SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER
Kinder Morgan delays start of TransMountain pipeline
Citing uncertainty due to regulatory questions and court challenges by First Nations, KinderMorgan announced it will delay the start of work on the $7.4 billion TransMountain Pipeline across British Columbia for several months. In related news, a researcher shares findings about what a spill of diluted bitumen into the Salish Sea could do to harm native sockeye salmon. In an essay for Orion, you can read Oregon writer Kathleen Dean Moore’s essay on why she joined activists who risked prison to shut down a tar-sands pipeline.
A ticking clock for Washington rape victims
Washington state has a statute of limitations of just three years for rape — one of the shortest in North America. In a fantastic feature for Seattle Met, Hayat Norimine interviews rape victims who’ve struggled to make accusations in time as they deal with trauma. Seattle Weekly reports on the debate over a bill in the legislature that would increase the limit.
China’s new rules on recycling create waste crisis in Cascadia
The recent news that China has increased standards for millions of tons of recycling that North America ships there for processing has hit waste management systems hard. Tacoma Weekly reports that Washington state is scrambling to find new options other than sending contaminated recycling to landfills. Grist has a terrific video that summarizes the problem, and why you shouldn’t dump that dirty salad tub from lunch in the recycle bin.
Portland, you have a taxidermy problem!
As Portlandia enters its final season (and more than a few Rose City residents are happy wish it goodbye) Jenni Moore at the Portland Mercury contemplates a “quirky” feature of local businesses: taxidermy critters. “For me, society’s normalization of taxidermy is an unhinged celebration of man’s dominance over animals and an artistic glorification of the violence we inflict on them. Beyond that, I think it’s become a nauseating Portland cliché.”
Why you’ll want to watch a 5-hour play about climate change
Portland Monthly interviews playwright E.M. Lewis about her new play, Magellanica, an epic 5-hour production that dramatizes the work of scientists investigating the ozone hole above Antarctica in the 1980s. The author of the previous topical play The Gun Show shares why she created a show with two intermissions and a dinner break.
Dozens of free poems by Washington poets online
After Washington poet laureate Tod Marshall embarked on publishing WA 129, an anthology of poetry from across the state, he received more than two thousand submissions. Now that the book is out, Marshall worked with a professor and students at Gonazaga university to select and design four chapbooks of poetry featuring great poems that didn’t make the first cut. The chapbooks are all free to access online. Check it out!
That’s all today’s news and culture from across Cascadia. Enjoy your weekend! –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: Kinder Morgan protest by Mark Klotz, CC BY-SA 2.0