Tagged: Environment and Planning

Two high-profile elected officials are on the Olympic Peninsula Thursday, trying to sell locals on a plan to designate more wilderness there. Senator Patty Murray and Congressman Norm Dicks say their latest bill is a grand compromise, and they’re hoping to convince Olympic Peninsula communities that fought earlier versions.

Oregon is moving ahead with a proposed phase-out of commercial gillnetting along the Columbia River. A state fish and wildlife panel Tuesday gave the initial go-ahead to the proposal made by Gov. John Kitzhaber. The action comes as the governor tries to head off a more restrictive ballot measure.

A controversy over a California wildlife official has Idaho hunters shaking their heads. The California Fish and Game commission stripped its president of his title for hunting a cougar in Idaho – which is legal in the Gem State, but not in California.

The costs of cleaning up Japanese tsunami debris along Northwest coasts are adding up. Oregon says it's reached the half-million dollar mark. And officials say debris is now being spotted in unexpected places.

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation’s so-called “black cells” are getting another look from a new high-level group of experts. The announcement today from the U.S. Department of Energy comes just as the southeast Washington nuclear site implements new safety standards for non-radioactive risks.

Washington environmental regulators are hoping that crews at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation will clean out three more aging tanks of radioactive waste by the end of summer. A federal judge has ordered that ten tanks in an area known as “C-Farm” have to be closed by September of 2014.