Cascadia today: ICE can tear gas Portland + WA fails to limit cruise pollution + Indigenous name for Portland park

Court halts limits on ICE using tear gas on Portland

OPB reports that the Ninth Circuit court of appeals has paused a court order that prevented ICE from using tear gas and other crowd control munitions on protesters at the ICE facility in Portland. The feds are being sued by the ACLU of Oregon and residents of an apartment building near the facility, claiming ICE has excessively used the non-lethal munitions on peaceful protesters – including children and the elderly. Meanwhile, the King County council voted to ban the feds from staging on county-owned property – though Boeing field is excluded, where ICE deportation flights happen almost daily.

For more on how the group La Resistencia is monitoring ICE flights at Boeing field, visit their website or Instagram.

WA fails to regulate cruise ship pollution as season opens

Salish Currents reports on how the Washington legislature failed to regulate "scrubber" pollution from cruise ships and cargo ships this session. Cruise lines use scrubbers to pull pollution from high-sulfur diesel using sea water and then dump the acidic pollution into the ocean. The bill, similar to one passed in California, would have required ships to use low-sulfur fuel. I wrote about the numerous negative environmental impacts of cruise ships sailing from Seattle to Alaska for Hakai magazine in 2023.

Seattle Cruise Control and other groups drawing attention to the environmental disaster of cruise ships will hold a protest at Seattle's Pier 66 cruise terminal at 11 am - 1 pm on Wed. April 15. You can also sign a group letter to the Port of Seattle telling them to oppose cruise ship use of scrubbers, which turn air pollution into ocean pollution.

UK company stops burning wood pellets from BC old growth

The Tyee reports on the news that the UK energy company company Drax will stop burning wood pellets made from 250-year-old trees exported from British Columbia. Astonishingly, the company received subsidies from the UK government to convert from coal burning to wood as a "sustainable energy" project until reporting from the Guardian revealed the environmental costs. This sort of greenwashing needs to stop, and BC needs to stop cutting old growth inland rain forests NOW.

Will light rail make Seattle the Copenhagen of North America?

There's an odd article at KUOW drawing comparisons between Copenhagen, Denmark and Seattle since both have light rail lines on long bridges (well, Seattle will, starting on Saturday March 28). Being like Copenhagen, know as one of the most sustainable, pedestrian-friendly cities in the world, is an admirable goal – but Seattle ain't even close yet. But an article at the Urbanist highlights one promising step by SDOT: designating four neighborhoods as low-pollution zones – with the promise of increased pedestrian-only areas, more transit, and fewer cars. The new mayor of Paris, which has become a very pedestrian-friendly city, would approve.

Renaming a park in Portland a step toward decolonization

Willamette Week reports on the renaming of a park in southwest Portland that formerly honored US Cavalry officer and colonial oppressor George Custer, which is now is known as ‘Scht Wiwnu, or "path of the huckleberry" in Ichishkin Sńwit, an Indigenous language spoken along the Nchʼi-Wàna (Columbia River). Here's how to pronounce the new name:

Thanks for reading! Keep loving, and keep fighting. --Andrew