Our Northwest Energy

Race Against The Clock To Save Island Forest

Conservationists are in a race against the clock to save a sizable forest on Whidbey Island [in Puget Sound]. The Whidbey Camano [kuh-MAY-no] Land Trust needs to raise about $2.5 million [two-and-half million dollars] between now and next Thursday. Land trust director Pat Powell hopes the ugly pictures from the Gulf oil spill motivate donors.

Pat Powell: “People are really thinking about protecting natural heritage. This is a place – Whidbey Island – that is special for everyone. Protecting the forest helps protect the island, Puget Sound and really helps us to pay back our planet.” [:14]

Powell says the roughly one square mile forest is known locally as the Trillium property. Three banks currently own the parcel through a foreclosure. They set the June 10th deadline. If the land trust fails to raise the remaining $2.5 million, it expects the forest to be sold to a back-up buyer and then developed with houses.

NW Businesses Back Global Warming Bill

SEATTLE - Business lobbies have pushed hard against global warming proposals in Congress. But a group of Northwest companies says tackling climate change will be good for business. They're calling on lawmakers to support an energy bill sponsored by Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. Among the key elements of the proposal is a cap-and-trade system. It would make industries pay for the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases they release into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Sarah Severn with Nike says that's an important step toward a clean-energy economy.

Sarah Severn: "We believe that putting a significant price on carbon will move us more rapidly down the path of innovation because it will unleash capital that has been waiting on the sidelines, waiting a signal from Congress." [:11]

Severn said the US risks falling behind Europe and China in developing clean-tech industries. She was one of several representatives from Northwest businesses who spoke during a conference call [today] Thursday sponsored by the Seattle-based environmental group, Climate Solutions. Weyerhaeuser, REI and other companies cited the threats to their businesses from climate change and urged senators from Northwest states to pass the Kerry-Lieberman bill this year. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last summer.