Boy, we make it hard on the fish!  Researchers from NOAA and WSU conducted a study that was published Monday in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives.  The authors concluded that some pesticides work together in a deadly synergy, becoming more harmful than the sum of the parts would indicate.  The finding is very important since currently, the EPA tests pesticides one at a time to see how much is needed to kill fish.  

A Snohomish County biogas plant converts cow manure from surrounding dairies into methane gas, which can then be burned to create electricity.  The plant was built by a nonprofit group, Qualco Energy, on land owned by the Tulalip Tribe.  It is now selling power to Puget Sound Energy to be used by hundreds of local homes.   

This is one of the win-win-win, innovative solutions that may, along with hundreds of others, get us out of the collective energy pickle we have gotten ourselves into. 

The state Department of Ecology released the first part of a water quality study on the impact and sources of low dissolved oxygen levels in South Puget Sound.  They summarize the need for the study.  "Marine animals need oxygen to live . . . In areas with low levels of dissolved oxygen, fish and other marine life become stressed and die or are forced to flee their habitat. There are many areas in Puget Sound with very low levels of dissolved oxygen . . . In Hood Canal, low levels of dissolved oxygen have caused major fish kills. The rest of Puget Sound (especially areas in South Puget Sound) faces the same fate unless we work to solve the problem."

Landmark regulations on curbing polluted stormwater runoff has been extended to smaller cities and counties.  Last fall the Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board ruled that Seattle and other large governmental juridictions had to take steps to minimize polluted runoff into our waterways.  The larger governments are not required to enforce low-impact building methods "where feasible".  Robert McClure writes about the ruling in an article in the PI.

The public is invited to attend the closing session of a conference on the Future of the Salish Sea, a traditional name for the large body of water between Canada and the US that includes Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The conference itself is co-hosted by the Puget Sound Partnership and Environmental Canada, and is being held this week at the Convention Center.  The conference serves as "a forum for sharing science and policy information concerning the condition and management of the shared Salish Sea ecosystem", according to an invitation put out by David Dicks, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership. 

Food Democracy Now, the folks who brought us the unsuccessful petition for a more sustainable Secretary of Agriculture, have developed a list of 10 suggested policies that they hope the Obama Administration enacts in the first 100 days.  They have developed a set of steps that can be taken immediately to build "a 21st century food and agriculture system guided by sustainable farm and food principles".  The list was compiled with the input of leading advocates for sustainable agricultural values, all of which are consistent with the Rural Agenda laid out by presidential candidate Barack Obama.  They are: