I play a grunge-rock high school custodian-type in this teen romantic comedy set in the 1990s. The film has a great cast and crew and a very funny script.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4514646/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

Got a nice applause from about 50 people when I walked off the set.  Sitting on the steps outside after I had changed out of wardrobe, one of the extras — a gorgeous young brunette — sat down next to me and asked for my email and phone.  “I wanna be your friend,” she said in complete earnest.  “Sure,” I replied, very flattered. “Will that be okay with your mom and dad?”

Pictured below, from left to right: Courtney Sawyer – Producer, Chelsea Maidhof – Super Talented Co-Star, some middle aged bit player, and Cameron Earl – Exec Producer.

Panicked? Uh, yes, but managed to borrow an SLR camera from one of the scientists, an SD card from a local photographer, shoot for about ten minutes, rush to the ferry boat, drive like hell to Seattle, arrive at the station at 4:15-PM and somehow have the piece edited and ready for air by 5 o’clock. Hardly the best video I have ever shot… definitely one of the best saves.

Now, if we can only figure out how to save the endangered orcas.

See the piece here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU9CvdJOQr8

]]> https://2ndwindproductions.com/writers-rant/2014/01/free-lolita-cbs-seattle/feed/ 0 https://2ndwindproductions.com/writers-rant/2013/11/bellingham-waterfront/ https://2ndwindproductions.com/writers-rant/2013/11/bellingham-waterfront/#comments Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:01:58 +0000 https://2ndwindproductions.com/blog/bellingham-waterfront/ See this fine one-two punch, first from editor Tim Johnson and then by 'your humble narrator' in the vaunted pages of the Cascadia Weekly.

To the Washington Department of Ecology, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Planning and Development Services, Whatcom County,

I submit the following scoping comments for the Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal.  I have many concerns about the project’s impacts that are backed by solid research.  I am particularly concerned about the impacts on the marine environment, the watershed, the region’s air quality, the foreseeable cost to human health and negative effects to our local economies.

In April of 2012, I had an opinion-editorial article published in the Seattle Times (attached) that addressed three specific areas that need to be studied for the EIS.  In addition to the aforementioned impacts, I also questioned the claim made by the project proponent’s that increased trainloads of coal will travel through Northwest Washington and the City of Bellingham, regardless of whether GPT is built, only to be shipped from ports in British Columbia.  This is not a true statement.  Please also see the above referenced editorial here: http://tinyurl.com/aax7zn7  Additionally, please review this December 10, 2012  article in the Vancouver Sun: http://tinyurl.com/b74yg6u, in which BC port operators note that no such capacity exists for additional U.S. coal.

 Further, I ask that you review the research by the Sightline Institute,  http://tinyurl.com/75p64o9, that discounts the battle cry, “the trains are coming anyway.”  They are not.  Please carefully evaluate the proponent’s claim and the evidence to refute it.  Please study the cumulative impacts of coal related rail traffic, starting from the coal mines all the way through Northwest Washington to Cherry Point. From coal dust and diesel exhaust to noise pollution and disruptions to transportation—all these impacts must be included in the EIS.

Regarding impacts to the already decimated herring population at the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve and the foreseeable impacts on the ecosystem and wildlife of the Salish Sea, I submit the following argument.

In 1999, the Washington Department of Natural Resources commissioned an Ecological Risk Assessment to examine whether expanding the Arco BP pier might harm the herring stock at Cherry Point.  The Risk Assessment concluded that the additional BP pier—in tandem with the newly permitted Gateway Pacific facility—could result in “long-term cumulative effects from a significant increase in vessel traffic.”  It also pointed out, “increasing ship vessel traffic will inevitably increase the risk of an oil spill” and that, “if such a spill were to occur, especially during or just before the spawning and rearing season, the impact to Cherry Point herring could be catastrophic.”

That alarm was sounded long before anyone knew that GPT would become the largest export facility in North America, and that the commodity in question would be up to 48 million annual tons of coal.

The struggling herring population at Cherry Point is a vital food source for the endangered Chinook salmon of the Pacific Northwest, which in turn are the mainstay for the remaining 90 endangered southern resident killer whales.  According to NOAA, an oil spill poses the greatest threat to our Puget Sound Orcas. 

We simply cannot afford to place these endangered animals further in harm’s way.

 Therefore, all cumulative vessel impacts from GPT, the BP refinery and all the other freighter traffic, including the oil tankers carrying tar sands crude from Canada, must be included in the EIS.  And that study needs to be conducted immediately, as it was stipulated in the settlement agreement of 1999.  The cost of this study must also be borne solely by the applicant, SSA Marine / Pacific Terminals International.

I attach the aforementioned 1999 Ecological Risk Assessment and also the 2004 Petition for Cherry Point Herring for your review.

 Additionally, digging through the EPA website’s TRI page, an excerpt of which is also attached, one finds that the BP refinery at Cherry Point nearly doubled its toxic air emissions between 2002 and 2010. Doubled in just eight years.  Those chemicals include Benzene, Xyelene and Toloune; nasty carcinogenic compounds that we presently get to breathe.

The question posed by GPT is, what happens when that existing suite of chemicals being dispersed into the atmosphere by BP is combined with all the diesel exhaust and particulates from the estimated eighteen trains per day — and all the diesel and bunker fuel exhaust from the 487 cape-sized vessels per year — that will be required to service the coal port? 

