Researchers from California and Hawaii have analyzed 25 factors and developed a map that reflects the relative cumulative magnitude of their effects on the waters extending for about 250-350 miles off the shores of Washington, Oregon, California, and the Baja Peninsula.
The Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources is inviting applications for its Puget Sound Institute, a nine-day journey in July 2009 through parts of northwest Washington that will examine a variety of newsworthy topics.
"Rows of tall turbines have already remade the landscape on wheat farms and ridgelines on private land around the region. But so far there have been no wind farms built on public land in the Northwest. That's about to change."
"Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday ordered [Washington] state to reach agreement with its single largest polluter to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by half over the next 15 years."
"Federal officials, who have spent much of the last decade 'avoiding their obligations under the Endangered Species Act,' need a contingency plan to save the endangered fish, the judge says."
Topics include regional challenges in forecasting, including tropical, severe weather, lake effect, mountain and winter weather. Also planned: a day trip to the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, WA.
An "eco-friendly" developer in Sweet Home, Oregon, has brought "a nightmare of garbage-dumping fines from state environmental regulators, an asbestos investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an investigation by Oregon charities regulators, and numerous civil lawsuits from angry creditors."
Seattle Times lets the cat out of the bag with an April 7, 2009, story describing the secret agreement between the administration of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Canada-based TransAlta.
The Western Governors' Association and the US DOE begin Phase 1 of a 4-phase process, with initial designation of suitable zones for renewable power generation in the western US, Canada, and Mexico.