Environment, News

Tons of Japan’s Tsunami Debris Due on West Coast

The best analogy for the impacts of tsunami debris, explains Ebbesmeyer, is the 150-ton concrete-and-metal dock that washed up on the Oregon coast. More than 50 feet in length and about ten feet “tall,” less than a foot of it was visible in the water. Like the debris field, it was almost impossible to spot in open water, a hazard to marine navigation, and a Trojan horse of sorts: the dock was carrying more than 90 different, potentially invasive, species that were destroyed. Continue reading Tons of Japan’s Tsunami Debris Due on West Coast

Environment, News

Seattle’s Recycling Success Comes With Rising Waste-Collection Costs

The disheartening reward for this outstanding civic behavior is that public utility rates are expected to climb steadily in the future. (Reborn Publicola has details on electricity rates spiking an average of almost five percent each year for six years, for a total of 30 percent by 2018.) Drainage, sewer, and solid waste services would go up almost four percent each year for the next three years. Continue reading Seattle’s Recycling Success Comes With Rising Waste-Collection Costs

Environment, News, Politics

Tsunami Debris Field Floating to West Coast Landfall (Photo Gallery)

Something Sendai this way floats, and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) doesn’t want to wait until its projected 2014 arrival on West Coast shores to get ready for it. (Hawaii should see tsunami debris in 2013.)

After the 9.0 earthquake hit Japan on March 11 of this year, the ensuing tsunami swept more than 200,000 houses (not to mention boats and cars) out to sea, where oceanographers predict they will make a slow journey to the West Coast, stopping off first at the Hawaiian Islands. Continue reading Tsunami Debris Field Floating to West Coast Landfall (Photo Gallery)