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Following up on last month’s post on declining traffic volumes in Northwest cities, there’s this new news on the Golden Ears Bridge outside Vancouver, BC: [O]fficials are trying to lure drivers to the Golden Ears Bridge between Maple Ridge and Langley with reduced tolls on off-peak hours. Tolls will be slashed by 30 per cent at night and on weekends and holidays during a six week trial run beginning April...

What’s in a name? A lot, I think. So, with this post, I’m officially launching my solo campaign to change the name of the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s ill-named if you think about it. After all, their raison d’etre is keeping Americans’ air and water clean enough to breathe and drink, clean enough that our babies aren’t born with brain damage, kids aren’t drinking water with lead in it from...

Almost in time to mark the awful anniversary of Tesoro’s deadly refinery explosion at Anacortes last year, we have preliminary findings into the cause—and federal investigators are blaming the company: Tesoro Corp. (TSO) didn’t adequately maintain equipment at its Anacortes, Washington, refinery prior to an explosion that killed seven workers last April, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said.  Tesoro still won’t accept blame for the incident, and the company says they look...

Editor’s note: This blog is also available as a printer friendly pdf, and a similar version was published this week in Trim Tab, the publication of the Cascadia Green Building Council.  A woman drowns when the basement of her Seattle home suddenly fills with a torrent of filthy water. An overflow of 15 million gallons of sewage and stormwater fouls the shoreline of picturesque Port Angeles, putting the waterfront off limits...

Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Kamala Rao, MCIP, Transportation Planner in Vancouver, BC, and a Sightline board member. As a sustainability-loving transportation planner, I was thrilled to learn that Dr. Kee Yeon Hwang would be visiting Vancouver and talking about the project that has made Seoul, Korea a legend in urban planning circles: the Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project. What he and his colleagues accomplished—tearing down a busy, elevated...

Business interests, greens, government reps, and Washington residents didn’t exactly all sing Kumbaya together at this week’s stormwater forum in Olympia, but the diverse crowd did find some common ground. As John Dodge of the Olympian described it in a great article Thursday, “…everyone attending the forum—including environmentalists and those with business ties—agreed that stormwater runoff is the biggest threat to Puget Sound’s health and will require a lot more money...

As I’ve been researching coal exports, I’ve stumbled upon the subculture of “railfans“—people who obsessively watch, and film, trains. (If that sounds silly, I defy you to spend a couple minutes listening to this one. It’s hypnotic, right?) There’s something mesmerizing about these things, particularly the “unit trains” that carry only a single commodity, such as coal, usually in identical railcars. Here’s a good one taken in Seattle:   Okay, now...

One of the great things about working in Sightline’s office is our rotating art gallery. Curator Becky Brooks has found some really cool exhibits to bring into the office and liven up the place. Here are a few shots of our latest show, “Symbiotic Relationships” by Cynthia Gerdes: The encaustic paintings will be up through April, and if you find yourself in the Vance Building, stop by and have a...

One of the primary objections to coal export terminals, at least among people who live near them, is the spread of coal dust. Coal is typically stored in large piles at export terminals, and these piles often generate significant quantities of coal dust when it’s windy or when the coal is disturbed or moved during the loading and unloading process. As one study put it, “coal terminals by their nature are active sources...

From Alan: Feebates in France have performed exceptionally well, according to Market Watch. It’s more than a decade since any Cascadian jurisdication (British Columbia) considered a similar proposal. Is it time? The blog Plurale Tantum unveiled a fascinating examination of why people of color and bicycle advocacy don’t seem to go together. Lots to think about—and do—to build a sustainability movement that matches Cascadia’s shifting demographic profile. WaPo’s Ezra Klein...