billion “Prince Rupert LNG” project on Ridley Island.

“This area, right where this LNG development is proposed, has the highest abundance of some of the

most important salmon species within the Skeena watershed,” said Moore, an aquatic ecologist.

The study was a collaboration between Simon Fraser University, Lax Kw’alaams First Nation, and the

Skeena Fisheries Commission. To read the Observer article, click here.

http://fnlngstrategy.ca/proposed-lng-facilities-put-fisheries-at-risk-new-study/?fb_action_ids=10152607036462611&fb_action_types=og.comments&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B772912729398692%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.comments%22%5D&action_re

https://peerj.com/preprints/375.pdf

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/proposed-lng-terminals-could-collapse-bc-wild-salmon-run-sfu-scientists

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/proposed-lng-terminals-could-collapse-bc-wild-salmon-run-sfu-scientists




TV Advertisement: Energy Superpower (at what cost?)

The State of American Energy (2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkK6EFqwHZY




Coal

Save the Chuitna




When you think of Alaska…




What do you want to see?

http://savethechuitna.org/




In this July 1, 2013, file photo, smoke rises from the Colstrip Steam Electric Station, a coal burning power plant in Colstrip, Mont. Hoping to end the use of coal power in Washington state, lawmakers are proposing measures to help the state’s three private utilities eliminate the electricity they get from out-of-state coal-fired power plants

Proposal tries to help wean Washington off coal-fired power

February 14, 2015

SEATTLE — Lawmakers hoping to wean Washington state off coal power are trying to ease the way

for the state's utilities to end the electricity it gets from coal.

Bills in the House and Senate set up certain favorable conditions for three private utilities, should

they decide in the future to shut down a massive coal-fired power plant in eastern Montana that

provides power to a chunk of the Pacific Northwest.

Supporters say the proposal gives the utilities the tools they need to begin divesting from coal power

plants, including a way for the utility to issue bonds for shutdown and other costs that would be paid

back by ratepayers over time.

But the Sierra Club and other critics say the proposal removes too much utility oversight, sets too

long a timeline for closing a power plant and doesn't ensure that coal power gets replaced by

something cleaner.

http://www.theolympian.com/2015/02/14/3576966_proposal-tries-to-help-wean-washington.html?rh=1




"It's important that we start the discussion about how to divest ourselves of energy supply from coal,"

said Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon, prime sponsor of HB 2002. "This is not a plant-closing bill. It's

just a process to set up the opportunity to close the plant."

The bill would allow utilities to recover any mitigation costs from a plant closure, such as financial

assistance to displaced employees, from its utility customers.

Washington state gets less than 14 percent of its power from coal. The state's only coal-fired power

plant in Centralia is slated to shut down by 2025. Much of the state's coal-fired electricity comes into

the state from the Colstrip Steam Electric Station in Colstrip, Montana, and the Jim Bridger plant in

Wyoming.

To reduce carbon pollution, Gov. Jay Inslee and others are trying to persuade three investor-owned

utilities operating in the state — Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy, Portland-based PacifiCorp and

Spokane-based Avista Corp. — to reduce or eliminate electricity they get from out-of-state coal

plants.

PSE is the largest owner of Colstrip, which consists of four separate coal-fired units. PPL Montana

operates the facility on behalf of six owners, including Avista and PacifiCorp.

Because of Colstrip's complicated ownership structure, no single owner can unilaterally decide to

retire a plant. A provision in the bills sets up favorable conditions so that one utility could buy out

another share of the coal plant with the goal of ultimately shutting it down.

There's an opportunity for Puget to acquire an additional interest in Colstrip, PSE's Ken Johnson told

lawmakers at a Senate committee hearing Wednesday. "We believe it's in the best interests of

customers to do that," he added.

Johnson noted there are existing federal regulations around air quality that will make it more

economically challenging to operate Colstrip.

"As it's written right now, it's unacceptable," said Doug Howell, senior campaign representative with

the Sierra Club.

The measure gives utilities up to 30 years to end coal use and doesn't ensure that coal is replaced by

cleaner energy sources, he said. Current regulatory, economic and other pressures may force a

closure sooner than this bill actually provides, Howell added.

John Rothlin with Avista told senators that Colstrip is a source of cheap, reliable energy and it

remains a cost-effective resource for the next 20 years. Avista, which was involved with the other

utilities in drafting the bill, gets about 9 percent of its energy from Colstrip.

Rothlin said Colstrip plant contributes $600 million to Montana's economy, so its future has major

implications for that state's tax base and the plant's workers.

Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, also worried about the impact on Montana, asking: "Do we have a

moral responsibility for the jobs lost and the economic impact on Montana?"

Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, said it's imperative that the state weans itself off coal. Senate Bill

5874, which he is sponsoring with Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, is a good start, though he would

like to ensure that any coal replacement is significantly cleaner.




Hydropower / Water Retention

Federal fish agency opposes Shasta Dam raise

January 28, 2015

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, fishing groups and environmentalists have been fighting a federal plan

to raise Shasta Dam for many years, since the 18-1/2 foot proposed dam raise would flood many of

the Tribe's remaining sacred sites and further imperil salmon and steelhead populations on the

Sacramento River.

The Tribe held a war dance at Shasta Dam in September 2004 to oppose the dam raise - and

conducted another war dance in September 2014 to oppose the dam expansion and the Brown Water

Plan to drain the Delta.

“Any raising of the dam, even a few feet, will flood some of our last remaining sacred sites on the

McCloud River – sites we still use today,” said Caleen Sisk, Winnemem Chief and Spiritual Leader.

"We can't be Winnemem any place else but the McCloud River. The dam raise is a form of cultural

genocide."

“We pray that the spirit beings hear us and bring all of our helpers, from the high mountain meadows

all of the way to the ocean,” she stated before the war dance began. “Our concern is the health of the

waterways.

We are here at the dam that blocks the salmon on a river that should

be full of salmon.”

She described Shasta Dam as “a weapon of mass destruction” against the Winnemem Wintu and

said the idea of dams is a “horrible archaic project.”

The campaign by the Tribe and their allies to stop Shasta Dam from being raised received a boost

when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a revised draft report on the proposed

enlargement of the dam revealing how the dam raise will indeed harm salmon populations.

The agency concluded that it cannot support any of the proposed action alternatives, including the

preferred alternative presented by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency controls and

operates the dam.

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/01/28/18767701.php




The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) issued a controversial draft Environmental Impact Statement

(DEIS) on dam enlargement in 2013. The project must be approved by Congress - and justified by

both economic and environmental rationales, according to a joint news release from the California

Water Impact Network (C-WIN) and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA). Taxpayers

would pay for two-thirds of the $1.1 billion project,

In an earlier cost/benefit analysis, BOR determined that payments by Central Valley Project water

and power customers alone would provide minimal justification for the project economically.

Consequently, 61% of the "economic justification"' now touted by the agency is a larger cold water

pool behind the dam to "improve" Sacramento River salmon survival during critically dry years, the

groups said.

In response, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) stated in its recent draft report that the

project is not justifiable because it provides no net benefits to salmon, and will result in negative

environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated.

