Legacy - April 2015

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Legacy – April 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

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Founders

Bruce Treichler Jim Wilcox

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Contents

Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk ___________________________________________________ 6

Richard Mayer ________________________________________________________________________________________ 6

Opinion-Editorial: _________________________________________________________________________________ 7

Somewhere in Washington State, there is a Village Without its Idiot. ______________________________________ 7

Farmed Salmon: If We Don’t Buy It, They Won’t Farm IT __________________________________________________ 8

Canada is changing its laws for dirty salmon ____________________________________________________________ 9

Fishing Photos and Funnies ______________________________________________________________________ 13

Pacific Ocean Lingcod and Sea Bass on “Slammer” ____________________________________________________ 13

Politicians Reply to WGFCI _______________________________________________________________________ 15

Maria Cantwell _______________________________________________________________________________________ 15

WGFCI Writes to Conserve Wild Fish and Those Who Rely on Them ________________________________ 18

WGFCI Supports Cost-effective Flood Damage Mitigation _______________________________________________ 18

Governor Inslee: Bomb Trains in Washington State _____________________________________________________ 18

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits _____________________________________________ 21

Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby _________________________________________________ 21

Occurrence and potential transfer of mycotoxins in gilthead sea bream and Atlantic salmon by use of

novel alternative feed ingredients. _____________________________________________________________________ 22

Why You Should Never Eat Tilapia and Other Farmed Fish ______________________________________________ 23

Feds move to stop fishing crimes by tracking seafood imports __________________________________________ 25

Farmed Salmon Is Dyed From Gray To Pink So Consumers Won't Freak Out ______________________________ 26

Norway’s salmon leaders set to benefit from Costco move driven by economics, antibiotics _______________ 27

Enjoy seasonal wild salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:___________________________________________ 32

Recommended Reading _________________________________________________________________________________ 33

“Great Bear Wild” ____________________________________________________________________________________ 33

Community Activism, Education and Outreach _____________________________________________________ 34

Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register _________________________________________________________ 34

Say No to Bill C51 – Vancouver, BC ____________________________________________________________________ 36

Vancouver protesters rally against Tories' Bill C-51 _____________________________________________________ 37

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Fridays at Noon __________________________________________ 39

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio – Recent Archives _________________________________________________________ 40

2015 Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy __________________________________________ 41

TU'S WILD STEELHEAD INITIATIVE ____________________________________________________________________ 42

Salmon feedlots __________________________________________________________________________________ 43

Fish farm madness: Harper proposes lax regulations for fish-farm industry ______________________________ 44

Petition: No More Dirty Salmon ________________________________________________________________________ 47

Ottawa extends multi-year aquaculture licences in B.C. _________________________________________________ 49

Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar, Tidal, Wind _______________ 51

Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked _________________________________________________________ 52

Petropolis - Rape and pillage of Canada and Canadians for toxic bitumen ________________________________ 52

The oil boom in one slick infographic __________________________________________________________________ 52

Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act vetoed by President Obama _________________________________________ 53

Obama Vetoes Bill Pushing Pipeline Approval __________________________________________________________ 54

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Robert Redford’s message to Obama: Time to kill Keystone for good ____________________________________ 57

Tar Sands by Rail Disasters: The Latest Wave in the Bomb Train Assault _________________________________ 60

Federal oil train rules are inadequate __________________________________________________________________ 64

DOE releases report on oil transportation ______________________________________________________________ 66

Fuel-hauling trains could derail at 10 a year ____________________________________________________________ 69

Pike Place Market vendors oppose oil trains ___________________________________________________________ 70

Hoquiam residents pressure council on oil _____________________________________________________________ 71

Hoquiam mayor calls for moratorium on all future oil facilities in city ____________________________________ 74

Explosion razes waste disposal facility near Alexander _________________________________________________ 76

Bomb Train Roulette? Latest Derailment in Ontario Is Fourth in Four Weeks ______________________________ 77

Some evacuated as railcars burn near Galena __________________________________________________________ 80

Skagit County oil train project blocked for full environmental review _____________________________________ 82

Explosion Shakes Homes Near Torrance Refinery ______________________________________________________ 83

Flare-up roars at BP Whiting Refinery __________________________________________________________________ 85

Exploding Oil Trains Aren't a Convincing Reason to Build the Keystone Pipeline _________________________ 87

Don’t let oil train safety legislation get derailed _________________________________________________________ 90

Obama Administration Unveils Federal Fracking Regulations____________________________________________ 92

Group challenges expansion plan at Utah tar sands operation ___________________________________________ 94

Oil and the Puget Sound Orcas: Can They Survive a Spill? ______________________________________________ 96

Alberta Tar Sands Pollution Suspected In Rare Cancer Cases ___________________________________________ 98

Mega loads on their way to Alberta, Canada tar sands fields ____________________________________________ 102

Hydropower / Water Retention __________________________________________________________________________ 103

Students call for removal of Snake River dams ________________________________________________________ 103

Survival of endangered orcas in the Salish Sea depends on restoring chinook ___________________________ 105

Solar _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 107

Wild Game Fish Management ____________________________________________________________________ 108

Toxic waste facility would be "catastrophe" for Fraser River: Sto:lo advisor _____________________________ 108

Pacific fishery managers approve new forage fish restrictions __________________________________________ 111

Do BC Fish Get the Shaft in Ottawa? __________________________________________________________________ 113

Wildlife Artists: _________________________________________________________________________________ 116

Artists shed new light on Enbridge, tar sands and environmental destruction ___________________________ 117

Gary Haggquist Visual Artist _________________________________________________________________________ 118

Diane Michelin - Fly Fishing Fine Art: "Wading Deep" __________________________________________________ 119

Dan Wallace: Passion for Authenticity ________________________________________________________________ 120

Leanne Hodges: West Coast Wild ____________________________________________________________________ 121

Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses __________________________ 122

Riverman Guide Service – since 1969 _________________________________________________________________ 122

Learn to fish: experienced, conservation-minded professional instructors _______________________________ 123

Cabo Sails __________________________________________________________________________________________ 124

Rhett Weber’s Charterboat “Slammer” ________________________________________________________________ 125

Fishmyster Sport Fishing Adventures ________________________________________________________________ 126

UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS ___________________________________________________________ 127

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing _________________________________________________ 128

Kingfish West Coast Adventure Tours ________________________________________________________________ 129

Casa Mia Italian Restaurant __________________________________________________________________________ 130

Spirit Bear Coffee Company __________________________________________________________________________ 131

Hidden Paths - Slovenia _____________________________________________________________________________ 132

ProFishGuide: Coastal Fishing at its Best _____________________________________________________________ 133

Silversides Fishing Adventures ______________________________________________________________________ 134

Forward

The April 2015 issue of Legacy marks forty two 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.

Please share “Legacy” with others who care deeply about the future of wild game fish.

Bruce Treichler James E. Wilcox Wild Game Fish Conservation International

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Conservationist Extraordinaire – Walking the Talk

Richard Mayer

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Opinion-Editorial:

Somewhere in Washington State, there is a Village Without its Idiot.

Bruce Treichler

The Washington State Legislature is in its 2015 session. The legislators are facing many issues,

including figuring out how to fund K-12 schools. But there is all manner of mischief that can still be

done. This article is about one kind of mischief; a bill (SB 5551) that would prohibit the Salmon

Recovery Funding Board from awarding funds to any project sponsor that has brought suit against

the state relating to hatchery facility operations. Kirk Pearson, the state senator for 39th district, and

prime sponsor, introduced the bill.

Those in favor of the bill argue that it is “unethical and hypocritical” for those concerned with hatchery

issues to sue the state. They should, instead, work with the state in an effort to resolve these issues.

This plainly is a shot at the Wild Fish Conservancy, who, in 2002 sued the state regarding the lack of

federal permits for their hatchery operations. The Conservancy had to sue again, in 2012, because

the state still did not have permits as required in a settlement of the 2002 suit and to our knowledge

does not have the permits now.

We can only assume that Senator Pearson does not like the Conservancy and the work it does. We

have no idea why.

There are all kinds of issues regarding this legislation, including the following:

Targeting a specific group who has the temerity to sue the state when the state does not

follow law and policy;

Limiting access to the courts, not just by the Conservancy, but any other organization or

individual as well;

Restricting access to funding for projects.

The Wild Fish Conservancy has been an important part of our efforts to recover wild salmon. Among

their projects is one that collected data in Grays Harbor, the purpose being to understand how

anadromous fish use the Harbor. The results of this research will assist local governments and

individuals as they try to protect the Harbor while still supporting their economy. They have also

worked on stream restoration and habitat restoration.

We support the Conservancy and have personally witnessed the results of their work. The idea that

the citizens of the state can rely on the legislature and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to do this

work is laughable. The legislature will not provide funding for these kinds of projects and have

worked hard over the past few sessions to reduce the ability of WDFW to do this work.

Salmon recovery is too important to be left in the hands of those who

oppose the efforts to recover this culturally and economically

significant icon of Washington State. If it is necessary to take the

state to court in order to conserve wild salmon, then so be it.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Farmed Salmon: If We Don’t Buy It, They Won’t Farm IT

Mike McEwen

Enjoyed the pleasure of eating farmed salmon lately?

Beautifully presented, a colourful attractive addition to any meal portraying the wild and wonderful

open seas.

Wake up people. What you have in front of you is a fish bred unnaturally in a cage in such cramped

conditions it's fins become split, it's spine bent and it grey flesh oozing with toxins from its unnatural

feed and dyes to make its flesh pink.

Sea lice are out of control and antibiotics used to try and control them seep into the natural

environment to kill our wild fish.

So next time you decide to eat salmon look at the packaging carefully. Look for the wild salmon logo

which is healthy to eat. Look also for the farmed salmon logo which is usually very small and hidden

away in a manner that the consumer will find very hard to find. It is hidden like this for a purpose.

Governments across the world support salmon farms because of their profit making capabilities.

They will not tell you of the dangers so it is up to you to tell the consumer.

Tell someone everyday not to buy this rubbish. If we don't buy it they

won't farm it.

Sea lice have proved uncontrollable in the farms and a devastating killer of our wild natural salmon.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Canada is changing its laws for dirty salmon

Alexandra Morton

Farmed fish has become a topic of controversy in Norway.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

On January 10, 2015, hurricane-force winds hit the coast of Norway.

Over 100,000 farm fish escaped during the storm, including 63,000 North American steelhead.

Sport fishermen, furious that these foreign fish were teeming through the fjords near Bergen, set to

work recapturing the oddly disfigured steelhead. They sent samples to a lab at the University of

Bergen, where their fears were confirmed. The farm fish were positive for a suite of farm viruses.

The race was on. Using hooks, nets, and even spear guns, they recaptured 30,000 of the diseased

fish in an effort to stop them from entering nearby rivers, spreading disease, and disturbing the wild

Atlantic salmon eggs in the gravel there. As fishermen posted horrific images of what our magnificent

steelhead had become in the cages of Norway, major media ran stories and within a month, the

Norwegian government enacted a new law: a fine for fish farm escapes.

The Central and Green parties of Norway made calls to move this troublesome industry onto land in

order to save the last of the country’s wild salmon and the industry itself. They suggested waiving the

more than $1 million licence fee for any farm that went ashore.

The reason for the uproar: only 500,000 wild Atlantic salmon exist in Norway today, less than half the

number in a single fish farm. For that, Norwegians blame salmon farms as one of the primary causes.

Here in Canada, we are mirror image: people are trying to protect wild Pacific salmon from farmed

Atlantic salmon.

Ninety-eight percent of salmon farms in B.C. have their head office in Norway; however, there is no

recognition of the serious problems there.

Canadians need to know our laws are being rewritten to accommodate this industry that is risking our

wild salmon.

On February 15, 2015, the Harper government announced it will offer nine-year licence terms to the

salmon farming industry, up from the single-year licences granted over the past five years. These

sites throughout B.C., on nearly every south coast migration route, will be locked down for nine

years.

“It is just not acceptable to have millions and millions of dollars invested in the industry for one-year

licences,” complained Mary Ellen Walling, ex-director of the B.C Salmon Farmers Association in the

Feb-Mar 2013 edition of SOAR.

“Millions of dollars” sounds important, so who are these investors?

They are Statoil Pension, U.S. and Norwegian banks, ex-Norwegian billionaire John Fredricksen, a

Norwegian bulk carrier shipping company, and so on. The profits from expanding this industry in B.C.

go to Norway, even as Norway recognizes the industry is an unacceptable risk to their wild salmon.

Generally speaking, Norway is a country of exceptionally high moral standard. They choose the

Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Oslo is a beautiful city with bicycles everywhere for people to share as

they commute, and in a move of extraordinary global significance, earlier this month

Norway divested its vast sovereign wealth fund from dirty coal and dirty oil. Thank you Norway. But

what about dirty salmon? Big agribusiness is releasing tons of industrial biological waste daily per

farm into some of our world’s last wild salmon migration routes. Isn’t investment in salmon farming

dirty salmon?

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

A letter asking citizens of Norway to divest dirty salmon investments is making its way around the

world. Thousands of people, most from Canada, are signing. But there are also over 100 Norwegian

names and very strong comments from those people.

“Fish farms are nasty. And the politicians that support them are corrupt,” reads one.

“It’s all about greed, and little or nothing else,” reads another.

The Province of British Columbia is currently reviewing new salmon farm applications sited closer

together than provincial standards allow. That’s the same biological brick wall this industry runs into

repeatedly: placing too many fish too close together, sparking devastating viral epidemics such as

in Chile 2007-2009. A farm now owned by Mitsubishi wants to triple the number of Atlantic salmon at

the mouth to Kingcome Inlet. Will this be the final straw to the herring and salmon that seem unable

to rebound despite decades of fishing closures?

Eastern Canada is also in uproar. A broad coalition of fishermen, businessmen, lawyers, scientists,

and citizens is calling on Prime Minister Harper to halt the removal of section 36 from the

Fisheries Act. Section 36 prohibits the release of substances that kill fish into the oceans of Canada.

But the salmon farming industry constantly needs new drugs in their war on sea lice. March 2014, the

CEO for Marine Harvest, the biggest salmon farming corporation in the world, and B.C., made

headlines in Norway. “Whoever solves sea lice, come and seem me, because we need help,” one

read.

Do these companies belong here if they have not solved their problems at home?

On February 25, 2014, David Bevan, associate assistant deputy minister at Canada’s Department of

Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), testified to the Senate Standing Committee: “Under section 36, it's

illegal to put into the water any harmful substances, so that was a very critical impediment to further

operation of the aquaculture industry, so that's what we're currently dealing with.”

In New Brunswick, a salmon farmer was recently ordered to pay $500,000 in connection to the death

of hundreds of lobster due to the use of pesticides used to kill sea lice. Lobster is Canada’s biggest

public fishery. Is it in the public interest to allow salmon farming to harm wild fisheries?

In B.C., the salmon farming industry has just been given a new drug. In addition to soaking the

pellets they feed their fish in de-lousing agents, they are now bathing entire farms in hydrogen

peroxide and then releasing it into the ocean over prawn, shrimp, rock cod, wild salmon, and many

other wild fisheries.

The formulation is so strong that during treatment, warnings must be posted to “prevent recreational

activities in the water around the fish farms”. Approved respirators are required due to the

“moderately acutely toxic” effect on humans. The Proposed Registration Document PRD2014-11

blithely notes that no research has been done on the impact of releasing millions of gallons of this

industrial-strength formulation over wild juvenile migrating salmon, herring, oolichans, and so on. And

yet DFO is handing out permits.

There are other very unsettling legislative changes under review. The salmon farming industry would

like the right to own salmon in the Canadian marine waters.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Currently, no one can own a fish in the ocean. The moment salmon farmers transfer their fish from

freshwater hatcheries into the saltwater net pens, ownership slips out of their hands.

If the Harper government gifts the industry with the unprecedented legal right to own salmon in the

ocean, we start down the slippery trail of misfortune worn smooth by those who have gone before us.

The B.C. coast will have two kinds: one protected by teams of well-paid lawyers and the other not.

Tragedy of the commons hits replay.

Already, this industry has been issued licences that permit transfer of diseased farm salmon from

hatcheries into sea pens on our wild salmon migration routes. This has been challenged in the courts

(Morton vs Canada and Marine Harvest, June 2014) and the decision is pending.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is seeking authority to kill wild salmon to

protect farmed salmon from disease as per the Proposed Aquaculture Regulations. This is of special

concern to the nations of the Fraser River, where many sockeye populations thrive as carriers of the

IHN virus, which is lethal to the millions of Atlantic salmon in sea pens on sockeye migration routes.

There have already been three major epidemics of IHN in B.C. farmed salmon, for which tax-payers

compensated the industry.

As Rafe Mair said, one of the greatest challenges in communicating what our government is doing to

B.C. is that their behaviour is simply unbelievable, and so people don’t react.

