Environment

Sonar pings picked up near San Juan Islands, raising fears of animal injury

FRIDAY HARBOR — Hydrophones near Washington's San Juan Islands have picked up dozens of sonar pings, raising worries the noise could harm marine mammals.

Our desire for stuff, not utilities, might be to blame for outage

We love our trees. We love our power. That’s our problem. At its peak, the ice storm of Jan. 19 knocked out the juice for 270,000 Puget Sound Energy customers. Some waited a week for the lights to come back on.

Stage 1 burn ban to continue at least through weekend in Thurston County

A Stage 1 burn ban for Thurston County began at 5 p.m. Friday and will continue through the weekend at least, according to the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency.

Water regulations again take center stage as previous concessions come up for renewal

Clean-water advocates at the Capitol fear environmental protections could be repealed or softened this year as part of a budget and tax deal.

DuPont will get up to $200,000 for watershed-restoration project

Several agencies have ratified a settlement to restore the Sequalitchew Creek watershed in DuPont and open the door to expanded gravel mining in the area.

Olympic National Park glaciers are shrinking, study says

Groups team up to fix cold homes, leaky roofs

South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity will launch a housing-repair program in the Rochester area this week, hoping to make a dent in substandard housing often owned by or rented to very low-income people.

Coalition picks Toxics-Free Kids Act as first priority

The environmental community has just one priority bill – a ban on toxic flame retardants in baby and children’ s products – in a 2012 legislative session consumed by the state budget crisis.

We've avoided cold, wet La Nina conditions; that's set to change

A winter that has been slow to show signs of the cool, wet La Niña season that was predicted is changing course, according to the National Weather Service.
• PREPARED: Area road crews say they're ready

E-Cycle reports more electronics recycling

Statewide electronic waste recycling reached 42.19 million pounds in 2011, a 6.9 percent increase over the previous year, according to a news release.