Sunday, January 29, 2006

"Case could get land-use laws back on the ballot"

By JENNIFER LANGSTON SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
"Sparked by a fierce property-rights battle in King County, the Washington Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday on whether residents ought to be able to overturn controversial land-use laws by a popular vote. Local governments say that would paralyze their ability to carry out state growth-management laws, which force cities and counties to make balanced, difficult choices that some residents won't necessarily like. Attorneys for property-rights advocate Rodney McFarland argued that the Legislature didn't intend for all development regulations to be immune from a referendum -- a basic right afforded to citizens by the state constitution."

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Suit challenges murrelet protection

The Seattle Times: Local News By JEFF BARNARD
"GRANTS PASS, Ore.Hoping to remove one obstacle to logging on public lands, Coos County commissioners are suing to get the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to carry out its promise to take the marbled murrelet off the threatened-species list. The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Eugene argues that the original reasons for listing the 17,000 to 20,000 birds nesting in Oregon, Washington and Northern California no longer exist."

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Species of Oregon Coast Salmon Won't Be Listed as Endangered

Blaine Harden Washington Post Staff Writer
"Conflict in the long-running Northwest salmon wars shifted Tuesday from the Columbia River to the coast of Oregon, as the Bush administration announced that Oregon Coast coho -- a species that collapsed in the 1990s before a modest rebound -- will not be listed under the Endangered Species Act."

Thursday, January 12, 2006

The Makah Do Their Part

peninsuladailynews.com - Makah welcome homeland security training near Neah Bay

"While Security Services Northwest has been maligned as a bad neighbor on Discovery Bay, Makah tribal leaders are welcoming the company's training gunfire with open arms on Neah Bay. `` 'We don't have a problem with it,'' said Makah Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson Jr.'"

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Anacortes' CAOs and the Shoreline Management Act

Anacortes American:
"Anacortes must adopt stricter wetlands protection regulations in its critical areas ordinance by the end of next year, according to a ruling last week by the Growth Management Hearings Board. However, the bigger question of whether the city must impose 200-foot buffers on its shoreline development remains unresolved for now, after the board declined to settle the issue and ruled instead that shoreline provisions of the ordinance must be reviewed by the Washington Department of Ecology."

Read the Decision.

Groups file a second lawsuit over bull trout habitat

Missoulian
"The two Montana-based environmental groups that forced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat for bull trout now say the agency didn't go far enough. Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Wild Swan filed suit in U.S. District Court on Thursday, saying the agency went overboard when it reduced the amount of streams and lakes included in its final designation. The groups want the agency to go through another rule-making process and come up with another plan that designates more streams and lakes as critical habitat for bull trout. The Fish and Wildlife Service maintains that bull trout are already protected after being listed in 1998."