SEATTLE – Conservation groups on Thursday challenged a new government policy that includes hatchery fish in counts used to determine the status of dwindling salmon and steelhead runs.
In a federal court lawsuit filed here, the plaintiffs also challenged the downlisting of upper Columbia River steelhead from endangered to threatened that has resulted from the policy.
“The purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to protect wildlife’s ability to sustain itself in the wild. And that means the focus is on wild steelhead in rivers, not steelhead that are produced in hatcheries,” said Patti Goldman of Earthjustice, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of six plaintiff groups against the National Marine Fisheries Service and its regional director, Bob Lohn.
Calls to the agency were not immediately returned.
Associated Press
The University of Washington plans to begin dismantling a nuclear reactor on campus that has sat idle for nearly 20 years.
The project, to begin Monday, will cost $4 million and require six months to remove all the dangerous materials, said Elizabeth Peterson, the UW project manager. Testing and final approval from federal regulators to demolish the building will take another six months, she said.
The reactor was built for training and educational purposes in 1959 and became operational two years later. It may be the only reactor to be contained in a glass building, Peterson said. The idea was to allow students to peek in and show them there was nothing to fear.
Associated Press
One week after he became ill, Edward Kopfman has become the ninth person to die in King County so far this year of flesh-eating bacteria, an invasive form of the streptococcus bacteria that devours tissue and emits toxins that can make a person gravely ill in a matter of days.
Kopfman, 47, of Kirkland died Sunday at Harborview Medical Center. His wife, Peggy, told KIRO 7 News that Kopfman first complained of flulike symptoms and pain under his left arm last week. By Sunday morning, he couldn’t breathe and was rushed to Kirkland’s Evergreen Hospital, then transferred to Harborview. He died that night.
Last year, eight King County residents died from necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating bacteria, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. The figure was much the same in 2004.
Dr. Timothy Dellit, director of infection control and antimicrobial management at Harborview, said necrotizing fasciitis is rare, with an estimated five cases per 100,000 people.
Local health workers said the disease isn’t communicable and King County residents shouldn’t worry about an outbreak.
King County Journal
A sewage spill – possibly as much as 150,000 gallons – rushed down a hillside on Wednesday, swamping parking lots and flowing into the Sammamish River.
The spill took place between 9:30 and 10 a.m. in an area of unincorporated King County between Kirkland and Redmond.
“I was sitting in my office at about 9:30 a.m. and I heard this rushing sound,” said Curt Bateman, director of operations for the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association.
He turned and saw wastewater flowing through the parking lot.
It flowed past the office complex before going over Willows Road, onto the valley floor and into the Sammamish River.
The cause of the spill wasn’t known, but a malfunctioning air release valve on the sewage main seems to be the culprit, said Doug Williams, a spokesman for King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks.
King County Journal
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