About David Camp

David Camp is a cpa (Canada'86, USA'96) and MBA (Schulich'88) who toiled thirty years in the corporate salt mines, counting beans and telling stories to the auditors and whatnot. Now he spends his time growing trees; thinking curmudgeonly thoughts and occasionally shouting them into the intertubes; and maintaining body and soul through work and movement. A believer in discussion as key to civil life, he invites comment and argument.

By: David Camp (41)

Why Does Gov. Inslee permit spraying of carcinogenic pesticides on Salish Sea eelgrass beds?

Commercial Shellfish farmers in Willapa Bay and elsewhere in the Salish Sea permitted by our “green” Governor to spray herbicides and turn healthy eelgrass beds into deserts.

Commercial Shellfish farmers in Willapa Bay and elsewhere in the Salish Sea permitted by our “green” Governor to spray herbicides and turn healthy eelgrass beds into deserts.

By
• Topics: Bellingham,

Previously Published at Salish Sea Gazette

No doubt many, if not most, people who read this know Cliff Mass - meteorologist and weatherman on Seattle NPR. He is also keeping a close eye on Salish Sea environmental issues - and recently wrote an informative article on his blog titled “With Declining Orcas and Salmon, Why Do We Allow the Shellfish Industry to Poison Our Coastal Waters With Herbicides and Pesticides?” This is a very good question - and posed with authority and eloquence by Mr. Mass. For the eelgrass beds are a nursery for young salmon and herring fry, which are prime food for the resident Salish Sea Orca clan. Permitting the shellfish industry to spray Glyphosate - using a crop duster helicopter! - and killing off eelgrass beds to create a desert - is part of the problem that is reducing the native orca population. And it is not necessary - I have harvested oysters in eelgrass beds and while a bit inconvenient, it’s totally doable. Do we really want to destroy critical habitat for the simple convenience of a profitable industry?

There are, of course, other things contributing to the decline of the Salish Sea Orcas. Notably, increased ship traffic in the Salish Sea, which will increase considerably if oilsands pipelines are completed in Burnaby, BC.

But the solution is political - which is why I’m shamelessly promoting Cliff’s excellent article - and to this point, Juliette Daniels, one of our writers asks: “Saving the Orca and the Salmon - Does [Gov] Inslee Have the Political Will?”

And I would add a further question to Governor Inslee - since he is actively courting federal office using the slogan “Building a just, innovative, and inclusive clean energy economy” - which is fundamentally an environmental platform - how is permitting spraying of herbicides on critical Orca food habitat consistent with any environmental point of view? What will you do, dear reader, to convince Gov. Inslee to revoke any and all permitted herbicide spraying and what will you do, Governor Inslee, in this regard? Is the environment just a campaign slogan or will you actually do something good?

This article is copyright by the author under Creative Commons Licence CC BY 3.0 – Share with attribution

About David Camp

Citizen Journalist • Member since Jul 12, 2009

David Camp is a cpa (Canada'86, USA'96) and MBA (Schulich'88) who toiled thirty years in the corporate salt mines, counting beans and telling stories to the auditors and whatnot. Now [...]

B. Sadie Bailey

Apr 22, 2019

Important article. our governor can’t run for president on being a climate advocate when desertification of eelgrass beds with glyphosate are allowed; especially to make it painless and easy for the shellfish idustry - sheesh - who’d want to eat those shellfish if they knew? More important, why would we be OK with poisoning the food chain all the way up to the SRKWs we say we love and want to save?

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Why Does Gov. Inslee permit spraying of carcinogenic pesticides on Salish Sea eelgrass beds?

By David CampOn Apr 03, 2019

Commercial Shellfish farmers in Willapa Bay and elsewhere in the Salish Sea permitted by our “green” Governor to spray herbicides and turn healthy eelgrass beds into deserts.

1 comment, most recent 5 years ago

Some Thoughts on I-1639 and its Fraudulent Character

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2 comments, most recent 6 years ago

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5 comments, most recent 7 years ago

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An exploration of the ideas behind identity politics, such as they are.