"The Spokane Tribe of Indians has adopted new water quality standards aimed at protecting the health of members who eat a subsistence diet of nearly two pounds of fish daily."

An alliance of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest have joined forces to push states there for water quality standards that protect populations who eat more fish from toxic effects.

"BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Three summers ago the company that wants to build the largest coal export terminal in North America failed to obtain the environmental permits it needed before bulldozing more than four miles of roads and clearing more than nine acres of land, including some wetlands."

"WASHINGTON — The government’s multi-billion-dollar effort to clean up Hanford, the nation’s largest former nuclear-weapons site, has become its own dysfunctional mess, critics say."

"County council elections turn on local issues, but the recent ballot in Washington State's Whatcom County drew big money and national interest. As Ashley Ahearn of public media's EarthFix reports,these councillors must approve any permit for a huge coal export facility, and those elected are considered by many to be opponents of such a coal terminal."

"Huge proposed coal export terminals at Longview and Cherry Point, north of Bellingham, must get “exhaustive and independent review” of potential environmental, economic and climate change impacts, Washington’s four Catholic bishops said in a statement adopted Friday."

"OLYMPIA, Washington -- With one day before the election in Washington State, grassroots organization Food Democracy Now! is urging its 650,000 members and citizens everywhere to make calls urging voters to support Yes on 522, a ballot initiative that would require labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms."

"Last week, the Whatcom County Council in northwestern Washington voted to buy six new SUVs for the local Sheriff's Department and introduced its annual road construction plan. These were significant developments in this sleepy rural enclave of scarcely 200,000 people, but nothing compared to what's on the horizon: A proposal to build the largest coal export terminal on the West Coast, capable of annually shipping a whopping 48 million tons of Montana and Wyoming coal to Asia."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- Saying that the West Coast must lead the way in battling climate change, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington, along with the premier of British Columbia, signed an agreement Monday committing the Canadian province and the three states to coordinate global-warming policies."