SEATTLE – With the Northwest poised to become the country’s leading coal-export region, fights are emerging on several fronts. On the table are proposals to capitalize on Asia’s thirst for cheap energy by building a half-dozen terminals in Washington and Oregon that would export coal from the Rockies.
SEATTLE – It’s not unusual for an archaeologist to get stuck in the past, but Carl Gustafson may be the only one consumed by events on the Olympic Peninsula in 1977. That summer, while sifting through earth in Sequim, the young Gustafson uncovered something extraordinary – a mastodon bone with a shaft jammed in it. This appeared to be a weapon that had been thrust into the beast’s ribs, a sign that humans had been around far earlier than anyone suspected.
EAST SAND ISLAND, Wash. – It’s been a dozen years since the federal government moved thousands of black-capped squawking seabirds here to reduce their diet of endangered fish. Things haven’t exactly gone as planned.
SEATTLE – The decline in recent decades of the mountain snows that feed the West’s major rivers is virtually unprecedented for most of the past millennium, according to new research published Thursday. By measuring tree-ring growth from forests with trees more than 800 years old, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington are showing that snowpack reductions in the late 20th century have been unlike any other period dating back to at least the year 1200.
SEATTLE – For a decade, marine biologists have been trying to unravel the subtle ways sonar may harm whales and dolphins, which hunt and travel using echolocation. But experts peeling back the role of sound in the marine world are making surprising observations.
It’s been just 2 ½ years since Canis lupus took up residence in the rolling hills above Eastern Washington’s Methow Valley. But the gray wolf’s return to Washington after a 70-year absence has not exactly gone as most expected. At this point, it’s not even clear if the state’s first pack, the Methow’s Lookout Pack, still exists.
RICHLAND – It sounds like a sci-fi thriller: Dangerous gases build up in a giant drum of nuclear waste. It explodes and spews contamination, threatening workers or the public. Or it cripples a facility that cost taxpayers $12.2 billion. It could happen at Hanford’s nuclear waste disposal plant if radioactive material isn’t kept stirred.
We ate stewed clams and clam chowders and all manner of oysters: creamed oysters on toast, oysters in a chafing dish, broiled oysters on toast, oyster soups, oyster omelets and a rice-and-tomato-based concoction dubbed “a substantial oyster dish.” When a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist perused a 1906 Seattle cookbook, most of the seafood recipes involved shellfish.
SEATTLE – Moss in parts of the Hoh Rain Forest, usually damp and springy, now crackles underfoot. Boggy areas near the coast that typically hold 3 to 4 inches of water are kicking up dust.
