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Alliance Membership
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| Wednesday, April 28, 2010 |
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| Tuesday, April 20, 2010 |
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April 20 2010 Energy Update: Electric Rate News, Boise Climate Group Returns
By Liz Woodruff @ 4:49 PM :: 186 Views :: Idaho Energy Updates
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Idaho Power is asking the Public Utilities Commission to reduce customer rates by a combined $58 million, although unrelated filings for small rate increases will reduce the monthly bill reduction. Meanwhile, Avista Utilities filed another rate case with the PUC – this one for a hefty 14 percent hike and sure to spark more grumbling from north Idaho customers who objected to last year’s big increase. Idaho Power has also settled on a preferred route for the controversial Boardman-Hemingway transmission line. And the Boise Climate Protection Advisory Committee is resuming its meetings Wednesday after a hiatus of nearly two years.
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| Thursday, April 08, 2010 |
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Challenge a Nuclear Nation--DC Days Update
By Liz Woodruff @ 3:17 PM :: 526 Views :: Action Alert!
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The
nuclear debate in the United States is heating up, and there is real
danger that US officialdom will make choices that put at risk any
present hope for a nuclear-free future. The Snake River Alliance joined
fellow activists from across the country and met with Washington, DC,
decision-makers to try to stop bailouts for nuclear power and an
expanded US capacity to develop new or more nuclear weapons, which
undermines the goals of arms treaties. We also met with the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, a “regulator” that seems committed to greasing
the skids for all things nuclear.
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| Thursday, April 08, 2010 |
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Elmore County Comp Plan Decision Still a Red Light for AEHI
By Liz Woodruff @ 2:11 PM :: 416 Views :: SRA News Releases
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Elmore County Comp Plan Decision Still a Red Light for AEHI
Mountain Home, ID: On March 24, the Elmore County Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing to take comments on proposed language that would amend the county’s comprehensive plan to allow heavy industry to locate in areas other than the Simco Road district of the county. The commission voted 4-2 to amend the comprehensive plan to allow for further heavy industry. That recommendation will now go before the County Commission. The Board of Commissioners can accept or reject that recommendation, hold additional hearings, or adjust the proposed language.
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| Tuesday, March 09, 2010 |
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Feb 8 ID Energy Update: Carbon-Fighting Activists Honored, Efficiency Grants, Landfill Gas to Power
By Liz Woodruff @ 11:18 AM :: 249 Views :: Clean and Renewable Energy, Idaho Energy Updates
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Activists who led a successful Idaho Power shareholder resolution directing the company to reduce its carbon emissions were recognized by one of the nation’s leading climate change business journals. Also, free events are coming to discuss how energy developments impact wildlife, and also a celebration of our wild salmon. And a Kootenai cooperative utility plans to tap a landfill as a new source of electricity, while the Office of Energy Resources has awarded another round of energy efficiency grants to 11 local government entities. And we have the latest list of energy legislation in the Idaho Legislature.
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| Thursday, March 04, 2010 |
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AEHI and Nuclear Energy in Idaho: Still a Crazy Idea
By Liz Woodruff @ 1:25 PM :: 727 Views :: Action Alert!
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AEHI is continuing to advance their ill-conceived reactor proposal in both Elmore and Payette counties, and the Alliance continues to monitor the situation in both of these communities by staying in touch with community members and planning staff, testifying at hearings, and releasing information to the media to challenge AEHI’s claims about their proposal and nuclear power in general.
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| Thursday, March 04, 2010 |
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Don’t Bet the Farm: Tripling Nuclear Power Bailouts Triples the Risk and the Waste
By Liz Woodruff @ 1:20 PM :: 572 Views :: Action Alert!
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Don’t Bet the Farm: Tripling Nuclear Power Bailouts Triples the Risk and the Waste
Last June, Moody's Investment Service called investing in new nuclear power a "bet the farm" risk.
If the federal government gets its way, that risk will soon triple and companies that want to build either nuclear reactors or uranium enrichments plants will be swimming in taxpayer dollars. At the beginning of February, the Obama administration asked Congress to triple the pot of money available for new nuclear reactors to $54.5 billion. Later in the month, President Obama announced the Energy Department’s intention to give Southern Company $8.3 billion for two new reactors in Georgia. On the uranium enrichment front, the Department of Energy says it intends triple money available to new uranium enrichment plants—to $6 billion—by transferring money now slated for mixed energy efficiency, renewable energy, and fossil fuel projects.
The entire nuclear bailout program poses enormous risk to U.S. taxpayers. A new nuclear reactor costs $10 billion, and that price tag is steadily rising. So a $54.4 billion pot is good for only about 5 new reactors. Although the loan guarantees supposedly are not direct taxpayer funding of private utility companies, the Congressional Budget Office has predicted that more than half of new reactor owners will default on their loan repayments based on the industry’s history of cost overruns and plant cancellations.
