Environment
Environment
![Tailpipe exhaust is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Washington state and nationwide. CREDIT: RICK BOWMER/AP](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Tailpipe-exhaust-Rick-Bowmer-AP-500x500.jpg)
Washington Lawmakers Move Closer To Passing Clean Fuels Bill; Opponents Say It’s Too Costly
Lowering the amount of carbon that comes out of your tailpipe has become a quest for some Washington lawmakers. Now, new standards that would promote biofuels over gasoline are closer to becoming law than ever before.
![Cans of paint are sorted before they are mixed together. Washington’s paint stewardship law will make it easier for people to recycle leftover paint. Courtesy of PaintCare](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PaintCare-cans-500x500.jpeg)
Paint A ‘Happy Little Tree’ Or Your Backyard Fence With Washington’s New Recycling Program
If you have half-used paint cans piling up in your garage and just don’t know how to get rid of them, you’re in luck. Washington has started a new paint recycling program. It follows a similar, decade-old program in Oregon.
![Rattlesnake Mountain on the Hanford Reach National Monument has restricted and protected access. It's considered a sacred site by Northwest tribes, including the Yakama Nation and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla. CREDIT ANNA KING/NW NEWS NETWORK](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Rattlesnake-Sunrise-August-1-2019-CREDIT-Anna-King-N3-500x500.jpg)
‘It’s Irreversible’: Goldendale Green Energy Project Highlights A History Of Native Dispossession
The Goldendale Energy Storage Project would be a solution to generate energy when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. But, to the Yakama Nation, the destruction of those sites would add another heartbreak to an ever-expanding list. Countless important cultural areas have faced destruction across the Northwest, largely because they’re not understood by non-tribal members.
![Mount St. Helens left an indellible mark on the Northwest landscape -- not just in the ecology and geology, but in how government officials respond and think about disaster preparedness.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nwnn-helens-1-500x480.jpg)
A Road Across Mount St. Helens Blast Zone Threatens One-Of-A-Kind Research, Lawsuit Says
Conservation groups and scientists are challenging a federal decision to build a road through the Mount St. Helens blast zone, saying it would damage more than two dozen decades worth of irreplaceable research plots.
![A hydrogen fuel cell electric bus on loan from SunLine Transit in Palm Springs was displayed at the Intercity Transit bus barn in Olympia on March 25, 2021. CREDIT: Tom Banse/N3](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Hydrogen-fuel-cell-electric-bus-SunLine-Transit-Olympia-032521-CREDIT-Tom-Banse-N3-500x500.jpeg)
Interest In Hydrogen Fuel Grows Across The Northwest – And Tax Dollars Follow
More folks from Northwest government and industry are jumping on the hydrogen bandwagon to test if the alternative fuel could be a viable and green replacement for diesel and gasoline in some situations. The potential converts include more than half a dozen transit agencies from Everett to Eugene, state legislators and Boeing’s drone subsidiary in the Columbia River Gorge.
![An undated file photo shows leachate evaporation ponds at the CWM hazardous waste landfill in Arlington, Ore.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/CWM-hazardous-waste-landfill-Arlington-Oregon-CREDIT-CWM-500x500.jpg)
Hazardous Waste Landfill Near Columbia River Seeks To Expand
Military cleanups, federal Superfund sites, firefighter training facilities — all are among reasons cited by Chemical Waste Management, or CWM, to expand its hazardous waste operation outside the Columbia River town of Arlington.
![U.S. bald eagle populations have more than quadrupled in the lower 48 states since 2009, according to a new survey from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. CREDIT: Prisma Bildagentur/Universal Images Group via Getty Images](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/gettyimages-625197056-78fdc6f5f544cd49b7c7960e00b8a102d0843d58-500x500.jpg)
Once Imperiled, America’s Bald Eagle Populations Are Soaring
A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found there are more than 70,000 breeding pairs of the iconic raptor in the contiguous U.S. In the late 1960s, there were fewer than 500.
![A mass stranding of Velella velella at Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon, in 2015.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/velella-vella-blue-tide-ocean-jellies-2015-CREDIT-Tiffany-Boothe-Seaside-Aquarium-500x500.jpg)
‘Blue Tides’ Of Sailor Jellies On Northwest Coast Correlate With Warmer Seas In Winter
New research out of the University of Washington finds a correlation between warmer ocean waters and mass strandings of By-the-wind sailor jellyfish over the past two decades. The brief, widespread beachings of “gazillions” of purplish-blue jellies along the Pacific Northwest coast create a memorable sight for those who chance to be in the right place at the right time.
![In this May 8, 2003, a northern spotted owl sits on a tree branch in the Deschutes National Forest near Camp Sherman, Ore. CREDIT: Don Ryan/AP](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Camp-Sherman-spotted-owl-logging-2003-CREDIT-Don-Ryan-AP-500x500.jpeg)
Timber Wars Continued: Conservationists Sue To Save Spotted Owl Logging Protections
Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to preserve protections for 3.4 million acres of northern spotted owl habitat from the US-Canada border to northern California, the latest salvo in a legal battle over logging in federal old-growth forests that are key nesting grounds for the imperiled species.
![A snow-machine rider takes a snowpack reading as part of Community Snow Observations, a NASA-sponsored citizen science project. CREDIT: OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/24860850428_b3d924a3d3_o_zlc1n2-500x500.png)
Cascade Snowpack More Vulnerable To Climate Change Than Inland Neighbors, Study Suggests
Smaller, faster-melting snowpack could deplete water supplies, increase wildfire risk and invite invasive species. The Cascades might reach that point earlier.
![Adult fall Chinook salmon in the Priest Rapids Hatchery. CREDIT: PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/080314salmon_qslzfg-500x500.jpg)
A Mixed Bag: Northwest’s Iconic Salmon Face Tough Conditions During Ocean Journey
Salmon survive best when the water is cooler along the coast and warmer farther out. Colder La Niña conditions have also led to higher salmon counts. Right now, that’s exactly what’s happening. But things will likely change over the summer.
![Thousands of snow geese take flight near Conway, Wash. in 2019. The Biden administration is reversing a policy under President Trump that drastically weakened protections for most U.S. bird species. CREDIT: Elaine Thompson/AP](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ap21067639866211-caf462920faf330fa50ca074151fbb902e9cd82b-500x500.jpg)
Interior Department Moves To Make It Illegal (Again) To Accidentally Kill Migratory Birds
The Interior Department rescinded a controversial Trump-era legal opinion Monday that limited the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It also said it will soon propose a rule to replace one enacted at the end of the Trump administration that did the same.