News items for January 18, 2021

• 1. America celebrates MLK but erases his true legacy

  Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 91 this year, a year that has already seen efforts to undo the principles he espoused. In a year when insurrectionists want to reaffirm white supremacy, it’s important to see King’s legacy for what it truly was: complex. He called for nonviolence, but he also demanded unrest until there was no injustice anywhere.

  Vox Justice, Racial Equity

• 2. Success for Cascadia’s climate activists

  During a decade when the region’s governments flouted their carbon emissions goals, activists who came together to stop exports surpassed their wildest expectations.

  Crosscut Carbon emissions

• 3. Clean water brings hope of renewal to Semiahmoo reserve

  The Semiahmoo reserve nestled between White Rock and the Peace Arch border crossing is about to get clean, fresh water after living with a boil water advisory since 2005. And with it comes new hope for the growth of the community and its economy.

  The Vancouver Sun Clean Water, First Nations

• 4. New report shows WA’s salmon remain at risk

  A new report from the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office is detailing the precarious state of salmon in Washington waters, with many species on the brink of extinction.

  Seattle Post-Intelligencer Salmon

• 5. Female resident orcas especially disturbed by vessels

  Female orcas are most thrown off from foraging when boats and vessels intrude closer than 400 yards, according to new research, troubling findings for the endangered population of southern resident orcas that desperately needs every mother and calf to survive.

  The Seattle Times Orcas

• 6. French oil giant Total bids adieu to major US oil lobby

  On Friday, Total showed the world it wasn’t kidding around by announcing that it’s quitting the most powerful US oil and gas lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute, or API.

  Grist Big Oil, Oil

• 7. Biden to kill Keystone XL pipeline

  President-elect Joe Biden is expected to soon reverse the efforts of the Trump administration and end a project proposed more than a decade ago.

  Washington Post Keystone XL

• 8. Make America California again? That’s Biden’s plan

  California is emerging as the de facto policy think tank of the Biden-Harris administration and of a Congress soon to be under Democratic control.

  Los Angeles Times Policy

• 9. BC film industry offered zero-emission generators

  As Hollywood North strives to become carbon neutral, a Metro Vancouver company is leading the charge to provide zero-emission generators for the film industry.

  The Vancouver Sun Clean Energy

• 10. Video: My father, Martin Luther King Jr., had another dream

  If he saw the issues of poverty and income inequality that exist today he would be greatly disappointed.

  The New York Times Racial Equity, racial justice

More News from January 18, 2021

• Democrats renew push to restore Roadless Rule in Tongass National Forest

  Democratic lawmakers in Congress have begun trying to reinstate the Roadless Rule for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

  Alaska Public Media Forests

• Exiting administration wields its axe at the environment

  When do federal officials seek to implement politically unpopular regulatory changes? Typically, when public attention is focused elsewhere.

  Nonprofit Quarterly Environmental policy

• West Wing will be center of gravity on climate push

  Days before he is set to take office, Joe Biden is setting up a bigger White House climate team than any president before him.

  Washington Post Climate Policy

• Surprise attack on the spotted owl

  This past week, as people and politicians alike were consumed with the fallout of the Capitol riot, the Trump administration put out a “midnight regulation,” a sweeping rule change on your way out the door, that slams the Northwest’s signature, struggling northern spotted owl.

  The Seattle Times Spotted Owls

• Seattle-based business collecting hard-to-recycle items in Portland

  The Seattle-based recycling company Ridwell has expanded its home-pickup service to Portland, collecting things like plastic bags, bubble wrap, batteries, light bulbs and clothing that aren’t allowed in curbside recycling bins.

  OPB Recycling

• The loneliness of being mixed race in America

  Last year, Vox asked people of mixed descent to tell us how they felt about race and if the language about their identities had shifted over time.

  Vox Race

• More than 400,000 US clean energy jobs lost during pandemic

  The clean energy sector in the United States lost 429,000 jobs last year due to the economic impacts of Covid-19, with the industry hitting its lowest number of workers since 2015, according to a new analysis of federal unemployment filings.

  Yale Environment 360 Clean Energy

• Inslee announces comprehensive climate policy for WA’s 2021-2023 budget

  On December 15, Governor Jay Inslee released a package of new climate change policies that will continue to push for cleaner fuel standards and limit greenhouse-gas emissions.

  South Seattle Emerald Climate Policy

• Biden expected to cancel Keystone XL pipeline permit

  President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit on his first day in office, quickly reversing his predecessor’s approval of a project to move oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, according to a person familiar with Mr. Biden’s plans for his first days in office.

  The New York Times Keystone XL

• Businesses aim to pull greenhouse gases from the air. It’s a gamble.

  A surge of corporate money could soon transform carbon removal from science fiction to reality. But there are risks: The very idea could offer industry an excuse to maintain dangerous habits.

  The New York Times Carbon capture, Greenhouse Gases

• Embedding equity considerations into carbon removal projects

  With carbon emissions expected to rebound this year, 2021 presents another opportunity for companies to invest in climate-saving initiatives that move the corporate world closer to a net-zero future, especially carbon removal projects.

  GreenBiz Carbon capture, Green Business