December 4, 2001

Environmental Watch: Big Kennewick wind project gets OK

KENNEWICK -- A wind energy developer has received approval to begin construction of a 48-megawatt wind plant in south-central Washington state.

The Nine Canyon Wind Project near Kennewick will be the largest U.S. wind project that is owned by public utilities. Energy Northwest, a public power agency made up of 16 public utilities in Washington, recently completed a $70.675 million bond sale to finance the project.

Formerly the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), Energy Northwest last issued such bonds 20 years ago to finance the WNP-4 and -5 nuclear plants, which were later cancelled after a bond default debacle. It currently operates one nuclear plant and one hydroelectric facility.

RES Inc., U.S. subsidiary of the United Kingdom's Renewable Energy Systems Limited, has been awarded the contract to build the wind plant.

The Nine Canyon Wind Project will comprise 37 1.3-megawatt wind turbines. With an anticipated federal rebate of 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, it will generate power at a cost of 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Nine of the Energy Northwest member utilities, mostly public utility districts in Eastern Washington, will buy power from the project.

WEC names environment heroes

SEATTLE -- The Washington Environmental Council has honored five people with "Environmental Hero" awards for 2001.

The winners are Bill Bidstrup of Colville, who scrutinized Department of Natural Resources logging practices; Polly Dyer of Seattle, an activist for protection of wild lands; Linda Marrom and Jamie Berg of Bellingham, for protection of the Lake Whatcom watershed from logging; and Helen Reddout of Yakima, who has worked to force dairy farms to better handle their waste.

The Washington Environmental Council is a statewide group working to protect Washington's environment and natural heritage.

Forum for businesses on cutting waste

RENTON -- The Waste Information Network will present a forum on reducing hazardous waste costs for business by reducing waste generation.

"Save Money, Reduce Risks, Get Answers: Cut Hazardous Waster Burdens through Energy, Water and Waste Reduction" will provide case studies on reducing business costs due to waste. The workshop will also discuss sources of low-cost financial and technical assistance.

The program will be presented 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, at Renton Technical College, Room H102, 3000 N.E. Fourth St. in Renton.

Call (206) 352-2050 for more information.

Cleaner air blows ethanol away

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) -- Klamath Falls has kicked the gasohol habit.

The town has officially attained federal air quality standards for carbon monoxide, which means gas stations no longer have to comply with a state requirement to sell oxygenated fuel during winter months.

For the past nine years, Klamath Falls service stations had to sell gasoline that was blended with cleaner-burning ethanol.

"Customers are a lot happier," said Terry Slade, president of May-Slade Oil Co. "The ethanol-based fuel decreases gas mileage up to four miles per gallon. Oxygenated fuel causes a lot of problems especially in older vehicles."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a carbon monoxide maintenance plan for Klamath Falls, which includes monitoring of carbon monoxide levels for the next 15 years. The plan, which also discontinues the requirement for oxygenated fuels, took effect Nov. 19.

The oxygenated-fuel season ran Nov. 1 through March 1 each winter, beginning in 1992.

Oxygenated fuel is gasoline blended with additives that contain extra oxygen. The additional oxygen promotes more efficient combustion, which reduces tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide. The blend sold in Oregon also contains ethanol. In other areas, the chemical additive MTBE was used.

Tacoma trash-to-energy plant shut down

TACOMA (AP) -- A garbage-burning electricity generator is being shut down, partly because it is too costly to run under recently imposed state restrictions, city officials say.

Twenty-two workers at the Tideflats steam plant run by NRG Energy under a city contract were given pink slips, and the plant will close Dec. 14, said city spokeswoman Linda Farmer.

Nine other employees, including managers, will remain to perform maintenance and work on regulatory permits.

A number of problems developed in recent months, officials said.

In September, state officials refused to grant permission for continued burning of asphalt roof shingles and waste oil, which had been allowed under a temporary permit during the energy crisis. That left only the more expensive options of coal, wood waste and trash.

Also, Electricity prices on the open market have dropped dramatically, and the plant's main customer, Pioneer Chlor Alkali, stopped buying in October.

The plant was built as a coal-fired generator in 1931, was converted to oil in 1949 and was converted to burn garbage by Tacoma City Light, now Tacoma Power, after a waste-to-energy plan by Energy Products of Idaho collapsed in 1986.

The operation has lost $1.8 million this year and $370,000 last year. City officials hope to restart it by April if the state ruling is overturned on appeal.

Sandy Howard, a state Ecology Department spokeswoman, blamed the closure on economic rather than regulatory factors.

"The plant is not the cheapest way to produce power," Howard said. "No matter what the market does, we have the same rules."

Feds want tiny rabbits listed under ESA

EPHRATA, Grant County (AP) -- The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is nearing extinction and should receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

There are fewer than 50 of the one-pound rabbits -- the smallest of the species in North America -- in Douglas County in central Washington.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has given emergency protection to the rabbit for 240 days and is proposing it be classified as endangered.

The pygmy rabbit population has been hurt by losses of sagebrush habitat and genetic diversity and by disease and predators, the service said last week.

"The number of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits in Washington has declined dramatically over the past decade," said Anne Badgley, regional director of the service in Portland.

"This distinct population of pygmy rabbits is extremely vulnerable to a variety of natural- and human-caused threats, and today's emergency rule provides immediate protection while we go through the normal process of proposing the population for listing."

The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is a distinct population of native rabbit that once occupied Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, Adams and Benton counties.

Pygmy live in other areas of the West, but the Columbia Basin population is genetically unique, has been isolated from other populations for thousands of years and occupies an unusual ecological setting.

Although rabbits have a reputation for rapid reproduction, new data suggest that pygmy rabbits may not reproduce at the rate of other rabbits and hares.

Last spring, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife began a captive breeding program for the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit so that captive-bred animals could be released into the wild.

So far, 12 pygmy rabbits have been captured for breeding, and five baby rabbits -- conceived in the wild -- have been born.

The state of Washington has listed the pygmy rabbit as endangered under state law.