Coastal Conservation News Archive

A complete archive of our past news articles, beginning in Fall 2016; older articles from our previous website are available in the historical archive

July 9, 2019

State Adopts Plan to Address Ocean Acidification

Oregon's ocean off Netarts, Cape Lookout in the background.\Photo by Dale Harmer. Mandated by the 2017 Oregon Legislature, the state developed a plan to address the growing problem of ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH). The Oregon Coordinating Council on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH), a body composed of scientists and agency leaders, with...Read more
July 3, 2019

FERC Comment Deadline Passes, Response Awaited

The full Jordan Cove Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Don't worry--you don't have to respond to every statement! The public comment period to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concerning the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Jordan Cove Energy Project’s proposed LNG (liquefied natural gas) project on Coos Bay’s North Spit...Read more
June 9, 2019

New CoastWatch Volunteer Coordinator Comes Aboard

New CoastWatch volunteer coordinator Jesse Jones.\Photo by Rita Goldfarb. We’ve reached the happy end of a long search for our new CoastWatch volunteer coordinator, replacing Fawn Custer, who remains active as our CoastWatch citizen science trainer. An enthusiastic welcome to Jessica (Jesse) Jones, who now steps into the coordinator role. An Astoria resident, a...Read more
May 29, 2019

Orca Awareness Month Declared in Oregon

For 13 years, June has been proclaimed Orca Awareness Month by the Governor of Washington — and for the first time in 2016, Orca Awareness Month was celebrated in Oregon and in British Columbia as well! The American Cetacean Society’s Oregon Chapter kicked things off early with an Orca Awareness Day at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. Any community group, science center, non-profit...Read more
Spouting horn at Cape Perpetua.\Photo by Bonnie Moreland.
May 10, 2019

Rocky Shore Policy Update under Consideration

Spouting horn at Cape Perpetua.\Photo by Bonnie Moreland. For the first time in a quarter-century, Oregon is revisiting the state’s policies that protect our rocky shores. The current Rocky Shores Management Strategy, dating back to the early 1990s, was never fully implemented, and existing regulations haven’t been revised in the face of growing population,...Read more
Jordan Cove (left-center) and the North Spit.\Photo by Rena Olson.
May 8, 2019

Jordan Cove Water Quality Permit Denial Marks Key Victory

Jordan Cove (left-center) and the North Spit.\Photo by Rena Olson. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has denied a water quality certification to the Jordan Cove Energy Project’s proposed LNG (liquefied natural gas) export terminal, aimed at Coos Bay’s North Spit. Acting with its authority under the Clean Water Act, the state agency, in a...Read more
May 6, 2019

Jordan Cove Battles Underway

Jordan Cove (middle ground to the left) from the air.\Photo by Rena Olson. The long, long struggle to prevent development of an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export terminal on Coos Bay’s North Spit may be moving into its final year. But Oregon Shores, along with numerous allies in the no-LNG coalition, has been battling LNG schemes aimed at the Coos Bay estuary...Read more
The forested property which was under threat of development.\Photo by Tiffany Boothe.
April 25, 2019

Court of Appeals Victory Protects Land Use Planning System

The forested property which was under threat of development.\Photo by Tiffany Boothe. Oregon Shores and the Crag Law Center, our partners in the Coastal Law Project, have won an important land use case at the Oregon Court of Appeals. The court’s decision in Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition v. Board of Commissioners of Clatsop County, handed down April 24,...Read more
Helicopter spraying of pesticides.\Photo courtesy of Oregon Wild.
April 18, 2019

Online Resource Can Help to Trace Spray Impacts

Aerial spraying by helicopter.\Photo courtesy of Oregon Wild. We are at least 50 years into the battle against the aerial spraying of toxic herbicides that damage ecosystems and threaten human health and water supplies. Long-time Oregonians will remember the struggle in the Coast Range against the use of sprays containing dioxin (2,4,5-T). Herbicide opponents...Read more
Snowy plovers on South Beach.\Photo by Cathy Tronquet.
April 17, 2019

Snowy Plover Nesting Season Begins

Snowy plovers on South Beach.\Photo by Cathy Tronquet. Oregon’s conservationists and resource agencies have been engaged in a decades-long effort to restore the state’s population of the Western Snowy Plover, an endangered shorebird that nests on Oregon beaches (the only shorebird that breeds here). We are now in the nesting season, the crucial period for...Read more