Northwest (OR WA)

"Buildup of carbon dioxide is changing the chemistry of the world's oceans, threatening coastal economies and ecosystems -- nowhere more than on the Pacific Coast, according to an expert study released Monday."

"Blame it on the mass of water known as "the Blob”—four-plus degrees Fahrenheit, warmer-than-normal, nutrient-poor ocean waters hugging the Pacific coast—or on El Niño, habitat destruction or toxic runoff. Whatever the cause of dwindling coho salmon runs, the effect on western Washington tribal fishing nations can be summed up in one word: disastrous."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is planning to release its proposed Portland Harbor Superfund Site cleanup plan early next month."

"An FBI agent is suspected of lying about firing twice at Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and may have gotten help from four other FBI agents in covering up afterward, authorities revealed Tuesday."

"One of the last actions Oregon lawmakers took before adjourning Thursday was passing a landmark clean-energy bill."

"Two state agencies leading Oregon's emergency response to toxic air pollution concerns in Portland have known for a month that a soil test at Cleveland High School found high levels of arsenic and lead contamination. Yet neither the Oregon Health Authority nor the Department of Environmental Quality have shared the soil result with Portland Public Schools, which instead learned about it Friday from The Oregonian/OregonLive."

"Railroads that haul oil trains through Washington state will need to report whether they could afford around $700 million to pay for a derailment and spill, under a recently finalized state rule."

"In hopes of saving one owl species, scientists are killing another."

"Conservationists filed a federal lawsuit in Oregon on Wednesday that challenges the authority of a federal government program to kill wolves in the state."