An environmental scorecard from Olympia

5/9 Crosscut An environmental scorecard from Olympia By Daniel Jack Chasan A major bill to allow more transfers of development rights to dense areas fares well, as does the phase-out of coal plants. But the effort to impose a tax on oil products for helping with stormwater projects around Puget Sound got little traction. More [...]

Fishing enthusiasts testify against merging outdoor agencies

So in a rush to save money, anywhere, State Senator Ranker and others in Olympia are racing to merge agencies. Is this merging without clear understanding of the consequences? It would seem so. I don’t really get what’s wrong with the current setup, other than the Governor and Ranker seems to think it can be [...]

Two views on future of biomass

The battle over biomass promise vs. reality continued last week, moving to Olympia … in my opinion, it seems better for the environment to be burning natural gas than wood waste..And then there’s that pesky bill that would put the decision to approve biomass sites into the hands of an unelected state commission. A recipe [...]

Lawmakers consider $30 fee for parks, forests

Well, the poor are the losers in this proposal. Those who can’t afford to pay to come to our parks, can just stay home, apparently. This is the sad outcome of a combination of voters who think they are paying too much in taxes, so aren’t willing to pay more, and a terrible recession. Lawmakers [...]

Wash. enviros pushing fee on stormwater pollution

Washington state environmentalists are backing a legislative proposal that would charge a fee on stormwater pollutants, including petroleum, fertilizers and herbicides. The Associated Press SEATTLE — Washington state environmentalists are backing a legislative proposal that would charge a fee on stormwater pollutants, including petroleum, fertilizers and herbicides. Senator Sharon Nelson of Vashon Island and Representative [...]

Oil Spill Responders Face Budget Cuts

Ed: Let’s hope there’s one thing we can get through this year-after-the-Gulf-Spill 1/14/11 Kitsap Sun -Oil Spill Responders Face Budget Cuts By John Stang OLYMPIA — A major oil spill from a tanker ship in Puget Sound has the potential to be a bigger disaster than the one last year in the Gulf of Mexico. [...]

Money battles ahead for Wash. environmentalists

*1/15/11 Associated Press Money battles ahead for Wash. environmentalists By GEORGE TIBBITS – Associated Press SEATTLE — Along with every other interest group, environmentalists hope the programs they’ve fought for won’t be gutted as the Legislature again tries to fix a huge deficit. Still, lobbyists and legislators say there might be a few modest victories [...]