The Election

Two items in the news are serving to reinforce two of my favorite themes.

1. You can trust parties more than personalities.
2. The worst polluters do it because it's the cheapest way to do business.

In the months leading up to the 2012 election for Washington Governor, I found myself growing increasingly frustrated about the near invisibility of Puget Sound as a campaign issue.

Washington Governor - Moderation vs. solutions on Puget Sound UPDATE1

You don't want to believe any Republican who claims to support cleanup and restoration of Puget Sound. It is by definition empty rhetoric.

The basic - extreme - positions held by the bulk of the party are fundamentally incompatible with the goal of a clean, healthy Puget Sound.

We can reduce what it means to being a Republican to two simplistic things:

Remember the environment?

Tonight is the first head-to-head debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, but when was the last time you heard either of them address environmental issues directly? The Nation's Mark Hertsgaard has an excellent set of questions they both should answer, gathered from leading U.S. environmentalists:

Hot Topics: Ten Questions on Energy and the Environment Obama and Romney Should Answer at the Debate

People For Puget Sound: 1991-2012

Environmentalists around western Washington were shocked this week by the announcement of the end of People For Puget Sound. The 21 year old water quality activism group will close at the end of this month.

As a former employee of People For Puget Sound I heard this was coming, but I'm not here to try to make excuses for them or gloss over problems. People For Puget Sound's internal problems are like those faced by ANY nonprofit, business or public agency when they reach a certain age. The dynamics of a group of people trying to work together toward a broad, long term goal is not a reflection on the capabilities of the individuals -- all of whom are in some way outstanding in their areas of expertise.

Cameron Emptor

An August 2, 2012 article about the three leading PRT systems in a forum called Smartlinks certainly reads well.

Its subject is the race between Ultra and 2getthere to put their first pod systems into service at Heathrow and Masdar City, respectively, as well as a brief history of the Vectus program.

It's a straightforward piece of writing, full of facts and reasonable prose. However, the author byline at the bottom of the story renders the whole thing dubious:

Validation of our views on Masdar PRT plan error

The backpedaling typical of massive capital projects continues.

A recent Fast Company state-of-the-effort article on Masdar City includes these conclusions by project managing director Dr. Sultan Al Jaber about the city's 12-pod Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), scaled back from a huge citywide pod fleet --

"We’re not in any way saying the PRT solution will not be a viable solution going forward. Based on our lessons and experience, the development of PRT technology is going to take a little longer than we originally anticipated..." -Fast Company

Washington oyster hatchery opens -- in Hawaii

Scientists have known that continued dumping of CO2 into the atmosphere would be absorbed by the oceans, lowering pH.


That is acidity, and one way it impacts the food chain is that it interferes with calcium carbonate in seawater, hampering the ability of shellfish to form shells.


Here is Craig Welch's report on how Goose Point Oysters of Willapa Bay is giving its oysters a headstart in higher pH Hawaiian waters.

"Willapa Bay oyster grower sounds alarm, starts hatchery in Hawaii" http://ow.ly/1O83s6

Also: Danny Westneat - "Acidic step" http://ow.ly/1O82I1

* * *

TWIP Archive (2008): " Are machines the CO2 answer?" http://ow.ly/1O83Pq

June is Orca Awareness Month

Governor Gregoire has declared June 2012 the 7th annual Orca Awareness Month. If you haven't taken some personal action to lessen impact on Puget Sound and our Southern Resident orca whales, why not start now.

San Jose ATN 'not technically feasible' and what that means

The two year feasibility study by San Jose, California into an 'Automated Transit Network' podcar system at the Mineta Airport is concluding, and the implications for the prospects of American personal rapid transit are mixed. However, this was entirely predictable.

The findings, as described in a memo in advance of the full report (we haven't seen a copy of that yet), mentions four key points:

So get cranking with the bike lanes already

The Washington Post reports on a study that finally confirms: more bike lanes leads to increases in cycling ( wapo.st/HL32Ne ).

Seattle takes another big transit step

(TWIP mobile post) Construction work is about to begin on Seattle's next streetcar line ( http://bit.ly/HAomKJ ), between downtown and First Hill.

Not only does the project mean better transit in the state's densest neighborhood, it will also improve road safety with installation of a cycle track on Broadway, and a kickstart of a local streetcar manufacturing industry.

Not another agency

(TWIP mobile post) West Seattle Blog is reporting today about plans to revive elevated transit in 'Seattle's west side transportation corridor' -- http://bit.ly/GLs1Rn

I have been aware for a few months that this organization -- 'CenTran' -- has been in the works. However I had been under the impression what it's about is Son Of Green Line.

Instead, it looks like they're intending a 16-mile monorail+PRT (pod transit) system in the West Seattle to Ballard corridors.

Ignoring stormwater science

Does anyone doubt that stormwater pollutes Western Washington's water cycle? At its simplest, civilization drops stuff on the ground, and gravity washes it downhill into Puget Sound.

Pretty easy. Yet now comes Democratic State Rep. Larry Springer of Kirkland. His HB2641 proposes making laboriously negotiated low-impact development rules voluntary.

An example on your fingertips

The news that most thermal cash register receipt paper is coated with bisphenol-A receives such little notice, that when a tiny syndicated column mentioning it did surface last Sunday, I realized I had forgotten it since it had first come out over a year ago:

Just the highlights

There are a number of items competing for the top of the environmental news -- some positive, some worrisome. Here they are, with pointers:

State of Washington puts Puget Sound on 'waters of concern' list. In a report to the EPA, the state Department of Ecology cites the threat of ocean acidification to sea life. Oceans naturally absorb CO2, but mankind's CO2 output has the oceans working overtime. Too much CO2 lowers ocean pH, interfering with the food chain by altering the development of key species.

Press release from the Center For Biological Diversity

Property wrongs. On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court

Climate vs. Weather

A simple and clear explanation, for people who keep saying 'it's snowing so there must not be climate change.'

The old adage is that "climate is what you expect, weather is what you get," since day-to-day weather may depart significantly from average conditions. But that doesn't really tell you much about how climate is measured over the long-term, or when weather ends and climate begins.

...

Climate Central