Daily Archives: August 18, 2019

Erie man last commercial fisherman in Monroe County

It hasn’t been an easy summer for Dave Blair. The Erie native — who has long been the only continuously active commercial fisherman in Monroe County — says he was way off of his typical catch rates this year due to the higher-than-normal water levels of Lake Erie. Blair also blamed the runoff from area farms, which he says contributed to a bad spawn. “We did alright with certain species, but our main species of carp and buffalo we didn’t do nothing on them,” Blair said. This is just the latest hurdle Blair has had to overcome. >click to read< 15:07

Husky to resume full production at White Rose after November 2018 oil spill

Husky Energy announced Friday it will restart production at its White Rose field from its two drill centres that were still shut after an oil spill in November 2018. Three other White Rose drill centres resumed production earlier this year. Husky will undertake “an orderly restart” of the North Amethyst and South White Rose Extension drill centres, and “expects to reach full rates by early next week,”,,, >click to read< 12:06

Opinion: Why Bonneville can’t save salmon

The Northwest is not winning the battle to save wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River. Although most of the 12 listed salmonid stocks in the basin demonstrated a weak upward trend for a couple decades, that progress has stalled. Total returns of salmon and steelhead passing Bonneville Dam last year slipped to the second-lowest level in the past 18 years, and spring Chinook returns were 60 percent of the 10-year average. by Tom Karier >click to read<10:34

Oil in the Water: Hibernia power outage results in oil spill, response equipment deployed

The Hibernia Management and Development Company (HMDC) confirmed the platform lost power, causing water sprinkler systems to activate. The sprinklers caused the waste containment drain system, which contained water and some oil, to overflow onto the platform and into the ocean, the company said in a statement. HMDC estimated about 150 litres of oil spilled, based on the sheen observed. >click to read< 09:44

Marine Mammal Protection Act: Incidental Harassment Authorization Regulatory “Takes” – Take a Close Look

An IHA is a legal and enforceable document presenting the terms and conditions with which a company must adhere in order to protect wildlife. In this case, the draft IHA was for Vineyard Wind, the wind energy company ready to start construction on an 800 MW offshore wind farm in the Atlantic, covering about 675 square kilometers, starting 14 miles from the coastline of Martha’s Vineyard.,,, An IHA is required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) because, obviously, a huge project like this has impacts and it’s likely that “take” of marine mammals will occur during construction. >click to read< 08:26