"The limited benefit derived from dam enlargement and the preferred alternative CP4A during dry and

critically dry years will likely be offset by river conditions downstream of RBPP (Red Bluff Pumping

Plant) in the mainstem Sacramento and the Delta," the report stated. "The enlargement of Shasta

Dam and the water management scenario described for CP4A will reduce the rearing capacity of the

Sacramento River for juvenile salmonids by further altering the natural successional process of

riparian forest habitat, and by reducing juvenile salmonid access to the high quality rearing habitat

found in floodplains and bypasses because of reduced high water flow events."

Tom Stokely, water policy analyst for the California Water Impact Network, commented, “This report

documents the Bureau of Reclamation’s own data that shows the project will not benefit salmon in the

Sacramento River. We knew all along that the Bureau of Reclamation had a phony economic

justification to enlarge Shasta Dam. Now we have another federal agency agreeing with us.”

Stokely said it is clear that any water that would result from the enlargement of the dam “is intended

for the poisoned lands of the Westlands Water District south of the Delta. This is just another

deception by BOR to provide more subsidized water under the guise of a public benefit.”

The USFWS report further stated that the Bureau of Reclamation would have considered several

options that were removed early in the consideration process if salmon restoration had been a true

priority.

Those actions include repairing the multi-million dollar Shasta Dam temperature control device;

restoring the riparian corridor along the Sacramento River; operational changes to Shasta Dam to

increase cold water storage and increase minimum flows; increasing water use efficiency in local




canals; and considering conjunctive use of other existing and planned water storage facilities in the

Central Valley.

“It’s instructive to note that all these actions would cost a fraction of dam enlargement,” said Bill

Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.

“This isn’t just an environmental and fisheries issue. It’s about the squandering of taxpayer dollars. It’s

about pork barrel politics, about public money flowing from the public coffers to the handful of

corporate farmers in the San Joaquin Valley who control water in California.”

Responding to the report, Chief Caleen Sisk said, "While the US Fish and Wildlife biologists are on

track, they offer no resolve as to a 'fix.'" She criticized the agencies for refusing to include the Tribe in

efforts to restore wild salmon.

"So far the US Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA and BOR have not included the Winnemem Wintu

Tribe in the solutions to address the wild Chinook," Sisk emphasized. "There are no studies, that I am

aware of, that address the flooding of salmon spawning grounds, unless they have finally realized that

the raise of Shasta Dam will flood the Sacramento River, McCloud River, and Squaw Creek. These

are all possible rich spawning waters that will be flooded by the 18.5' raise."

"Perhaps the BOR is now being held accountable for more than the 'cold water pool' to help salmon,"

she said. "The Shasta Dam raise EIS cites no effort to provide a swimway passage for the wild winter

run and all runs of Chinook, nor makes any effort to assist salmon in the mountain waters."

The Tribe has been trying for years to restore winter run Chinook to the McCloud River above Shasta

Lake by reintroducing the original strain of winter Chinook that are now thriving in the Rakaira and

other rivers in New Zealand, but the federal agencies have to date refused to back their efforts.

"There is no effort to work with the Indigenous Peoples of the McCloud River Watershed," said Sisk.

"The BOR's plans for wild winter run Chinook fall desperately short of a real viable production of

salmon."

She concluded, "The Winnemem Wintu stand ready to assist as soon as Sue Fry of the Bureau of

Reclamation will allow us to participate in the plan."

Jennings noted that the report is only a revised draft, and that it could be "steamrolled" by the Bureau

and politicians controlled by corporate agribusiness.

“Given the political implications of the report, CSPA is very concerned that it may be rewritten by

Obama Administration political appointees who support enlargement of Shasta Dam,” he said.




Jennings also said the Bureau of Reclamation’s "egregious dishonesty" in spinning the “benefits” of

enlarging Shasta Dam also calls into question the economic justification for other new or enlarged

dams planned for California, including Sites Reservoir and Temperance Flat.

Both these projects may be eligible for funding under Proposition 1, Governor Jerry Brown's water

bond that the voters approved in November.

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Water Impact

Network and other Tribes and organizations opposed Prop. 1, while agribusiness, the oil industry, Big

Tobacco, corporate environmental "NGOs," timber barons, billionaires, other corporate interests and

the Governor spent over $16.4 million to pass the bond.

But Stokely emphasized, "the evidence is increasing that they’re economic and environmental

boondoggles, and will provide little if any benefit in mitigating the state’s water crisis."

“The Stanford Woods Institute recently came out with a study stating that underground storage is six

times more cost effective than surface storage,” Stokely said. “Obviously, destructive and expensive

infrastructure projects are the wrong track. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had the guts and

integrity to say as much. We applaud them for it.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Revised Draft Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act Report on the

Shasta Lake Water Resources Investigation can be found at http://www.c-win.org/webfm_send/466

The Stanford Woods Institute report on underground storage costs compared to surface storage can

be found at http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Storing_Water_in_CA.pdf

http://www.c-win.org/webfm_send/466

http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Storing_Water_in_CA.pdf




Once more into the breach debate

February 15, 2015

Once a company man, Jim Waddell now finds himself challenging the agency he spent a career

serving.

In so doing, he has established himself as a threat to those defending the four lower Snake River

dams and a champion of breachers, who have adopted a new strategy that questions whether the

massive costs associated with operating and maintaining the dams is money well spent.

http://www.wildsalmon.org/projects/lower-snake-river-waterway/lewiston-tribune-once-more-into-the-breach-debate.html




But Waddell doesn’t see himself as the enemy of his former employer. Instead, he is trying to work

with the agency and Congress in hopes of correcting what he views as a wrong he helped to

perpetuate almost 15 years ago.

It was then that he served as the deputy district engineer — the top civilian at the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers Walla District — at a time the agency was on the precipice of a monumental decision:

Should the dams be breached to save threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead that spawn

in the river and its tributaries?

Waddell was a key decision-maker and recommended the agency pursue breaching. He felt there

was something wrong with the economic analysis that showed breaching the dams would cost

hundreds of millions of dollars and keeping them would produce modest economic benefits.

“Being a program manager in the corps of engineers for a couple of decades, you know when

something is not right. You can’t always come up with the right numbers. You just have to say, ‘This

sucks, I don’t buy it.’ I had no recourse, I just said, ‘It’s not convincing economics and it’s not

convincing biology.’ I said, ‘I recommend we continue with breach planning and prepare to do it.’ ”

His advice was ignored and the agency embarked on a strategy to invest hundreds of millions of

dollars to make the dams more friendly to the fish.

Setting the record straight

Years passed, Waddell retired and now he is trying to make things right. Over the past year he

reopened the Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Report, pored over its

thousands of pages, charts and appendixes and did his best to correct it. He started by consulting

some of the documents he saved during his time at Walla Walla. Chief among them were notes from

a “team of rivals” exercise Waddell set up as the document was being completed. He formed two

teams — one to argue for keeping the dams, and one to argue for breaching them.

The team that argued for breaching pointed out several problems with the economic work in the

study:

The alternatives that called for keeping the dams by adding things like fish bypass systems

and removable spillway weirs assumed the money spent to do the work would be one-time

expenditures, and failed to note the equipment would need to be maintained and even

replaced throughout the 100-year lifespan of the dams;

The cost estimates of the fish-friendly equipment were not realistic;

All of the costs associated with maintaining the dams were not considered when calculating

the avoided costs associated with dam breaching;

The corps did not include indirect expenses to keep the dams, such as the cost to trap and

barge fish, and other mitigation measures.

