Oil Tanker at Rest

Just this year,Puget Sound, the Georgia Basin, the Strait of Georgia, Desolation Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca were collectively given the name The Salish Sea by the Washington State Board on Geographic Names, the Province of British Columbia Geographic Names Office, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and the Geographic Names Board of Canada.

These separately named bodies of water were recognized as an estuarine ecosystem.

But the seven million people living within the ecosystem require energy and much of that energy, crude oil, arrives in ships that navigate through the San Juan Islands, Gulf Islands, the Strait of Juan de Fuca to reach the refineries near Anacortes and Cherry Point.

It is a delicate balance.

Here an oil tanker waits at anchor near the southern end of the Chuckanut Range.

©Paul K. Anderson