Wanapum Dam spillway update
By Grant Co. PUD On Feb. 24, 2014, a worker at Wanapum Dam noticed that part of the dam’s spillway deck had shifted slightly. Divers were called in to inspect the area on Feb. 27 and discovered a…
Hydropower
PUD: $45 million to fix units at Rocky Reach Dam
By Christine Pratt Wenatchee World Commissioners agreed to skip bidding process and award contract. Read more
Columbia River salmon plan challenged
By: Staff The Spokesman-Review Conservation groups and fishing interests have challenged the federal government’s latest plan for making Columbia River dams safe for salmon runs. The complaint was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland against NOAA Fisheries…
Studies question budget for purchase of PPL Mont. dams
By: Marc Stergionis Great Falls Tribune There’s been a flood of documents washing into the Public Service Commission over NorthWestern Energy’s agreement to purchase PPL Montana’s 11 electricity-producing dams. Some of those documents — recent consultant and agency analyses…
Army Corps of Engineers to kill 16,000 cormorants on East Sand Island in Columbia River Estuary
By: Rob Davis The Oregonian The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced plans Thursday to shoot and kill 16,000 double-crested cormorants on an island near the Columbia River’s mouth starting next spring, in an effort to improve survival of…
Prior agreement to phase out Centralia coal plant will cover most emissions reductions
A sweeping new White House plan to reduce carbon emissions from the nation’s energy supply may have less impact on Washington than almost every other state. But that’s because the country is just now catching up. By: Craig…
New-age water wheels harvest hydrokinetic energy
By: Kate Prengaman Yakima Herald-Republic SELAH — Farmers across the Yakima Basin depend on a network of canals to deliver water for their crops. Now, scientists believe the canals could provide another resource to the region: renewable energy….
Energy firm pulls plug on Oregon wave-power project
The quiet shuttering of an ambitious Oregon project — the nation’s first grid-connected, commercial-scale wave park — is the latest setback for the nascent wave-energy sector in the United States. By: Joshua Hunt and Diane Cardwell The New…
Dorena hydro project just may be water over the dam
By: Christian Wihtol The Register Guard COTTAGE GROVE — Dreams of clean energy from a new hydroelectric plant on Dorena Dam have turned into a financial nightmare for the project owner and the plant’s general contractor, new legal…
Drawdown of Columbia River reservoir creates problems, opportunities
By: Becky Kramer The Spokesman-Review VANTAGE, Wash. – Mud, lots of mud, with a river flowing through it. Anja Reynolds gaped at an unfamiliar Columbia last week as her husband, Dave, and their three kids stretched their legs at…