Current Stories
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Possible park at Fernhill Wetlands
Oregonian
11/19/2009
Wetlands near a Forest Grove sewage treatment could be turned into a park, a plan that delights area birdwatchers, but there's no money budgeted for the effort in the city west of Portland.
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Push on to turn BC pet cemetery into park
CBC BC
11/18/2009
The only pet cemetery in Vancouver could eventually disappear under a developer's bulldozer, but some pet lovers are trying to have the property turned into a park.
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Tap water far 'greener' than bottled in study
Oregonian
11/18/2009
Even in a best-case scenario, drinking bottled water boosts greenhouse gas emissions 46 times more than drinking water from the tap, an analysis from Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality concludes.
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Home energy-efficiency startup wins CA green contest
San Francisco Chronicle
11/18/2009
Startup companies with ways to save energy and make plastic from wastewater took top honors Tuesday evening in the 2009 Cleantech Open, an annual contest to find and nurture California's promising environmental entrepreneurs.
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Endangered frogs released at Fort Lewis
Seattle Times
11/18/2009
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says about 500 endangered Oregon spotted frogs have been released this fall at a lake on the Fort Lewis Army base near Tacoma.
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Vancouver endorses plan light on parks
Vancouver Sun
11/18/2009
Vancouver's city council has unanimously endorsed a plan to create a high-density neighbourhood with a civic plaza, residential and office space on the final undeveloped section of the former Expo lands. What it doesn't include is the 2.75 acres of park space per 1,000 people that city council holds as a goal.
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Senate to put off climate bill until spring
Wall Street Journal
11/17/2009
Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would put off debate on a big climate-change bill until spring, in a sign of weakening political will to tackle a long-term environmental issue at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.
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Paying more for flights eases guilt, not emissions
New York Times
11/17/2009
One of the first travel companies to offer airline customers the option of buying so-called carbon offsets to counter theit planet-warming emissions has canceled the program. While it might help travelers feel virtuous, the offsets were not helping to reduce global emissions and might even encourage people to travel more.
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Failing septic systems vs. OR planning laws
Ashland Daily Tidings
11/17/2009
A smelly and potentially dangerous problem with failing septic systems in Jackson County, OR, soon could be resolved for up to 1,603 rural property owners, with a blanket exception to state planning goals that make it difficult to provide sewer service outside urban areas.
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A Q&A with Al Gore
Seattle Times
11/17/2009
On a book tour in Seattle, former Vice President Al Gore weighs in on the Copenhagen climate summit, Obama's efforts so far, the prospects for US legislation, pseudo-science and garden-variety denial.
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Official: Canada climate change laws years away
CBC BC
11/17/2009
The federal environment minister says it may be a few years before Canada tables regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Jim Prentice said the world has to first negotiate a new climate change treaty and Canada and the United States must finish their continental agreement on the same issue.
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Views: We need another carbon tariff
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/18/2009
A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt. A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt.
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Where can I juice up my ride?
Washington Post
11/18/2009
As their manufacturers see it, the electric cars entering U.S. showrooms as early as next year will be engineering marvels: stylish, battery-operated, zero-emission wonders. Yet for all their technological prowess, there's one practical question that unsettles the green dreamers and entrepreneurs alike: Where, oh, where, can you plug them in?
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Pigs in the city? Hillsboro's creative compromise
Oregonian
11/17/2009
The City Council expects to approve a plan Tuesday night to annex island properties into the city in order to streamline services and save money.
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Judge won't consider White House salmon plan
Oregonian
11/16/2009
The federal judge overseeing the balancing act between salmon and Columbia Basin dams says he doesn't think he can consider new steps the Obama administration wants to take.
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Views: Losing the public on climate change
Yale environment 360
11/16/2009
Even as the climate science becomes more definitive, polls show that public concern in the United States about global warming has been declining. What will it take to rally Americans behind the need to take strong action on cutting carbon emissions?
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New permits for Idaho's animal feeding operations
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/16/2009
Cattle feeding lot owners will have to submit a nutrient management plan for review under new rules proposed for Idaho by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
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Idaho governor objects to listing peppergrass as threatened
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/17/2009
Gov. Butch Otter said the federal government has let down the ranchers and others in Idaho who stepped forward to help a rare flowering bush that grows in the Foothills and in wet areas of Southwest Idaho's desert - even though it was not protected under the Endangered Species Act.
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Parks Service Jon Jarvis taps Idahoan for parks scientist
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/17/2009
National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis didn't wait long to reach into his Idaho roots.
Jarvis, who served as superintendent of Craters of the Moon National Monument, picked the University of Idaho's Gary Machlis to serve as the first National Park Service science adviser.
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Harmful algae could cost coastal communities
Oregonian
11/16/2009
Harmful algae can be deadly, and it can throw an economic punch as well.
A study released Monday shows that a yearlong closure of razor clamming because of toxic algae would cost Washington state $22 million in lost revenue from lodging, gear sales, restaurant receipts and other costs.
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Views: Simon Frasier professors slam Campbell's energy plan
The Tyee
11/17/2009
Hobbling BC Hydro so private firms can profit big is bad public policy.
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Cleaner chlorine plants may be creating a mercury glut
Washington Post
11/17/2009
Cleaner chlorine plants may indirectly be creating an excess of toxic metal.
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Low-emission locomotives a boost to public health
Washington Post
11/17/2009
A new crop of "ultra-low emission" short-haul locomotives could have significant public health benefits, according to rail industry officials and federal health experts, who suggest that they could help decrease the risk of cancer and heart and respiratory disease for people living near rail yards.
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Views: Imperfect 'cap-and-trade' is best option
USA Today
11/17/2009
Reasonable people can disagree about how bad global warming will eventually be if nothing is done, and some of the doomsday scenarios might well be overblown. But virtually all climate scientists concur that it's a dire enough threat that the wise course of action is to sharply curb use of carbon-based fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.
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Big algal bloom lingering along coast
KPLU
11/17/2009
Marine scientists have been surprised by the persistence of an unusual red tide along the Washington and northern Oregon coast. This is the algae bloom which produced a slimy foam that killed thousands of seabirds earlier in the fall. Foam turned up on coastal beaches again on Monday, but the bird die-off has not resumed.
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