In the Rockies today, Wyoming water and Montana power are in the news.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's analysis of Aaron Million's plan to pipe water from Wyoming's Green River basin to Colorado's Front Range cities indicates that Million's assessment of water resources is about 85,000 acre feet off the mark.
Million's proposal would ship 225,000 acre feet to Colorado's Front Range and 25,000 acre feet to eastern Wyoming, but Bureau of Reclamation officials said its preliminary study done in 2007 in response to Million's proposal found that only 165,000 acre feet of water was truly available.
In Montana, developers of small, renewable energy projects are blaming inconsistent action by the Public Service Commission for the state's inertia on green energy development.
Those developers point to Idaho, where 21 wind-power projects, as well as a half-dozen other small independent projects are already on the grid, as an example of what works to get small projects online.
Also in the news, Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power are pitching a couple of alternate routes for its Gateway West transmission project between Glenrock, Wyo., and Murphy, Idaho, and points west, as its original path was opposed by local residents and governments.
Rockies today
U.S. BuRec finds too little water for Wyo.-Colo. pipeline
The preliminary findings of a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation evaluation of developer Aaron Million's proposal to ship 250,000 acre feet of water a year from Wyoming's Green River basin to cities on Colorado's Front Range found that the basin's annual water availability fell about 85,000 acre feet short of what Million is proposing.
Deseret News (AP); Sept. 21
Green energy developers put off by Montana PSC inaction
Developers of small, renewable energy projects said the inability of the Montana Public Service Commission to put consistent standards in place and set timely rates is forcing developers to look elsewhere for sites for their projects.
Helena Independent Record; Sept. 21
-
Wind-power producers find more profit in Idaho
Wind-power producers say Idaho's set "wind-integration fee," which they must pay to offset the cost of adding their intermittent power to the grid, makes more sense than Montana's integration fee, which is negotiated on a project-by-project basis.
Helena Independent Record; Sept. 21
Wyoming may be site of nation's first commercial-scale CO2 storage project
A Wyoming coal plant owner and two partners have submitted an application to the Department of Energy to build the nation's first commercial-scale carbon-sequestration coal-fired power plant in Campbell County.
Casper Star-Tribune; Sept. 21
Utilities pitch new paths for Wyoming-Idaho transmission line
After local landowners and local governments opposed the original route of the proposed Gateway West transmission-line project, Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power submitted new possible routes for the $2 billion, 1,150-mile line that will originate in Glenrock, Wyo., and stretch across southern Wyoming and southern Idaho to a substation near Murphy, Idaho, and then onto other Western states.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); Sept. 20
Montana wildfire erupts, burns across another 1,500 acres
Gusty winds on Saturday breathed new life into the Kootenai Creek wildfire that has been burning in Montana's Bitterroot Mountains since July 12, driving the wildfire across another 1,500 acres and raising concerns of area residents, some of whom criticized the U.S. Forest Service's decision to allow the wildfire to burn.
Ravalli Republic; Sept. 21
Light-rail project in Phoenix outshines predictions
The 20-mile stretch of light-rail passenger service that central Phoenix to Mesa and Tempe has been heavily criticized as a billion-dollar boondoggle, but nearly 10 months after it began running, rider numbers are higher than predicted and downtown Phoenix is a bright spot in an economically pummeled city.
New York Times; Sept. 20
Opinion
With numbers in hand, Alberta must protect grizzly bears
In 2002, when the Alberta government's Endangered Species Conservation Committee believed there were about 1,000 grizzly bears, that panel advised the provincial government to protect the species, and now that a five-year DNA study has indicated there are only about 581 big bruins in the province, there is no doubt the species deserves federal protection.
Calgary Herald; Sept. 20
Obama avoids pitfalls of previous Democratic presidents on Western issues
When Jimmy Carter first became president, he took aim at killing Western water projects, and when Bill Clinton took the nation's helm, he sought reform of the nation's grazing and mining laws, but President Barack Obama hasn't thus far made similar assaults on the West's resources. An analysis.
Idaho Statesman; Sept. 20
Guest column:
Health care reform a test of Americans' commitment
The ability, or inability, of Americans to confront and reform the nation's health care system is an indication to citizens' willingness to again embrace the innovation that has always driven our nation. A guest column by former Montana U.S. Rep. Pat Williams.
Headwaters News; Sept. 21
Beyond the region
Prescribed burn in Washington state national forest at 4,500 acres
The prescribed burn in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state that was ignited Tuesday was notable not only for its size--4,500 acres--but also for its timing, done in September, a month when natural fires normally take place.
Yakima Herald-Republic; Sept. 21
Company pulls the plug on proposed Mojave Desert solar plant
BrightSource Energy Inc. announced that it would find a new location for its 5,130-acre solar power plant other than a valley in the Mojave Desert that had been donated to the Interior Department by the Wildlands Conservancy during the Clinton administration, with promises from that administration that it would be protected in perpetuity, but was opened up for solar development by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
New York Times; Sept. 21
California's unemployment rate highest in nearly 7 decades
In August, California's unemployment rate climbed to 12.2 percent, the highest reported in nearly 70 years, with only Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island reporting higher jobless numbers.
New York Times; Sept. 19
|
