"Oregon will ban restaurants from automatically offering single-use plastic straws under a measure passed by lawmakers, making it the second state to enact restrictions on plastic straws."
It’s a good case for the global-local nexus: The potent greenhouse gas methane may be leaking from your local landfill. And this week’s TipSheet explains the latest news developments in this long-standing controversy, as well as policy disputes over capturing the gas. Plus, get story ideas and questions to ask for your local reporting.
"A salmon-farming company with net pens in Rich Passage has agreed to pay $332,000 in fines after one of its floating pens collapsed in 2017, releasing a quarter-million nonnative Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound near Cypress Island, about 10 miles southwest of Bellingham."
"The Lummi Nation is dropping live salmon into the sea in a last-ditch rescue effort: ‘We don’t have much time’"
"The Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5116 on Monday – a bill that will eliminate coal power by 2025 and transition the state to 100 percent clean and renewable electricity by 2045."
The latest release of the annual endangered rivers list provides boatloads of environmental reporting angles, including climate change-related threats like flooding and drought. This week’s TipSheet has the backstory and the new top-10 list, plus 10 suggested starting points for stories and a half-dozen key reporting resources.
The first state ban on styrofoam food containers makes this a good time to see how things stand with styrofoam in your area, as the controversial plastic draws negative attention for overflowing landfills, causing litter and polluting waters. More, plus story ideas and reporting resources, in this week’s TipSheet.
"If oil is moving through Oregon, it’s Michael Zollitsch’s job to know about it. He oversees the state’s emergency responses to oil spills and other environmental disasters."
"Western Washington has its first wolf pack in decades, an indication that wolf recovery is on track and a sign that the canines are expanding their range in a healthier ecosystem, wildlife officials say."
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