Posted by David Gordon

The 40^th anniversary of Earth Day provides a great opportunity to look back at the progress of the environmental movement – and how we are doing meeting the growing environmental challenges of the day.

As luck would have it, I am spending the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day in Moscow.  Since I have spent a significant amount of time the last 20 years working with grassroots environmental groups throughout Siberia and the Russian Far East, reflecting from Moscow seems somehow appropriate.

What have we learned in the last 40 years?  First, the environment is about people.  To protect the environment, we have to work with people.  We have found that building an effective, widespread environmental movement is critical to our success.  The environmental movement has been criticized for not reaching out broadly enough.  Time and again, we have proven that the environmental movement is not narrow.  The environmental movement is not limited to scientists and bird-watchers.  The environmental movement is made up of poor people, rich people, everyday people, people from labor unions, journalists, teachers, kids, parents, and many more. (more…)

Posted by Carole Holley

While working with communities is core to Pacific Environment, we also need to build from those efforts and strengthen our support of critical environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act — both of which are currently under threat.

The EPA, which enforces the Clean Air Act (CAA), is under attack from special interests and their representatives in Congress.  Special interests are advocating removal of the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the CAA, which they won in the Supreme Court in 2007. Currently, there are two bills in Congress that would slow or kill the EPA’s new regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Two West Virginia Democrats, Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Nick Rahall, have co-authored a bill that would freeze the agency’s move for at least two years and “protect clean coal state economies.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska introduced a bill that would undo the EPA’s ruling that greenhouse gas emissions pose public harm. The state of Texas is also challenging the EPA’s attempts to regulate greenhouse gases claiming that the agency’s finding that “gases blamed for global warming threaten public health” is “based on flawed science and would harm the state’s economy.”

(more…)

Posted by Carole Holley

Global climate change needs to be addressed on many fronts.  Looking globally in scope, international efforts to stop or slow down global warming are essential.  Communities in Alaska and around the Arctic are being impacted by bigger storm surges, thin or no ice which is impeding seal and whale hunts and creating extremely dangerous conditions for people to practice their subsistence way of life.  Additionally, global warming threatens many species of wildlife including polar bears, Pacific walrus and seals.  We must work together to get commitments from the US and other countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 350 parts per million, meaning greenhouse gas pollution from the United States and other developed countries should be reduced by 45% or more below 1990 levels by 2020.

(more…)

Posted by David Gordon

One of the best things about the Arctic Council is information sharing and learning about some of the impressive scientific work going on around the Arctic.  Today’s meetings were dominated by scientists and working groups reporting on the diverse variety of projects that they have taken on.

At this time last year, a freighter carrying soybeans from the Puget Sound to China foundered in the Bering Sea. The captain shut down the engine for repairs in the middle of a storm and the freighter was blown onto rocks near Alaska’s Unalaska Island in the Aleutians. The ship broke in two and spilled more than 300,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel into these biologically rich waters. Six crew died in a failed rescue attempt. The ship, named the Selendang Ayu, created Alaska’s worst oil spill since the tragic Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.

Following the Selendang Ayu spill, a number of groups including Pacific Environment came together to create the Shipping Safety Partnership. This coalition of groups is working to improve shipping safety standards around the “Great Circle Route” for tankers and freighters transiting the North Pacific. More than 2,700 cargo ships transit through the North Pacific each year. We thought it was about time that we strengthened our efforts to protect the North Pacific from the risks of oil spills coming from this traffic.

Earlier this week, I attend a forum in Seattle on oil spill risks in the Puget Sound and Alaska, timed to occur a year following the Selendang Ayu spill. The forum, hosted by People for Puget Sound and the Shipping Safety Partnership, was a great place to discuss how to improve shipping safety from Puget Sound to Alaska, and extending across the Pacific Rim to Russia and China. We learned about new legislation that is being introduced by Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Jay Inslee to strengthen oil spill prevention standards. We were inspired by Rick Steiner and Walt Parker – two of our long-time Alaska colleagues and supporters – about the opportunities to improve our oil spill prevention systems. The time to act is now – before we see any more accidents like the Selendang Ayu. And the focus needs to be on prevention – once the oil is in the water, it’s too late.
We tend to think of the Pacific Rim as an economic region. Indeed, shipping across the Pacific Rim embodies the trade ties between North America and Asia. But we have to come to terms with the environmental impacts of our increased trade. We have to recognize that this increased shipping comes with environmental risks. And if we don’t address these risks, a large oil spill could threaten communities, local economies, and cultures at any point along the Great Circle Route.

Oil spills happen – especially in bad storms. But they are preventable. Most oil spills occur due to human error. We can improve safety standards and regulations, creating redundant systems that can reduce the number of oil spills throughout the Pacific Rim.
We can do better here. I think the Shipping Safety Partnership is a great start. The Partnership is not an environmental coalition. It’s a coalition that brings native tribes, municipalities, labor groups, and conservation groups together to fight for a common goal: protecting our marine resources from oil spills. We’re working with the Partnership to expand it internationally – to bring in partners from Russia, Korea, Japan, and China – so that we can address shipping safety standards all across the North Pacific.
Our friend and colleague Pete Hendrickson is a crabber, fisherman, and longshoreman in Dutch Harbor, on Unalaska Island in the Aleutians. He lost out on crabbing last year due to the Selendang Ayu. Let’s work together to make sure we don’t see more such accidents – they are entirely preventable.
Cheers,

David Gordon

PS – On another “Pacific Rim connection,” check out this excellent editorial cartoon from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

PPS – You might also be interested in this excellent column by Joel Connelly in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which provides more information on the forum.http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/251994_joel14.html