Norway’s offer to waive the $1 million licence fee for any farm that establishes on land cannot be

extended here in Canada, because currently federal salmon farming licences are issued for free.

It is time to divest dirty salmon, move toward clean land-based aquaculture, include renewable feed

sources, and use cutting edge science now available to bring wild salmon back.

Want to learn more about how to tell if the salmon on your plate is farmed or wild? Here’s a guide.

Alexandra Morton is the executive director of the Department of Wild Salmon. The Department of

Wild Salmon links together the experience and knowledge of hundreds of salmon groups, First

Nations, university departments and labs.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Fishing Photos and Funnies

Pacific Ocean Lingcod and Sea Bass on “Slammer”

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Politicians Reply to WGFCI

Maria Cantwell

US Senator

Washington State

Thank you for contacting me about the Keystone XL project, a proposal by the TransCanada

Corporation to construct a 1,179-mile oil pipeline to connect Canadian oil sands production to the

U.S. Gulf of Mexico. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.

Because the pipeline crosses the U.S.-Canada border, TransCanada was required to apply for a

Presidential Permit, which is administered by the U.S. Department of State. The procedure for this

review is guided by Executive Order 13337, signed by President Bush on April 30, 2004. As part of

the review, the State Department is required to assess whether this project is in the national interest.

TransCanada submitted its first application for the Keystone XL in 2008. Due to the magnitude of the

project and proposed route adjustments, the State Department announced in November 2011 that it

could not make a determination regarding the permit application without additional information.

TransCanada changed its route after stakeholders in Nebraska raised serious concerns about the

risk of a pipeline spill in the sensitive Sand Hills region, including the Ogallala Aquifer.

This giant underground source of freshwater supplies drinking water to around 3 million people and

provides nearly one-third of our nation's irrigation groundwater. Nebraskans and others noted that

since TransCanada's original Keystone pipeline opened in 2009, it has spilled at least a dozen times,

including a 21,000-gallon spill in spring 2011. The State Department estimated that a safe alternative

route for the pipeline could be found and reviewed by the first quarter of 2013, a timeline accepted by

both the State of Nebraska and TransCanada.

As you may know, the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-78) required

President Obama to determine whether the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest by

February 23, 2012. The State Department was forced to reject TransCanada's application because

60 days was not enough time to conduct a legally defensible review of the new route proposal.

By July 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had issued the necessary permits for construction of

the southern portion of the pipeline to proceed from Cushing, Oklahoma to Texas. The construction

of that portion is now complete. In May 2012, TransCanada filed a new application for the northern

portion of the pipeline, which would connect Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska. This revised

proposal adjusted the proposed route to the east of the original proposal, avoiding all but 10 miles of

the sensitive aquifer region in Nebraska.

On January 31, 2014, the State Department released a final report of its environmental impact

assessment. However, in February 2014, a legal challenge to the pipeline's route through Nebraska

forced the U.S. State Department to put its review of the project on hold for nearly the entire year of

2014, while that case was decided.

On January 9, 2015, the Nebraska Supreme Court let the proposed route through Nebraska stand, in

turn allowing the State Department to continue its review of the project.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

The next step in the approval process is for Secretary of State John Kerry to make a

recommendation to President Obama on the pipeline. Please be assured I will continue to monitor

this situation closely.

Last Congress, the U.S. Senate voted on a bill that would have authorized the Keystone XL pipeline.

The bill failed to receive the 60 votes necessary to advance out of the Senate. I voted against this

piece of legislation.

A new bill, the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act (S. 1), was introduced by Senator John Hoeven

(R-ND) at the beginning of this Congress. I voted against this legislation, but it passed the Senate by

a vote of 62 to 36 on January 29, 2015. This legislation is currently awaiting the President's

determination. Fortunately, President Obama has announced that he will veto this legislation.

I opposed S. 1 because I believe that the pipeline siting should go through the established review

process – rather than having Congress prematurely intervene on behalf of one company. The U.S.

State Department has an established approval process for trans-boundary projects such as the

Keystone XL pipeline. This process contains a number of important standards for the environment

and public safety that TransCanada would be obligated to meet. If Congress were to bypass the

review process with S. 1, the American people would lose many important protections included in the

State Department's determination.

As the ranking member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, I believe

the United States needs to diversify its domestic energy supply with a mix of both traditional and

alternative, renewable fuels. That is why one of my top priorities as a U.S. Senator has been to work

on shifting our nation from our overreliance on fossil fuels to a cleaner, more diverse energy system

based on domestically produced and environmentally friendly 21st century technologies.

Our nation's continued economic, environmental, and national security

depends on finding alternative sources of energy produced right here

at home. In Washington State, and across the country, we must seize

the opportunity to become a world leader in manufacturing and

deploying new energy technologies.

I want Americans to be the ones building and exporting the new clean energy technologies and fuels

the world will be demanding in the near future.

Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter. Please do not hesitate to

contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

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

WGFCI Supports Cost-effective Flood Damage Mitigation

As published in the Lewis County Chronicle

Jim Wilcox

As spring approaches, western Washington landowners can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Once

again, due to changing climate patterns, rivers like the Chehalis and her tributaries have for the most

part remained within their banks.

Elected representatives from throughout the Chehalis River basin have worked for several years to

develop a flood damage reduction strategy. These efforts have led to many suggested projects

throughout the basin.

We at Wild Game Fish Conservation International (WGFCI) have consistently worked with these folks

to identify and prioritize cost effective projects that would protect human lives and property from

future flood damage while also protecting and restoring the basin’s irreplaceable fish and wildlife

habitat.

Chehalis River basin flood damage reduction projects supported by WGFCI include effective

regulation of logging practices to minimize flash flooding while protecting water quality, floodplain

management to minimize property damage while restoring aquifer function, river function restoration

while removing barriers to spawning and rearing salmon habitat, and slowing and cooling the river

with riparian zone planting.

These WGFCI-supported, basin-wide projects must be completed in order to minimize flood-related

damage throughout the Chehalis River basin. Seasonal flooding throughout this basin will return;

likely sooner than later and more damaging than previously, given land management practices

throughout the Chehalis River basin.

Governor Inslee: Bomb Trains in Washington State

Jim Wilcox

The Evergreen State, with her citizens and natural resources, must be protected from the known and

unknown health and environmental risks associated with our reliance on fossil fuels. Of particular

concern are the risks associated with transporting extremely volatile crude oil (Bakken Shale Deposit

and Alberta Tar Sands) across Washington via inadequate tank cars on an aging rail infrastructure.

The Department of Ecology's recent report on this matter identified many concerns as well as many

gaps in information. As witnessed since the beginning of 2015, in North America, there have been

many dangerous oil train derailments with out-of-control fires, pipeline failures and refinery

explosions.

Now is the time to enact a moratorium on oil by rail in Washington State; before these rolling bombs

cause loss of life and property in the Evergreen State.

Your leadership on this important matter will truly be appreciated.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Seafood consumption: Public health risks and benefits

Warning: Eating Farmed Salmon May Affect Your Baby

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Chemosphere. 2015 Mar 6;128C:314-320. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.02.021. [Epub ahead of

print]

Occurrence and potential transfer of mycotoxins in gilthead sea bream and

Atlantic salmon by use of novel alternative feed ingredients.

Abstract

Plant ingredients and processed animal proteins (PAP) are suitable

alternative feedstuffs for fish feeds in aquaculture practice, although

their use can introduce contaminants that are not previously

associated with marine salmon and gilthead sea bream farming.

Mycotoxins are well known natural contaminants in plant feed material, although they also could be

present on PAPs after fungi growth during storage. The present study surveyed commercially

available plant ingredients (19) and PAP (19) for a wide range of mycotoxins (18) according to the

EU regulations.

PAP showed only minor levels of ochratoxin A and fumonisin B1 and the mycotoxin carry-over from

feeds to fillets of farmed Atlantic salmon and gilthead sea bream (two main species of European

aquaculture) was performed with plant ingredient based diets. Deoxynivalenol was the most

prevalent mycotoxin in wheat, wheat gluten and corn gluten cereals with levels ranging from 17 to

814 and μgkg-1, followed by fumonisins in corn products (range 11.1-4901μgkg-1 for fumonisin

B1+B2+B3).

Overall mycotoxin levels in fish feeds reflected the feed ingredient composition and the level of

contaminant in each feed ingredient. In all cases the studied ingredients and feeds showed levels of

mycotoxins below maximum residue limits established by the Commission Recommendation

2006/576/EC.

Following these guidelines no mycotoxin carry-over was found from feeds to edible fillets of

salmonids and a typically marine fish, such as gilthead sea bream. As far we know, this is the first

report of mycotoxin surveillance in farmed fish species.

Dr. Claudette Bethune

The current use of chicken and pig by-products, what the salmon farming

industry calls "use of novel alternative feed ingredients" is starting to show

showing some significant issues.

Cancerous Mycotoxins for dinner, and to all animal feeds, anyone?

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Why You Should Never Eat Tilapia and Other Farmed Fish

September 18, 2014

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We are usually told that fish is good for us – it’s a low fat, high protein food, and it contains an

abundance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that our body needs. This might be true, but it all

depends on the source of the fish on your plate. Tilapia is one of America’s most popular fish.

According to the National Fisheries Institute, this freshwater fish has become the fourth most eaten

seafood in the US. It turns out tilapia is always farm-raised, and often imported from China. Eating it

might cause you more harm than good. And the same goes for many other farmed fish, such as

salmon, cod, sea bass, and catfish.

The dangers of farmed fish

Farmed tilapia has a high inflammatory potential, which could lead to heart disease, asthma, and joint

problems. It contains far less omega-3 fatty acids than some other fish varieties. Omega-3 is anti-

inflammatory, and works in conjugation with omega-6 fatty acids. The ratio between the two is very

important, and when it’s out of balance, an inflammation can develop.

Generally speaking, farmed fish contain high concentrations of antibiotics and pesticides. The fish

live in crowded pools and are given antibiotics to survive. To combat sea lice, strong pesticides are

sprayed on them. The conditions are supposed to be particularly bad in China. The Economic

Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture reported on alarming conditions in many

Chinese seafood farms. There have also been rumors that fish are fed chicken and pig feces, but this

has not been confirmed. Nonetheless, if your farmed fish comes from China, it will likely contain high

levels of chemicals and antibacterial drugs (nitrofurans). This has also been discovered by Seafood

Watch when testing different fish samples.

There are many other chemicals that can be found in farmed fish,

including dibutylin and dioxins. Dibutylin is known to impair immune system function,

and dioxins have been identified as carcinogens. For example, farm-bred salmon has 11-times

higher dioxin levels compared to wild salmon.

What you can do

As mentioned above, it is important to know where the fish comes from. For tilapia, the best choice is

fish raised in the US, Canada and Ecuador. However, the labeling is not always transparent, and

some seafood products are exempt from having to label the food’s origin. Also, there is no way to

know if farm-fed fish were raised on a GMO diet. There are no guidelines in place yet that would

classify seafood as organic.

We might want to resort to wild caught fish, but overfishing is very damaging for the environment, and

there is a lot of collateral damage being done. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the most

sustainable fish to eat are wild whiting, tailor, moonfish, mahi mahi and luderick (black fish). The

Australians have also awarded the green label to Australian bonito, sea mullet and trevally, which are

great sources of omega-3 fats.

Humanity is hungry for protein, but the question of how to consume fish ethically is a big one, and it

yet needs to be answered.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Feds move to stop fishing crimes by tracking seafood imports

March 15, 2015

BOSTON (AP) — In an effort to eradicate illegal fishing and seafood fraud, the Obama

Administration is launching a fish tracking system that would eventually tell consumers where their

fish was caught, processed and stored.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews announced the initiative at the Seafood Expo

conference in Boston on Sunday, describing an action plan to stamp out imports of illegally caught

fish.

He says the steps the U.S. has taken in environmental stewardship are paying off, but the nation’s

fisheries remain threatened by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Ninety percent of seafood in the U.S. is imported, and about 1 percent

of seafood imports are inspected, according to the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Farmed Salmon Is Dyed From Gray To Pink So Consumers Won't Freak Out

March 16, 2015

Wild salmon are pink (or pinkish-orange, depending on geography) for the same reason flamingos

are pink: their diets, which are heavy in krill and shrimp. But farm-raised salmon are fed a diet that

renders them gray... or it would, if they weren't carefully "pigmented" to transform into more

appetizing hues.

The Atlantic reports:

While [astaxanthin, an ingredient in the pigment pellets,] provides the salmon with some of the

vitamins and antioxidants they'd get in the wild, salmon health isn't the selling point.

It's the "pigmenting," to use feed industry parlance, that really matters, letting salmon farmers

determine how red their fillets will be. (Thanks to a 2003 lawsuit, they have to alert customers

to the fact of "added" coloring.)

To facilitate that selection process, pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-LaRoche developed a set of

standardized color cards to measure hue — which is now known as the DSM SalmoFan.

(Dutch multinational DSM acquired it in 2002).

A study by DSM showed that shoppers, particularly wealthy ones, are more attracted to darker

shades of salmon, which can be priced higher simply due to its resemblance to wild salmon.

Interestingly, not dying farmed salmon would make it even more affordable, but only if people would

actually purchase salmon that's not pink, which doesn't seem likely. Such a psychological leap of

faith would change the industry, though:

Pigmenting supplements are the most expensive component of the farmed salmon diet,

constituting up to 20 percent of feed costs. But it boosts profitability. And while creating a

product that fetches prices approaching those of wild-caught salmon, farmers can still churn

out fillets at an industrial clip. That often makes things harder on the Pacific Northwest

fishermen whose catch they're trying to emulate. An abundance of farmed salmon forces

fishermen to lower prices of their wild-caught salmon in order to compete.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Norway’s salmon leaders set to benefit from Costco move driven by economics, antibiotics

March 20, 2015

Large Norwegian salmon suppliers Marine Harvest, Leroy Seafood Group and Salmar are best

positioned to capitalize on US retail group Costco’s plan to switch a chunk of its fresh supply to

Norway, sources told Undercurrent News.

The planned move of around two-thirds of its fresh contract -- which Costco is reportedly putting

down to concern from its club store members over antibiotic use in food, but industry sources are

saying is just as much down to economics -- was announced to Chilean suppliers during the Boston

seafood show this week.

Costco plans to keep 25-30% of the contract in Chile, sources said, but it is not known if any deals

with Norwegian suppliers have been agreed. There are some strong economic incentives for Costco

to look to the likes of Marine Harvest, Leroy, Salmar and Coast Seafood, which supplies from a range

of independent farmers, however.

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With the Norwegian krone weak compared to the dollar; the Russia ban looking unlikely to be

removed anytime soon; and a ban from China on salmon from three Norwegian counties, which

caused spot prices to drop for next week; more and more Norwegian salmon is going to the US

market.

Marine Harvest, the world’s largest salmon farmer, is seen as a strong contender to take a big chunk

of the Costco business, one of the world’s largest fresh salmon accounts, because of its scale on

supply and processing.

Despite this advantage for Marine Harvest, Costco is using as many as six suppliers in Chile, and

sources said the club store is unlikely to want to “put all its eggs in one basket”, as one source put it.

As a result, Leroy, Salmar and Coast, even Nova Sea and Nordlaks, are also seen as possible

beneficiaries.

“As a principle, we never comment on clients in the media,” Ola Brattvoll, chief operating officer for

global sales and marketing for Marine Harvest, told Undercurrent.

Knut Hallvard Leroy, sales director of Leroy, declined to comment.

Salmar, Nova Sea, Nordlaks and Coast executives could not be reached for comment.

Unlike Marine Harvest, none of these companies have processing in the US, however.

When the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) crisis hit in Chile in 2007 and 2008 and salmon production

dived, Marine Harvest was sending pre-rigor fillets from Norway to Miami and Los Angeles, then

processing for Costco and other customers in its own plants on the west and east coasts.

Several sources close to Marine Harvest feel the same could happen again.

“Marine Harvest can fly the pre-rigor fillets from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid and Oslo; there are

many options,” one source with knowledge of the company, source B, told Undercurrent. “The fillets

mature on the plane, so they are ready for pin-bone removal and processing in the US. That is what

they did when ISA hit.”

The problem with processing in Norway is the pin-bone removal is tricky, as the fish's flesh is not firm

enough yet, he said.

On top of this ability to ship and then process in its own plants in the US, Marine Harvest has the

global salmon network to keep a massive account such as Costco supplied.

Also, Marine Harvest has a lot less risk for Costco as a supplier. “They can supply from Norway,

Scotland, Ireland, the Faroe Islands, Canada and Chile, they have it all,” this source told

Undercurrent.

“This is a huge account, so it’ll have to be the big players,” he said. “With the F trim fillet being free

from fat, skin and brown meat; it has a maximum yield of 43-45%. So, a lot of raw material is needed,

maybe as much as 30,000t for the year.”