But the agency had spent six years on the study and more than $30

million and was unwilling to delay its rollout to fix the problems.

Read Entire Lewiston Tribune Article HERE

http://www.wildsalmon.org/projects/lower-snake-river-waterway/lewiston-tribune-once-more-into-the-breach-debate.html




King County prepares major plan to improve Green River levees

February 13, 2015

http://www.kentreporter.com/news/291912291.html




There's a whole lot of time, work and money going into a plan to improve the Green River levees that

protect the cities of Kent, Auburn, Tukwila and Renton from flooding.

King County Flood Control District officials expect to complete this summer the formation of the

Green River System-Wide Improvement Framework (SWIF) designed to improve flood protection as

well as save salmon and enhance open space, recreation and public access.

"It's an important conversation," said Kent City Council President Dana Ralph after hearing a SWIF

presentation on Feb. 3 at a council workshop. "We are very fortunate to have that asset in the middle

of the city and we need to make sure we are doing everything to protect it and protect the businesses

that are along the river at the same time."

Jennifer Knauer, SWIF project manager for the county, told the council that the plan focuses on the

lower Green River from Auburn (near Highway 18) to Tukwila, a stretch of about 21 miles that

includes about a dozen levees that protect more than 100,000 jobs and $7.3 billion worth of

structures and contents.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently approved the SWIF approach for levees across the

nation. County officials will submit the Green River plan this summer to the Corps for approval. It is

one of about three dozen SWIF projects nationwide. County staff began work on the plan more than

two years ago.

The SWIF is scheduled to go before the King County Flood Control District executive committee on

Feb. 17 for approval and then to the full flood district board in March. The plan is expected to be a

200-page document and the Corps could send it back to the county if it doesn't meet Corps

requirements.

"We have been told by the Corps that the Green River SWIF is the most ambitious in the nation and

it's ambitious because of its complexity," Knauer said. "There are no other SWIFs that are trying to

tackle the complexity of land use, ecological, socio-economic sensitive issues within a major river

and its floodplain through the SWIF process. So all eyes are on this project and its outcome."

The formation of the Green River plan is funded by the King County Flood Control District and a

$300,000 grant from the state of Washington through Puget Sound Partnership.

The flood district provides about $10 million per year for Green River projects through a countywide

property tax of 10 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation that brings in about $50 million per year for

river projects across King County, including the Snoqualmie, Cedar and White rivers.

"We know our capital program for SWIF will likely exceed $300 million," Knauer said about projects to

rebuild Green River levees, install flood walls or build levee setbacks.

Several levee projects are already completed or underway in Kent, Auburn and Tukwila. State and

federal funds have helped pay for those projects. But more work is needed to bring levees up to the

SWIF goal of a 500-year flood protection. Levees at that standard could handle a river flow of 18,000

cubic feet per second (cfs) and include 3 feet of freeboard or height above the water.

Hanson Dam impact

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/waterandland/flooding/flood-control-zone-district.aspx

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wlr/sections-programs/river-floodplain-section/capital-projects/green-river-system-wide-improvement-framework.aspx




Flooding occurred often in the Green River Valley from the 1890s to 1960 before Congress funded

the building of the Howard Hanson Dam to protect mainly agricultural lands. Now many homes and

businesses exist along the river as well.

"We haven't experienced a flood of this magnitude (500 year) since the dam was built (in 1961) but

we do know there have been very large magnitude floods in Western Washington and all of the

indicators are with shifting climate trends that we need to be prepared to protect our vital economic

assets should there be a very significant event in the future," Knauer said about the reasons for the

higher protection.

The largest Green River flows since the dam began operating is 12,400 cfs, said Lorin Reinelt,

managing engineer for the county Water and Land Resources Division. He said three events since

1950 included flows of larger than 12,000 cfs.

But large 500-year flood events occurred in 2007 in the Chehalis River and in 1996 in the Nisqually

River, Reinelt said about the largest river flows in the last 20 years in Western Washington.

Knauer said the Hanson Dam was initially built to provide a 500-year level of protection but the Army

Corps reported it's only providing a 140-year level of protection. She said people have asked her why

not improve the Hanson Dam rather than spend money on the levees.

A Corps study indicated that the complexity and cost to improve the dam makes that option very

challenging and uncertain. The dam is an earthen embankment dam. Crews repaired the dam a few

years ago for about $40 million with additional drains and a drain tunnel after 2009 flooding damaged

an abutment to the dam, but the Corps estimated costs at nearly $500 million to install a concrete

cutoff curtain as a more permanent fixture.

Favorable response

Ralph, the council president, likes the direction of the improvement plan.

"The goal of the SWIF process and the outcomes we are looking for is dealing with the Green River

in a holistic way," Ralph said. "There are multiple things that are happening there including flood

protection, which is the primary focus of the systemwide improvement, and how do we protect the

assets that are in place along the river and at the same time acknowledge that there is habitat and

endangered species in the river so how are we working toward making sure the temperatures in the

river are sustainable and that recreational assets along the river are available to our residents so they

can access it."

Councilwoman Deborah Ranniger, who served on a Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA)

committee that helps to improve salmon habitat for the Green River, said she likes how the SWIF

looks at more issues than simply flood protection.

"It was clear to me the folks involved in the resource have worked with WRIA 9 and the Muckleshoot

tribe and other folks that are very interested and concerned about habitat protection and

environmental protection," Ranniger said after the county presentation. "I think the projects being

planned make a lot of sense. I noticed one of the top priorities was shade protection and that

historically has been a big challenge to make happen along the Green River. So we are making slow

but steady progress."

http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/LocksandDams/HowardHansonDam.aspx




The Glines Canyon Dam (seen in the lower part of this aerial photo) in Washington is one of 72 dams

that was either torn down or blown up in the U.S. last year.

Movement to Take Down Thousands of Dams Goes Mainstream

A dam in Delaware comes tumbling down; last year 71 others did too.

January 28, 2014

This spring, for the first time in more than two centuries, American shad, striped bass, and river

herring may spawn in White Clay Creek, a tributary of the Delaware River in northern Delaware.

Early one morning last month, a five-person crew waded into the frigid creek and pulled down most of

a timber-and-stone dam that had blocked the river's flow since the early years of the Revolutionary

War.

The White Clay Creek dam was the first ever removed in the state of Delaware, but it was far from

the only one removed in the United States last year. On Tuesday, the conservation group American

Rivers announced that 72 dams were torn down or blown up in 2014, restoring some 730 miles of

waterways from California to Pennsylvania.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150127-white-clay-creek-dam-removal-river-water-environment/

http://www.americanrivers.org/





Twenty years ago, dam removal was a fringe notion, and early demolition efforts gained support only

because the dams in question were no longer in use and, in some cases, were dangerous to people

living nearby.

Now, the U.S. dam removal movement has wide acceptance as well as bigger ambitions; on

Tuesday, producers of a recent documentary called DamNation met with members of Congress and

White House officials to press their case for the removal of four large federal dams from the lower

Snake River in eastern Washington.

