The to-do list
For Hawks, no looking back
The fair: The Evergreen State Fair is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. today and Sunday at the Monroe fairgrounds. The carnival is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Admission is $7-$10 and parking is $10; www.heraldnet.com/fair.
Seattle keeps Bears on the run, 34-6,
Skate: The Board Bash skateboard competition is from noon to 3 p.m. today at Mill Creek Sports Park, 1393 N. Creek Drive. Registration starts at 11 a.m. Free. Riders as young as 6 can compete.
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Sing: Hear the Shifty Sailors sing sea shanties from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday at Fort Casey State Park on Whidbey Island. Discover Pass needed for parking.
SATURDAY, 08.23.2014
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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75¢ (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)
OSO MUDSLIDE
Search for answers begins At first meeting, commission hears from those who were at site
More trains will be ‘crisis’ New oil refineries and a coal export terminal would only exacerbate existing problems, warns Edmonds mayor at forum. By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer
By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
OSO — Their job is to make sense of a disaster that left a gaping wound across the Stillaguamish Valley. Near the end of their inaugural meeting Friday, members of an independent commission talked about what they want to learn
from the March 22 Oso mudslide. Within a few short months, they’re expected to make recommendations aimed at better emergency coordination for future disasters. Another goal is to improve building regulations near landslide hazards. “To me, that’s the big hope — is that we can have some impact on public safety down the road,” said
David Montgomery, a University of Washington geomorphology professor. The commission’s inaugural meeting took place five months to the day after the slide hit at 10:37 a.m. on a Saturday morning. The commissioners expect to confront questions about how the emergency response differed on the east and west sides
of the disaster. The slide killed 43 people. It buried the Steelhead Haven neighborhood along the North Fork Stillaguamish River and covered part of state Highway 530. It severed Darrington from the rest of Snohomish County and See SLIDE, back page, this section
Incidents prompt worries about ferries Gene Johnson Associated Press
SEATTLE — The green-andwhite ferry pulled away from the docks and churned across Puget Sound, leaving behind Seattle’s
Business . . . .A10 Classified . . . . B1 Comics . . . . . .D2
waterfront. Passengers stood in the breeze on the deck or gazed out the windows at the distant, snow-covered bulk of Mount Rainier. Then the lights inside flickered, the engine stalled and the ferry
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Horoscope . . .D6 Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . . .A8
was adrift with more than 400 people onboard. The July 29 breakdown was the start of a tough summer for the nation’s largest ferry system, which hauls about 23 million passengers.
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Officials are wondering whether the series of problems is just coincidence, or a more troubling sign of how deeply the state has cut into a transportation
See TRAINS, back page, this section
See FERRIES, Page A2
THE BUZZ: Young hipsters are buying farms in New England. All produce comes with its own selfie. Page A2
Agreeable 75/55, C6
DAILY
KEVIN CLARK / THE HERALD
Steve Thomsen, county public works director, explains the extent of the slide to commission members Diane Sugimura (from left), John Erickson and JoAnn Boggs during the Oso recovery site visit Friday morning.
EVERETT — A surge in coal and oil trains through Snohomish County is a “coming crisis” that threatens to irreparably damage the quality of life in several communities unless addressed, the mayor of Edmonds warned Friday. Drivers already face long backups at railroad crossings more often because freight rail traffic is increasing, and the situation will only worsen if plans for new oil refineries and a coal export terminal proceed, Mayor Dave Earling said. “We all need to acknowledge it is a serious problem,” Earling said in opening comments at an event focused on coal and oil trains in the county. “I view it as a coming crisis and one we need to start taking care of today.” The forum on the county campus began with supporters and opponents of the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal politely sparring over the economic good and the ecological bad of building it. Seattle-based SSA Marine’s proposal for the terminal at Cherry Point is undergoing extensive environmental review now and, if approved, could be operating at full capacity in 2019. By then, the terminal could be handling about 54 million metric tons of dry bulk commodities per year, most of it coal from the Powder River Basin in Montana. That would add nine loaded trains per day heading to the
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