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 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 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 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 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 K.C. Mehaffey The Wenatchee World WENATCHEE — Several January storms that dumped snow in the mountains above North Central Washington helped bring the region back to a near-average snowpack, after a December with only half of the…
By Ted Sickinger The Oregonian A thin snowpack and predictions of low runoff this summer have the Bonneville Power Administration forecasting a financial loss for the year, and Northwest water watchers hoping for more snowy weather before the…
By Jordan Schrader The News Tribune Power companies this month are facing mandates voters imposed in 2006 to either produce green energy or buy credits from those who do. Utilities complain that Initiative 937 requires them to buy…
By Becky Kramer Spokesman Review Idaho residents have relatively small carbon footprints because most of their electricity comes from hydropower, a new study says. Idaho’s rivers generate 80 percent of the electricity used in the state. As a result,…
By Scott Learn The Oregonian DETROIT DAM – If you don’t like heights, this dam’s walkways are not for you, with winds that make you wobble and a 469-foot concrete-lined drop downriver. Detroit, like the other dams wedged…