Small Challenges

While public attention focuses on the most spectacular dam demolitions, such as the removal of the

last section of the 210-foot-high Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River in Washington state last

summer, most of the 865 dams removed in the United States during the past 20 years are small

structures originally built for flood control, irrigation, or very local hydropower. The White Clay Creek

dam, built to run a long-gone flour mill, was only eight feet tall at its highest point.

But small dams can stop fish as effectively as big ones. Gerald Kauffman, of the Water Resources

Agency at the University of Delaware, remembers watching hickory shad bumping their snouts

against the downstream face of the White Clay Creek dam, trying and failing to swim upstream to

spawn.

Small or large, every dam-removal project has its particular challenges. Some dams, like the one on

White Clay Creek, are historic structures that must be carefully surveyed and partially preserved;

others have trapped vast amounts of sediment and debris, and must be removed gradually so as not

to harm fish, wildlife, and people downstream.

Removals also require support from the dam owners and from nearby communities, state and federal

permits, and, finally, money for demolition. The dismantling of the White Clay Creek dam, a relatively

small project, cost $210,000. Serena McClain of American Rivers, which helped fund the White Clay

removal, says it typically takes three years to plan and execute a removal.

Large dam removals, like those just completed on the Elwha River and proposed for the lower Snake

River, take much longer: For well over a decade, scientists and environmentalists have criticized the

federal Snake River dams for their devastating effects on salmon.

Dam Defenders

But the Snake River dams and their reservoirs have influential defenders, since they provide

transportation and irrigation water to inland wheat farmers and contribute hydropower to the region's

electricity supply. Removal is gaining support, but it remains a long way away.

While few removals are as complex or challenging as those proposed for the lower Snake, dam-

removal advocates are tackling more controversial projects than they used to.

"We're trying to work more strategically, to have the biggest impact with limited funds and limited

people," says McClain. "So we're looking not just at old and outdated dams, but at dams that

currently serve a purpose." Many dams now targeted for removal still supply some services to

humans, and those services must be replaced in order to win public backing for approval.

http://damnationfilm.com/

http://www.ipa.udel.edu/directory/homepages/kauffman.html

http://www.wildsalmon.org/facts-and-information/myths-and-facts-about-lower-snake-river-dam-removal.html




The dam-removal movement is also beginning to shift its strategy toward watershed-wide restoration

efforts involving multiple dams. To date, five dams have been removed from the Des Plaines River in

Illinois, and six more are scheduled to come down.

The White Clay Creek dam demolition is the first of several anticipated removals on the creek. Some

states, notably Pennsylvania, have encouraged these broader restoration projects by streamlining

their permitting processes.

Support for river restoration through dam demolition is also growing in Europe and Japan. But some

countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia continue to propose and build large hydropower dams,

both to meet domestic power demand and to produce electricity for export.

And some 80,000 dams taller than six feet-along with tens of thousands of smaller dams-still obstruct

U.S. rivers. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, a proponent of dam demolition, once observed

that "on average, we have constructed one dam every day since the signing of the Declaration of

Independence."

One of the first of those was the White Clay Creek dam, built in 1776 or 1777 by the mill owner and

Quaker minister Daniel Byrnes. Byrnes's nearby house was the site of a historic meeting on

September 6, 1777, when George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and several other

Continental Army officers gathered there to plan the defense of Philadelphia. Though Washington

lost the subsequent battle against the British, he won the war. Today, the same might be said of

White Clay Creek.

The White Salmon River in Washington state began flowing again in 2011, after the nearly 100-year-

old Condit Dam was disabled by an explosion




Lancaster County and Pennsylvania lead nation in removals of old dams

January 29, 2015

Lancaster County and Pennsylvania have emerged as national leaders in a rather obscure but

environmentally significant movement to rip out dams.

For the 12th year in a row, Pennsylvania in 2014 tore down more dams than any other state: 17.

Since the mid-1990s, when the initiative began to return streams and rivers to as free-flowing as

possible, Lancaster County has seen 21 mostly old mill dams breached, tops in the state.

The latest to be dismantled was the removal in July of the SICO Dam on the Little Chiques Creek in

Mount Joy Borough. The stone masonry span, 80 feet long by 4 feet high, was originally built by a

private landowner for recreation.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-county-and-pennsylvania-lead-nation-in-removals-of-old/article_2ad730c6-a7e2-11e4-b367-c74102406b9b.html

http://www.americanrivers.org/newsroom/press-releases/72-dams-removed-in-2014/




Pennsylvania has approved more than 350 dam-removal projects in the last 20 years. Removal is

mostly paid for through state and federal grants.

The trend delights American Rivers, a Washington, D.C.-based national non-profit conservation

organization dedicated to protecting and restoring America's rivers.

“The river restoration movement in our country is stronger than ever,” said Bob Irvin, the group’s

president, in announcing 72 dams in 19 states had been removed in 2014.

“Communities nationwide are removing dams because they recognize

that a healthy, free-flowing river is a tremendous asset.”

Pennsylvania’s initiative took off around 1995 when the state’s regulations on dams were amended to

encourage the removal of dams no longer serving a purpose.

Pennsylvania, because it is one of the oldest states in the nation, has many small dams that once

drove mills.

“Removing these types of dams eliminate public safety concerns and

bring about environmental benefits by returning streams to their

natural, free-flowing habitat,” says Amanda Witman, a DEP

spokeswoman in Harrisburg.

Indeed, low-head dams have long been a safety hazard for paddlers as the drop often can’t be seen

until it is too late.

But environmental benefits have been the chief driver behind the dam purging.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which has partnered with DEP and American Rivers

for many dam removals, says taking down the blockages has opened up hundreds of miles of

streams to resident and migratory fish.

When a free-flowing stream is blocked, it traps sediment, accumulates

pollutants, depletes oxygen and water quality, and warms water

temperatures that are unhealthy for many organisms. Sometimes, the

dams cause more flooding.

Since some 74 percent of all dams in Pennsylvania are privately owned, landowners must give

permission for dams to be removed.

Not all dam removals are welcome. Sometimes, the dams and impoundments they form become

fixtures or landmarks.

For example, the Rock Hill Dam on the Conestoga River near Millersville was removed by the Fish

and Boat Commission in 1996 to give migrating American shad in the Susquehanna River access to

historic spawning grounds in 18 miles of the Conestoga.

But the project was not without controversy. An unsuccessful save-the-dam movement grew up. The

stone and cement dam, built around 1900 to produce electricity, had become popular as a fishing

spot and for wading.

During a public comment period, 109 residents urged the state to let the structure remain. Some said

the dam with its tumbling, sparkling water was an historic and aesthetic landmark.





Northwest tribes want to study what it would take to restore salmon runs to 100 miles of river between

Grand Coulee Dam, which blocked all fish passage to the upper Columbia River, and the U.S.-

Canadian border.

Northwest tribes study restoring Columbia River salmon above Grand Coulee

Dam

January 29, 2015

SPOKANE, Wash. — Indian tribes from Washington and Idaho who live near the upper Columbia

River are beginning a study of whether salmon runs can be restored above Grand Coulee Dam,

which blocked those runs more than 70 years ago.