Another Norwegian source, source C, also close to the Chilean industry, said he feels there are

increased costs for the model of flying to the US and processing from Norway and processing in the

Nordic country.

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"I believe several players from Norway will be able to increase the volumes to the US market, but it’s

more challenging since the cost of processing is higher in Norway than in Chile," he said.

"If you do primary processing in Norway and secondary processing in the US market you will also

add extra cost to the value chain," he told Undercurrent.

"I believe several players from Norway will be able to increase the volumes to the US – market, but

it’s more challenging since the cost of processing is higher in Norway than in Chile. If you do primary

processing in Norway and secondary processing in the US- market you will also add extra cost to the

value chain," source C.

Some have even said the details of the move are not certain and it might even be a way to put

pressure on Chile. Others have expressed surprise Costco wants to move away from the steady

supply of "F trim" fillets, which have no fat on, from Chile.

"I think it is a wrong decision, as the product is a fully de-fatted filet that requires a lot manual

trimming if you want to have a reasonable yield," said Eduardo Goycoolea, the former sales director

of Chile's Blumar Seafoods, who is now heading up "New World Currents", a joint sales effort for

China from various Chilean producers.

"Doing this in Norway will increase the cost for Costco and it will end up in a higher price to their

associates," he told Undercurrent.

He downplayed what it will mean for the market, as a whole.

"Globally, it will only mean a reshuffle of the fish flow as there is not significant growth in production

in the coming years and demand will continue to grow almost everywhere. Impact on the current

Chilean suppliers to Costco will be only temporary, as Chilean production will shrink in the coming

months," he said.

Goycoolea said the move stems from a reaction from some producers in Norway that were first

banned from Russia and now have new restrictions in China.

They are finding it "increasingly more difficult to sell their production", he said.

Why now?

Norwegian sellers were out in force at the Boston seafood show and the apparent move from Costco

is seen as possibly the first of many US buyers switching to Norwegian.

The exchange rate at the moment, with the krone driven down by the fall in oil prices, creates a

compelling economic reason for Costco to link up with Norway, in addition to the general drive the

company has to move away from buying products raised using antibiotics.

On March 5, Costco told Reuters it is working toward eliminating the sale of chicken and meat from

other animals raised with antibiotics that are vital to fighting human infections. Then, at the Boston

seafood show, the Chileans were hit with the news.

“Costco told the Chileans this planned move is about concern from their members about antibiotics in

food,” a Chilean executive based in the US, not wishing to be quoted by name, source A,

told Undercurrent. “However, why move now? This seems to be just as much about economics.”

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

The contract is reportedly set to start to move in early June, with Norwegian prices usually softening

during the summer. “If you look at the pricing model for buying from Norway versus Chilean, this

looks a very smart move from Costco and it is good for the Norwegians,” he said.

It does not look like the oil price is going to recover much, so the krone is likely to stay weak against

the dollar, he said.

Big volumes to shift

Marine Harvest, Leroy and Salmar have the largest volumes to sell from Norway.

Part of a contract using up as much as 30,000t in total raw material then, would be welcome. Marine

Harvest produced 258,000t in 2014 in Norway and is modelling for 263,000t in 2015.

Leroy is next from Norway, producing 158,300t in 2014, with 6,000t from its half of Villa Organic,

which was not counted as integrated. In 2015, Leroy is forecasting production of 166,000t in 2015,

including Villa. Salmar produced 141,000t in 2014 and is forecasting 139,000t in 2015.

An analyst with Norway’s DNB Bank agreed with the selection of companies being billed as possible

beneficiaries from the planned move from Costco.

“Costco is a tough customer with strict demands on quality. Given the volumes and consistency of

quality, I suspect some of the larger players would be likely candidates,” said Alexander Aukner, an

analyst with DNB.

Marine Harvest, Leroy and Salmar “would be possible suppliers”, he told Undercurrent.

“Marine Harvest probably supply them [Costco] from Chile, so they might already have a relationship

with Costco, which should make it easier to 'win' some Norwegian business also. I think Marine

Harvest will have an edge, but it is very hard to make any predictions on this.”

Aukner agreed it is unlikely Costco would want a single supplier on such a large contract, however.

He also noted the move is likely to have an impact in Chile.

“I guess this move will trigger additional consolidation in Chile and increase the need for biological

focus further, which should be good for the industry in the long term,” said Aukner.

“It is going to be a tough year for Chile,” source A, the Chilean based in the US, told Undercurrent.

Another source, with a large Norwegian supplier not in the mix for Costco, said the planned move is

another part of the moving picture of salmon supply in 2015. "With the Russia ban and this news on

China, more Faroese salmon will continue to go to these markets. So, Norwegian salmon will most

likely go more to the US, where the Faroese have been selling a lot to."

A Norwegian executive familiar with salmon farming and processing in Norway and Chile said he got

the impression from Boston that the news is not “100% firm” of the shift to Norway.

He also said the Chilean industry can up supply of salmon using no-antibiotics.

In some part of Chile the farms will be able to cope with stricter requirements from the end buyers

“and this will probably stimulate the industry to reconsider the strategy going forward”, he

told Undercurrent.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

You have to consider the sustainability story behind your productions, when it comes to sea lice

treatment, mortality rate, feed conversion rate and treatment level, he said. "You can find farms in

northern Norway and in south in Chile where the “never ever” concept is possible to cope with both

sealice treatment and use of antibiotics."

Goycoolea, however, said the antibiotics point is a non-issue.

"Regarding the issue of the use of antibiotics in salmon production, it is not a

health risk for the consumers," he said.

"Every production lot is tested and certified to be free of antibiotics before it is harvested and

exported. I think it will create unnecessary confusion to consumers over an issue that has been

scientifically proven has no impact on consumption," said the Chilean seafood sector veteran.

"Imagine that we decide that humans will only marry partners that are only antibiotics free. We will all

be single in this planet then. I hope rationality prevails and we don’t create an issue where it is not

needed," said Goycoolea.

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Enjoy seasonal wild salmon dinners at these fine restaurants:

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Recommended Reading

“Great Bear Wild”

Watch introduction HERE

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Community Activism, Education and Outreach

Stopping Farmed Salmon at the Cash Register

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Say No to Bill C51 – Vancouver, BC

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

More than 1000 people took to the lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery Saturday, March 14, 2015 to protest Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the new anti-terror bill, C-51.

Vancouver protesters rally against Tories' Bill C-51

March 15, 2015

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

VANCOUVER — More than a thousand demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Vancouver on Saturday afternoon to protest the federal government’s proposed anti-terrorism bill.

The march was part of a national day of action happening in cities across Canada to protest Bill C-51, controversial legislation introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government in January.

The bill, which would allow police to detain terror suspects and give new powers to Canada’s spy agency, has angered many Canadians, who argue the bill will infringe on civil liberties and privacy rights.

Demonstrations were held in dozens of cities in Canada on Saturday in an event the organizers call “Defend our Freedom.”

Many of the protesters in Vancouver carried placards that read “Stop Stephen Harper” and “Kill Bill” and shouted out calls to remove Harper from office.

In Vancouver, where there is much opposition to several large-scale oil projects, such as Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s Trans-Mountain pipeline on Burnaby Mountain, many at the rally said they believe Harper’s anti-terrorism laws will be used to stop protesters.

Under the legislation, protest activity may be considered a threat to national security, and opponents are concerned that because of the ambiguity of the bill, the federal government could argue that transporting oil contributes to the economic security of the country and therefore the demonstrators are threatening national security.

“I think Bill C-51 is not really about terrorism, it’s about Stephen

Harper’s agenda to silence the environmental movement,” said

Jennifer Thoss, who brought her eight-year-old son to the

demonstration on Saturday.

“I quite often voice my support for people who protest and those engaged in civil disobedience, and with this bill if I supported someone on Burnaby Mountain, for example, I am subject to RCMP investigation, my emails can be tapped, my phone can be tapped. I can be under surveillance without me knowing it and this is being slipped into our book of laws and people aren’t noticing.”

Mark Matthews, 61, of Vancouver, who wore a sign draped on his body that read: “I am a protester not a terrorist,” agreed with Thoss and called the proposed legislation reckless.

“There’s only one small part of this bill that addresses terrorism, the rest is about national security, and giving authorities more power to spy on people.”

Critics also say the bill is being rushed through Parliament with little debate. Since Jan. 30, the bill has already gone through a second reading and could soon be made into law.

The federal government argues that C-51 is essential to ensure safety and protect people from extremists against Canadian values.

Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney has defended the government initiative, arguing that the bill was balanced between powers granted to ensure safety and the protection of individual freedoms.

Green party leader Elizabeth May and New Democrat leader Tom Mulcair, who are both opposed to the bill, joined protests in Montreal and Toronto on Saturday

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio with Jay Peachy – Fridays at Noon

“Streaming like wild Pacific salmon”

http://wildsalmonwarriorradio.org/

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio is happy to announce that we are moving to a new Friday one-

hour timeslot. The community radio program will now broadcast from Noon-1pm every

Friday from the home station at Simon Fraser University on CJSF 90.1 FM.

“Our new lunch time timeslot will allow us to continue the conversation around the

protection of Wild Salmon and engage in outreach in the community for live remote

broadcasts” states J Peachy, the show creator and host.

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio is a weekly community based radio program that focuses on

topics related to Wild Salmon conservation, watershed habitat and ocean protection.

Salmon is a keystone species on the Pacific West Coast and to coastal regions around the

world.

The one hour program intends to reach out and engage to all communities who depend on

Wild Salmon as part of their livelihoods. The show is syndicated on community based

radio networks CJMP Powell River 90.1 FM and Nuxalk Radio 91.1 Bella Coola.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Wild Salmon Warrior Radio – Recent Archives

February 24: Social justice, “Reactor”

March 13: GMO salmon (Frankenfish), Salmon feedlots, Mount Polley, more. Part A Part B

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2015 Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

TU'S WILD STEELHEAD INITIATIVE

OLYMPIA CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED

MARCH 25, 2015 7:00PM

NORTH OLYMPIA FIRE STATION

5046 BOSTON HARBOR ROAD NE

Program: The Wild Steelhead Initiative is an ambitious effort to conserve and provide sustainable fisheries for wild steelhead across their native range. John McMillan's presentation will cover the Initiative's goals and efforts, and describe work that is taking place. It will also cover some of the major issues that wild steelhead face in Washington and throughout their range, and discuss how sound management and conservation actions can mitigate some of these issues.

Refreshments and a raffle will follow

Bio: John McMillan has worked as a research fishery scientist for the past 17 years from the John Day River in the interior Columbia River to the Hoh River of the Olympic Peninsula rainforest. He has worked for the USFS, Hoh Indian Tribe, Wild Salmon Center, and most recently for NOAA on the Elwha River dam removal project. Much of his professional scientific study has focused on the biology, behavior and ecology of steelhead and rainbow trout. He is tremendously excited to begin working with Trout Unlimited on the Wild Steelhead Initiative and believes it is a critical step towards both conservation and ensuring future angling opportunities. E-mail [email protected].

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Salmon feedlots

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Fish farm madness: Harper proposes lax regulations for fish-farm industry

March 12, 2015

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

In its proposed regulatory changes to the Fisheries Act, the Harper government is not only catering to

the Norwegian-based multinational fish-farm industry in Canada, it is also collaborating with the U.S.

government in little-known efforts to "harmonize" regulations across many sectors, including the

aquaculture industry.

The results could have devastating impacts on Canada's ocean environment, wild fish, and our

fishing industries.

Now a large coalition of businesses, fishing associations, scientists and environmentalists is calling

upon Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stop proposed changes to federal aquaculture regulations,

saying the changes would damage the environment and existing businesses. The Harper

government is proposing to amend the federal Fisheries Act, exempting the fish-farm industry from

provisions that "prohibit the release of deleterious substances into water frequented by fish."

In an Open Letter to PM Harper dated February 17, the 120 signatories from across Canada state

that "the proposed changes, if enacted, will lead to the discharge of increasingly powerful pesticides

and other potentially damaging substances into the ecosystem, significantly reduce government

regulatory oversight, and damage Canada's commercial interests as a provider of untainted

seafood."

The multinational fish-farm industry has been lobbying for the Canadian regulatory changes since

2011.

The Open Letter signatories include more than 60 scientists such as B.C. independent biologist

Alexandra Morton and Dalhousie University professor of biology Jeffrey Hutchings, as well as

representatives from the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union-Unifor, and many fishing

associations.

The day the Open Letter was released, the Harper government announced that it will issue multi-year

licences for fish-farms in B.C. in order to promote investment in the industry.

Lethal effects

The aquaculture industry already uses significant amounts of pesticides and drugs to stave off sea-

lice infestations and other maladies, but it wants the regulatory changes in order to use even stronger

pesticides, more drug treatments and other potentially "deleterious" substances.

However, recent studies show that two of the desired pesticides -- Salmosan and AlphaMax (both

trademarked) -- can have lethal effects on lobsters and other wild marine species hundreds of metres

distant from a fish-farm.

As a result of these studies, numerous fisheries associations have signed onto the Open Letter,

including the Fundy North Fishermen's Association, the Nova Scotia Salmon Association, Federation

quebecoise pour le saumon atlantique, the Maritime Fishermen's Union, the Eastern Shore

Fishermen's Protective Association, the Grand Manan Fishermen's Association and others.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

The Open Letter further states that as a consequence of the proposed changes:

"Environment Canada's role would be eliminated, leaving reliance upon Health Canada and the

Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to ensure environmental protection. Health Canada

does not have an undivided environmental protection mandate and DFO does not have the

capacity to undertake the surveillance work of Environment Canada."

Hundreds of scientists and other professionals' jobs have been eliminated from the DFO by the

Harper government in recent years during its War on Science.

In a startling passage, the Open Letter also states:

"The environmental risk assessments currently performed by Health Canada for pesticide impacts

are conducted in a manner that is less than transparent based upon proprietary data sets

provided by chemical manufacturers. In the case of drugs, the environmental assessments are

negligible and Health Canada does not conduct any subsequent environmental impacts

monitoring after these same products are put into commercial usage."

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) -- the division of Health Canada that regulates all

pesticides -- has lost more than 100 biologists and other professional personnel during Harper's

prolonged War on Science. Critics say the PMRA now basically and routinely accepts the pesticide

manufacturer's input regarding the safety of their products, without further investigation.

Stewart Lamont, managing director of Tangier Lobster in Nova Scotia, told the Chronicle Herald that

increased usage of the pesticides, which have killed hundreds of lobsters in previous years, "poses a

substantial threat to the wild fishery."

Bill Ernst, a retired Environment Canada toxicologist, says the proposed regulations "will set back

Canadian aquatic environmental protection measures several decades." Ernst told me by email that

the sea-lice pesticide AlphaMax is now made by Pharmaq, "but it seems Salmosan went from

Novartis to a company called Fish Health Group."

Pharmaq is now owned by a UK-based private equity firm called Permira -- an indication of the wide

range of business interests that are now concentrating on aquaculture as the next big investment

opportunity across North America.

As we shall see, Canada and the U.S. have been busily (and quietly)

coordinating regulations to ease that development.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Petition: No More Dirty Salmon

Alexandra Morton

When 63,000 diseased North American trout escaped into Norway's fjords in January, Norwegians

made it clear salmon farming is threatening the last wild Atlantic salmon. I realized both Canada and

Norway are suffering bad government decisions that allow salmon farming to expand at the expense

of local people and economies. I believe we need to reach out across borders, across the world and

make this industry grow up and clean up. No more DIRTY SALMON.

If you agree, please sign and share this letter:

Canadians and Norwegians love wild salmon, but Norwegian salmon farms are one of the greatest

threats to this magnificent fish in both our countries.

I am a Canadian biologist who studied whales until your salmon farming industry moved in: Marine

Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg. Now I study sea lice and farmed salmon viruses.

As I follow your news on the escape of rainbow trout into Norway’s fjords, I see we have become

mirror images of the same industrial disaster. Diseased American trout threaten Norway’s wild

salmon, while diseased Atlantic farm salmon threaten Canada’s wild salmon. Why would we do this?

The world has noticed that salmon farming is a dirty industry. People are increasingly afraid to eat

farmed salmon due to toxins. I described the salmon-farming nightmare on 60 Minutes. Bloomberg,

the world’s leading business publication, reports on "Why You'll Never Want to Eat Farm-Raised

Salmon."

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

The relationship between your salmon farmers and both our governments is disturbing. Norway,

world champion for social responsibility, actually convinced the EU to permit 10xs more

endosulfan in farmed salmon feed to increase profitability. This is one of the most dangerous

pesticides banned in most parts of the world because of the horrific damage it does to babies! Is this

really the same Norway, who chooses the Nobel Peace Prize laureates to reward the highest moral

behavior?

