Latest news with #salmonhabitat
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Crews work to contain petroleum spill in Washington after tanker truck accident
Cleanup crews were trying on Saturday to contain petroleum that leaked from a tanker truck that crashed and flipped upside down on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, spilling fuel into a tributary of a river that had recently been restored for salmon runs. Preliminary estimates say about 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) of mostly gasoline and some diesel spilled into Indian Creek, a fragile salmon habitat, after the truck crashed on Friday, according to a release from the state Department of Ecology. U.S. 101, west of Port Angeles, was closed overnight but reopened Saturday morning, and the truck was pulled from the creek, the Department of Transportation said on its Facebook page. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. 'The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will conduct shoreline assessments today to monitor for environmental impacts,' ecology officials said. 'The Department of Health is also collecting water samples for further analysis.' A message sent to the tribe seeking comment was not immediately returned. Officials monitoring air quality levels in the area said they were not at unsafe levels on Saturday, but encouraged people in the area to watch for symptoms like headaches or dizziness and seek medical attention if needed. Gov. Bob Ferguson called the accident 'devastating' in a statement released Friday. 'This spill is nothing short of heartbreaking for local tribes and other Washingtonians who rely on clean, healthy rivers and streams for their food and livelihoods,' Ferguson said, adding that he planned to monitor the situation and would visit the site in the next few days. Transportation officials posted a photo on Facebook that showed the tanker truck upside down in the creek, while emergency vehicles surrounded the scene. Two dams on the Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, were removed more than a decade ago after a long-fought battle by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Removing the dams, which were constructed in the early 1900s, opened about 70 miles (113 kilometers) of habitat for salmon and steelhead. Biologists have said it will take at least a generation for the river to recover, but within months of the dams' removal, salmon already started recolonizing sections of the waterway long closed off to them. The Elwha River is also the main potable water source for Port Angeles. The city announced Friday afternoon that it was temporarily shutting down its water treatment processing operations and asked residents and businesses to limit their use of water. 'The City's reservoirs currently have sufficient water supply for the next 18 to 24 hours without interruption to normal service,' the city's statement said. Solve the daily Crossword


The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Crews work to contain petroleum spill in Washington after tanker truck accident
Cleanup crews were trying on Saturday to contain petroleum that leaked from a tanker truck that crashed and flipped upside down on Washington 's Olympic Peninsula, spilling fuel into a tributary of a river that had recently been restored for salmon runs. Preliminary estimates say about 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) of mostly gasoline and some diesel spilled into Indian Creek, a fragile salmon habitat, after the truck crashed on Friday, according to a release from the state Department of Ecology. U.S. 101, west of Port Angeles, was closed overnight but reopened Saturday morning, and the truck was pulled from the creek, the Department of Transportation said on its Facebook page. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. 'The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will conduct shoreline assessments today to monitor for environmental impacts,' ecology officials said. 'The Department of Health is also collecting water samples for further analysis.' A message sent to the tribe seeking comment was not immediately returned. Officials monitoring air quality levels in the area said they were not at unsafe levels on Saturday, but encouraged people in the area to watch for symptoms like headaches or dizziness and seek medical attention if needed. Gov. Bob Ferguson called the accident 'devastating' in a statement released Friday. 'This spill is nothing short of heartbreaking for local tribes and other Washingtonians who rely on clean, healthy rivers and streams for their food and livelihoods,' Ferguson said, adding that he planned to monitor the situation and would visit the site in the next few days. Transportation officials posted a photo on Facebook that showed the tanker truck upside down in the creek, while emergency vehicles surrounded the scene. Two dams on the Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, were removed more than a decade ago after a long-fought battle by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Removing the dams, which were constructed in the early 1900s, opened about 70 miles (113 kilometers) of habitat for salmon and steelhead. Biologists have said it will take at least a generation for the river to recover, but within months of the dams' removal, salmon already started recolonizing sections of the waterway long closed off to them. The Elwha River is also the main potable water source for Port Angeles. The city announced Friday afternoon that it was temporarily shutting down its water treatment processing operations and asked residents and businesses to limit their use of water. 'The City's reservoirs currently have sufficient water supply for the next 18 to 24 hours without interruption to normal service,' the city's statement said.

Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Crews work to contain petroleum spill in Washington after tanker truck accident
Cleanup crews were trying on Saturday to contain petroleum that leaked from a tanker truck that crashed and flipped upside down on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, spilling fuel into a tributary of a river that had recently been restored for salmon runs. Preliminary estimates say about 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) of mostly gasoline and some diesel spilled into Indian Creek, a fragile salmon habitat, after the truck crashed on Friday, according to a release from the state Department of Ecology. U.S. 101, west of Port Angeles, was closed overnight but reopened Saturday morning, and the truck was pulled from the creek, the Department of Transportation said on its Facebook page. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. 'The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will conduct shoreline assessments today to monitor for environmental impacts,' ecology officials said. 'The Department of Health is also collecting water samples for further analysis.' A message sent to the tribe seeking comment was not immediately returned. Officials monitoring air quality levels in the area said they were not at unsafe levels on Saturday, but encouraged people in the area to watch for symptoms like headaches or dizziness and seek medical attention if needed. Gov. Bob Ferguson called the accident 'devastating' in a statement released Friday. 'This spill is nothing short of heartbreaking for local tribes and other Washingtonians who rely on clean, healthy rivers and streams for their food and livelihoods,' Ferguson said, adding that he planned to monitor the situation and would visit the site in the next few days. Transportation officials posted a photo on Facebook that showed the tanker truck upside down in the creek, while emergency vehicles surrounded the scene. Two dams on the Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, were removed more than a decade ago after a long-fought battle by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Removing the dams, which were constructed in the early 1900s, opened about 70 miles (113 kilometers) of habitat for salmon and steelhead. Biologists have said it will take at least a generation for the river to recover, but within months of the dams' removal, salmon already started recolonizing sections of the waterway long closed off to them. The Elwha River is also the main potable water source for Port Angeles. The city announced Friday afternoon that it was temporarily shutting down its water treatment processing operations and asked residents and businesses to limit their use of water. 'The City's reservoirs currently have sufficient water supply for the next 18 to 24 hours without interruption to normal service,' the city's statement said.


Washington Post
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Washington Post
Crews work to contain petroleum spill in Washington after tanker truck accident
Cleanup crews were trying on Saturday to contain petroleum that leaked from a tanker truck that crashed and flipped upside down on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, spilling fuel into a tributary of a river that had recently been restored for salmon runs. Preliminary estimates say about 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) of mostly gasoline and some diesel spilled into Indian Creek, a fragile salmon habitat , after the truck crashed on Friday, according to a release from the state Department of Ecology.


New York Times
30-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Does a River Have Legal Rights?
In early May, an orange floral fire burned across Northern California river banks in celebration: an explosion of poppies, goldenrod and other native plants, marking the first spring after the biggest de-damming project in U.S. history liberated the Klamath River from its confinements. The recovery of the wider Klamath watershed began last year with the demolition of four dams, and the free-flowing river now provides roughly 400 miles of restored habitat for salmon and steelhead trout. It's also creating wetlands, helping the regrowth of forests and brush and leading to major improvements in water quality. The Klamath's revival is a beacon of hope at a time of deep ecological gloom for the United States. President Trump and his administration have made clear their intention to drastically de-prioritize the natural world in favor of economic interests. Rivers and other freshwater bodies are among the ecosystems most vulnerable to this rapid reorientation. In declaring a national energy emergency, a Trump executive order effectively waived large portions of the Clean Water Act to fast-track energy projects, weakening protections for free-flowing rivers and increasing the risk of watershed pollution from mining and drilling. River health is also now threatened by the administration's drive to expand American timber production; logging degrades water quality by increasing soil erosion and sediment runoff. By narrowing the definition of 'the waters of the United States,' the Environmental Protection Agency has made it easier for pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides and mining waste to enter bodies of water. The doctrine of human supremacy, which waxes strong in the current administration, portrays life as a hierarchy with humans at the top, rather than a web within which humans are entangled. Consider that a scant 0.0002 percent of Earth's total water flows in rivers at any given time, yet rivers have been vital, fragile accomplices to human flourishing for thousands of years. To view rivers only as sources and drains is to reduce them to base functions rather than to see them as the life-giving, world-shaping forces they are. Over the past 20 years, a powerful movement has emerged that contests human exploitation of the natural world. It is usually known as the rights of nature movement, and it calls for recognizing the inherent, inalienable rights of ecosystems and natural communities to exist and flourish. At its best, the rights of nature movement challenges anthropocentric presumptions, which are embedded in our laws and imaginations. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.