Federal Judge Rules for Columbia and Snake River Salmon

U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled today that the NOAA Fisheries Service again failed to produce a legal and scientific plan to protect imperiled Columbia-Snake River salmon from harm caused by the operation of federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Today’s court action – which has been ongoing for almost a decade – is a landmark decision for fishing and conservation groups, the state of Oregon and the Nez Perce and Spokane tribes, all of which have opposed the federal biological opinion, or BiOp, in court.

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Stop Congress from repealing light bulb efficiency standards that save you money and energy

Believe it or not, a bill before Congress aims to roll back energy savings measures that passed in 2007 with bipartisan support. The House plans to vote as soon as Monday, July 11, to repeal national energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. These standards will save consumers more than $10 billion a year and avoid about 100 million tons of global warming pollution, equal to the annual pollution of more than 14 million cars.

Contact your representative and urge them to vote NO on the BULB act!

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Portland getting solarized

Several companies have been working with the Energy Trust of Oregon and the city of Portland to solarize the city. The project goes from neighborhood to neighborhood, with hundreds of customers signing for installation of photovoltaic cells. So Portland is experiencing a huge penetration of solar power at very reasonable costs thanks to economies of scale…

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Avista reaches settlement with stakeholders in latest rate case

Spokane-based Avista Corp., which provides electric and natural gas service to much of northern Idaho, has joined the staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in asking the Commission to approve a rate case settlement agreement that could mean higher rates – though not as high as the utility first sought.

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Regulators weigh utilities’ efficiency targets in Washington state

Following a lengthy process, the Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission approved PacifiCorp’s and Avista Utilities’ targets for meeting the energy efficiency provisions of the state’s clean energy law. Initiative 937 requires the state’s major electric utilities to capture all of the cost-effective conservation in their service territories beginning in 2010.

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Working Snake River project seeks broad involvement, political leadership to protect Northwest wild salmon

Working Snake River for Washington, a collaboration of clean energy proponents, conservationists, salmon and orca advocates, commercial and recreational fishermen, farmers and businesses, is a response to the government’s two-decade, multi-billion-dollar failure to craft a lawful, science-based federal plan that protects the Columbia Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead.

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