Meanwhile, in Canada laws are being rewritten to legalize release of sea lice chemicals that kill wild

fish, transfer of diseased farmed salmon into wild salmon habitat, ownership of salmon in Canadian

waters, and 9-year licences. This is madness. Our countries are failing to live up to our standards.

Salmon farming was born in Norway, but they use Canada to satisfy their shareholders. Norway just

divested from dirty oil, (thank you Norway) perhaps it is time to divest from dirty salmon?

Please tell your politicians salmon farms are feedlots, they belong on land. The salmon farmers need

help learning how to grow up and behave responsibly. Wild salmon are a gift we will not be given

twice. Will we rob our children of clean food? Please stop this industry before a devastating virus

destroys the last wild salmon. Viral pollution is unforgiveable and our children will not understand

why we did this to them.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Salmon farms off B.C.’s coast will soon be able to apply for multi-year operating permits

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

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.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

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.

Editorial Comment:

Challenges ?????

The health and environmental challenges

associated with ocean-based fin-fish feedlots

far outweigh the minor challenges placed upon

this filthy, government-enabled industry.

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.

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Energy Generation: Oil, Coal, Geothermal, Hydropower, Natural Gas, Solar,

Tidal, Wind

Legacy – April 2015

Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Petroleum – Drilled, Refined, Tar Sands, Fracked

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

Watch video HERE

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act vetoed by President Obama

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Wild Game Fish Conservation International

2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

President Obama retains the authority to approve the pipeline on his own timeline.

Obama Vetoes Bill Pushing Pipeline Approval

February 24, 2015

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday rejected an attempt by lawmakers to force his hand

on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, using his veto pen to sweep aside one of the first major challenges

to his authority by the new Republican Congress.

With no fanfare and a 104-word letter to the Senate, Mr. Obama vetoed legislation to authorize

construction of a 1,179-mile pipeline that would carry 800,000 barrels of heavy petroleum a day from

the oil sands of Alberta to ports and refineries on the Gulf Coast.

In exercising the unique power of the Oval Office for only the third time since his election in 2008, Mr.

Obama accused lawmakers of seeking to circumvent the administration’s approval process for the

pipeline by cutting short “consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest.”

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By rejecting the legislation, Mr. Obama retains the right to make a final judgment on the pipeline on

his own timeline. But he did little to calm the political debate over Keystone, which has become a

symbol of the continuing struggle between environmentalists and conservatives.

How Keystone XL Got (So) Political

As Washington debates Keystone XL, here’s how the 1,179-mile pipeline became so political.

Backers of the pipeline denounced Mr. Obama’s actions and vowed to keep fighting for its

construction.

The House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, called the president’s veto “a national

embarrassment” and accused Mr. Obama of being “too close to environmental extremists” and “too

invested in left-fringe politics.”

Environmentalists quickly hailed the decision, which they said clearly indicated Mr. Obama’s intention

to reject the pipeline’s construction. The White House has said the president will decide whether to

allow the pipeline when all of the environmental reviews are completed in the coming weeks.

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“Republicans in Congress continued to waste everyone’s time with a bill destined to go nowhere, just

to satisfy the agenda of their big oil allies,” said Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra

Club. “The president has all the evidence he needs to reject Keystone XL now, and we are confident

that he will.”

Since 2011, the proposed Keystone pipeline has emerged as a broader symbol of the partisan

political clash over energy, climate change and the economy.

Most energy policy experts say the project will have a minimal impact on jobs and climate. But

Republicans insist that the pipeline will increase employment by linking the United States to an

energy supply from a friendly neighbor. Environmentalists say it will contribute to ecological

destruction and damaging climate change.

Mr. Obama has hinted that he thinks both sides have inflated their arguments, but he has not said

what he will decide.

In his State of the Union address last month, Mr. Obama urged lawmakers to move past the pipeline

debate, calling for passage of a comprehensive infrastructure plan. “Let’s set our sights higher than a

single oil pipeline,” he said.

Republican leaders had promised to use the veto, which was expected, to denounce Mr. Obama as a

partisan obstructionist. They made good on that promise minutes after the president’s veto message

was read on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.

“The fact he vetoed the bipartisan Keystone Pipeline in private shows how out of step he is with the

priorities of the American people, who overwhelmingly support this vital jobs and infrastructure

project,” Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement.

In recent months, the environmental activists — who have spent years marching, protesting and

getting arrested outside the White House in their quest to persuade Mr. Obama to reject the project

— have said they are increasingly optimistic that their efforts will succeed.

“Hopefully the ongoing legislative charade has strengthened his commitment to do the right thing,”

said Bill McKibben, a founder of the group 350.org, which has led the campaign to urge Mr. Obama

to reject the pipeline.

The debate began in 2008, when the TransCanada Corporation applied for a permit to construct the

pipeline. The State Department is required to determine whether the pipeline is in the national

interest, but the last word on whether the project will go forward ultimately rests with the president.

Mr. Obama has delayed making that decision until all the legal and environmental reviews of the

process are completed. He has said a critical factor in his decision will be whether the project

contributes to climate change.

While the Keystone pipeline is not expected to be part of the United States climate change plan, a

public presidential decision on the project could be interpreted as a message about Mr. Obama’s

symbolic commitment to the issue of climate change.

Until that decision is made, however, both sides of the Keystone fight are stepping up their tactics.

Environmental groups are planning more marches and White House petitions, while Republicans in

Congress are looking for ways to bring the Keystone measure back to Mr. Obama’s desk.

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Robert Redford’s message to Obama: Time to kill Keystone for good

March 4, 2015

President Obama was right to veto a bill that would have forced approval of the Keystone XL tar

sands pipeline – and the Senate was right to vote Wednesday to let the veto stand.

That bill was not in our national interest: it was political payback to big oil.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

View photo essay: Above the oil: A view of Alberta's oil sands

Renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky explores the landscape of the Alberta’s oil sands.

The fossil fuel industry spent more than $720 million, over just the past two years, to prop up its big

polluter agenda and allies in Congress.

Looks like they got what they paid for. The Republican leadership made sure the dirty tar sands

pipeline was the very first order of business for the 114th Congress.

That’s not in our national interest either: it’s a national disgrace.

We elect our Congress to stand up for the people – not the biggest polluters on the planet.

Congress isn’t a permitting agency. And, in any event, projects like this pipeline are the president’s

call. At least, that’s how it’s been since President Lyndon Johnson set the policy in place 47 years

ago.

Why? Because our Constitution created the presidency to represent all the American people, not just

a collection of states or districts, not any single political party, and certainly not the oil industry.

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From the day this pipeline was first proposed, it’s presented Obama with a single question: is it in the

national interest?

It’s not. Now it’s time to stand and say so, time to reject the dirty tar sands pipeline once and for all.

Fact: From ground to tailpipe, tar sands oil kicks out 17% more of the carbon pollution that’s driving

climate change than conventional oil. That’s not my number. It comes straight out of the U.S. State

Department’s assessment (see page 15).

Fact: After the two years it takes to build the pipeline, the 2,000 jobs that would require would be

gone forever, leaving behind just 35 U.S. jobs (page 20), about half what it takes to run a burger joint.

Those aren’t my numbers either. They come straight from the company that wants to build the

pipeline.

Fact: The tar sands pipeline would cross more than 1,000 American waterways (page 21), tens of

thousands of acres of wetlands and run near more than 2,500 wells our ranchers, farmers and

communities depend on for clean irrigation and drinking water. And that’s just in the three states –

Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska – where the new construction would take place.

That’s all in the State Department report too.

Think pipelines are safe? We’ve had some 5,600 pipeline blowouts or spills over just the past two

decades. They’ve dumped well over 100 million gallons of toxic oil, fuels and other pollutants into our

rivers, lakes, fields and streams, and most of it has never been cleaned up.

Think this pipeline would take oil off of trains like the one that blew up last week in West Virginia? No

way. That train wasn’t coming from the tar sands: it was hauling oil from the fracking fields of North

Dakota, just like the trains that have blown up in Alabama and Virginia.

This isn’t a question of railroads or pipelines. The industry wants to expand the use of both, and is

fast about the business of doing so.

Think Canada is going to expand dirty tar sands without this pipeline? Investors have cancelled more

than a million barrels a day in planned tar sands production, largely because the pipeline capacity to

move it to market doesn’t exist.

The Keystone XL would terminate in two Texas refinery centers – Port Arthur and Houston – near

Gulf Coast export centers. Those refineries already ship more than half the fuel they produce

overseas.

Let’s face it, this project would serve one interest, and one interest

only: big oil.

For the rest of us, it would mean more carbon pollution, when what we need is less; more risk for our

heartland ranchers and farmers, when what they need is safe water, clean air and unpolluted lands;

more reliance on the dirty fossil fuels of the past, when what we need are the clean energy solutions

of the future.

Set aside all the false claims, heated rhetoric and partisan hyperbole, and the simple question stands

alone: is the dirty tar sands pipeline in our national interest?

It’s not. Mr. President, it’s time to say exactly that.

Legacy – April 2015

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Tar Sands by Rail Disasters: The Latest Wave in the Bomb Train Assault

March 9, 2015

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With the first crash and explosion of a unit train of tar sands oil in Canada in February, we learned

that the conventional wisdom among people covering the oil-by-rail industry regarding the

flammability of tar sands oil has been dead wrong. A second derailment and explosion on March 7th

involved synbit, which is a form of bitumen diluted with synthetic crude oil.

While there are many examples of this mischaracterization of the dangers of moving tar sands by rail

that can be found in the press, here at DeSmogBlog we didn’t have to look far. In an article last year

about how to make Bakken crude less dangerous we wrote that the government had plans to allow

tar sands oil to be transported in the unsafe DOT-111 rail tank cars “because it is not explosive.”

While raw bitumen from the Alberta tar sands is not volatile or highly flammable, when it is diluted

with natural gas condensate to form a mixture known as dilbit, which is typically done to make it

easier to transport, it appears that it can be as dangerous as the Bakken crude that has now been

proven to be highly flammable and explosive in multiple train derailments.

An article in Railway Age pointing out the implications of the tar-sands-by-rail accident had the

ominous title “Why bitumen isn’t necessarily safer than Bakken” and concluded with the statement

that “Should TSB [Transportation Safety Board] conclude that dilbit has a volatility similar to Bakken

crude, as the Alberta research suggests, the hazmat classification of crude oil could be in question.”

Railway Age was referring to a 2014 study done by Alberta Innovates titled “Properties of Dilbit and

Conventional Crude Oils” that reached the conclusion that “[T]he flash point is determined by the

lowest-boil-point components (volatiles). Consequently, the flash point of the dilbit is governed by the

20%-30% volume diluent component …”

The reason light fracked oils like those from the Bakken and Eagle Ford are so explosive is that the

crude comes out of the ground with many of the components of condensate (e.g. propane, ethane,

pentane, hexane) as part of the crude mixture.

Which helps explain why dilbit is so flammable and potentially explosive because these very same

components are intentionally added to the bitumen to create dilbit. And as the Alberta Innovates

study noted, that makes the flash point of dilbit the same as the diluent/condensate.

How flammable is condensate? According to a ConocoPhillips Material Safety Data Sheet for

condensate it is “Extremely Flammable.” And while that is for pure condensate, MSDS information for

dilbit has been warning of the flammability of that mixture for years.

On the U.S. State Department website, documents about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline

include information on dilbit that classifies it in the most flammable category of Packing Group I. The

documents are dated August 2011.

Cenovus, one of the first companies to ship tar sands oil by rail, clearly identifies dilbit as being

“Highly flammable liquid and vapour” in the MSDS information on its website for its tar sands product

line. And the MSDS classifies the oil as UN1267, Class 3 Packing Group II. This is the same

classification as most of the oil that was involved in the Lac Megantic rail disaster.

MSDS information for a version of synbit produced by ConocoPhillips describes it as “highly

flammable” and classifies it as Class 3, Packing Group II, once again the same classification as most

of the oil that was involved in the Lac Megantic disaster.

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So while the Railway Age article states, “the Hazmat classification of crude oil could be in question,”

this isn’t really the case. The industry has been classifying dilbit and synbit as “a highly flammable

liquid and vapour” and has put it in the same category as the Bakken oil involved in several accidents

and explosions.

The industry appears to be classifying these products properly.

However, just like with the Bakken crude, the dilbit and synbit is being

loaded into tank cars that are not designed to carry a highly flammable

liquid and vapour. And then those cars are lined up in unit trains of

over 100 cars and sent across North America through many major

population centers with potentially catastrophic results.

In April of 2013, The Nation ran an article with the title “How Little We Know About Heavy Tar Sands

Oil.”

In the article they quote an exchange between Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and then Pipeline and

Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) chief Cynthia Quarterman from 2011 where

Waxman questions Quarterman about the properties of diluted bitumen.

REP. WAXMAN: Were your regulations developed with the properties of diluted bitumen

in mind?

MS. QUARTERMAN: I don't believe it was a part of the equation, no.

REP. WAXMAN: Have you received [sic] your regulations to assess whether they adequately

address any risks specific to diluted bitumen?

MS. QUARTERMAN: We have not done so.

Three years after that exchange, PHMSA commissioned the National Academy of Sciences to do a

study on the “Effects of Diluted Bitumen on the Environment.”

Today and tomorrow, on March 9th and 10th, the study group will hold a public meeting in

Washington, D.C. The agenda for the meeting includes nothing about transporting dilbit by rail or

about the flammable characteristics of dilbit.

In an email response to a question from DeSmogBlog about whether the study would be reviewing

the dilbit train crash in February, the respondee noted that the study would “focus their report”

on pipelines.

The study committee is still in the early phases of their work. As was mentioned at the first

public meeting in December, the committee’s primary sponsor is the Office of Pipeline Safety

within PHMSA and will focus their report on that mode of transportation. That said, the mode of

transportation is only part of what needs to be considered when looking at spill response

planning, preparedness, and cleanup. The committee is aware of the recent incidents

involving rail transportation and will use any and all available data and information to address

its task.

Despite not being the focus of the study, due to the dilbit train accident that occurred in Canada in

February, and the second accident that occurred two days before the scheduled meeting, dilbit-by-

rail is sure to be a topic of discussion among attendees and the press.

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With reports of one million liters of dilbit being spilled in the first accident and photos of railcars in a

river as a result of the second accident, these are real world examples of dilbit in the environment.

The similarities between how the Bakken oil-by-rail story has unfolded to the currently developing

dilbit by rail story are eerie. Both came out of nowhere and established themselves well before

regulators did anything to address these large new industries.

While the dilbit-by-rail volumes are not yet as large as those for Bakken oil, the steep ramp-up in

volumes has been similar. And both required fiery accidents to begin to get any attention about the

characteristics of the products being transported.

In a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing in 2014, then chair Deborah Hersman

asked a question to the assembled experts from the rail and oil industries about how those industries

had ended up creating a business shipping highly explosive crude oil in cars designed for materials

like corn syrup and corn oil.

“How did it get missed for the last ten years?” Hersman asked.

She continued:

“How do we move to an environment where commodities are classified in the right containers from

the get go and not just put in until we figure out that there’s a problem. Is there a process for that?”

Based on the continuing explosions of Bakken crude oil trains and the delayed regulations to deal

with this threat, there clearly isn’t a process.

And with the first dilbit train crash resulting in the same fire and spills

that are the signature of Bakken oil train crashes, followed by the first

synbit train crash doing the same, it is even more clear that there is no

process for deciding what is safe, only what is profitable.

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots

Smoke and flames erupt from the scene of a train derailment Thursday, March 5, 2015, near Galena,

Ill. A BNSF Railway freight train loaded with crude oil derailed around 1:20 p.m. in a rural area where

the Galena River meets the Mississippi, said Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Moser.

Federal oil train rules are inadequate

March 10, 2015

Tougher federal rules for hauling crude oil by rail are moving slowly toward adoption in Washington,

D.C. It’s becoming clearer that the government isn’t moving quickly enough or with tough enough

standards. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell is right to push for tougher action.

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Last week, Cantwell announced her intention to introduce legislation that would require thicker hulls

and a speedier phase-out of first-generation tankers that the oil and railroad industries already want

to replace over time with a safer, second-generation model known as the CPC-1232.

The Seattle-area Democrat wants a standard that is even higher – with even thicker tanker hulls –

than the second-generation tankers that would be required under the draft standards. Cantwell

telegraphed her plans during a Senate committee hearing where Transportation Secretary Anthony

Foxx testified about his agency’s efforts to boost safety.

The U.S. DOT had been expected to issue rules in January that would require the thicker hulls and a

phase-out of DOT-111 model tankers that have proven to be inadequate for volatile oils from the

Bakken fields of North Dakota and Montana. Rules now are due in May.

Meanwhile, several derailments – including five trains hauling crude oil in the five weeks in the U.S.

and Canada – have made it clearer that even the second-generation tankers, which the USDOT was

considering as a new standard, may not be sufficient to avoid dangerous explosions.

