News
The Missoulian: Decoupling, inverted block rates can help energy consumers
A recent op-ed in the Missoulian discusses how the current NorthWestern Energy rate case provides two exciting opportunities for saving energy and reducing people’s power bills.
The Montana Public Service Commission is now considering a pair of company-supported proposals that promise long-lasting benefits for consumers and particularly for low-income Montanans.
The Oregonian: Australian coal company wants to build coal-export terminal in Longview to ship to Asia
An Australian coal company wants to build a coal-export terminal at a private port in Longview, Wash., a move that would allow 5.7 million tons of U.S. coal exports to Asia each year just as environmental activists are trying to shut down coal-fired power plants in Washington and Oregon.
Read the full article online at The Oregonian.
Coalition documents Obama’s ghoulish salmon plan
A coalition of fishing, business, and conservation organizations asked a federal judge today to declare President Obama’s Columbia and Snake river salmon recovery plan illegal…
WNS story: Attack of the Oil Company Mega-Loads? Big Shipments Scare NW Watchdogs
Washington State is closely watching a battle in the Idaho Supreme Court over whether to allow massive oil exploration equipment to be trucked across scenic roadways of Northern Idaho and Montana to the tar sands of Alberta, Canada.
Missoulian Op-Ed: Renewable energy works for Montana
Complaints about the supposedly high costs of renewable energy by political pundits and candidates around the state are vastly misleading and need correction. In an Oct. 11 Missoulian story, Public Service Commission candidate Bill Gallagher is quoted as saying that renewable energy in Montana has raised electricity rates “without generating any real benefits.” Meanwhile, PSC candidate Travis Kavulla claims that renewable energy requirements for our utilities are “going to add costs to the consumer without adding any real value for them.” Let’s set the record straight…
Read the full Op-Ed online at The Missoulian.
First solar projects approved for public land
The Interior Department approved the first solar projects on public land Tuesday, a move aimed at shifting the type of energy development on federal property in the years to come.
The two ventures greenlighted in the California desert — the Imperial Valley and Chevron Lucerne Valley solar projects — could provide energy for hundreds of thousands of homes, though neither would start generating electricity for more than a year, at the earliest…
Northwest groups urge members of congress to say "no" to mega-industrial transportation corridor
On September 22, forty-two conservation, fishing, clean energy and outdoor organizations from across the Pacific Northwest delivered letters to the members of congress in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
The organizations express grave concerns about the potential impacts and risks to our communities, businesses, and environment if Exxon’s is successful in establishing a brand-new “high and wide” mega-industrial transportation corridor through the heart of the Pacific Northwest.
The Olympian: Clean energy groups protest Centralia TransAlta coal plant
A campaign by clean energy groups (including the NW Energy Coalition) to shut down the Centralia coal-fired power plant by 2015 staged five events statewide Tuesday…
Economic boost awaits transmission upgrades in Idaho
From the Times-News comes this article about how Idaho and other western states may need to invest millions of dollars in transmission lines to continue producing and selling renewable energy.
Oregon's Bill Bradbury appointed to Northwest Power and Conservation Council
Former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury has been appointed by Governor Kulongoski to the position being vacated by Melinda Eden on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
You can read the full story online at The Oregonian.