The tribes want to study what it would take to restore salmon runs to the 100 river miles between the

dam, the nation's greatest producer of hydropower, and the U.S.-Canadian border.

The study proposal was released this week by the Upper Columbia United Tribes, which represents

the Colville, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Kalispel and Kootenai tribes of Idaho and Washington.

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/01/northwest_tribes_examine_feasi.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/01/northwest_tribes_examine_feasi.html

http://www.ucut.org/




"Grand Coulee Dam should have been built with fish passage," said John Osborn of Spokane, a

leader of the local Sierra Club chapter who supports the return of the salmon. "Justice and

stewardship compel us to return salmon to these rivers."

D.R. Michel, executive director for the Upper Columbia United Tribes, said the return of salmon

would restore tribal cultural and religious experiences, plus provide new revenues for the tribes.

"Since time immemorial, the creator gave all the Columbia River Basin tribes the responsibility to

protect the water, fish and wildlife within their geographic areas," the study proposal said.

The loss of salmon runs damaged the tribes' "spiritual connection and identity," the proposal said.

"The removal of an iconic species from the ecosystem greatly impacted forest growth, water quality,

Native American culture and the entire food chain."

Salmon runs on the upper Columbia and its tributaries were blocked first by Grand Coulee Dam,

which was built in the 1930s, and later by Chief Joseph Dam, which was built downstream in the

1950s. Both dams were built without fish ladders, and killed a 10,000-year-old Native American

fishery.

The tribes have sent the study proposal to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in

Portland. The tribes will collect comments over the next 30 days before deciding how to proceed.

Major questions include whether salmon could survive in the greatly changed habitat above the

dams. Tom Karier of the power and conservation council said researchers would have to confirm that

salmon could survive before any restoration effort could begin.

While many dams on the lower Columbia and Snake rivers have fish passage facilities, engineers

could not include them when the 550-foot-tall Grand Coulee Dam was designed.

In addition to generating electricity, Grand Coulee Dam provides irrigation water for hundreds of

thousands of acres of farmland in the region.

The study proposal is for only the U.S. side of the border. But some of the adult fish would likely swim

into Canadian waters, and that could become an issue as the two countries renegotiate the 1964

Columbia River Treaty, which governs hydropower and flood control on the river.

http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/

https://www.nwcouncil.org/




Advocates: Dams Put Dinosaur-Like River Fish at Risk

February 2, 2015

Wildlife advocates claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Monday that the dinosaur-like pallid sturgeon

could be wiped out in stretches of rivers in Montana and North Dakota if the federal government

doesn't deal with dams that disrupt spawning.

Pallid sturgeon are known for their distinctive shovel-shaped snout and can live 50 years, reaching 6

feet in length.

Believed to date to the days when Tyrannosaurus Rex walked the Earth, the species has declined

sharply over the past century as dams were built along the Missouri River system.

In a lawsuit, attorneys for Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council asked a

judge to order new steps to protect the last 125 pallid sturgeon downstream of Fort Peck Dam in

Montana to Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota. That includes fish on the lower Yellowstone River.

The groups say Fort Peck Dam and a smaller dam on the Yellowstone River near Glendive prevent

sturgeon from successfully breeding.

The three defendants named in the lawsuit — the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of

Reclamation and Fish and Wildlife Service — are considering modifications to the Yellowstone River

dam to allow sturgeon to pass around it.

Army Corps spokeswoman Michael Coffey said an environmental study of the proposed Yellowstone

dam modifications was close to being finalized.

Federal officials have said the $59 million upgrade to the dam would allow sturgeon access to an

additional 165 miles of the river for migration and spawning.

The lawsuit, however, claims the agencies' plans would result in a

larger dam and creation of an artificial side channel that sturgeon

won't necessarily use.

"It's one of those twisted tales of some good intentions but in the end the outcome is this monster

project that a lot of the experts we are talking to have serious concerns about," said Steve Forrest

with Defenders of Wildlife.

Without the channel, sturgeon on the Yellowstone have been left to wait for high waters to form a

natural passage that lets them get around the dam. Most years that passage is not available.

Federal officials have said rebuilding the dam and constructing a side channel offers the best chance

for fish to get further up the Yellowstone. But they still are uncertain how well it will actually work, due

to limited information on whether pallid sturgeon are willing to use such routes.

The intake dam was built beginning in 1905 to provide irrigation water for almost 400 farms covering

more than 54,000 acres of land in eastern Montana and western North Dakota.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/advocates-dams-put-dinosaur-river-fish-risk-28673490

http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/montana.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/us/army-corps-of-engineers.htm




The lawsuit also claims water releases from Fort Peck dam are killing

off young sturgeon in the Missouri River.

Pallid sturgeon was listed as an endangered species in 1990. Its numbers have since increased,

according to federal scientists, but the precise size of the population remains unknown.

Pallid sturgeon

http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/science/endangered-species-act.htm




Energy Minister Bill Bennett speaks to reporters about the release of a report by an independent

panel of experts into the Mount Polley mine tailings dam breach.

Inadequate design blamed for failure of Mount Polley tailings dam: panel

Watch Video HERE

January 30, 2015

VICTORIA — An engineering panel appointed by the B.C. government has concluded the dominant

factor in the breach of the Mount Polley tailings dam was a failure in the dam’s foundation.

That failure resides in the design, which did not account for presence of a glacial lake deposit in

foundation, the panel said Friday.

“The omissions associated with site characterization (of the glacial lake deposit) may be likened to

creating a loaded gun,” said panel chair Norbert Morgenstern, a University of Alberta professor

emeritus.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Inadequate+design+blamed+failure+Mount+Polley+tailings+panel/10774305/story.html#ixzz3QMN7lYhx

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/foundation+failure+Mount+Polley+disaster/10774305/story.html




“But if constructing unknowingly on the upper (glacial lake) deposit

constituted loading the gun, building on the steep slope … pulled the

trigger. The two things together constitute the root cause of the

failure,” Morgenstern said at a news conference in Victoria to release

the report.

“Basically the weight of the dam was too much for the weak material and foundation to bear,” said

panel member Steve Vick, a U.S. geotechnical engineering consultant.

The panel noted that at some point there was a decision to build the dam at a steeper slope, a 1.3:1

slope as opposed to a 2:1 ratio.

They said they were unable to determine why that decision was made, although there was mention in

documentation of a shortage of earth-building material. The panel also said it did not believe the

failure would have been prevented if the slope was 2:1.

However, they said a rock buttress proposed in a recent dam height raise would have prevented the

failure.

The panel says it could not offer an adequate assessment of the role of management and oversight in

its contribution to the dam failure.

The tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine burst last August, sending 24 million cubic metres of mine

silt and water gushing into nearby rivers and lakes.

The gold and copper mine near Williams Lake, about 600 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, remains

closed.

Morgenstern is among a panel of three geotechnical experts appointed by the province a few weeks

after the disaster to investigate the cause of the collapse and the role of government regulation and

oversight.

Last month, B.C.’s chief inspector of mines allowed the owner of the mine, Imperial Metal Corp., to

start repairs on the tailings pond.

The main concern for reconstruction was to ensure that increased water flow from melting snow this

spring won’t cause further environmental or human-health impacts, the chief inspector said.

