Amputated conifer

​Given the choice between environmental protection and crime prevention, a Northgate man chose the latter last month, cutting limbs from nearly 50 trees at a city park. His apparent intent was to expose a hidden area reputedly used as a hangout by local lawbreakers. But while his neighbors are raucously debating whether the cutter is a vandal or a godsend, the Parks Department has determined the "heavy pruning" did an estimated $5,000 damage, killing off some trees, and this week reported the cutting to police.

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​Scientists and government officials initially believed that the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan last year sent millions of tons of trash on a collision course with Hawaii and the West Coast. But nine months later, the flotsam is still lost at sea somewhere and perhaps not nearly as enormous as originally thought.

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​Coal is anything but king in Bellingham, though it sure is the talk of the town these days. A new citizens group has sprung to life, a political action committee called No Coal!, which is bound and determined to ban coal trains from the largest city in Whatcom County.

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​Yesterday marked the 38th anniversary of the day that the dewy-eyed environmentalist, Richard M. Nixon, signed into law the Endangered Species Act. At the time, this was the crown jewel of the environmental movement, then in its infancy. Now, Washington congressman Doc Hastings seeks to gut the landmark bill and, as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, is promising hearings in 2012.

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​There was a time when Smith Cove was something more than a place on Elliott Bay to store rotting fish nets and watch cruise ships mooring at Terminal 91. In fact, a rather famous skirmish took place at the cove during the Maritime Strike of 1934, when 2,000 striking longshoremen went toe-to-toe for five days with tear gas-toting police and various strikebreakers. It was called "The Battle of Smith Cove."

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​The National Weather service has issued an air stagnation advisory for the greater Seattle area, meaning that "limited movement of the air mass over the advisory area will allow pollution to increase to dangerous levels." So yeah, try to avoid breathing when you step outside today.

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​In mid-October, Canadian officials announced the shocking new discovery of a deadly virus that had infected sockeye salmon in British Columbia and was a threat to salmon all over the Pacific Northwest. Turns out, however, that the discovery was neither shocking nor new.

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​This post was written by freelancer Joshua Frank. Last month I wrote about the alleged catastrophic mismanagement of the largest environmental cleanup in history at Hanford's former nuclear plant ("Hanford's Nuclear Option"). Now, one of the story's central figures, a whistleblower who says he was demoted for going public, has filed a lawsuit.

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​Editor's Note: This post was written by Joshua Frank, the author of our October 19 cover story.

What would a nuclear explosion at the Hanford site in Eastern Washington actually look like and whom would it impact? This seems to be an important concern brought to attention following my Seattle Weekly cover story that appeared on October 19 ("Hanford's Nuclear Option"). The answer to this question, however, may not be as straightforward as our readers, and the public, would like.

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​Earlier this week, we reported that CleanScapes--Seattle's brash, eco-minded upstart in the trash-hauling business--is merging with a San Francisco company so that it can expand into recycling and composting. Judging from the reaction we've gotten over the last few days, it looks like the battle over this region's trash is going to get heated.

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