Climate Activities

anacortes march tanker carsAnacortes – 52 Arrested (05/14/2016)   seattletimes.com

“Authorities have cleared protesters who had been blocking railway tracks to a pair of oil refineries in Anacortes and arrested 52 climate activists Sunday morning.”

“A spokesman for the rail line near two refineries in northwest Washington says about 150 people spent the night in tents and sleeping bags on the tracks near Anacortes, about 70 miles north of Seattle.”

coal train seattleCoal Revival Misfortunes (5/11/2016)  thinkprogress.org

“According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the United States produced 896 million short tons of coal in 2015. Of that, about 74 million short tons were exported — just around 8 percent. Of that, 7.2 million short tons were exported through ports along the West Coast. The largest, Seattle, exported 4 million tons — five percent of the grand total of U.S. coal exported.”

kayaks at night

Anacortes – Ground Zero (05/10/2016) seattleweekly.com

“This weekend, then, the ruckus begins. From Friday through Sunday, thousands of people from across the Pacific Northwest, including Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho, will converge at March Point, the peninsula in Anacortes that houses the Shell and Tesoro refineries – the two biggest oil refineries in Washington state. The event is one of dozens of “Break Free” actions happening this month in every corner of the planet, from the Philippines to Nigeria to Brazil to Germany, and it is, to organizers’ knowledge, the largest action happening in the United States. The name of the event speaks to its goal: To break the world of its dependence on fossil fuels.”

Coal and Oil TrainsCoal Ports: The Walking Dead (05/05/2016)
crosscut.com

“Environmentalists have predicted coal’s demise before, only to see it rise again when the cost of other fossil fuels gets high enough to make it economically attractive again. But this time may be different. “The recent bankruptcies of the nation’s leading coal producers are the latest benchmark in the steady decline of the coal industry,” Tom Sanzillo and David Schlissel of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis wrote recently in a New York Times op-ed.”

Dying-SalmonJudge: Plan for Restoring Northwest Salmon Runs Not Enough (05/04/2016)
abcnews.go.com

“A massive habitat restoration effort by the U.S. government doesn’t do nearly enough to improve Northwest salmon runs, a federal judge ruled Thursday, handing a major victory to conservationists, anglers and others who hope to someday see four dams on the Snake River breached to make way for the fish.”

Oregon-snowpack-map-01Dry conditions in Oregon (05/02/2016) hoodrivernews.com

“A hot and dry April punctured hopes that winter’s generous snowpack would hold out enough to leave conditions wetter — and safer — than usual. Reports say May’s outlook is still somewhat dry.”

Longview-coal-terminalLongview Terminal Largest in Northwest
(05/01/2016)
Valuewalk.com

“…the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminals Longview coal terminal Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was released by Cowlitz County and the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).”

kids-win-climate-lawsuit

King County Historic Ruling (04/29/2016)
The Stranger

“A King County Superior Court judge has reversed a ruling that gave the Washington State Department of Ecology the opportunity to decide when to cut statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Because of a lawsuit filed by eight Washington State kids, Judge Hollis Hill has ruled that the threat of climate change is so urgent that the state must be placed on a court-ordered deadline to hold polluters accountable now.”