A report released in November said the cleanup from the dam’s breach

will take many years to complete.

Environment Minister Mary Polak said then that the scale of the disaster was tremendous and that

every effort was being made to clean up the mess.

With files from Canadian Press




Solar




Wild Game Fish Management

California’s Medical Marijuana Farms are Killing Salmon

October 1, 2014

Growing marijuana isn’t as green as you might think. Marijuana growers, some of whom have taken

to unregulated use of fertilizers and stream-sucking irrigation systems, have put Oregon and

California fish in danger of extinction, according to a report released Tuesday by National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration biologists.

As Scott Bauer, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife environmental scientist, tells the

Associated Press: "Logging is regulated. Vineyards are regulated. It is time [the marijuana] industry

was willing to be regulated."

Farmers grow plants for both legal medical marijuana use and illegal sale, within three counties —

Mendocino County, Humboldt County and Trinity County — that make up California's Emerald

Triangle. A single marijuana plant in the Emerald Triangle can use up to 900 gallons of water over a

growing season. Moreover, most creek diversions take the "coldest, cleanest water at the most

stressful time of the year" away from endangered coho salmon, NOAA says.

As significant as marijuana cultivation within the Emerald Triangle is, the farms aren’t the only threats

to these 8-pound fish. To guide coho salmon off of the Endangered Species list, the new study

emphasizes the ecological pressures also wrought by agriculture, fishing and the construction of

hydropower plants in the salmon habitat.

It won’t be an easy path to recovery for coho salmon, whose population has been falling for roughly

70 years. By NOAA’s own estimate, restoring coho salmon habitat could take decades. The agency

lists 4,000 "recovery actions" as steps down the path to a successful return. These include

"managing fisheries, reducing detrimental effects of land use activities; decreasing disease and non-

native predator species," as well as operating hatcheries so new generations of salmon fry can be

released in the wild.

https://www.thedodo.com/weed-salmon-pot-farm-745219433.html?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_280471

http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/salmon_steelhead/recovery_planning_and_implementation/southern_oregon_northern_california_coast/SONCC_recovery_plan.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/marijuana-farming-threatens-salmon_n_5907476.html



http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28354324/ns/business-cnbc_tv/t/pot-growers-thrive-northern-california/#.VCxHjyldXRx

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/fish/cohosalmon.htm

http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/publications/recovery_planning/salmon_steelhead/domains/southern_oregon_northern_california/SONCC%20Final%20Sept%202014/soncc_faq_recovery_plan_092914.pdf

http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/publications/recovery_planning/salmon_steelhead/domains/southern_oregon_northern_california/SONCC%20Final%20Sept%202014/soncc_executive_summary.pdf

http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/publications/recovery_planning/salmon_steelhead/domains/southern_oregon_northern_california/SONCC%20Final%20Sept%202014/soncc_executive_summary.pdf




Proposal wants big study for Puget Sound's little fish

February 15, 2015

BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) - Puget Sound's little fish - the kind that school together near the shore -

don't have the celebrity status of salmon or orcas. But as the populations of herring, smelt and other

forage fish dwindle, so too may the sound's more iconic species.

A bill by state Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, aims to improve what state regulators

readily admit is a poor understanding of the small fish that serve as prey for the sound's larger

predators.

"Forage fish populations are plummeting, and the general belief is that this may be why some marine

bird populations are plummeting, and why the salmon are smaller and the orca whales are hungry,"

Rolfes said.

Senate Bill 5166 would initiate the most comprehensive study of forage fish ever undertaken in Puget

Sound. It would also require a recreational fishing license for smelt, a species typically caught with

dip nets near the shore.

The bill would require the state Department of Fish & Wildlife and state Department of Natural

Resources to collaborate on an ambitious survey to determine where surf smelt and sand lance

spawn. The survey would be assisted by volunteers and crews of military veterans employed by the

Washington Conservation Corps.

Fish and Wildlife also would be required to conduct a trawl survey in open water to gauge the survival

rate of adult forage fish.

The bill budgets about $2 million for two years of survey work.

Requiring a fishing license for smelt would help Fish & Wildlife track where and how much smelt is

being caught.

"This is a low-cost way of getting information about the smelt population," Rolfes said.

A license hasn't been required because smelt was considered plentiful and not especially popular

with fishers.

The bill is backed by Fish & Wildlife, DNR and several environmental and sport fishing groups.

"This bill fills a very discrete need," said Fish & Wildlife research biologist Dayv Lowry.

He added that the state has "no method for tracking" forage fish populations.

"This fills some very important holes in our fish management," he said.

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/state/proposal-wants-big-study-for-puget-sounds-little-fish_83486008




A few localized surveys indicate that forage fish populations have declined precipitously. A survey

near Bellingham showed herring stock had fallen from 15,000 tons in 1973 to about 1,000 tons in

2012. State scientists say herring stocks are also declining in average size and age. The causes are

not yet known, but researchers say a broad range of factors may be to blame, including chemical

contamination, oil spills, parasites, disease, lack of food and increasing shoreline development.

More anglers are seeing the impact of fewer forage fish.

"What is a cause for concern for commercial and sport fishermen is that the average size of salmon

has - in the last decade - decreased dramatically," said Carl Burke, a lobbyist with the Northwest

Sportfishing Industry Association.

Sound Action, the Coastal Conservation Association and the National Audubon Society's Washington

chapter are among the environmental groups that have spoken in favor of the bill.

Trina Bayard, Audubon Washington's bird conservation director, said marine bird populations have

declined steeply over the last 30 years. Especially hard-hit have been the birds that prey on forage

fish, she said.

Declining forage fish populations will hamper the state's burgeoning outdoor recreation industry, she

said, citing a recent study commissioned by the Legislature that estimated wildlife watching and

photography generates about $5.2 million per year in Washington.

"This is a large concern for rural areas and coastal towns where birders go to see birds," she said.

The study estimated that wildlife watchers spend an average of $38 per day on food, lodging other

costs.

A similar bill Rolfes proposed last year failed to gain traction in the Senate. Momentum appears to be

building this year. The bill is set for a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on

Tuesday.

"I'm working hard to make sure it doesn't get lost in the mix," Rolfes said. "It's one of the more

important environmental bills we have in the Legislature this year."




Federal government proposes plan to reduce cormorant colony

February 7, 2015

http://tdn.com/news/federal-government-proposes-plan-to-reduce-cormorant-colony/article_152f638c-ae78-11e4-b085-f3232bae9f75.html




Federal officials suggest spraying vegetable oil on cormorant eggs in an effort to save more

Columbia River salmon.

The oil would prevent the eggs from hatching, thus reducing the size of the colony of salmon-eating

birds on East Sand Island near the river’s mouth.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also proposes to shoot fewer birds over four years — 11,000,

instead of the 16,000 previously proposed.

According to a 2008 federal study, the black seabirds eat about 11 million juvenile salmon and

steelhead each year, fish that are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The 15,000 nesting pairs of double-crested cormorants on the island ballooned from just 100

nesting pairs in 1989. The corps hopes to reduce the colony by about half over four years.

“That’s a level that the National Marine Fisheries Service considers an acceptable impact on the

fish,” Environmental Resources Branch Chief Joyce Casey said Thursday.

