Northwest (OR WA)

"A highly flammable byproduct flowed from oil tankers into an area stormwater system for at least a year before state regulators inspected the problem."

"PORTLAND — New threats and a legal settlement prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal today to list West Coast populations of fisher as threatened under the Endangered Species Act."

"Northwest tribes urge US and Canada to revise Columbia River Treaty to allow safe passage for salmon crossing dams."

"Coal has been transported around the country by rail for decades. But very little research has been done on what coal does to the environment when it escapes from trains.With two large coal export terminals proposed for Washington state, one federal agency is hoping to add good science to the debate over coal in the Northwest."

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has brought its review of a proposed coal export terminal to an immediate halt, a blow to the Australian company that's trying to get coal from the Northern Rockies to a hungry Asian market."

Removal of two dams on the Elwha River on Washington's Olympic Peninsula is allowing years of sediment and debris to make its way downstream and salmon to make their way upstream. Here's a stunning firsthand look at the river then and now.

"Nearly four decades after grizzly bears were declared threatened in the Lower 48 states, long-stalled efforts to bring the species back to Washington's North Cascades are rolling again."

"Oregon's Department of State Lands on Monday dealt a serious blow to Ambre Energy's proposed coal export project, denying a key permit needed for construction in the Columbia River."

"ASTORIA, Ore. — The salmon here in the Columbia River, nearly driven to extinction by hydroelectric dams a quarter century ago, have been increasing in number — a fact not lost on the birds that like to eat them. These now flock by the thousands each spring to the river’s mouth, where the salmon have their young, and gorge at leisure."

"The ancestral connections of tribal coastal communities to the ocean’s natural resources stretch back thousands of years. But growing acidification is changing oceanic conditions, putting the cultural and economic reliance of coastal tribes—a critical definition of who they are—at risk."