Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Dam
On the last day of June, 2008, a surge of wind power caused a spike in the Northwest power grid, making the Bonneville Power Administration realize it could not handle such surges without spilling water that could be potentially dangerous to Columbia River salmon.
The BPA was “caught off guard” when an unexpected increase in wind power overloaded the regional grid. The Bonneville dam compensated by spilling water, keeping it from the hydropower generators. Generally, water is spilled to help juvenile salmon make their way downriver; however, excessive nitrogen, created when water plunging from the dams into the river becomes saturated with air (which is composed of 78% nitrogen), can be harmful to salmon. In this instance the BPA claimed the spill was not heavy enough to damage fish.
Indiana coal gasification plant
This is a 2544-ton-per-day coal gasification plant on the Wabash River in Indiana. (Photo: Department of Energy)
Our efforts to block the coal fired power plant in Kalama have been successful. In their meeting held on September 9, 2008, the State of Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council announced that The Pacific Mountain Energy Center in Kalama is being redesigned as the Kalama Energy Project. The newly renamed project will eliminate all the gasification facilities originally planned for the site and run exclusively on natural gas.
Solar energy
Advancement for solar energy was attained in 2005 by the State of Washington.
“This is the most important solar legislation ever introduced in any American state legislature.”
– Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day, former director of the federal Solar Energy Research Institute and current President of the Bullitt Foundation
Two bills — SB5101 and SB5111 — won overwhelming bipartisan support from lawmakers interested in growing solar manufacturing and installation within the state.
