News items for March 15, 2023

Global Warming by Klemas used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

• 1. Ranked choice voting would help Oregonians vote for their true favorite

  HB 2004 in Oregon’s House of Representatives could bring voters more voice and more choice.

  Sightline Institute Ranked Choice Voting

• 2. Limiting PFAS could be expensive for WA water plants

  The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal Tuesday to regulate “forever chemicals” in drinking water could pose steep cleanup costs for public water systems across Washington.

  The Seattle Times PFAS, Water

• 3. Climate change, housing crisis burdens emergency shelters

  During the many extreme weather events the Portland area has faced over the last several years, from heat domes to snowstorms, Multnomah County’s emergency weather shelters have been a lifeline for the area’s housing insecure population.

  Portland Mercury Climate Change, housing crisis

• 4. White, male OR state workers out-earn workers of color, women

  Across Oregon, white and male state employees out-earn workers of color and women, and raises given in 2019 and 2022 under a new “pay equity” law widened rather than narrowed the racial pay gap, a new report by the Secretary of State’s Office found.

  The Oregonian Equity, Pay equity

• 5. CA salmon season canceled after drought impact on fish

  Federal regulators overseeing West Coast fisheries have effectively called off California’s entire 2023 ocean salmon fishing season, in an effort to protect fish populations that have dwindled during the ongoing drought.

  The Sacramento Bee Drought, Salmon

• 6. Bellingham to buy land to protect drinking water

  Bellingham is planning to buy more than 13 acres on three parcels of undeveloped land in the Lake Whatcom watershed, part of a program to protect the drinking water source for nearly half of Whatcom County.

  The Bellingham Herald drinking water, Water

• 7. Seattle seeks board members for social housing authority

  The search has begun for candidates to be part of the first board to lead Seattle’s new Seattle Social Housing Public Development Authority.

  Capitol Hill Seattle Blog Social Housing

• 8. Sunflower sea star captive breeding lab works on solutions

  The nation’s first sunflower sea star captive breeding program is gearing up to release sea stars in the Salish Sea, with hopes of eventually releasing them into the wild to rebuild the population that has been affected by sea star wasting syndrome.

  The Seattle Times Oceans, Wildlife

• 9. Many ‘what’s next’ questions remain for Willow project

  The next questions for the Willow oil field, the largest new project in two decades, are how quickly already-promised lawsuits to stop the project are filed, how long resolving them takes and if ConocoPhillips as the developer prevails when the first oil from the planned 30-year project is extracted.

  Juneau Empire Big Oil, drilling

• 10. EPA tells dozens of states to clean up their smokestacks

  The Biden administration is strengthening the ‘Good Neighbor’ rule, to cut pollution from power plants and factories in the West and Midwest that wafts east.

  The New York Times Air pollution, EPA

More News from March 15, 2023

• US proposes first-ever federal regulations on ‘forever chemicals’

  The US government on Tuesday proposed rules that would for the first time regulate the presence of “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

  GeekWire PFAS, Toxics

• New EPA regulations target PFAs in drinking water

  For the first time in more than a decade, the Environmental Protection Agency is looking to create a new regulation for toxins in drinking water.

  NPR drinking water, PFAS