The cumulative impacts on the air shed from GPT activity and the BP refinery must be studied, because the people of Whatcom County have a right to know what they will be breathing.

Finally, GPT will be a water intensive enterprise, drawing large quantities of water from the Nooksack River.  That river is a contributing source of drinking water for the city of Bellingham.

Equally important, the Nooksack is a significant spawning ground for the endangered Chinook salmon of the Pacific Northwest.  I ask that you study the foreseeable impacts of reduced river flows from GPT usage on the endangered salmon and to the communities that depend on that water source.

Thank you very much for your attention and consideration.

Sincerely,

Stephan Michaels

See the Update: 6/18/2013

◊ ◊ ◊

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOmQkvW0-AE&feature=youtu.be

This is a public awareness, educational event.  And… there will be great Pizza!       

Join The Ride for Cherry Point on Sunday September 23rd.  Please forward this invite to your friends and ecologically minded cyclists!   (Update below the flier)

   Sixteen riders, ages 24 to 60, set out from Boulevard Park in Bellingham at roughly 10:30 Sunday morning. They rode under partly cloudy skies until they reached the Nooksack River Bridge, where they met Frank Bob of the Lummi Nation. Frank told them about the tribe’s efforts to restore the watershed and about the significance of the Cherry Point ecosystem for the Lummi people.

The group arrived at Cherry Point by 1-PM and were joined by another twenty people who traveled by car. Some hopped the ferry from Lummi Island, others came from as far as Seattle and San Juan Island. If the ride was formidable, the “Après Ride” on the sunny beach was just the tonic. A variety of gourmet pizzas, turkey hoagies, organic greens with roast chicken, and sundry juices flowed.   Then we gathered ’round to be educated — and entertained.

Our presenters were exceptional:  Wendy Steffenson from ReSources underscored the combined efforts to protect the marine habitat, Howard Garrett of Orca Network spoke eloquently on behalf of our Southern Resident Orcas, Fred Felleman (Wave Consultants) was alternately instructive and humorous as he provided historical perspective and insight, and activist James Wells was adroit at cutting through the minutia of the environmental scoping process.

Many thanks to the 36 quality individuals who made it out to Cherry Point, and who contributed significantly to the discussion. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the multi-billion-dollar coal enterprise. On days like this, one gets the sense that we can hold fast and preserve Cherry Point.

And so it began…

. 

Funny, the shot above looks just like the one we used for the poster.

“Après Ride”

Wendy Steffenson, Scientist, North Sound BayKeeper

]]> https://2ndwindproductions.com/writers-rant/2012/09/ride-cherry-point/feed/ 0 https://2ndwindproductions.com/writers-rant/2012/07/gateway-pacific-terminal-its-coal-port/ https://2ndwindproductions.com/writers-rant/2012/07/gateway-pacific-terminal-its-coal-port/#respond Thu, 26 Jul 2012 06:15:14 +0000 https://2ndwindproductions.com/blog/gateway-pacific-terminal-its-coal-port/ My presentation to the Bellingham City Council on the difference between a Dry Bulk Commodity Terminal—which Gateway Pacific Terminal purports to be—and a Coal Port, which is what GPT really is. Judging by their conversation—observable during the cutaway—Mayor Kelli Linville and the city attorney appear to have had something else on their minds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHTf96Icu34

By the way, I like Chris Gregoire. I just wish she would “get involved,” and then say no.

     read full article here.

Stephan Michaels:  Hi Governor Gregoire. It’s a privilege to speak with you.

Gov. Gregoire:  Hi, Stephen (sic)

Stephan:  I’ll make this as succinct as possible. A little background. In February of 2011, SSA Marine, which is 49% owned by Goldman Sachs, applied to the state and the county of Whatcom for a permit to build a port, an export terminal. It would become the largest export terminal in the entire United States. At about the same time, they announced they had a contract with Peabody Coal to export 24 million tons of coal per year to Asia. As you know, this has become a huge controversy for the city of Bellingham. But not just in Bellingham, all along the rail corridor. People are concerned about the rail traffic, the coal dust and the effects on the environment. And also, in Bellingham, they’re very concerned about the impact this will have on the development of their waterfront. Briefly, I know that you supported this project initially. You have since taken a step back and said it can’t be reduced to a simple argument of, you know, jobs versus the environment. Given the outcry over this project, I’m wondering where you stand now and how you see your role for the remainder of your tenure as Governor.

Gov. Gregoire:  So, I never took a position on the facility at all. What was being asked is whether we would serve as co-lead as we went through the environmental review process. And we agreed at the request of the locals there to do precisely that. So, as we do with anybody else who’s asking for a permit, we’re going to put it through the environmental review process. And we have to do it absolutely by the book. So that’s the process we’re in now. I will not prejudge it. And I am not going to get involved in it. I want it to be an objective scientific review. So that’s what we’re engaged in now. I have never taken a position for or against it.

—

Update: Look for the follow-up to this stirring exchange in my forthcoming Seattle Times column

… to be published April 13, 2012.  Yes, that’s a Friday.

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/canadas-seal-hunt-sends-a-different-message-about-the-olympic-nation/

Looks like I'm getting clobbered by sport fisherman in the comment section.

Hmmmm. Maybe that means I'm doing my job?