The partial derailment of a 109-car train last month in Carbon, West Virginia, was one recent

indication. All told, 28 cars went off the rails, and 19 of the CPC-1232s exploded. Late Thursday,

another train derailed in Galena, Illinois; five of the CPC-1232 tankers were reported ruptured and on

fire, and the government said the spilled oil threatened the Mississippi River.

Under DOT’s draft plans, DOT-111 tankers would be phased out for crude oil shipments by October

2017 and for other flammable liquids by 2020. Rail and oil industries have said that schedule could

cause a shortage as they seek to retrofit the 143,000 tank cars in need of upgrades. Canada, which

is home to the 2013 oil explosion that killed 47 people at Lac-Megantic, has sought a faster phase-

out by May 2017.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway says its safety record is good in Washington since the first

crude came into the state by rail in late 2012. It supports a phase-out of the older tank cars and has

already instituted a fee structure that rewards oil shippers that use the newer tanker models.

Like Cantwell, state officials have grown worried, and the state House passed a bill late Thursday

that would bolster state oversight of rail shipments of crude oil and improve spill responses. House

Bill 1449 requires industry to notify the state of incoming shipments so that first-responders are better

informed in the event of a conflagration.

Railroad reports to the state indicate that about 19 trains, hauling at least 1 million gallons each,

travel through Washington each week. These include 11 to 16 each week through Thurston and

Pierce counties. The state Department of Ecology estimates traffic could mushroom to 137 weekly

trains by 2020 if all proposed oil terminals and refinery expansion projects are permitted and utilized.

The U.S. DOT’s own risk assessments suggest an average of 10 derailments a year nationwide of

trains hauling crude oil or ethanol can be expected.

Bakken oil has helped wean the nation off imports, but community safety should not be the price of

energy independence.

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DOE releases report on oil transportation

The final version of the state Department of Ecology’s report on oil transportation was released

Monday, presenting recommendations for legislation that could affect “crude-by-rail” plans such as

those proposed for Grays Harbor.

The report, now 10 months in the making after being contracted last April, sought recommendations

for legislators in the wake of a rise in oil-by-rail activity throughout the state. The state’s shipments of

oil, the report says, grew from zero gallons in 2011 to 700 million gallons in 2013.

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Gov. Jay Inslee called for the study to be expedited two months after it began. Funding for the study

came from the state’s 2014 Supplemental Budget.

The study’s section addressing the intersection of marine and rail transportation includes Grays

Harbor, where three separate tank farm storage facilities are proposed.

Railroads in 2014 reported 19 unit trains of Bakken crude oil traveled through Washington each

week, with each unit train made up of as many as 100 cars, carrying a total of 3 million gallons of oil.

The report predicts an increase from 19 unit trains a week to 137 if the proposed facilities are built.

Proposed facilities at the Port of Grays Harbor include additional tanks for crude oil at existing

properties operated by Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables. A third facility is proposed

near Bowerman Field in Hoquiam.

The study also addressed risks to public safety, citing the 2013 derailment and explosion of an oil

train in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people.

“It is more important than ever for the state to have adequate resources to continue to address

impacts to public health and safety, and environmental protection resulting from the changing energy

picture,” the report says.

The report also addresses risks at rail crossings, which would increase with an influx of trains.

Aberdeen has 15 rail crossings, the report says. Health risks like drinking water contamination were

also considered, though no drinking water intakes for Grays Harbor were listed as being at risk.

The report makes 43 recommendations to both state and federal lawmakers, but a shorter list in the

report’s executive summary gives 19 state and federal recommendations for legislators to address in

the near future.

Short-listed changes for state lawmakers include considering funding options to increase spill

prevention and preparedness and an amendment to authority guidelines to allow Utilities and

Transportation Commission inspectors to conduct hazardous material inspections on private

property.

Senate Bill 5087, along with companion House Bill 1449, have made an effort to address funding for

response preparedness for oil spills, and are co-sponsored by the majority of Grays Harbor

lawmakers. The House version of the bill, the furthest along in the process, was referred to the Rules

Committee on Feb. 27.

Another bill, SB 5057, calls for the allocation of funding from the Department of Ecology to

emergency responders to help with oil clean-up. That bill is in its second reading in the Rules

Committee.

The report’s list also calls for the Northwest Area Committee of the National Response Team to

analyze Bakken crude characteristics for a better understanding of the material and a long-term

waterways plan implemented by the Coast Guard to accommodate the rise in vessel traffic on Grays

Harbor, the Columbia River, the Puget Sound and outer coast.

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The final version of the report comes nearly three months after release of a draft in December, and

though the changes between the two remain minimal, the newest draft includes mention of last

month’s derailment and fire in West Virginia. It also mentions five occurrences of leaking rail cars in

the state, which remain under investigation.

Paul Queary, a spokesman with Strategies 360, the public relations firm that represents both

Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables, said both companies support the recommendations,

which are largely centered around the railway and not the shippers.

“Generically, I think we’re in support of improved railway safety,” he said. “We want to work with the

railroads and make sure that if our projects are built that materials move safely and arrive safely at

our project. That’s what everybody wants.”

Linda Orgel, a member of Citizens for a Clean Harbor, a group working to stop the oil storage

projects, said that despite the report’s long list of recommendations, she doesn’t think it addresses all

the risks well enough. Orgel said on Monday she hadn’t yet read the final report, but had read the

December draft.

“It is our belief that there is nothing that can be done to mitigate a spill or an explosion or any of those

things,” she said.

The full Department of Ecology report:

https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/publications/1508010.pdf

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This July 8, 2013 file photo provided by Surete du Quebec, shows debris from a runaway train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, Canada. As investigators in West Virginia and Ontario pick through the wreckage from the latest pair of oil train derailments to result in massive fires, U.S. transportation officials predict many more catastrophic wrecks involving flammable fuels in coming years absent new regulations.

Fuel-hauling trains could derail at 10 a year

February 22, 2015

BILLINGS, MONT. — The federal government predicts that trains hauling crude oil or ethanol will derail an average of 10 times a year over the next two decades.

The projection was contained in a Department of Transportation analysis from last July. It says the derailments could cause more than $4 billion in damage and possibly kill hundreds of people if a serious accident were to happen in a densely populated part of the U.S.

The study took on new relevance this week after a train loaded with oil derailed in West Virginia, causing a spectacular fire and forcing hundreds of families to evacuate.

Monday's accident was the latest in a spate of fiery derailments. Senior federal officials say it underscores the need for stronger tank cars and other safety improvements.

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Pike Place Market vendors oppose oil trains

March 20, 2015

SEATTLE — Vendors at Pike Place Market are mobilizing against oil trains, seeing them as a threat

to the iconic Seattle institution.

They are concerned because the railway tunnel that runs under downtown runs under a corner of the

market right near Victor Steinbrueck.

Dean Moller knows that oil trains run through the tunnel underneath Seattle.

A tunnel that runs close to his stall on the Joe Desimone Bridge part of Pike Place Market.

“It is frightening. It is frightening," Moller said, surrounded by the cigar box guitars he sells at the

market. “We've got such a lovely market here and it's iconic, it's one of a kind. I’d hate to see it, you

know, something happen to it.”

Burlington Northern Santa Fe says it is working to make the tunnel safer -- for example, spending

$10 million in recent years to replace the tracks in the tunnel.

But opponents remember the close call when oil tank cars derailed near the Magnolia neighborhood

last summer.

“No, those assurances are absolutely not sufficient for safety,” said former Mayor Mike McGinn.

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A long train of oil cars, marked with the 1267 stickers indicating highly flammable oil

Hoquiam residents pressure council on oil

Crude-by-rail opponents barraged Hoquiam City Council members with questions at Monday night’s meeting as to why the city wasn’t doing more to stop the project from coming to the Harbor.

The concerns from residents come after a train in Mount Carbon, W. Va., carrying 3 million gallons of crude oil derailed and exploded last week. A train in Timmins, Ontario, also derailed nearly two weeks ago, spilling thousands of gallons of crude oil.

Some residents fear the same might happen on Grays Harbor.

Lisa Marie, a Hoquiam resident, started the discussion by asking each council member to provide his or her stance on the issue. Five of the city’s 12 council members responded, three of whom said they were against the project.

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“I’ve been asked quite a few times to take a strong position one way or another,” said Ward 4 Councilman Ben Winkelman, adding that he’s learned a lot about the process over the years. “I’m not ready to put on a button or hold up a sign, but I’m still getting informed.”

Ward 1 Councilman John Pellegrini said he would like to see a draft of the environmental impact statement that the state Department of Ecology is spearheading before deciding.

A draft impact statement for the three oil terminals was originally slated for release in March, but has since been pushed back to a June release, City Administrator Brian Shay said.

Richard Pennant of Ward 2, after telling the council he was “adamantly against” crude-by-rail, expressed irritation over his colleagues’ side-stepping of the issue.

“Anybody that’s not answering — how long’s it going to take you to make up your mind?” he asked the other members. “This has been on the table for a couple of years now. I think everybody has had enough time to look into it. It’s a fair question for the people to ask and it warrants an answer from everybody here.”

Ward 5 Councilwoman Denise Anderson and Jasmine Dickhoff of Ward 2 also voiced opposition to oil projects.

Following the poll, Marie criticized members who didn’t respond.

“I think that people who elected you into your positions would be quite disappointed to know that you wouldn’t answer a simple question,” she said.

Diane Wolfe of Hoquiam then asked if the city would vote to deny the permits for the three oil terminals that bulk liquid companies at the Port plan to build in the coming years.

Shay said the council does not have the authority to deny permits, which are considered by city employees, not the council. Permits to build the terminals, Shay said, were issued about three years ago.

After the meeting, Wolfe said she thought the city issued those permits without considering what could happen after.

“The original permits that they’re talking about that staff issued were done arbitrarily and capriciously without sufficient evidence to make an accurate decision as to whether or not they were in compliance with Hoquiam city code,” she said, adding that she wished the city would revoke the permits.

Shay said the city can’t do that based on political reasons, regardless of what the permit is for, adding that doing so would open the city to lawsuits from those seeking the permits.

“It cannot be just because we simply don’t want something,” he said to Wolfe.

Wolfe, following the meeting, said the city was likely to be sued regardless of how officials proceeded.

“At this point, their two options in court are to either be sued by the companies that are proposing to make a great deal of money off of the degradation of Hoquiam and the whole of Grays Harbor,” she said, “or being sued by the citizens of Hoquiam and Grays Harbor.”

Legislative action can be taken to deny bulk liquid handling facilities in the city’s industrial zone, Shay said.

Editorial Comment:

Crude oil terminals will likely be opposed by

tribal and environmental entities given the far-

reaching health and environmental risks

associated with fossil fuels.

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But even if the city changed that code, the applications for the terminal already in place would still be grandfathered in.

Others speculated that the permits were offered as a money-maker for the city — a claim Shay also disputed.

At the end of the public comment, Mayor Jack Durney pointedly told residents that the city has maintained a neutral stance on crude-by-rail, and couldn’t regulate its activity on the Harbor.

“The city of Hoquiam will play this down the middle because we are in a regulatory position. We do not regulate interstate commerce,” he said. “We cannot stand and tell the railroads that they can’t haul a product that, I guess, is legal.”

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A long train of oil cars, marked with the 1267 stickers indicating highly flammable oil, cross 1st street, southbound, in Marysville in December.

Hoquiam mayor calls for moratorium on all future oil facilities in city

Hoquiam Mayor Jack Durney has asked the Hoquiam City Council to impose a moratorium on future oil facilities in the city. In a memorandum to council members that was made public Wednesday afternoon. Durney also asks the council to consider amending the city’s land use plan “to forbid wholesale liquefied petroleum facilities in any zone within the city of Hoquiam.” The changes would not affect three oil storage proposals already being considered in Hoquiam.

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Durney asks the council to enact the changes immediately. Three companies — Westway Terminals, Imperium Renewables and US Development Group LLC — are seeking permits for projects on Port of Grays Harbor property in Hoquiam. If any of the three decided not to proceed with their current permitting process, they would not be able to establish oil facilities in the future if Durney’s changes are enacted.

The announcement comes just more than a week after several residents opposing crude-by-rail pressed Hoquiam council members to come to a definitive stance on bringing oil to the Port of Grays Harbor. Opponents have pointed to disasters like the 2013 derailment and fire in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and recent rail car fires in West Virginia and Ontario to support their concerns.

Now, Durney’s stance appears clear.

“I have come to the conclusion — as have a lot of people over time — that wholesale liquefied petroleum storage and sales facilities are not compatible with our lifestyle, our safety or our current and future economy,” the statement says.

“The known fragile local condition of rail infrastructure could result in

derailments causing explosions endangering our residents and/or

causing major spills that could destroy our seafood industry as well as

our enjoyment of recreational opportunities on our rivers and

streams.”

In a phone call Wednesday night, Durney said his decision was made gradually, and wasn’t influenced by residents who came to last week’s city council meeting.

“I’ve just had an evolution of feelings on this thing, and I think a lot of people have,” he said. “This is an opportunity to do something for the future to prevent future growth in the oil business.”

Durney added that though the laws can make changes for the future, the city’s hands are tied when it comes to applications that are already being processed — something that local environmental activists haven’t accepted.

“For some reason, all they think we need to do is wave a wand and all these things come to an end and we’re going to prevent it,” he said. “I keep saying the same thing over and over again that we can’t retroactively change our zoning laws.”

Still, he didn’t mince words about how he felt regarding the pending applications.

“I feel they’re going to make a business decision on whether it makes sense for them to do it or not,” he said. “I guess I hope they don’t do it, but there isn’t any agitation I can do to cause them to make a decision. It’s going to be dollars and cents.”

Durney’s announcement goes on to explain that the city does not have any authority over the railroads.

Durney requested a public hearing to consider the land use plan amendment that would forbid future oil facilities in any zone of the city.

Durney specifically points to the Rayonier-Grays Harbor Paper, Anderson-Middleton, Lamb-Grays Harbor and Bowerman Field properties “and other potential sites off the market for future crude oil storage and sales.”

The state Department of Ecology released a report on Monday detailing the public safety risks that the industry could bring, and presented 43 recommendations for state and federal lawmakers.

Durney closed his announcement by urging cities throughout Grays Harbor County to consider a similar moratorium.

“We have far too much to lose if we don’t,” he wrote.

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Explosion razes waste disposal facility near Alexander

March 8, 2015

A fire so massive that it could not be approached by firefighters erupted after an explosion at an oil

waste disposal site north of Alexander, North Dakota. According to KXNews, McKenzie County

Emergency Manager Karlin Rockvoy said the only thing to do at first was watch the fire burn itself

out.

The explosion occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. Emergency responders from both Williston and

Alexander established a perimeter around the site to ensure the safety of anyone in the area. Five

employees at the facility escaped unharmed, one of whom reported jumping out of the way just in

time.

Firefighters were able to get the flames under control by midmorning, though the cause of the

explosion is still unknown.

The complex, which undertook the treatment and disposal of oilfield waste, was completely destroyed

during the incident. According to the Bismarck Tribune, Rockvoy reported that any damage caused

by the explosion was contained by a surrounding embankment.

The waste disposal site was owned by Tervita, a company which specializes in dealing with industrial

waste while focusing on environmentally conscious solutions. The facility was operated by Republic

Services, which recently acquired Tervita, LLC, a subsidiary of Tervita Corporation. The merger

heightened Republic Services’ presence in the oil and gas waste sector.

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Burning fuel fills the sky with smoke after a train derailment near Gogama, Ont. on Saturday March 7, 2015.

Bomb Train Roulette? Latest Derailment in Ontario Is Fourth in Four Weeks

'Before one more derailment, fire, oil spill and one more life lost, we need a moratorium on oil

trains and we need it now.'

March 7, 2015

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A train carrying crude oil that derailed in northern Ontario on Saturday—which resulted in numerous

overturned cars catching fire and oil spilling into a local waterway— is the fourth such accident in

North America in as many weeks.

The train, owned by the Canadian National Railway Co., was passing over a bridge above the

Makami River near the town of Gogama, Ontario when the derailment occurred, sending thirty-five

cars off the tracks, at least five of which ended up in the water. A large fire and huge black clouds of

smoke followed.

"The oil and railroad industries are playing Russian roulette

with people’s lives and our environment, and the Obama

administration needs to put a stop to it." —Mollie Matteson,

Center for Biological Diversity

The CBC reports the train was 94 cars long and all were tanker cars

carrying crude oil from Alberta.

Officials with rail company have said their disaster response team was on the scene and tried to

assure residents that drinking water supplies have not been harmed. Local residents who spoke to

media did not seem convinced there was nothing to worry about.

"It’s frightening and nerve-wracking, especially after what happened in Quebec," Roxanne

Veronneau, owner of the Gogama Village Inn, told the Toronto Star, referring to the train derailment

in Lac-Mégantic in 2013 that killed 47 people.