The proposal is the preferred action in the final management plan released Friday. The corps will

make a decision on the plan following the 30-day review period expected to begin Feb. 13 and end

March 16. Representatives from the Willapa Hills Audubon Society said they oppose killing the

birds.

Following the initial four-year phase to reduce the cormorant population, the corps would begin

phase two.

“That would involve making modifications to East Sand Island itself so that part of it would become

under water,” Casey said. “As an added bonus, we would create habitat for other types of birds in

that area that would be inundated.”




2015 Salmon Recovery Conference

Agenda

The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board will hold its fifth conference May 27-29, 2015

at the Vancouver Convention Center in Vancouver, Washington.

http://www.rco.wa.gov/salmon_recovery/ConfAgenda.shtml




Conference Focus

The 2015 conference will focus on habitat restoration and protection, showcasing new and innovative

salmon recovery projects. There will be special emphasis on an open exchange about lessons

learned and problems solved.

This conference will also include the broader context of salmon recovery and H-integration (managing

habitat, hatcheries, harvest, and hydropower). The intent is to provide participants with the broader

context and background in the full picture of recovery, including hatchery and harvest management

and examples of H-integration from across the region.

Additional areas of interest include: Overcoming hurdles with projects on private property, funding,

ecosystem-based restoration, permitting and treaty rights.

As we enter a new era of salmon recovery, it is important to have continued and improved

communication about best practices and lessons learned and an expanded understanding of all

management elements to successfully recover and protect salmon and steelhead in the Pacific

Northwest.

2015 Salmon Recovery Conference Topics

Assessments Landowner engagement

Climate change/Ocean conditions Marine and nearshore projects

Estuary restoration Monitoring

Fish passage Outreach and communications

Floodplain connection and restoration Organizational development, fundraising

Habitat protection Permitting

Harvest and fisheries management Project management

Hatchery reform Recovery planning, adaptive management

H-integration examples New and applied research

Human elements: partnerships, volunteer management, community engagement

Riparian restoration

In-stream projects including wood placement Water Rights

Invasive species Other: propose your own session or workshop

Contact [email protected] or Sarah Gage at 360-902-2217, (TDD 360-902-1996) if you

have questions.

mailto:[email protected]




Loving the Puget Sound to Death

Four decades after the passage of the Clean Water Act, regulators haven’t kept up with the

pollution pressure that growing populations put on America’s shorelines.

February 4, 2015

Hidden amid the pleasure boats and cargo ships that roar through the canal in northwest Seattle is

one of the oldest fishing economies in North America. From midsummer to October, from early

morning until after dusk, fishermen from the Suquamish Tribe zoom up and down the canal in orange

waterproof overalls, tending to salmon nets that dangle across the water like strings of pearls. The

tribe holds reservation land about ten miles west of the city, on the far side of Puget Sound, the 100-

mile-long estuary that extends from Olympia, Washington, north to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The

Suquamish are one of more than a dozen tribes that have fishing and shellfish-harvesting rights all

across this region, and their fishing traditions, which are thousands of years old, predate all of the

oldest shipyard industries here.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

http://www.thenation.com/article/197177/loving-puget-sound-death

http://www.thenation.com/article/197177/loving-puget-sound-death




Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Bristol Bay Salmon Initiative

February 4, 2015

The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld the legality of an initiative that passed in November’s general

election requiring legislative approval for any mining activities in the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve.

The ruling handed down on Jan. 30 came in a lawsuit filed by a consultant for the Pebble Limited

Partnership, the Alaska Miners Association and the Council of Alaska Producers against the state of

Alaska.

The lawsuit challenged then-Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell’s certification of the initiative, as 12BBAY, to

require final legislative approval for any large-scale metallic sulfide mining operation within the Bristol

Bay watershed. Initiative sponsors Christina Salmon, Mark Niver and John H. Holman also

intervened in support of the state.

Plaintiffs argued that the initiative violated the constitutional prohibitions on appropriation and

enacting local or special legislation by initiative.

The high court concluded that the initiative would not appropriate state assets or enact local or

special legislation, in that it leaves final authority for appropriating state resources in the hands of the

Legislature, along with discretion on whether to approve a particular mining project.

While the initiative undeniably would alter the Legislature’s existing scheme for allocating and

regulating the use of the state’s mineral resources, the court had previously concluded in another

case involving the Pebble Limited Partnership that there is no prohibition on initiatives altering

existing public resource regulations.

The court found that protecting Bristol Bay’s wild salmon and waters within or flowing into the existing

1972 Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve comprises a legitimate purpose.

The judges also noted that the Legislature had previously recognized the importance of the Bristol

Bay fishery by establishing the reserve. That statute mandates that oil and gas leases or exploration

licenses may not be issued on state owned or controlled land unless legislators concluded that such

activity would not constitute danger to the fishery.

The 25-page decision also found “Bristol Bay’s unique and significant biological and economic

characteristics are of great interest not just to the Bristol Bay region but to the state as a whole. We

also conclude that 12BBAY’s purpose, to protect Bristol Bay wild salmon and waters, is legitimate,”

the court said.

http://fnonlinenews.blogspot.com/2015/02/alaska-supreme-court-upholds-bristol.html?utm_source=FN+Online+020415&utm_campaign=FNOnline&utm_medium=email




In a related 23-page decision, the court ruled in favor of the interveners’ motion for attorney’s fees

and costs.

Plaintiffs had argued that they were public interest litigants and therefore exempt from an award of

fees. The interveners countered that the plaintiffs were proxies for the Pebble Limited Partnership,

which had paid a portion of the fees incurred by the plaintiff and agreed to indemnify the plaintiffs for

any award of fees and costs entered against them in the case.




The Toxic Threat to One of the World’s Rarest Killer Whales

January 26, 2015

Will a project intended to remove toxic waste from the environment end up harming a critically

endangered killer whale?

This is what environmentalists fear after the city of Chilliwack, British Columbia, approved a

hazardous-waste recycling plant just 150 yards from the Fraser River. The waterway is the world’s

No. 1 producer of salmon that feed critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales. Only about

77 of the orcas survive in the wild.

A coalition of more than 30 Canadian and American groups opposed to the facility has launched

a petition urging the British Columbia environmental ministry to conduct a thorough assessment of

the project.

https://orcaconservancy.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/takepart-the-toxic-threat-to-one-of-the-worlds-rarest-killer-whales/

http://www.waterwealthproject.com/protect_the_fraser




“We are not opposed to this facility,” states the petition on the website of The WaterWealth

Project. “We are opposed to the location. Risks from this facility, if built, include emissions from

normal operations, accidents on the site, accidents transporting materials to and from the site, sand

flooding from the river.”

Each month the facility would process 92,460 gallons of transformer oil, 1,321 gallons of oil

containing PCBs, 150 tons of transformer and electrical equipment, and 50 tons of such equipment

containing PCBs, according to a report from the city.

The proposed site, located in a flood zone, is also adjacent to the Bert Brink Wildlife Management

Area, which is home to sloughs, wetlands, and gravel bars that provide spawning habitat for salmon

species.

