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A decade under Initiative 937 yields new jobs, new industries, and affordable electricity
Good energy and environmental policy is also good economic policy. That’s the message of a new video collection produced by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Renewable Northwest, and the NW Energy Coalition. The lead five-minute video explores how Washington’s clean energy landscape has blossomed since Initiative 937 was enacted in 2007. With sections devoted…
Energy Efficiency leads the way in carbon emission reductions
In 2005, annual emissions of CO2 in the US reached an all-time high of just under six billion tons. By 2016, emissions had declined by 14% from that peak and by 18% when adjusted for growth in population and economic activity. How have we done it? Zeke Hausfather provides a detailed look…
Montana organizations unite to oppose Trump administration budget cuts and policies
On Tuesday, NW Energy Coalition policy analyst, Diego Rivas, joined representatives from the Montana Wildlife Federation and the Montana Farmers Union as well as Helena City Commissioner Andres Halladay to publicize federal government policies and proposed budget cuts that threaten Montana’s economy and communities. The event was part of a three-city tour to draw attention…
Rocky Barker: Snake River dams expendable?
An informed counterpoint to the flawed EarthFix “Dams or Salmon?” video Idaho Statesman reporter, Rocky Barker, a speaker at the NW Energy Coalition’s spring conference last April in Boise, has published the second piece in his series on the question of whether Columbia River salmon will ultimately survive. This installment offers hope based on the fact that, as grid…
EarthFix/OPB video, “Dams or Salmon?”, never gives fish a chance
“Explainer” video doesn’t explain, it distorts. We love short, animated explainer videos. They entertainingly and quickly reduce complex issues to their simplest possible terms. The problem is they sometimes overshoot the mark and, instead of the simplest possible terms, they instead present issues in ways that are something less than simple. That’s what we get…
New Washington solar bill is a move in the right direction
OLYMPIA, Washington — During its last-minute rush to enact a new state budget, the Washington legislature managed to agree on a new package of incentives for commercial, community, and home solar installations.
The bill provides those businesses with a degree of predictability about how the state will gradually reduce incentives between now and the year 2029 when they will vanish altogether. By that time, it is expected that solar costs will have diminished to the point that incentives are no longer necessary.
New bill threatens salmon, would weaken Endangered Species Act
(Today, the NW Energy Coalition issued the following press release in conjunction with Save our Wild Salmon, the Sierra Club, and Earthjustice.) Northwest business and conservation leaders oppose legislation to overturn 2016 federal court decision and push imperiled wild salmon populations closer to extinction. House bill would weaken the Endangered Species Act and increase costs…
Debunking the myth of "Baseload Power"
The anachronism behind the upcoming DOE grid study When Energy secretary, Rick Perry, issued a memo last April instructing his department to study “how certain policies are affecting, and potentially putting at risk, energy security and reliability”, he flatly stated that “baseload power” provided by coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric generation, “is necessary…
State releases Deep Decarbonization Analysis for Washington State
The Spring 2017 Energy Activist included a feature previewing the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Analysis for Washington State, a new study that identifies specific strategies to help Washington achieve its statewide goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the global goal of limiting climate warming to two degrees Celsius. The report is now available and…
BPA announces a better solution for I-5 corridor congestion
Seattle, Wa. — The NW Energy Coalition applauds today’s announcement by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) that it will not move forward with construction of a proposed 80-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line between Castle Rock, Washington and Troutdale Oregon. The I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project was originally proposed in 2008 as a means of addressing growing demand…