"People here are on pins and needles," Veronneau continued. "The tracks run right through town …

I’m sure that there’s going to be a lot of talk afterward that this shouldn’t be in the middle of our

town."

Since February 14, there have been three other fiery oil train derailments in North America, including

another in Ontario and two in the U.S., one in West Virginia on February 16 and the other last

Thursday in Illinois.

Speaking on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, senior scientist Mollie Matteson said the

rate of derailments speaks to a crisis that demands immediate and aggressive action.

"Before one more derailment, fire, oil spill and one more life lost, we need a moratorium on oil trains

and we need it now," said Matteson in a weekend statement. "The oil and railroad industries are

playing Russian roulette with people’s lives and our environment, and the Obama administration

needs to put a stop to it."

As with at least three of the four latest derailments, the cars involved in Saturday's crash were all

confirmed by a company spokesperson to be the supposedly safer, newer model—known as CPC-

1232—which Canada's transportation administration recently ordered to be a requirement for all new

tank cars constructed to carry flammable liquids.

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As the Star reports:

Compared with the previous “legacy” Class 111 tank cars, which were involved in the Lac-Mégantic

disaster, those built to the CPC-1232 standard have enhancements including half-head shields,

improved top and bottom fitting protection and normalized steel, according to the Transportation

Safety Board of Canada, which is investigating the latest Gogama derailment.

However, the TSB has sounded the alarm that the new CPC-1232

standard is still not enough to prevent ruptures and oil spills during

derailments.

Another CN train derailment near Gogama on Feb. 14 involved tank cars built in the last three years

to the new standard. No injuries were reported, but the derailment and subsequent oil spill caused

fires that took almost a week to extinguish.

According to CBC:

Gogama residents spent much of the weekend looking up at the large plume of black smoke looming

over the town.

CN says indications are that 'the drinking water supply to Gogama Village and the nearby First

Nation are not affected at this time.'

Dawn Simoneau, 33, said her two daughters have been asking questions about the derailment.

"Like, 'Are the fish going to be okay?' and they are concerned as well," said Simoneau, a life-long

Gogama resident, has lived her entire life with trains rumbling past and an ever-present fear that

something might happen.

"This is just always the way it's been. And now ... we're thinking, 'What can we do now to make sure

this doesn't happen again?'"

Meanwhile on Sunday, fires were still reportedly burning in Illinois after the train derailment that

happened near the Mississippi River on Thursday continued to threaten further environmental

damage.

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Some evacuated as railcars burn near Galena

March 5, 2015

GALENA, Ill. — At least eight railcars derailed this afternoon south of Galena, sparking a massive

fire and smoke that can be seen for miles.

A press release from the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Department sent just after 6 p.m. said the

sheriff's department was in the process of evacuating homes within one mile of the derailment site.

Galena Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley said fire crews responded to reports of a derailment three

miles south of the city at about 1:50 p.m.

He said because of the intensity of the fire, they are allowing it to burn

itself out.

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The railroad company, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, said in an email statement that the derailment

occurred at about 1:20 p.m. near where the Galena River meets the Mississippi River.

BNSF said the train has 105 cars, 103 of which were carrying crude oil.

The other two cars were buffer cars loaded with sand. A release from

the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Department confirmed it was Bakken

crude oil.

“The report that came back to me from them is that eight tanker cars had left the track,” Galena City

Administrator Mark Moran said. “Two of those were still upright. The other six were not. They

observed at least one of those tankers smoking.”

Conley said firefighters had to access the derailment site via a city bike trail. He said two cars were

smoking when they arrived on scene and they attempted to fight a small fire among the cars but were

unable to stop the flames.

“We couldn’t access the seat of the fire, and it grew,” Conley said.

Firefighters had to pull back from the scene for safety reasons at about 3:20 p.m., according to

Conley.

Fire department Capt. Brett Temperly said crews had to evacuate quickly and left a substantial

amount of equipment behind.

“We left about $10,000 worth of equipment behind,” he said. “We can replace equipment, not

manpower.”

The wreck site is a fairly isolated location, according to Conley. Early reports from firefighters

indicated no evacuations of residents were necessary, but law enforcement started evacuating inside

the 1-mile radius later in the day.

No injuries have been reported, Moran said.

“I did confirm that the train crew was safely removed from the scene without injury,” he said.

It’s still unclear what caused the derailment, according to a BNSF statement.

In a statement, the Federal Railroad Administration said it had investigators headed to the derailment

site and that the agency will conduct a "thorough investigation," to determine the cause.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner also put state personnel and equipment at the ready for deployment.

"I activated the State Incident Response Center to ensure we're ready to act quickly if any local

responders need our assistance," Rauner said, adding he has sent staff from the Illinois Emergency

Management Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to the scene.

Multiple Illinois emergency response agencies were called to the derailment, including fire

departments from Galena, East Dubuque and Menominee-Dunleith. Grant County and Lafayette

County, Wis., hazardous material responders assisted the Jo Daviess County team, according to

Steve Braun, Grant County emergency management director. The units came from Cuba City,

Darlington, Dickeyville, Lancaster and Platteville. They were summoned shortly after 2 p.m. and

released around 5 p.m. Braun reported seeing smoke from as far away as Platteville.

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Skagit County oil train project blocked for full environmental review

February 23, 2015

A plan that would move hundreds of crude oil tank cars through Skagit County was halted Monday.

The hearing examiner found that an oil-by-rail project at the Shell

Puget Sound Refinery near Anacortes posed a risk to people and the

environment.

The project will not move forward until an environmental review is complete.

In Monday's decision, hearing examiner Wick Dufford said "Shell's proposal is a major action

significantly affecting the quality of the environment" and a full review should be prepared.

Shell in 2013 sought a permit from the county to build a rail spur from existing tracks to handle oil

brought in by trains. The project would handle 60,000 barrels of crude oil a day in one mile-long train.

On the surface, several projects across the state might not look like they could pose a risk, said

Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman.

"In isolation, any one of [the projects] might not look significant," he said. "As the hearing examiner

found, collectively, they would involve more oil than the Keystone XL pipeline."

Shell is the latest of several projects that would involve increasing

transportation of Bakken crude oil through Washington.

"The refineries have taken a real narrow focus on the project," Hasselman said. "They said, look, no

real big environmental impact ... The question is, what are the risks to the communities for another

disaster?"

An oil train carrying 3 million gallons of crude oil derailed and exploded in West Virginia Feb. 16.

About 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes due to the explosion.

In Skagit County, oil trains pass through the downtowns of Burlington and Mount Vernon. The trains

also cross the old Burlington/Mount Vernon bridge spanning the Skagit River, immediately above the

Anacortes Water Treatment Plant and the old swing bridge spanning the Swinomish Channel directly

adjacent to the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

"People are afraid," Hasselman said. "They're wondering when the next [explosion will be]."

Hasselman said the county needs a comprehensive approach to crude oil transportation. He was told

by an expert that Skagit County's response plan to an oil explosion is about 10 years old and not

complete.

"We are way behind in preparing for these risks," he said.

Shell refinery general manager Tom Rizzo says he's disappointed in the ruling. He said the county's

environmental analysis was thorough.

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Explosion Shakes Homes Near Torrance Refinery

Watch video HERE

Residents near the oil refinery reported the sound of an explosion, shaking and a sizeable

flareup

February 18, 2015

Minor injuries were reported after an explosion ripped apart structures at an oil refinery in southern

Los Angeles County Wednesday morning and shook homes for miles around the blast site.

Aerial video showed smoke coming from a damaged portion of the Torrance ExxonMobil Refinery,

located south of the 405 Freeway. The blast twisted metal and sent ash raining down on vehicles

parked at and near the sprawling 750-acre refinery property.

"I thought it was an earthquake, like someone hit the back of my car," said resident Drew Magtoto.

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Another resident told NBC4 he could feel shaking from about seven miles away and noticed a large

flare-up from the plant's burnoff stack. The stack flaring is a safety measure used to dissipate

pressure and avoid explosions.

"All of our windows started rattling," a Redondo Beach resident told NBC4. "It rattled all the windows

in our house. It was kind of crazy."

Authorities received reports of minor injuries.

In a statement, a public affairs official with the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery said the plant

"experienced an incident" at 8:50 a.m.

"Emergency procedures have been activated to address the incident, and employees are working

with the appropriate agencies", according to the statement. "Our main concern is for the safety of our

employees and our neighbors. We are accounting for all personnel and still evaluating the cause of

the incident, or the occurrence or amount on any damages."

Torrance school officials confirmed that staff and students sheltered in place due to possible air

quality issues. Tammy Khan, of the Torrance Unified School District, said parents were notified that

the shelter-in-place order will remain in effect until schools are told it is safe to leave campus.

The Southern California Air Quality

Management District sent personnel to the

location to assess air quality. City officials said

there was no chemical release and a city-wide

shelter-in-place order is not necessary.

"From my understanding, it was a significant incident," said Mayor Patrick Furey, who said resident

should keep windows closed.

NBC4 is attempting to confirm details regarding the cause of the explosion. It was not immediately

clear whether the blast was related to a drill at the refinery, where about 155,000 barrels of crude oil

are processed each day.

Editorial Comment:

Very odd – A petrochemical explosion and fire with

“no chemical release”.

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A flare-up roared at the BP Whiting Refinery early Monday morning

Flare-up roars at BP Whiting Refinery

February 23, 2015

WHITING | A massive flare-up lit up the sky at the BP Whiting Refinery early Monday morning.

Around 6:30 a.m., flames leaped and thick plumes of smoke rose over a production unit at the 126-

year-old refinery, where nearly 1,100 union workers have been on strike for more than two weeks.

The flames shot up through the flare stacks as a result of a compressor problem, BP spokesman

Scott Dean said.

No one was injured and production was restored, Dean said.

"The current and former BP employees who are running the plant responded to a compressor

problem in a textbook manner," Dean said. "They've been trained to the same legally required and

BP-mandated standards as regular workers. The team at Whiting handled the operation by-the-book

— exactly like the striking operators would have."

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Dean said he was told the flare-up lasted about eight minutes, while a striking worker on the picket

line said it was around half an hour. The union worker said the incident calls into question how well

trained the replacement workers are.

He said he was disturbed not to hear any evacuation alarms, which is policy during a unit upset.

More than 6,600 workers are striking nationwide over long hours, staffing levels they say encourage

excessive overtime, the outsourcing of maintenance jobs to outside contractors, and safety concerns.

Union Local 7-1 also is concerned with a BP proposal to limit

collective bargaining rights and that the company won't talk about

bringing more full-time workers on after an explosion and spill into

Lake Michigan last year, President Dave Danko has said.

BP and Shell, which represent oil companies in the national bargaining, both say the injury rates at

refineries are lower those at other manufacturers and they should be able to determine staffing

levels.

The United Steelworkers Union, which represents workers at more than 65 refineries nationwide, say

management refused to consider any proposals that would reduce overtime and fatigue.

"Management refuses to entertain any discussion that impedes on what the companies insist are

their sole and exclusive rights — without regard for consequences that can be deadly to employees

and destructive to their operations," the USW said in its Oil Strike Newsletter. "Management in the oil

industry is proving to be short-sighted and extremely arrogant to a dangerous fault as are we look to

protect our bargaining unit work and integrity."

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Exploding Oil Trains Aren't a Convincing Reason to Build the Keystone

Pipeline

February 17, 2015

On Monday afternoon, a CSX train with 107 tank cars of crude oil from North Dakota derailed into

a river near Mount Carbon, West Virginia, sending a giant fireball some 300 feet into the sky. Less

than 24 hours later, while rail cars were still on fire, the accident became yet another talking point in

the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline

Keystone supporters argue that oil pipelines are safer than railroads. They claim that if President

Barack Obama doesn’t approve the pipeline, the industry will be forced to ship more crude oil by

railroad, leaving the public and environment vulnerable to accidents like in West Virginia.

It's true that oil rail accidents have shot up in recent years, according to McClatchy:

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But that doesn’t make Keystone less dangerous than train shipments.

Trains are more likely than pipelines to have accidents, but their

accidents are less environmentally devastating:

The International Energy Agency’s eight-year analysis of oil spills found the risk of a spill is six times

higher for rail than pipeline shipments, but a pipeline accident spills three times as much oil as a rail

shipment.

Furthermore, it’s unlikely the pipeline will relieve congestion in North Dakota, which is the primary

reason for the spike in oil transport. About 10 percent of the nation's crude oil travels by rail, except in

North Dakota, where two-thirds of Bakken crude oil moves by train.

Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat and a Keystone

supporter, had the best argument explaining why this particular pro-

Keystone argument fails: “I am not someone who has ever said that

the Keystone Pipeline will take crude off the rails. It won’t. Our

markets are east and west and it would be extraordinarily difficult to

build pipelines east and west.” Keystone would run south through the

U.S., to refineries at the Gulf Coast.

More train accidents like the West Virginia derailment are inevitable, with or without the Keystone

pipeline. No mode of oil transportation is entirely risk-free. The better response to Monday's disaster

is to press regulators to make rail shipments safer. After a devastating oil-train accident in Quebec,

Canada, killed 47 people in 2012, the Obama administration promised tougher rules.

So far, the Department of Transportation's solutions are relatively

weak, focusing on sturdier train cars and better brakes. The draft rules

don't lower speed limits enough, and they don't do enough to improve

transparency—so the residents of the next Mount Carbon don't yet

know the risks they face.

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Don’t let oil train safety legislation get derailed

February 18, 2015

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Two oil train derailments this week should dispel any notion that improved tank cars are all that’s

needed to safely handle the staggering increase in oil transported by rail.

The trains carrying crude oil that derailed Monday near Charleston, West Virginia, and Sunday in

eastern Canada were hauling the improved CPC-1232 tank cars that are supposed to be harder to

roll over and offer more resistance to puncture. Yet both derailments resulted in massive explosions.

Fortunately, neither accident took place in a heavily populated area – think downtown Tacoma or

Seattle, which oil trains routinely cross – and there were no fatalities or serious injuries. In West

Virginia, residents near the derailment site were evacuated, and cars went into the Kanawha River, a

source of drinking water. Beyond the obvious threat to human life, think of the environmental disaster

that could happen if a similar accident took place in the Puget Sound region.

New federal rules requiring the sturdier tank cars are expected to take effect in May, but it could be

several years before all the older cars are replaced. In the meantime, the recent derailments show

that much more is needed to protect communities affected by oil train traffic.

That’s the purpose of House Bill 1449 and

companion legislation in the state Senate, SB

5087. The bills, requested by Gov. Jay Inslee,

would require railroads to do oil spill response

planning and provide information to the state

Department of Ecology about their oil

transports. They would also increase the 4 cent

tax per 42-gallon barrel that is charged to

maritime shipments of oil to 10 cents per

barrel, and start also assessing the tax on oil

brought in by rail and pipeline.

The tax funds oil spill and response programs. With more oil now coming through the state by rail, it’s

important to start capturing tax revenue to help address problems associated with that form of

transport. The cost should be borne by those who profit from the transport, not by taxpayers.

Those measures are long overdue. They address some of the recommendations made by the

Department of Ecology – working with the Utilities and Transportation Commission, emergency

management officials and other stakeholders – after studying public health and safety risks

associated with oil transport.

Competing legislation, Substitute Senate Bill 5057, also addresses the issue of rail transport of oil.

Sponsored by Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, it doesn’t go quite as far as HB 1449/SB 5087. For

one thing, it keeps the per-barrel tax at 4 cent – but does extend it to rail shipments.

With Republicans controlling the Senate and Ericksen chairing its Energy, Environment and

Telecommunications Committee, it’s probably safe to say that compromise will be needed if anything

is to be done this session on rail safety.

Fortunately, there looks to be plenty of room for compromise here. Protecting Washington lives

shouldn’t become a partisan issue.

Editorial Comment:

Diluted bitumen (dilbit), an asphalt-like

material from Canada’s tar sands deposit

diluted with condensate, a kerosene-like

material from Asia is not considered as oil

that is taxed per barrel/gallon.

Tank cars (DOT 111 and their upgrades)

are not safe alternatives for transporting

dilbit or ultra-flammable Bakken oil.

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Obama Administration Unveils Federal Fracking Regulations

March 20, 2015

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday unveiled the nation’s first major federal

regulations on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique for oil and gas drilling that has led to a

dramatic increase in American energy production but has also raised concerns about health and

safety risks.

The Interior Department began drafting the rules in Mr. Obama’s first term after breakthroughs in the

technology, also known as fracking, led to a surge in the production of oil and gas.

The fracking boom has put the United States on track to soon become the world’s largest oil and gas

producer. But environmentalists fear that the technique, which involves injecting a cocktail of

chemicals deep underground to fracture the rocks around oil and gas deposits, could contaminate

surrounding water supplies and wildlife.

