Surfrider Chapter Meeting August 16, 2011

National Action Items:

Take action on the Surfrider Action Page! There are currently 3 action items posted.

• Defend the National Ocean Policy
• Green Infrastructure for Clean Water
• EPA Reduction of Power Plants Harming the Coast
• Take action! Nominate Surfrider in Outside magazine's "Guide to Giving," "Help Outside Fix the World."

Local Action Items:

Beach Mining Proposal was just passed by the State Parks Board

Jody: WA Parks Recreation is going to propose a rule to allow mining on the beaches. This is specifically for state lands on the outer coast. Most people involved in ocean protection did not know about this. Reports were not issued on pilot study. State Parks Commission is going to hear, propose, and move on the beach mining at the Wenatchee meeting. We rallied a bunch of people and folks within 2 days to contact them. They then said they would postpone the hearing for 2 months until the meeting on Camano Island. Then they changed their minds and moved forward with the new rule anyway.

Do we want to oppose the new rule? We will need to make a decision about whether or not we move on this? It's small scale beach mining. It's mining in the sand. It's pan in the river style mining. They allow this in Oregon. However, they're allowing animal powered tools, which are not defined. Are there permits? What is involved in this process? It is a family activity, cool for kids to sift through sand. But there are definite questions. Why did they choose Wenatchee to vote on this, what does animal powered tools mean? Are you going to trench out a river? Or is this a recreational use only? This would allow people to take gold off the beaches. Which could mean deep digging of trenches near rivers that lead to the beaches. This proposal is not clearly defined and no public process.

Goldmark Coal Terminal

Jody: North of Bellingham, the last undeveloped deep draft port of the whole West coast, the habitat for Cherry Point Herring (primary food source for wild salmon). The Cherry Point Herring are badly decimated, they are trying to get this distinct kind of herring listed. There is a similar proposal out of Longview, WA. They are wanting to export coal out of Cherry Point to market to China and India. Which can lead to a climate change, etc.

Biggest issues for Surfrider: they want to export 25-60 million tons of coal to be moved to China. This coal has to be moved from Wyoming & Montana via rail line that follows the Columbia River. They think about 10 trains a day on average, 10-12 minutes to pass through our cities. 54 percent of the terminal has been bought by Goldman-Sachs. SS Marine is trying to build the terminal, started plowing a bunch of roads to do exploratory research. They did this without permits, were punished. Our local judiciary's do not want all of the train traffic coming through our city, on our coastlines. Doctors have come out and stated that this could cause a huge health issue in Seattle due to coal dust from the transport of the coal.

Southsound chapter had no idea. Bellingham chapter had no idea. For 90 minutes a day there would be no access to a certain southsound beach, due to transport of coal. Phone calls were made to Peter Goldmark to speak out against the transport of coal. WA claims to be a coal free state. Yet we are considering this proposal. It is a regional issue. NW Straits chapter is taking a lead on this. One area where we can really help is to talk to businesses who might be interested in learning about this issue.

Campaigns:

Rise Above Plastics

Bellingham & Portland just passed bag bans. It is likely that Seattle will attempt to do the same. Maybe Surfrider can jump on board and help to drive this.

Can we sell canvas made "Surfrider" branded re-usable bags not made in China?

Yes the prior EC did approve spending for bags to be purchased and resold. Cannot do online sales due to tax issues in the state.

Maybe we can partner w/a local bag maker to make re-usable bag. Re-usable bags are a great idea.

*Action: Justin will research re-usable bag prices.

Blue Water Task Force

BWTF Coordinator: John Scott is the professor in environmental health and human services at the UW. They have a lab that we can use. But we need a more involved kind of process and testing to get the results that the city recognizes. Last time we talked to Scott. Agreed to start small again. Already has a person picked out to help us. Fecal coital testing. See how much it costs him to do the testing. Daily running of samples. No sites are being tested currently. Six different sites were being tested. We are planning to test one site since we are paying a fee per each testing. Plan is to write a grant process to get some kind of funds to help with this testing. We have funds that are earmarked for Blue Water Task Force that we have to use first. Surfrider has to follow the same kind of sampling and filtering that the city follows in order for the city to listen to our complaints.

Upcoming Events/Volunteer Opportunities:

Dave Matthews Tabling: Labor Day Weekend

We were invited to be in the "green village" 12pm-8pm tabling. Minimum of 2 people at the table per time. We need 1 POC for Sat. and Sun. Camping for the weekend is not included. It is at the Gorge. If we do not have enough volunteers we will back out.

Round the Rock at Seward Park, September 11th

Yes, Seattle Surfrider is only chapter on board for this race.

• 6am Tent set-up Surfrider Booth, stuff bags
• Volunteer sign up
• Movie at REI on Saturday night
• We need a bag Monster to participate in kids race

PNW Conference in Newport, Oregon, September 23-25th.

Items on the Agenda
• Ocean friendly gardens
• Friday will do tours of ocean friendly sites

Possible Events:

Beach Clean Up Golden Gardens Monday at 6:30pm, August 22nd, 2011

People for Puget Sound

Giving rainwater tours - Follow water down the watershed and see what happens as it follows into Puget Sound

Other Stuff:

• Let's try to get surf shops to sponsor us?
• Guest Speakers, every other month?
• -John Scott
• -Plastic bag ban speaker
• -Beach mining

Extra Notes:

September 19th - Monday at Wine World is available - Maybe do an outdoor activity on Tuesday night instead of the meeting