The risk to salmon reproduction has alarmed residents, fishers, and conservationists, who note that

the lower section of the river has already suffered from overfishing, dams, urbanization, runoff from

deforestation, and pollution from pulp mills, mines, and farms.

Activists working to save the Southern Resident killer whale population contend that a chemical spill

could wipe out stocks of chinook salmon, the preferred prey of orcas.

“When a spill occurs, it will…create an environmental disaster that will directly affect the endangered

Southern Resident killer whales,” Shari Tarantino, president of the Washington state–based Orca

Conservancy, wrote in an email.

She said that 80 percent to 90 percent of the chinook consumed by the

whales come from the Fraser River. “For this population to have a

chance at recovery they need salmon—and lots of it,” she said.

Both the city of Chilliwack and Aevitas Inc., the company seeking to build the plant, insist that every

precaution will be taken to avoid an environmental catastrophe.

Jamie Leggatt, Chilliwack’s communications manager, declined an interview request but provided

a fact sheet prepared by city officials defending the plan.

“Liquid discharge will not flow into the Fraser River,” the document states. “A multibarrier approach is

provided for protection of the environment. All storage areas have secondary containment so that in

the event of a spill or puncture of a barrel the spilled material will be contained in the facility.”

Aevitas president Byron Day did not respond to a request for comment. But in a radio interview last

month, he said, “We actually protect the river. We’re the ones that are trying to stop mercury and

PCBs, which are the primary contaminants in the river.”

Opponents remain unmoved.

“We are in a seismically active region, and there is a pair of dams on the Bridge River, which flows

into the Fraser upstream,” Ian Stephen of The WaterWealth Project said in an email. “If one of the

dams were to fail, it would create a 10,000-year flood event for the Fraser.”

“Citizens have to be forever vigilant and call on all who share in their values to come together to

pressure those in power to make responsible decisions,” said Lina Azeez of the Watershed Watch

Salmon Society. “International pressure proves to our government that the world is watching.”



http://www.chilliwack.com/main/attachments/Files/2374/2013.12.03-Aevitas_Public_Hearing.pdf

http://www.orcaconservancy.org/

http://www.orcaconservancy.org/

http://aevitasweb.wix.com/aevitas#!

http://www.chilliwack.com/aevitas

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/bcearlyedition_20141203_78634.mp3




Wildlife Artists:




Salmonberry Studios Opening

http://salmonberrybowen.com/




Diane Michelin - Fly Fishing Fine Art: "Golden Hour"

Original watercolor

20" x 14"

http://www.dianemichelin.com/



2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Dan Wallace: Passion for Authenticity




Leanne Hodges: West Coast Wild

“Choices: A Personal Journey”

http://www.leannehodges.com/




Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses

Riverman Guide Service – since 1969

Kim Malcom – Owner, Operator

Licensed and Insured Guide

Quality Float Trips – Western Washington Rivers – Steelhead, Salmon, Trout

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Learn to fish: experienced, conservation-minded professional instructors

View our six-panel, information brochure HERE

http://issuu.com/steelhead-salmon-society/docs/kimandallen




Rhett Weber’s Charterboat “Slammer”

Reserve your 2015 Pacific Ocean fishing adventures on Slammer through Deep Sea

Charters – Westport, Washington

http://deepseacharters.net/reservations/NewRes.php

http://deepseacharters.net/reservations/NewRes.php




Fishmyster Sport Fishing Adventures

Contact us for up-to-date information by calling 250-724-4204 or 250-720-5118 or emailing [email protected].

Your Adventures Fishing BC Start Here!

Fishmyster Sport Fishing Adventures, now in its 25th year of operation Fishing Vancouver Island. Owner and operator Ken Myers is committed to providing quality fishing charters for a wide variety of fishing thrills.

Excursions FISHING BC and the Vancouver Island area.

Ucluelet, Long Beach, Tofino, Barclay Sound and the surrounding area are located in heart of the Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island. This region is famous for its world class Sport Fishing and abundance of wildlife. Whales, Sea lions, Seals, Bears, Eagles and many other marine specific critters are sighted regularly during our Ucluelet fishing charters.

http://www.fishmyster.com/





UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS

UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS

TTHHEE WWOORRLLDD''SS UULLTTIIMMAATTEE EECCOO--TTOOUURR UNDERWATER EXPLORATIONS

of

SEATTLE'S PUGET SOUND

You, Your Family, Couples, Friends, Parents/Grandparents with Children, and Groups...

Anyone can become a UWET Explorer!

Individuals (ages 6/up) seeking interactive small group experiences...

UWET Tours are very small group (4 Explorers maximum per tour)!

Travelers and Cruisers seeking pleasant low-stress tour experiences...

UWET Tours are 100% "Stay-Dry" underwater investigations (explorers do not even get their feet wet)!

Everyday People who fantasize about being a "real" explorer sharing the excitement

and glory of discovery with others... UWET Discovery Tours transform ordinary people into Genuine Underwater Eco-Explorers who have a DVD of their discoveries to share with others!

http://www.cmtravel4fun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=318

http://www.cmtravel4fun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=318




Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing

Booking Now

Montana: (406) 665-3489 Alaska: (907) 842-5480

https://www.facebook.com/westernalaskasportfishing




Kingfish West Coast Adventure Tours

Trophy Salmon and Steelhead fishing on the Kitimat River with driftboat, riverraft or pontoonboat, we

offer as well remote streamside wading. We are specialized in fly-fishing and conventional fishing

techniques for silver chrome aggressive steelhead and salmon. We give our clients the opportunity to

fish our headwaters, tributaries and mainstream Kitimat River. The lower section of the Kitimat River

we target with the jet boat and is considered tidal and can offer phenomenal fishing for salmon as

they migrate upriver.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kingfish-Westcoast-Adventure-Tours/210962152332314?id=210962152332314&sk=info




Casa Mia Italian Restaurant

http://casamiarestaurants.com/




Spirit Bear Coffee Company

http://www.spiritbearcoffeecompany.com/home.shtml




Hidden Paths - Slovenia

WWee gguuiiddee oonn SSlloovveenniiaa’’ss rriivveerrss ffoorr RRaaiinnbbooww TTrroouutt,, BBrroowwnn TTrroouutt,, MMaarrbbllee TTrroouutt,, GGrraayylliinngg aanndd

DDaannuubbiiaann SSaallmmoonn..

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hidden-paths-Slovenia/163437077096815?sk=info




ProFishGuide: Coastal Fishing at its Best

I focus on Tillamook Bay and its surrounding areas because its known for huge Salmon and acrobatic Steelhead. All of the bait, tackle and rods are top quality so when you hook a trophy it won't be out of reach. All you need to bring is your fishing license, rain gear and camera. Lunches can be provided at extra cost and come highly recommended. Not only will I ensure a great trip, it is also highly educational and fun for the whole family.

I currently guide in Oregon & Alaska for Salmon & Steelhead. I also have experience guiding in Idaho for trout as well as teaching Fly fishing & Fly casting. My certifications include US Coast Guard Certified license, CPR/1st aide, I also hold an Oregon & Alaska guide license, and I am fully insured.

http://profishguide.com/




Silversides Fishing Adventures

http://www.silversidesfishing.com/




Documents

Legacy - March 2015