The new rules will apply only to oil and gas wells drilled on public lands, even though the vast

majority of fracking in the United States is done on private land. The rules will cover about 100,000

wells, according to the Interior Department.

Connecting hoses between a pipeline and water tanks at a Hess fracking site last year near Williston,

North Dakota.

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“Current federal well-drilling regulations are more than 30 years old, and they simply have not kept

pace with the technical complexities of today’s hydraulic fracturing operations,” said the interior

secretary, Sally Jewell.

The regulations, which are to take effect in 90 days, will allow government workers to inspect and

validate the safety and integrity of the cement barriers that line fracking wells.

They will require companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in

the fracturing process within 30 days of completing fracking

operations.

The rules will also set safety standards for how companies can store used fracking chemicals around

well sites and will require companies to submit detailed information on well geology to the Bureau of

Land Management, a part of the Interior Department.

Oil and gas companies have resisted fracking regulations, fearing that they could raise the cost of

fracking and slow or freeze energy development. They have pressed the Obama administration to

leave new regulations to the states.

“Despite the renaissance on state and private lands, energy production on federal lands has fallen,

and this rule is just one more barrier to growth,” said Erik Milito, director of industry operations for the

American Petroleum Institute. “A duplicative layer of new federal regulation is unnecessary.”

The Interior Department has spent more than three years developing the rules, in close consultation

with oil and gas companies, states and environmental groups. The agency also said it has reviewed

more than 1.5 million public comments.

Friday’s regulations are expected to be the first in a series of new

rules governing fracking safety — the Obama administration is also

expected to issue rules designed to curb the release of methane, a

planet-warming greenhouse gas, from fracking wells.

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Group challenges expansion plan at Utah tar sands operation

February 18, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — An environmental protection organization is challenging Utah’s decision to

approve expansion at the state’s first commercial tar sands mine.

An administrative challenge announced Wednesday by Western Resource Advocates marks the

latest public opposition to a project that critics say is damaging the landscape and harming nearby

drinking water at the eastern Utah oil sands operation.

The operation, called the PR Spring mine, is near the Book Cliffs in Uintah County more than 200

miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

Filed on behalf of Living Rivers, the challenge accuses the Utah Division of Water Quality of failing to

do proper review of the expansion plan.

A new study shows the mine tailings will include dangerous levels of diesel compounds that exceed

safe amounts for drinking water, said Rob Dubuc, staff attorney with Western Resource Advocates.

The state should conduct additional testing and monitoring of the water, he said.

“It’s just not appropriate for the state to give them a free pass on this,” Dubuc said.

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Utah Division of Water Quality spokeswoman Donna Spangler defended the agency’s’ decision in an

emailed statement.

“Water Quality’s decision to allow U.S. Oil Sands to proceed with its project is based on scientific

facts that have repeatedly been upheld throughout the legal system, including the Utah Supreme

Court,” she said.

The company that runs the operation, Calgary-based U.S. Oil Sands, could not be immediately

reached for comment.

The company has been working since 2005 to prepare the project and obtain all the necessary

permits, according to the U.S. Oil Sands’ website. They project up to 100 jobs at the site over a

decade and an influx of tens of millions of dollars to state tax coffers and the local economy, the

website says. The company has invested more than $35 million in the project over 9 years, the

website says.

The challenge goes before an administrative law judge appointed by the state agency, Dubuc said. If

Western Resource Advocates loses, they can appeal in state court, he said.

Since starting work in 2013, the operation has garnered resistance from several groups.

About 80 people associated with Utah Tar Sands Resistance took part in a July protest to bring

attention to what they call destructive strip mining that could spread through the Uinta Basin should

U.S. Oil Sands succeed.

Twenty-one people were charged in the protest. Prosecutors said they blocked a road, entered a

fenced-off area and chained themselves to machinery near where Calgary-based U.S. Oil Sands was

beginning work on a mine in the Book Cliffs area.

Dubuc said the operation is having irreversible effects.

“You can’t go back. You can’t recreate the environment again,” Dubuc said. “They are destroying the

landscape.”

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Oil and the Puget Sound Orcas: Can They Survive a Spill?

There are plans to export large quantities of tar-sands oil out of Vancouver, B.C.

January 2015

In calm seas off the west side of San Juan Island, my kayak bobs gently in a kelp bed. In the water

about a quarter-mile distance from me, orcas mill and frolic, most likely hunting their favorite chinook

salmon. I drop my hydrophone (an underwater microphone) into the water to listen to their distinct

calls.

A low clanging—whang, whang, whang—fills my headphones. It is the steady and overpowering

sound of a cargo ship, one of the regular features of underwater life in the San Juan Islands’ Haro

Strait.

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At first, a quick scan of the horizon doesn’t reveal the source of the noise. Finally, I spot it: A lone log-

bearing ship heads out to the open sea around the very southern tip of Vancouver Island. Whang,

whang, whang. It is at least nine miles away.

Finally, the ship rounds the bend, and the sea quiets for just a moment before the orcas’ distinct

whistles, grunts and rat-a-tat-tat-tats fill the water. These are J pod whales from the Salish Sea’s

famous and endangered Southern Resident orcas, and they are making the well-known calls known

as “S1.”

Seemingly energized, the whales head toward my kelp bed and surround it, chatting loudly and

rolling in the kelp. It crackles and pops underwater as the orcas rip up fronds while “kelping”

themselves, something the Southern Residents are fond of doing, apparently for the massaging

effect.

Officially, I’m working: I am experiencing all this while gathering research material for a book about

killer whales that will be published this fall (tentatively titled Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales

Can Teach Us, from The Overlook Press). But it is also undeniably a moment of pure delight, the sort

of take-your-breath-away experience that anyone who has seen orcas in the wild understands.

Read entire Seattle Magazine article HERE

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“Smokey” Ladouceur, whose family has been fishing in the area for decades, holds a deformed pickerel caught in Lake Athabasca

Alberta Tar Sands Pollution Suspected In Rare Cancer Cases

As President Obama decides whether to veto the Keystone XL pipeline, evidence of disease in people and fish is found at its proposed source.

February 19, 2015

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FORT CHIPEWYAN, Canada — In 2006, Canadian doctor John O’Connor made a startling

realization. Specialists had diagnosed three of his patients in the northern Alberta village of Fort

Chipewyan with cholangiocarcinoma — a deadly cancer of the bile duct. The same cancer had killed

his own father years earlier in Ireland.

Only about one in 100,000 Canadians contracts this type of cancer, so the likelihood of three cases

in a town of about 950 was minuscule. O’Connor suspected pollution from Alberta’s tar sands, 100

miles upstream from Fort Chipewyan on the Athabasca River. Since then, the provincial government,

while confirming an additional case of bile duct cancer and high rates of lung and cervical cancer,

has yet to investigate further.

Last September, I flew to Fort Chipewyan – Fort Chip, as locals call it – because I wanted to learn

about a more recent concern: an epidemic of sick fish in the Athabasca River, which empties into the

giant Lake Athabasca at the edge of town. I wanted to find out if poisons from the mines and

processing plants are making the people and fish sick.

Oil companies expend huge amounts of energy to dig up and slurp sticky Alberta crude, making it

some of the world’s dirtiest oil. Hundreds of thousands of barrels a day are exported by pipe and rail

to the US, which would be expanded by the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.

Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a bill approving Keystone, which would

include nearly 1,200 miles of pipeline (840 miles of it in the US) and which supporters say would

employ tens of thousands of workers (though the payroll would plummet to less than 100 after

construction). Opponents worry about spills on environmentally sensitive land along the route, and

say it’s time Americans learned to be less dependent on the fossil fuels that are driving climate

change. President Obama has promised to veto the bill.

In early fall, dusky red winter foliage rises from low hills of cheat grass along Fort Chip’s Athabascan

waterfront. But upstream, in one of the world’s largest industrial complexes, pollution leaks from

mammoth mining waste piles and rises from processing plant stacks. The industry has made Fort

Chip its toxic sewer.

It took some effort to find anyone there who will discuss pollution from the mines. The Conservative

government of Stephen Harper, a relentless tar sands booster, has clamped down on unapproved

statements about Alberta oil by government workers.

“I used to be an environmentalist,” said David Campbell, a resource conservation officer at Parks

Canada on Fort Chip’s main street. “But I can’t talk about the oil sands anymore.”

Later I learned even that statement was out of bounds for a low-level Canadian official. The

government has centralized all messaging about tar sands.

And the message is that waste piles are carefully contained and that stack gasses are safe.

Many residents unconnected with the government also refused to discuss the topic of pollution on the

record.

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The industry has earned acquiescence — and the silence — of many residents with good paying jobs

mining and processing oil. Fort Chip is about 80 percent aboriginal—Cree and Dene Indians and

mixed race Métis. They have traditionally hunted and fished, and it’s tough to earn a living here doing

anything else.

One morning, I knocked on the door of a ramshackle ranch house, the residence of a fisherman who

I had been told might talk to a reporter. His battered pickup filled the driveway. A broad-faced man

with long hair pulled back cracked the door open.

“Is Joe there?” I asked.

“Who wants to know?” he said with a scowl. When I said I was reporting on pollution from the tar

sands mines, he slammed the door before I asked any questions.

After more “no comments” and closed doors, I met “Big Ray” Ladouceur. He spends much of his time

in the fall at his hunting camp across Lake Athabasca.

Sitting in his cabin, warmed by a wood stove over a mug of bitter coffee, he said he was concerned

about the pollution.

“There are deadly things in the water,” he began darkly.

Big Ray has fished commercially for 57 years. He knows the smooth, sleek body of a healthy

pickerel.

About two decades ago, he said—soon after tar sands mining took off — he began hauling up nets

filled with sick fish. They came up humpbacked, with crooked tails, faces pushed in and with eyes

bulging out. He’d never seen catches like those.

“Some of them look like they’re from outer space,” he said.

In 2010, one of Canada’s preeminent ecologists, David Schindler, convened a press conference, in

which he displayed ice buckets brimming with deformed fish. Big Ray joined Schindler at the event,

complaining that the government had, for more than a decade, ignored requests to investigate a tie

between sick fish and tar sands pollution.

But no officials had seemed to care, said Schindler. He says Canada’s regulatory and health

agencies have delayed the necessary studies to prove a connection and, if they’ve found anything so

far, they’ve kept results secret.

“Somebody’s dragging their feet,” he said.

Some studies have been conducted. Air pollution from the mines and processing plants has been

found to spread mercury and carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) across northeast

Alberta. And researchers found industry waste in the Athabasca riverbed, downstream from

supposedly leak-free settling ponds. Others discovered that freshwater mussels caged downstream

from tar sands mines developed damaged DNA.

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Schindler says such results suggest that a more intensive look at contamination from the industry is

overdue.

Through a spokesman, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health James Talbot said, “There isn’t

adequate evidence at this time to link the incidence of specific diseases directly to chemical

emissions from the oil sands.”

Officials at Environment Canada, the country’s environmental protection agency, declined an

interview request. However, in a written response to questions, the agency stated that it monitors the

incidence of deformed fish in the Athabasca River and Lake.

The agency also said it studies the health of fish larvae raised in a lab using sediments collected near

tar sands mines. So far, the agency stated, research “has not revealed evidence establishing a

causal link between fish deformities and oil sands resource development.”

In Fort Chip, Big Ray’s son Smokey, 49, fetched a red plastic bag from a beat-up freezer in his

garage and, with a thud, he dumped two fish the size of his forearm onto a plywood table. He poured

a bucket of water on them, melting off the ice crystals encrusting their silvery bodies.

Ulcers pocked the tail end of one. An eye of the other protruded from its head like a translucent,

misshapen mushroom the size of a quarter.

Such fish are probably not dangerous to eat, Schindler said, though they would probably not sell well

at the grocery store. The fish may have been exposed to pollution years ago, as embryos and the

adults’ flesh could be perfectly clean.

But these deformities, said Schindler, suggest that potent pollutants, in levels harmful to humans,

may swirl in these waters.

The pollution may not be caused by the tar sands mines alone, said O’Connor, but no one will know

unless sufficient studies are conducted. Before arriving at the mines, the Athabasca flows through

many towns and cities where sewage plants and paper mills also dump waste into its water.

“If money and expertise were dispatched, it could clear up a lot of things.”

On my last day in Fort Chip, I met Bill Tucaroo, a river guide, who also owns a taxi service. He

worked for decades in the industry. During a festival last June, a party of oil company executives had

chartered his boat for a joy ride on the Athabasca. By chance, he’d hauled up to a dead fish.

“I said, ‘take a picture of that,’” Tucaroo recalled.

A dead fish spoiled the next fishing stop as well.

“They were frickin’ stunned,” Tucaroo told me. After the tour ended, the visitors asked for the bill.

“I charged them $500 for an hour,” — about ten times his normal rate — he said with a wink.

This reporting was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

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Mega loads on their way to Alberta, Canada tar sands fields

Watch HERE

All “stop signs” are ignored by the Canadian government-enabled oil industry

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Hydropower / Water Retention

Students call for removal of Snake River dams

A new environmental group on campus, Rethink Dams, is advocating for the removal of the four

dams on the lower Snake River.

Sophomore Fiona Bennitt formed Rethink Dams after she was inspired by the documentary

“DamNation.” The new group will work to raise awareness both on campus and in the wider Walla

Walla community and to educate people about the potential benefits of breaching the Ice Harbor,

Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams. All four dams are located in the southeast

corner of Washington.

“I see this as an issue of science, with wild salmon runs just not coming back despite the tremendous

efforts that the Army Corps has made to [encourage] their return. They have done a fantastic job,

they have tried really hard, but [the salmon] are just not coming back,” said Bennitt.

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Breaching the dams is an ambitious goal. Rethink Dams hopes that its efforts will not only inspire

Whitman students and Walla Walla residents to support breaching, but also inspire the creation of

chapters at other colleges and universities in the region.

“As a campus, it’s our hope that we inspire … other schools in the Northwest to form their own

groups, and [it will] eventually become a big enough issue that enough people know about that the

dams will come out,” said sophomore Godwin Peck.

The debate over whether to remove the lower four dams on the Snake River is not new. In the early

2000s, the Walla Walla District Army Corp of Engineers conducted a six-year long, 30-million-dollar

study on how to address the damage done by the dams to populations of wild salmon, which are on

the endangered species list. The Army Corps decided at the time to install expensive measures to

help fish move past the dams.

Jim Waddell, once the top civilian at the Walla Walla District Army Corps of Engineers, has recently

advocated for the corps to reconsider dam removal. After retiring, Waddell reviewed the thousands of

pages of the Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Report and found a number of

errors. He is now convinced that removing the four dams would not only save wild salmon runs but

may save the corps money in the long run.

Waddell met with Bennit in late January and encouraged her to start Rethink Dams.

“It is great to see your generation wanting to take an active and meaningful role in solving some of

the nation’s challenges. Many of the challenges we face can no longer can be put off onto some later

generation by my generation. It is very important that we approach the solutions to the challengers as

a multi-generational team,” said Waddell in an email to The Pioneer.

Alongside saving the salmon and economic sense, members of Rethink Dams cite increased

recreational opportunities as another reason to support breaching the dams. Breaching would open

up 200 miles of free-flowing river for rafting and kayaking.

In response to recent advocacy for breaching the dams, the Walla Walla Corps of Engineers issued a

statement that they have no intention to further examine the economics or environmental benefits of

dam removal, and that any decision to remove the dams must be made directly by Congress.

“What you have to do is convince people that the benefits of removing the dam are greater than the

costs … The most important thing would be to get the support of the Washington legislators from

eastern Washington, and that’s about impossible,” said Professor of Geology and Environmental

Studies Bob Carson, who has worked toward the removal of various dams around the Pacific

Northwest for 40 years.

Opponents of dam removal argue the dams are needed to generate clean energy and allow shipping

up and down the Snake River. The four dams on the lower Snake produce five percent of the energy

used in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, the reservoirs formed by the dams provide water for a few

large agricultural producers.

“I don’t necessarily think that dams are a bad idea, and I don’t think that every dam should come out,

and I don’t think that most dams can come out,” said Bennitt. “But I think when we come across a

dam or set of dams where it’s really starting to become questionable why they’re kept in place … that

we should investigate those structures and look into whether they should be breached or not.”

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A baby orca whale calf known as J-51 swims with J-19, who is believed to be its mother, near San Juan Island Feb. 12, 2015

Survival of endangered orcas in the Salish Sea depends on restoring chinook

February 27, 2015

Anniversaries are a time for reflection and assessment. A decade ago in 2005, NOAA, the federal

agency charged with protecting marine mammals, listed the southern resident killer whales under the

Endangered Species Act. Despite having learned much about these imperiled whales since then,

NOAA has made little actual progress to meet their essential needs. In the last decade, deaths have

outnumbered births by a ratio of two to one. Many scientists now fear the population teeters on the

edge of extinction. Those of us who care about southern residents should contact our federal and

state elected officials to ensure that NOAA acts quickly to put our cherished orcas on a path to

recovery.

