shipping

Big ships transiting Puget Sound asked to slow down for orcas

Tom Banse

Big ships entering and leaving Puget Sound will be asked to temporarily slow down to reduce underwater noise as part of a two month Quiet Sound trial. Washington state hope the speed reduction helps the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered southern resident orcas.

In this photo taken in February 2015 by NOAA Fisheries, newborn orca calf L-121 swims with its mother, L-94, off Westport, with the NOAA research ship Bell M. Shimada in the background. Young orcas often do not survive past their first year of life.

Environment

Quiet Sound underwater noise reduction program could soon slow ships, protect orcas

Bellamy Pailthorp

Underwater noise from ship traffic is one of the major threats to Puget Sound’s endangered Southern Resident orcas. It can interfere with the whales’…

Environment

Promise of the Arctic conference points to opportunities and risks

Bellamy Pailthorp

The Arctic is getting hotter faster than any part of the globe. Experts predict the region will be free of sea ice during the summer within about 20…

Fuad Eltayeb (l) and Yemane Berhane have stopped driving their short-haul trucks to terminals at the Port of Seattle. They say hundreds of cargo drivers like them face unsafe conditions. Often, the trailer loads they pick up are too heavy or insecure.

Other News

Faith and community groups rallying for short haul truckers

Bellamy Pailthorp

As many as 30 or 40 percent of the short-haul truckers who normally move containers from docks to railcar terminals at the Port of Seattle have stopped…