Current Stories
Editor's Top Picks
Protection sought again for giant, spitting worms
Wenatchee World
07/01/2009
Fans of the giant Palouse earthworm are once again seeking federal protection for the rare, sweet-smelling species that spits at predators. They filed a petition Tuesday with the US Fish and Wildlife Service requesting the worm be protected as an endangered species.
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Using grazing sheep, goats against invasive weeds
USA Today
07/02/2009
Grazing vineyards is just one application of a growing niche industry that is harnessing the eating power of animals to control invasive weeds, maintain lawns, and clear fire-prone grasses.
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Winter snowpack melts into waterfalls
Seattle Times
07/02/2009
A record hot June and a winter snowpack more than 2,000 percent of normal in places have combined to detonate an explosion of waterfalls this summer in the Central Cascades.
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EPA testing yards near former Spokane factory
Seattle Times
07/01/2009
Crews are testing residential yards near W.R. Grace & Co.'s former insulation factory in Spokane for asbestos fibers that can cause cancer. The work was prompted by the recent declaration of Libby, Mont., as a public health emergency.
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Green light for Portland's green line
Oregonian
06/30/2009
As a MAX train glided through a brick-lined section of downtown Portland, someone in the VIP crowd on the first trip of the new Green Line called out: "Where are we?" The answer: Union Station, a place where no MAX has gone before.
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Shifting carbon taxes to fund BC transit?
Vancouver Sun
07/01/2009
An unlikely group of environmentalists, business and labour leaders joined Metro Vancouver's mayors to lobby for directing an annual $450 million into funding public transit. While some mayors favor shifting carbon taxes to pay for better transit, others say that money's off the table.
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The politics of parking
San Francisco Bay Guardian
06/30/2009
The local politics of parking in San Francisco have reached "a spatial stalemate." Even as residents in the 1960s decided they did not want gashes of freeway through their waterfront and parks, the city didn't take space away from cars. And if you don't do that, you're not solving the problem.
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Farms and sprawl: Living happily together?
New York Times
06/30/2009
New subdivisions - including one outside Boise, Idaho - are increasingly treating working agriculture as an amenity to lure homebuyers. Living around a farm can bring a buyer permanent views, fresh produce, wholesome activities for children, access to walking and riding trails and inclusion in an epicurean club.
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Draining every drop
Seattle Times
06/30/2009
Groups are starting to meet again on water supply in WA's arid Yakima River Basin, the heavily irrigated region that's home to thousands of acres of tree fruit, wine grapes, hops and other crops. In drought years, fish suffer in low rivers and farmers and towns with newer water rights have their water supply rationed.
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With goodies for everyone, climate bill passed
New York Times
06/30/2009
As the most ambitious energy and climate-change legislation ever introduced in Congress made its way to a floor vote last Friday, it grew fat with compromises, carve-outs, concessions and out-and-out gifts intended to win the votes of wavering lawmakers and the support of powerful industries.
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OR conservation lobby counts successes, setbacks
Salem Statesman Journal
06/30/2009
It didn't exactly turn the session around, but the final days of the Oregon legislative session brought some good news for groups who have been disappointed by the lack of movement on green legislation.
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Should Obama try to reset the planet's thermostat?
Mother Jones Magazine
07/01/2009
The august National Academy of Sciences this month brought together leading scientists to discuss a crazy-sounding idea: Should the US consider geoengineering the planet's atmosphere to combat global warming? Once a fringe theory, the idea that humans can change the Earth's climate through direct intervention has begun to gain credibility.
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Cracks in Seattle's green-growth coalition
Crosscut
07/01/2009
Seattle politicians like to jockey over who is more green than the other. But candidates need business support too, and the battle for endorsements reveals some ideological divides between local environmentalists, developers, and independent thinkers who wonder if all urban growth is good.
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BC mayors tap allies for transit funding
BC Local News
06/30/2009
Metro Vancouver mayors have enlisted influential new allies representing business, environment and labour to help press their case for new TransLink funding sources to enable an ambitious transit system expansion.
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Views: Many more baby bike steps in BC, please
BC Local News
06/30/2009
It’s always a precious sight to see a parent trying to show a little one how to ride a bike without training wheels. That’s about the same evolutionary stage TransLink is at with the opening of the Central Valley Greenway. It’s a baby step toward making Greater Vancouver conducive for commuting cyclists, or even recreational ones for that matter.
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The once and future streetcar town
Oregonian
06/30/2009
The US Transportation Secretary will unveil in Portland on Wednesday what's believed to be the first American-made streetcar in 58 years. The visit could bring more orders for streetcars, giving a boost to a number of local businesses.
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Abandoned fishing nets no more
Seattle Times
07/01/2009
Nearly all of the abandoned fishing nets in Puget Sound that kill marine animals and damage habitat will be removed with the help of $4.6 million in federal stimulus money.
The net-removal efforts are among six projects in the state that will receive $16.5 million for marine and coastal habitat restoration.
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Energy searchlight back on biomass
Medford Mail-Tribune
07/01/2009
Born in response to spiking energy prices of the 1970s, a now maturing and green biomass industry finds itself positioned to play a leading role in the renewable-energy movement. A southern Oregon plant produces enough to power 5,000 home and has become a favorite recycling site for everything from Christmas trees and hedges to plywood from remodeling projects.
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Coastal restoration projects for habitat and jobs
Oregon Public Broadcasting
06/30/2009
In the Pacific Northwest, the federal agency that oversees ocean life will spend stimulus funding to reconnect tidal wetlands, remove obsolete dams and clean up marine debris by hiring dozens of out of work crab fishermen.
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Canada to match US climate change rules
Toronto Globe and Mail
06/30/2009
Canada will adopt climate-change regulations comparable to those of the United States - including new rules for oil sands producers and refiners - to avoid punitive "green" tariffs, Environment Minister Jim Prentice says.
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Feds OK tougher emissions rules in CA
San Francisco Chronicle
06/30/2009
Federal officials cleared California to impose tough greenhouse gas limits on new motor vehicles that more than a dozen other states can follow immediately and that will form the basis of new nationwide rules in 2012.
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When garbage becomes fuel
BC Local News
06/30/2009
A tiny square window glows fiery red in a South Burnaby, BC's waste-to-energy plant, and a peek through it is like a look inside a dragon's gullet. Metro Vancouver hopes to win public and provincial approval to build new waste-fired plants to treat garbage less like waste and more like a resource.
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Water intakes at risk from toxic algae blooms
BC Local News
07/01/2009
Fish may not live in the depths of Okanagan Lake, but there’s still lots happening down there, and some of it could be toxic to human health. In the case of a toxic algae bloom near a water intake, few utilities could continue to deliver normal drinking water service.
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Views: The spill, 20 years later
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
07/01/2009
It has been just more than 20 years since oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez and soiled the biology and economy of Prince William Sound, ruined lives, and forever tainted the image of what is now the world’s largest company. Now, the end of the legal chapter of this story is near.
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EPA gives California emissions waiver
Los Angeles Times
06/30/2009
The Environmental Protection Agency will announce today that it is granting California's request to impose tough restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks - reversing the Bush administration's position and opening the way for the state to take the lead on global-warming policy.
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