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Today, we know more about the southern residents than ever before. Recent research in the Salish

Sea and near the mouth of the Columbia River, for example, shows southern resident killer whales

are highly dependent on chinook — even when other salmon are present. Orca hormone levels,

however, reflect severe nutritional stress. Southern resident killer whales today aren’t finding

sufficient Chinook to maintain — much less increase — their diminished population.

A preliminary report from the necropsy of J32, or Rhapsody, the charismatic, much-loved 18-year-old

female who died with her full-term calf last December, describes a thin, dry blubber layer indicative of

chronic food shortages. Nutritional deficits bring orcas more trouble: metabolizing blubber mobilizes

harmful toxins that cause other serious conditions like sterility, immune system impairment and

death.

Recent research also confirms the importance of Columbia Basin chinook to southern resident killer

whales. Southern residents often leave the Salish Sea to hunt at the Columbia’s mouth for both

Snake and Columbia River chinook. But this isn’t actually news. In its 2008 orca recovery plan,

NOAA acknowledges orcas’ historic reliance on Columbia Basin chinook and describes its population

declines as “[p]erhaps the single greatest change in food availability for resident killer whales since

the late 1800s...”

This new knowledge can help us to better protect southern resident killer whales, but only with

leadership and action from the federal government. In just the last two years, southern resident killer

whales have lost eight individuals – a 10 percent decline that leaves just 79 whales. This sudden

decline — ten years after being officially classified as endangered — is spurring orca scientists and

advocates to demand fast, meaningful action from NOAA.

Unfortunately, recent statements from NOAA are not encouraging. In December, the Seattle Times

reported: “officials overseeing whale recovery say it’s too soon to say the situation is…dire.” Yet it is

irrefutable that the southern resident killer whales’ future today hangs in the balance and urgent

action is needed. The orcas do not have time for “wait and see” — a sure-fire extinction strategy. The

time to act is now. The survival and recovery of iconic southern residents can be secured only by

significantly increasing the numbers of chinook salmon in the coastal and inland waters orcas

frequent — and time is their enemy.

Although we need to stay focused on salmon restoration throughout

the southern resident killer whales’ historic range, it is the Columbia

Basin — and the Snake River watershed in particular — that holds the

greatest promise for restoring significant numbers of chinook in the

near-term. For this reason, orca scientists and advocates have

recently begun to call for the removal of the four lower Snake River

dams.

No other Northwest chinook restoration proposal offers such potential. Investing in a healthy, free-

flowing lower Snake River will restore salmon’s spawning access to more than 5,500 high-quality

river and stream miles and produce hundreds of thousands more chinook to help southern resident

killer whales s survive and rebuild. As orca advocates, we look forward to the opportunity to work with

the people of Washington and beyond to craft a plan that restores the Snake River and serves orcas,

salmon and our communities on both sides of the Cascades.

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Solar

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Wild Game Fish Management

Toxic waste facility would be "catastrophe" for Fraser River: Sto:lo advisor

February 23, 2015

It’s an innocuous bridge, not pretty to look at, but vital: the Vedder Bridge connects the cities of

Abbotsford and Chilliwack over the Vedder Canal, which flows into the Fraser River. If a new

recycling plant proposed by Ontario-based company Aevitas is approved by the province, the bridge

will see a steady stream of truck-traffic carrying harmful pollutants.

West of the bridge and at the base of Sumas Mountain lies the Sema:th band village. Every year

from spring to fall, the Sema:th cast nets out onto the nearby Fraser River, says Ernie Crey, fisheries

adviser to the Sto:lo Nation.

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A threat to Fraser River fish

The Fraser and its tributaries are famous for hosting some of the

richest salmon runs on the planet.

Besides providing a critical food source for First Nations along the river, salmon, as well as steelhead

trout and sturgeon, draw sports fisherman from all over the world to Chilliwack’s tourism industry,

pumping revenue into the city’s hotels and restaurants.

Both the First Nations and sport fisheries are threatened, says Crey, by the possibility of a hazardous

waste recycling facility next to the river.

The prospect of such a facility on the floodplain of the largest river system in B.C. has set off red

flags for a coalition of groups that includes First Nations, conservationists and sport-fishing

enthusiasts. They are alarmed by the possibility of persistent toxic pollutants seeping into the Fraser

in the event of a flood, as well as by the reality of semi-trailers trucking large quantities of hazardous

materials over the Vedder Bridge.

No one disputes the need for a recycling facility that diverts products, like mercury-containing CFL

bulbs and transformer oil laden with PCB’s, away from the landfill to be safely decommissioned and

re-purposed.

But the risk of “catastrophe”, as Crey puts it, is simply too high.

Currently, the application from Aevitas Inc. is in front of the Ministry of the Environment, where a

decision will be made about whether an environmental assessment is required for the project, and

whether it will indeed go ahead.

A flawless record

According to the application, the Aevitas facility will handle 5,000 liters of transformer oil and 500,000

CFL bulbs each month, amongst a variety of other materials – not a large facility, by the province’s

standards, but not a small one either. Much of the waste will come from the Lower Mainland.

The Ontario-based company states that it has a flawless record, and that in 20 years of operation

they have never been responsible for a toxic spill. Numerous safeguards are proposed for the facility,

including geo membranes and a clay liner that will make the structure “impervious,” says Byron Day,

president of Aevitas.

The structure will be elevated above what the city calls the “catastrophic flood level” and a thorough

evacuation plan for moving hazardous materials off site will be in place, should water levels reach a

certain point.

Although the City of Chilliwack says there is no guarantee that the dikes between the Fraser and the

proposed facility won’t break, the proposed safeguards were enough to convince city council to

rezone the land in early 2014 to allow for the plant to be built.

But the safety measures are not enough to convince those who are alarmed by the idea of hazardous

waste being housed within the floodplain of the lower Fraser, and opposition to the project appears to

be growing. More than 20 groups representing 120,000 people have voiced their concern over the

proposed location of the plant, noting the hazards of floods, earthquakes, or fires— or even trucks

carrying hazardous waste to the plant going through a guardrail on the Vedder Bridge.

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More frequent floods along the Fraser River

Dr. Stephen Déry, Research Chair in Hydrometeorology at the University of Northern B.C., also

remains unconvinced by the promised safety measures.

A 2012 study by Dr. Déry and his colleagues analyzed 100 years of hydrological data collected from

139 Environment Canada gauges throughout the Fraser River basin. What they found was alarming.

While the average annual water levels of the Fraser remain consistent, the seasonal high and low

water levels are getting consistently more extreme due in large part to a warming climate and more

frequent weather events like El Niño.

In fact, one study of the Fraser predicts that what was a one-in-100

year flood cycle in the 20th century will become a one-in-four-year

flood cycle by the end of the 21st century.

“Obviously what they cannot rely on is the previous high extreme flows because in the future they

might actually be surpassed,” Dr. Déry says speaking of the province’s flood forecasting methods.

“That’s what we have to be careful about. The past may not be an indicator of potential future floods.”

When asked about the proposed facility, he answers without hesitation. “I would not encourage any

construction along the floodplain of the Fraser River. We don’t know what may happen in the future.”

While much has been said about the benefits of the proposed facility and the safeguards that will be

in place, a couple crucial pieces of the puzzle are missing: what are the specific risks of the project?

And what happens if something goes wrong?

For Dr. John Janmaat, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of British Columbia

who focuses on environmental resource economics, these are the key questions.

“If the province isn’t willing to go through a full formal environmental assessment – and my sense is

that they’re not committed to doing that – then it’s not clear that anybody is really going to assess the

risks,” said Dr. Janmaat.

Dr. Janmaat believes the provincial authorities will decide against an environmental assessment

because the facility is relatively small and the assessment process is expensive. And yet, the bond

amount that the province requires from the company for potential clean-up and remediation cannot

be determined without an adequate assessment of what can actually go wrong.

Although the economic benefits to the city of Chilliwack are clear – a new facility would bring in jobs

and taxes – Dr. Janmaat personally understands why the project has prompted such a strong

backlash from the community.

“I grew up in Chilliwack and I have some appreciation for how

beautiful a place it is, and how critical things like the fishery and the

health of the river are, so I can see why some people are very, very

concerned.”

“I share their concern and I figure that just a little more information would help to ensure that we’re

making the best choice.”

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Sardines netted off of Astoria await storage, ice, then processing on the deck of a sardine boat

Pacific fishery managers approve new forage fish restrictions

March 10, 2015

Pacific coast fishery managers on Tuesday made a landmark decision to protect species at the

bottom of the ocean food chain.

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The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which regulates the fishing industry in federal waters off

California, Oregon and Washington, voted during a meeting in Vancouver to ban all new forage

fisheries unless fishermen who want to start one can prove they can do so without harming the

ecosystem.

Forage fish, or baitfish, are small species such as sardines, smelt and krill that are a vital food source

for larger fish, marine mammals and birds.

Marine conservation groups lauded the decision as a major win for an ecosystem struggling to

respond to a host of pressures including fishing, climate change and ocean acidification.

"This is a great step for ocean health," said Paul Shively, who leads the Pew Charitable

Trusts' Pacific Ocean conservation efforts.

Existing fisheries for Pacific sardine, anchovies and other forage fish will not be affected under the

new rules, but hundreds of species that are currently unregulated, such as saury and sand lance, will

gain protections.

Although the rules only apply to federal waters between three miles and 200 miles offshore, Oregon

Fish and Wildlife Commission is expected to craft similar rules restricting new fisheries in state-

regulated near shore waters.

The new rules are the council's first act under a new management

style that encourages managers to make decisions with the health of

the entire ecosystem in mind, rather than with a focus on individual

species.

"It's a real paradigm shift in how we look at fisheries management," Shively said.

News that Pacific sardine populations have collapsed so deeply they may be unfishable this year

underscore the need for increased protections, said Ben Enticknap, a senior scientist for Oceana.

Ripple effects from the collapse are already being blamed for impacts on other species. For example,

a lack of food sources including sardines has been implicated in the mass starvation of sea lions in

California this year.

"By protecting the health of our ocean ecosystem, the council is getting out in front of a crisis before it

happens," Enticknap said.

Unlike larger species that are typically sold for human consumption,

forage fish are often turned into fishmeal for use at fish farms or

turned into fish oil.

When left in the water, they help bolster populations of predator species such as salmon and rockfish

by offering them something to eat. For that reason, an international scientific task force estimated in

2012 that a forage fish left in the water is worth twice as much as one brought up in a fisherman's

net.

The new policy won't take effect until the National Marine Fishery Service approves it, a process that

could take several months. The national agency will also craft language to limit the amount of

restricted species fishermen can accidentally bring up in their nets while fishing for approved species.

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Do BC Fish Get the Shaft in Ottawa?

With a drought of West Coasters on committees, filmmaker says local concerns aren't

heard.

March 4, 2015

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For a province that prides itself on its pristine shores and myriad coastal industries, British Columbia

lacks important representation on the Ottawa committees responsible for fisheries, according to a

local filmmaker.

Damien Gillis, who has produced documentaries about environmental issues in B.C., said the limited

number of British Columbians on fisheries committees explains what he sees as a lack of action on

threats to salmon and the closure of West Coast coast guard stations and lighthouses.

"We're seeing at this very moment, in real time, the reflection of this neglect of B.C. citizens and

conservation objectives," Gillis said.

Of the 22 members on the fisheries and oceans standing Senate and standing parliamentary

committees in Ottawa, three are from B.C.

Committees help draft policy by hearing testimony from expert witnesses and conducting studies, the

results of which are forwarded to government. Members of the Senate committee are chosen by a

committee at the beginning of each new Parliament session. Parliamentary committees are chosen

by the standing committee on procedure and house affairs.

With 4.6 million people and 25,000 kilometres of coastline, B.C. has a lone senator on the 12-

member Senate fisheries committee, compared to five from the Maritimes. The Maritimes collectively

have 17,000 kilometres of coastline and 1.8 million people.

As of last week, the House of Commons committee had two B.C. members on its 10-person

committee to represent a province where seafood sales bring in more than $800 million each year,

while the Maritimes' industry is worth about $760 million annually.

There has not been a British Columbian fisheries minister since 1999, with all six ministers in the

interim hailing from the Atlantic provinces, one appointed to the post twice. British Columbians held

the position three times during the 1990s.

But Christine Maydossian of the Office of Minister of State and Chief Government Whip John

Duncan, which oversees the fisheries committees for the Conservatives, said there is nothing wrong

with the current representation.

"It is factually incorrect that there is a lack of B.C. representatives on fisheries committees,"

Maydossian said in an email. "We have strong representation on parliamentary committees studying

fisheries and oceans."

NDP deputy fisheries critic Fin Donnelly said that more B.C. representation on fisheries committees

would likely not make a difference, but only because the current government doesn't listen to anyone

who doesn't agree with them.

"This is a government unwilling to listen to fisheries issues, especially when they conflict with their oil

agenda," Donnelly said. "It's a government driven by that agenda that is not listening to some of the

concerns from the West Coast, whether you're in opposition or not."

He said the controversial closing of the Kitsilano coast guard station in 2013 is an example of the

government ignoring B.C. concerns.

He said if Parliament and government were to consider dissenting opinions, as it is supposed to do,

the lopsided representation would be more worrisome.

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'Guardians of the coast' unheard: Gillis

Gillis said that underrepresentation of B.C. on fisheries committees is reflected in the recent multi-

year permitting of fish farms on the coast. One online petition two years ago garnered more than

100,000 signatures against the expansion of such farms, and the industry remains controversial in

B.C.

Nancy Greene Raine, the lone B.C. representative on the Senate committee, has said in the past that

she thinks fish farms should be expanded. Gillis believes that more B.C. voices on the committees

would provide a better chance for the concerns of many in the province to reach policymakers.

Many recommendations from the Cohen Commission on the province's salmon stocks have still not

been officially implemented. Gillis said that could be due to a lack of representation on fisheries

committees, which could recommend that Parliament implement the measures.

The commission, which some experts say cost up to $37 million, was formed in 2009 after the Fraser

River sockeye salmon fishery closed for three consecutive years. It heard from nearly 180 witnesses

over 139 days, and in the end made 75 recommendations to help conserve B.C.'s salmon population.

Meanwhile, Gillis said he thinks the lack of B.C. representation is intentional and to the detriment of

B.C.'s interests, citing another example in a recent plan to close three coast guard communications

centres. The centres in Vancouver, Comox and Tofino will be closed by 2016.

The closures are part of 10 across Canada, and will see the centres -- responsible for helping vessel

traffic in distress, among other duties -- concentrated in Victoria and Prince Rupert.

Gillis believes that an increased B.C. presence on fisheries committees would "to some extent

conflict with big provincial and federal policies around converting the coast for fossil fuel transport

(and) for large-scale industrial fish farms."

Added Gillis: "It would be a reasonable hypothesis for people to draw that getting rid of these local

guardians of the coasts is beneficial to exercising those policies."

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Wildlife Artists:

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Poet Christine Leclerc reading her collaborative poem "Oilywood." Image by Anne Watson and Marcus Kliewer.

Artists shed new light on Enbridge, tar sands and environmental destruction

March 15, 2015

Fact-based stories about oil pipelines inundate the news. Dry political discussions, proposals and

rejections, protests, corporate dogma, pandering, statistical wallpapering with job creation numbers,

estimates of destruction, and so on.

Unless it is “your issue” you can be blinded by the information overload. And even when it is “your

issue,” the effects can be numbing. Some people shift that experience. They re-invigorate our

senses, touch our hearts and recharge our minds. They are artists.

Read Entire Vancouver Observer Article HERE

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Gary Haggquist Visual Artist

“Crossing”

Acrylic on panel

12’’ X 24”

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Diane Michelin - Fly Fishing Fine Art: "Wading Deep"

Original watercolor

11" x 15"

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2015 – Removing Ocean-based Salmon Feedlots Dan Wallace: Passion for Authenticity

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Leanne Hodges: West Coast Wild

“Choices: A Personal Journey”

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Conservation-minded businesses – please support these fine businesses

Riverman Guide Service – since 1969

Kim Malcom – Owner, Operator

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Learn to fish: experienced, conservation-minded professional instructors

View our six-panel, information brochure HERE

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Cabo Sails

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Rhett Weber’s Charterboat “Slammer”

Reserve your 2015 Pacific Ocean fishing adventures on Slammer through Deep Sea

Charters – Westport, Washington

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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.

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UWET "STAY-DRY" UNDERWATER TOURS

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Dave and Kim Egdorf's Western Alaska Sport Fishing

Booking Now

Montana: (406) 665-3489 Alaska: (907) 842-5480

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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

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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.

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Casa Mia Italian Restaurant

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Spirit Bear Coffee Company

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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.

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Silversides Fishing Adventures

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