Our Northwest Energy

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.

Washington's Only Nuclear Power Plant Criticized For Six Unplanned Shut-downs

RICHLAND, Wash. – The Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Washington, has been coming increased federal scrutiny lately. Washington's only commercial nuclear power plant has had six unplanned shutdowns in the last two years. The National Regulatory Commission held a hearing about the plant's performance [last night] Tuesday.

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Push For Multiple Business Energy Tax Credits Continues

SALEM, Ore. – In February, Oregon lawmakers voted to reign in a renewable energy tax credit program. The incentives had turned out to be far more generous than anyone intended. One of the new rules in place curbs the ability of companies to receive multiple tax credits by simply breaking up a larger project into several smaller ones. But that hasn't stopped at least one major player in the renewable energy industry from making the case for multiple versions of Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credit. [Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman looked into the issue.

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Is Sprawl Good?

You may think you know all there about sprawl but author and historian Robert Bruegmann says that sprawl isn't an American phenomenon, and he challenges the idea that sprawl is bad. He has written a book called Sprawl A Compact History. Professor Bruegmann will be speaking at Washington State Univeristy Tuesday, March 23rd at 7pm in Carpenter Hall. We asked him about his presentation titled, "“Sprawl: Taking a Second Look."

RobertBruegmann

You can hear more from Professor Bruegmann Tuesday at the Pullman WSU campus. For more information visit our arts calender or click Sprawl: Taking a Second Look

Eugene Residents Weigh in on Hanford Clean Up

The US Department of Energy is planning how and to what extent to clean up Hanford's leaking storage tanks, treat radioactive waste and deal with a contaminated reactor. The current preferred alternatives don't call for a full clean up of the site.

Twenty community members testified. Many, like Marilyn Cohen, also spoke out against having any further waste shipped to Hanford for storage and processing.

“If you can't clean up what you you've got and it's going to be leaching into the water for the next 10,000, 20,000 years, what are we talking about as Americans about putting more into the soil.”

The crowd also voice concerns about the potential for transporting that waste along the highly populated I-5 corridor through Eugene and Springfield. The earliest that could happen is 2022, when a moratorium on further shipments expires.

The DOE cites costs, technological limitations and worker safety as reasons for not doing a complete clean up. [The final public hearing will be held on March 8th in Seattle.]

Cow Poop Not Waste When Electricity Involved

SEATTLE, WA - Dairy cows make milk, and they make poop. Thirty gallons of poop a day. Now farmers can send the cow waste to machines that will convert it to electricity. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire will visit one of those electrical plants in Skagit County today.

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U.S. House Rejected NW Public Lands Bill

Posted Thursday, March 12, 2009

BEND, OR - U.S. House Democrats fell two votes short yesterday of protecting more than 2 million acres of public lands. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Ethan Lindsey reports that the bill would have had far-reaching impact in the Northwest.

The bill would have set aside more than 100-thousand acres around Mt Hood, and would have protected miles of land around Idaho's Owyhee River.

Gena Goodman-Campbell is with the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

Her group has been pushing to protect 30-thousand acres of the 'Badlands' east of Bend for decades. She says she thought one of the biggest hurdles would be winning over Hood River Republican Greg Walden.

Gena Goodman-Campbell: "We were all standing around the computer watching the votes come in. And it was an incredibly close vote. We were happy to see Congressman Walden vote for the bill. And I think without and wilderness bills in Washington, the Washington legislators didn't have as much at stake."

Washington Republicans Cathy McMorriss-Rodgers and Doc Hastings were the only two Northwest legislators to vote against the bill.

Supporters needed to reach a high bar -- two-thirds of the votes - to pass the measure because of the way it was being voted on.

Copyright 2009 OPB

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Carbon Cap-and-Trade Voluntary in WA

You can listen to the audio of this report from the Northwest News Network here. OLYMPIA, WA - The Washington State Senate has dealt a blow to a plan to cap global warming pollution on a regional basis. On Wednesday, the Democratically-controlled Senate passed a so-called “cap-and-trade” system lacking the strict enforcement that advocates had proposed. Correspondent Tom Banse reports. Seven Western States and some Canadian provinces drew up a regional plan to cap and then gradually reduce carbon emissions. But the proposed pollution allowance and trading scheme needs legislative buy-in. In Olympia, the Washington State Senate disappointed environmental groups by making the pollution regulations voluntary. Association of Washington Business lobbyist Grant Nelson says senators didn’t want to risk raising the cost of electricity or gasoline. Grant Nelson: “The legislature realized just what the significant ramifications and costs were to the citizens of the state – to the business community of the state -- especially given the economic crisis that we are all facing.” In Oregon, legislators gave the climate pollution controls a public hearing at the beginning of February. Since then, Salem has let the measure lie. Copyright 2009 KUOW On the web: Washington Legislature (Senate Bill 5735) Western Climate Initiative Listen