Next Chapter meeting at this coming Thursday, June 11th at the Visual Arts Center, upstairs at 7:30 pm.

June 20th

City Council Meeting to start at 6:00pm, hearing to start at 7 pm. Come out and support efforts once again to get some peace of mind ocean monitoring for the Georgia Pacific outfall. After 6 months of hearings and testimony, the Mayor and City Council appointed a task force of stakeholders and representatives to work on the license agreement in good faith and in consideration of all the public testimony and information received through the hearings. The task force met every other week from February through May to wrestle through the concerns of all parties and make a recommendation to council. All minutes and agendas can be found on the city's website under "Latest News" column on the left side of the page http://www.thecityofnewport.net. The taks force is delivering two important recommendations:

2) A monitoring framework to address public concerns with environment, health and economy. These documents can be viewed at the above link to the city's website.

Over 200 students, volunteers and chaperones from Rosemont Ridge Middle School joined up the Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation to participate in a beach cleanup and awareness event at South Beach State Park. Armed with gloves and cleanup bags and focused on small pieces of plastics and cigarette butts along the South Jetty road, the students picked up thousands of tiny pieces of plastic and hundreds of cigarette butts. Moved by what they were finding, the students spelled out "No BUTTS" along the beach to send a message of awareness of the common types of litter that end up on our beaches and in our oceans. "I can't believe all the cigarette butts that people just throw on the ground", says one student as she picks up around an area where someone apparently emptied a car ashtray. "There should be some sort of stronger law for people that disregard litter laws like this", she went on to say

Sun. May 3rd, 2pm Politics of Sand - Hatfield Marine Science Center Auditorium Don't miss this amazing documentary on the legacy of Oregon's publicly owned beaches, by Portland filmaker Tom Olsen! Matt Love says, I must now give up my self-appointed title...he (Tom) now reigns as the official expert on the incredible history of Oregon's Beach Bill. This incredible film is a must see, and every Oregonian who enjoys our public beaches should also understand how we arrived at this great birthright! In celebration of Oregon's Sesquicentennial, brought to you by Friends of HMSC in partnership with Lincoln County Historical Society, CoastWatch andthe Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation. Questions and discussion with the producer/director will follow the film and table exhibits by partner organizations will also be on display. More info...

In addition to Surfrider's Portland Event, Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation is hosting a Synthetic Sea Event in Newport - Monday, April 27th, 6:30 pm at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Junkride is coming to town and we're hosting an event partnering up with Friends of HMSC, Sea Grant, the Oregon Coast Aquarium and CoastWatch to provide some unique perspective of marine debris issues and the ever-growing North Pacific "Garbage Patch". You may have heard of Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen and their junkraft adventures. Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) discuss the issue of plastic debris in our oceans and entering the marine food chain. Since 1997, AMRF has studied the accumulation of plastic marine debris in the North Pacific Gyre. Anna and Marcus will share their recent project to build JUNK, a raft from 15,000 bottles that sailed to Hawaii this past summer, and their current JUNKride voyage, cycling from Vancouver to Tijuana to raise awareness about plastic marine debris. Learn how plastics and other debris accumulating in the ocean are impacting marine life, prompting scientists, conservationists and policymakers to take a closer look at the problem. Panel discussion following presentation featuring Gretchen Ammerman - North Lincoln Sanitary District and recycling expert, Jeff Feldner - Oregon Sea Grant Extension and Marine Debris Action Team rep. for West Coast Governor's Agreement on Ocean Health, and Kim Raum-Suryan - Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute and entaglement expert.

Newport Visual Arts Center, Doors at 7:00, film to start at 7:30. $6 at the door, Surfboard and other cool raffle items to go at the event! . More info on the film at: http://www.bluegreenconnection.com/

The Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation today released its "report card" (Report_card.doc) for the state's reconsideration of the NPDES wastewater permit of the Georgia-Pacific Pulp Mill in Toledo. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reissued the permit with two new special conditions which will no longer allow inappropriate waste streams like Marion County leachate to be processed at the facility and require an ocean monitoring study. The response to the reconsideration comes over 2 years after Surfrider members and other groups filed a petition to reconsider the permit (FACTSHEET_09.doc). Additionally Surfrider members have been fighting the importing and processing of landfill leachate through the the mill's facility for over 10 years. Nearly 20 million gallons of leachate have been processed through the facility since that time so to finally be heard and get this written into the permit is a long-awaited victory for clean water! Surfrider also commends DEQ for requiring an environmental survey of the ocean discharge, but bemoans the lack of specifics for the design of the study, and third party objectivity. Meanwhile, Surfrider flunks the agency for flaws in its scientific assessment and modeling, and determining compliance with discharge criteria for turbidity and bacteria. The Georgia Pacific Toledo Mill releases an average of 11 million gallons a day of effluent just 3,800 feet offshore of Nye Beach in the vicinity of important recreational and commercial uses such as swimming, surfing, fishing and beachgoers in general. Click below to read the Newport Chapter's press release:

Barefoot Wines...they came into Newport under alias like "The TOEminator", "TheGodFooter" and "VicTOErious", they poured wine, educated and entertained, they blew it up big at the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival this past weekend and pulled off the biggest ever fundraiser for the Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation raising over $6,000 for the chapter's programs. The funding will help support the chapter's blue water task force program engaging youth volunteers and local citizens in water quality monitoring of the local beaches, the adopt-a-park program at South Beach State Park, local restoration and beach cleanup events and a kids surf contest. An enthusiastic and terrific staff from Barefoot teamed up with the local volunteers to pull off a great booth that was overwhelmingly popular with the festival goers! Barefoot Wines is a big supporter of our local beaches across the country and partners on some amazing Beach Rescue Projects. (check them out!)