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Back-to-back wins; Wolverines regain momentum
2012 Islands Playwrights Festival unified by the theme of “Celebrations”
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Editorial Vote yes on school levy; it will help give San Juan students the tools they need to succeed PAGE 7
Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Vol. 105 Issue 5
of the San Juan Islands
www.sanjuanjournal.com
Sales up, prices down
Fired up over cargos of coal
BY COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG Islands’ Sounder Editor/ Associate Publisher
Local waters could be used to ship millions of pounds of coal By Scott Rasmussen
It will be under the spotlight briefly at today’s meeting of the county Marine Resources Committee. But a proposal that could pave the way for millions of pounds of coal to be shipped from nearby Cherry Point — then through the waters of Haro and Rosario straits — on their way to places around the globe is gaining steam as a touchy topic in the San Juans. MRC Chairman Steve Ravella expects a broader discussion in the near future about the plans of a Seattle-based shipping and its bid to build an expanded cargo facility at Cherry Point. “It’s become a hot topic around the island,” Ravella said. “We’d like to pull together some kind of presentation with some information so we can learn more about it.” In the meantime, islanders can find out more about the plans of SSA Marine at one of three forums sponsored, however, by an opponent of the project, REsources of Bellingham. Cherry Point, a deepwater industrial port located near Ferndale, is roughly 15 miles west of Orcas Island. SSA Marine, which has a 7-year-old permit for a facility on
Contributed photo / Center for Whale Research
Members of the Southern resident killer whales huddled together and appeared disoriented when the U.S. Navy destroyer — the Everett- based USS Shoup — transited Haro Strait during sonar exercises in 2003.
Limits on Navy sonar? ‘Friends’ joins lawsuit to protect whales, dolphins and more A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups have sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for failing to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. “These training exercises will harm dozens of protected species of marine mammals — Southern Resident killer whales, blue whales, humpback whales, dolphins, and porpoises — through the use of high-intensity mid-frequency sonar,” said Steve Mashuda, an Earthjustice attorney representing the groups. “The Fisheries Service fell down on the job and failed to require the Navy to take reasonable and effective actions to protect them.” Representing InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness
Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the San Juans, Natural Resources Defense Council, and People For Puget Sound, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court Jan. 26 for the District of Northern California, challenging NMFS’s approval of the Navy’s training activities in its Northwest Training Range Complex. The lawsuit calls on NMFS to mitigate anticipated harm to marine mammals and biologically critical areas within the training range that stretches from Northern California to the Canadian border. The Navy uses a vast area of the West Coast for training activities, including anti-submarine warfare exercises involving tracking aircraft and sonar; surface-to-air gunnery and missile exercises; air-to-surface bombing exercises; sink exercises; and extensive testing for several new weapons systems. The Navy’s mid-frequency sonar has been implicated in mass strandings of marine mammals in, See SONAR, Page 4
See COAL, Page 4
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newpaper Publishers Association
It’s a slow climb, but steady wins the race. The Northwest Multiple Listing Service tallied 56,290 closed sales of single family homes and condominiums during 2011, improving on 2010’s volume by 4,290 transactions for a 7.4 percent increase. Last year’s completed sales included 48,952 single family homes (up 7 percent from 2010) and 7,338 condominiums (an increase of more than 10 percent from 2009). Together, these sales were valued at more than $16.7 billion, about $900 million less than the previous year (a decline of 5.1 percent). Northwest Multiple Listing See REAL ESTATE, Page 4
Have a love story to share? Send your heart warming story Friday, Feb. 3 and we will print it in our Valentine’s Day section. Call 378-5696 for details.