Providing balanced information for using water as a renewable energy resource in the Northwest
By Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times Just as Washington makes an international splash for the largest dam removal ever in North America, a local utility is proposing to build a hydroelectric project on one of the last free-flowing…
By Steven DuBois Seattle Times PORTLAND, Ore. — The Bonneville Power Administration twice ordered Pacific Northwest wind farms to cut production in recent days because it has a surplus of power from hydroelectric dams. The agency, which manages…
By Rocky Barker Idaho Statesman Increasing the amount of water spilled over eight Snake and Columbia river dams to keep juvenile fish away from hydroelectric turbines might be enough to recover most of Idaho’s endangered salmon populations without…
By Christine Pratt Wenatchee World WENATCHEE — Would you like a little maple syrup to go with that sale of Chelan County PUD electricity? The PUD in June will begin selling power through a trading company owned by…
By Eric Florip The Columbian Invasive freshwater mussels so far haven’t found a foothold in the Columbia River. That doesn’t mean regional hydropower managers and researchers are sitting idle, waiting for them to show up. A research project…
By David Lester Yakima Herald SELAH, Wash. — A Seattle startup is using a Valley irrigation canal to test a hydropower technology it hopes will have worldwide application. Hydrovolts Inc. has a permit from the U.S. Bureau of…
By Samantha Tipler Herald and News Uncertainty is the only certainty for Klamath River Basin irrigators and fishermen if Klamath River dams remain and a related water agreement is not implemented. “Status quo is death by a thousand…
By Linda V. Mapes Seattle Times At 7:30 Friday morning, contractors started shifting the Elwha River back into its natural channel. Within four to five days, the river will be fully back in its native channel — for…
By Joel Aschbrenner Herald & News There’s bound to be plenty of politics involved with management of the Klamath River, because there are hundreds of millions of dollars involved. There are millions involved in infrastructure, millions involved in…
By Mike Dennison Missoulian HELENA – A spokesman for power-generator PPL Montana said Thursday it’s time for the state to admit defeat in its lengthy effort to collect rent from PPL for its hydropower dams and put an…