Announcements
GiveBIG for Clean and Affordable Energy Solutions on May 2!
Please join us on Wednesday to build solutions for a clean and affordable energy future. Make a gift to the NW Energy Coalition this Wednesday, May 2nd and the Coalition will receive additional matching funds through the Seattle Foundation to support clean and affordable energy. All supporters of a clean and affordable energy future in any state are welcome to participate.
Help bring together diverse voices and unparalleled policy expertise to build clean and affordable energy solutions.
From the Spokesman-Review: Clean energy best for state
Renewable energy resources are an important part of Washington’s past, and are demonstrating new benefits that can positively shape our future economy, communities and environment.
Taxpayers deserve the truth about energy sources and policies that shape how they are used. All energy resources used in the United States are the result of policy, so as we continue to invest in energy and optimize efficiency, we must determine which resources deliver the greatest benefits.
Judge Redden Endorses Lower Snake Dam Removal
Today Earthfix news released video footage of Judge James Redden endorsing increased spill for salmon as well as lower Snake River Dam removal to save wild salmon. The Judge, who resigned from the long running salmon case last November after a decade, presided over the case longer than any other federal judge and is intricately familiar with both the law and the science around Snake River salmon restoration. His remarks today are his strongest statement on NW salmon policy to date.
The Energy Activist – Spring 2012
The founders of the NW Energy Coalition recognized a painful truth: that the bountiful cheap electricity produced by the Northwest’s system of federally financed hydropower dams came at the cost of the incredible wild salmon runs that once defined our watershed and supported myriad cultures and communities. So they made sure the 1980 Northwest Power and Conservation Act required equitable use of Columbia Basin waters for power and fish.
Since then, this Coalition and our partners have had to fight tooth and nail to realize even minimal progress on that mandate. To this day, the federal agencies that run the dams and market their power have failed to offer any legally valid or scientifically defensible plan for recovering the iconic and economically crucial salmon stocks.
The Spring 2012 edition of The Energy Activist looks at the exciting potential to escape that quicksand…
From the Outreach Director: Enjoy clean air and clean energy discussion this May in Kalispell
Recently I had occasion to spout off on the fallacy of the conventional energy wisdom from 30 plus years ago … the very conventional wisdom that the Coalition was born to challenge…
From the Executive Director: Whatever they’re called, solutions tables work
Recently I had occasion to spout off on the fallacy of the conventional energy wisdom from 30 plus years ago … the very conventional wisdom that the Coalition was born to challenge…
Main Article: Time to set the salmon solutions table
‘All-in’ approach can avoid years of litigation, address all stakeholders’ concerns The founders of the NW Energy Coalition recognized a painful truth: that the bountiful cheap electricity produced by the Northwest’s system of federally financed hydropower dams came at the cost of the incredible wild salmon runs that once defined our watershed and supported myriad…
Idaho Statesman: Fisheries scientists redefine the salmon debate by trumpeting more ‘spill’
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 breaching dams, new studies suggest.
A state, tribal and federal science team that has been working since 1996 is urging federal fish and wildlife officials and dam managers to change their management to test the theory, which is based on a dramatic increase in data collected over the past decade.
Montana conservationists say water quality near coal mines needs protection
Two conservation groups representing citizens and landowners in southeastern Montana filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the state Department of Environmental Quality is not doing enough to protect streams from coal mining.
Attorneys for Coalition Members Montana Environmental Information Center and the Sierra Club sued in U.S. District Court in Helena over Colorado-based Westmoreland Coal Co. plans to expand the Rosebud mine near Colstrip…
Read the full article at GreatFallsTribune.com
Save Our Wild Salmon celebrates biggest achievement so far
This week, for the seventh straight year, comprehensive spring and summer spill begins on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Since it began in 2006 due to a court injunction, spill has produced tens of thousands more salmon and steelhead. Measured in fish, it is member organization Save Our Wild Salmon’s biggest achievement in 20 years.
Read the full article on their webpage at Wildsalmon.org
Seattle City Light's Carrasco appointed to national energy efficiency commission
Seattle City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco has been selected to serve on a national commission led by U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tom King, National Grid USA president.
The Alliance Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy will develop and issue a new set of national energy efficiency policies that could make the United States one of the world’s most energy-efficient economies by 2030.
Energy Efficiency Brownbag Lunch- A special presentation on residential energy efficiency
The Coalition convened a panel of experts to update us on their energy efficiency programs in the Puget Sound area. What’s working? What motivates people to be interested in energy efficiency? What are the barriers to investing in efficiency retrofits? How does alternative financing play a role? Hear from panelists on these and many other topics…