Orca whales are familiar residents of West Coast waters. The black and white marine mammals are often seen swimming in groups, diving and slapping their tails against the water’s surface. Researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) believe that a group of 49 killer whales seen hunting sperm whales and other marine animals in […]
In 2016, the Portland, Oregon, city council unanimously approved a ban on either building new fossil fuel terminals within the city or expanding existing ones. At the time, Inside Climate News reported it was likely the first time a city had used zoning laws to restrict the use of fossil fuels, and climate activists hailed […]
A first-of-its-kind project, the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in Morrow County, Oregon is the first utility-scale power plant in North America that combines wind and solar energy and battery storage in one location. The project is a major milestone for utility company Portland General Electric, which must reduce emissions of energy supplied to consumers by […]
In June of 2021, a record-breaking heat wave scorched western North America, killing more than 500 people in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Canada. Now, Oregon lawmakers are taking steps to lower the death toll next time around. The state Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would help provide air conditioners on an emergency basis for […]
A recent report contends that reintroducing sea otters to the Oregon coast is feasible and beneficial to the state’s marine ecosystem if certain best reintroduction policies are followed. However, sea otter’s voracious appetites for certain invertebrates may have “consequential” impacts on area fisheries. Sea otters have an outsized impact on the ecosystems they inhabit, making […]
The Bootleg Fire has now burned more than 300,000 acres in southern Oregon and continues to grow as more than 80 large wildfires in the West forced evacuations across the region. The Bootleg Fire, currently the nation’s largest fire, is fueled by extremely dry vegetation and low humidity and grew at an average rate of […]
At the opening of the 2020 wildfire season, 3% of California was in extreme or exceptional drought and more than 4% burned. This year, more than 73% of the state faces similar drought conditions. In other parts of the Southwest, juniper trees are dying off at increased rates because of the intensification of a climate […]
By Stuart Braun “These are not just wildfires, they are climate fires,” Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington State, said as he stood amid the charred remains of the town of Malden west of Seattle earlier this month. “This is not an act of God,” he added. “This has happened because we have changed the climate […]
By Timothy Rooks The many wildfires roaring through America’s West Coast don’t just look scary, they are bad for people’s health, bad for public and private lands, and bad for the economy. The plumes of smoke have pushed air quality to hazardous levels forcing residents to stay indoors. Now some of the dirtiest air on […]