Yakima Basin Steelhead & Bull Trout Plan

Yakima Herald Republic Online

"Federal fisheries officials on Wednesday accepted a locally developed plan for restoring steelhead and bull trout in the Yakima River Basin, describing it as blueprint for the future. "Gov. Christine Gregoire and more than 25 local and state officials, along with representatives of the Yakama Nation, met in Yakima to hand over the plan to NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "The draft salmon recovery plan will become the foundation for a federal recovery plan that is aimed at having the two species removed from the endangered species list. "The federal plan, following publication in the Federal Register and a public comment period, is expected to be adopted next summer as an interim recovery plan. "

"Ecology director: Odessa aquifer tops Columbia River concerns for state DOE"

Columbia Basin Herald

"Declining water levels in the Odessa Sub-Area Aquifer top the list of concerns for the state's governor and ecology department, but those in support need to present themselves as one voice. "So said guest speaker Jay Manning, the new director of the Washington Department of Ecology, as he addressed the Columbia Basin Development League at its annual meeting and dinner Wednesday at Big Bend Community College. "Manning, who assumed his position about eight months ago, told those in attendance that he and Gov. Christine Gregoire are committed to doing as much as possible to complete the Columbia Basin Project."

Puget Sound Pilot Shortage

TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

"By law, the pilots use their local knowledge to guide ships into the Sound from Port Angeles and back out from Washington ports. But in the past several months a combination of retirements, injuries and an increasing number of ships calling on Washington ports has led to a shortage of these skilled guides. The shortage has delayed ships as they wait for pilots to arrive, and required pilots to regularly work during their scheduled time off."

Judge gives feds one year to create new plan to protect salmon

billingsgazette.com

"Warning that threatened and endangered salmon are running out of time, a federal judge Friday gave federal agencies one year to come up with a new plan for protecting them from being killed by federal hydroelectric dams in the Columbia Basin. U.S. District Judge James Redden cut in half the time sought by NOAA Fisheries, the Bonneville Power Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to revise a plan, known as a biological opinion, that the judge had ruled in violation of the Endangered Species Act last May."

Bush Fails to Pick Stranger for Supreme Court

ScrappleFace

Somebody needed to say it.

This Blog Renamed, New Blog Begun

Considering the disparate postings on this blog, I think it best that this blog be refocused on legal matters, and a new blog called Science & Society be started to collect those developments in science I find it necessary and/or useful to remark upon.