Closer to home, forcing U.S. taxpayers to underwrite loans to back new uranium enrichment plants such as the one French government-owned Areva wants to build in eastern Idaho would be extraordinarily risky and wasteful. First, though Areva is the largest nuclear supplies in the world, with 2006 sales of $14 billion, it is seriously overextended as it tries to position itself to grab the lion’s share of the nuclear renaissance, even as the renaissance has failed to appear. In fact, an Areva spokesperson acknowledged in November that without cheap capital from U.S. taxpayers, the company would simply return to France. Second, it’s likely that, with $6 billion in underwriting (Areva wants $2 billion), we’ll build more worldwide uranium enrichment capacity than would be needed even if requirements grow, too.
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| Tuesday, March 02, 2010 |
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3 2 10 Idaho Energy Update: Idaho Power Seeks Long Term Deal with Digester Power
By Liz Woodruff @ 5:41 PM :: 304 Views :: Clean and Renewable Energy, Idaho Energy Updates
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The Public Utilities Commission wants to hear from Idaho Power customers about the company’s plan to make its conservation cost recovery pilot program permanent. Idaho Power also wants the PUC to approve a contract to purchase power from an anaerobic digester near Twin Falls. Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain Power is asking the PUC to raise its energy efficiency surcharge to expand its energy-saving programs, and the eastern Idaho utility is also seeking a rate hike to reflect higher fuel costs. And we have the latest list of energy legislation in the Idaho Legislature.
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| Tuesday, February 23, 2010 |
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2 23 ID Energy Update: Geothermal News; PUC Reviews ID Power Bidding Procedures
By Liz Woodruff @ 11:47 AM :: 291 Views :: Clean and Renewable Energy, Idaho Energy Updates
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The Public Utilities Commission holds a workshop in Boise Thursday to discuss whether to create bidding guidelines for Idaho Power when the utility solicits bids for things like new generation plants. The PUC is acting in response to issues raised by unsuccessful bidders for the Langley Gulch natural gas plant after Idaho Power selected its own bid as the winner. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management holds a lease auction for 17 geothermal lease sites, including 10 in Idaho, in Salt Lake City today. And U.S. Geothermal reports work has begun on a federally funded “enhanced geothermal” research project at its Raft River site in southern Idaho. And we have the latest list of energy legislation in the Idaho Legislature.
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| Wednesday, February 17, 2010 |
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Feb 17 2010 ID Energy Update: Greening Idaho Cities, Energy Lobby Day and More!
By Liz Woodruff @ 4:32 PM :: 284 Views :: Clean and Renewable Energy, Idaho Energy Updates
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A growing number of Idaho cities are taking it on themselves to embrace new energy efficiency and renewable energy resources, sending signals that Idaho’s clean energy movement is percolating from the ground up. Read on for some promising initiatives reported in the past two weeks in Pocatello, Post Falls and Ketchum. Meanwhile, more than 30 citizen lobbyists filled the Idaho Statehouse Monday for the 2nd Clean Energy Lobby Day. You’ll also want to check out the NW Energy Coalition’s new “Efficiency Works” web site, a list of resources by Idaho Power to help those struggling with their electric bills, and news of Avista’s proposed increase in its conservation surcharge for natural gas customers. And we have the latest list of energy legislation in the Idaho Legislature.
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| Monday, February 08, 2010 |
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Feb 8 2010 Energy Update: PUC Accepts Avista Resource Plan; Idaho Power's is Next
By Liz Woodruff @ 4:17 PM :: 292 Views :: Idaho Energy Updates
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Idaho Power is holding public meetings this week to discuss its latest “Integrated Resource Plan,” which is pending before the Public Utilities Commission. The PUC also has accepted Avista Utilities’ 2009 IRP. And the NW Power and Conservation Council meets this week in Portland, where the four-state body is expected to act on the region’s Sixth Power Plan. And nearly a month into the Legislature, lawmakers have yet to take on significant energy legislation.
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| Wednesday, January 27, 2010 |
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Jan 27 ID Energy Update: Utilities to File Detailed Annual Conservation Reports
By Liz Woodruff @ 5:20 PM :: 349 Views :: Clean and Renewable Energy, Idaho Energy Updates
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Idaho Power and the Public Utilities Commission staff have come to terms on a process to screen energy efficiency measures to ensure they’re doing their jobs and that they’re cost-effective. Meanwhile, 13 lawmakers squeezed into Boise’s Red Feather Lounge this week for an Idaho Energy Collaborative luncheon to share ideas on possible energy legislation in the new 2010 session. Also, the Idaho Department of Labor announced the state has secured a $6 million grant to train workers in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other green vocations. And we've got a great new rap on Areva's uranium proposal for Idaho.
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| Friday, January 15, 2010 |
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1 15 Energy Update: Idaho Power Rate Moratorium, Energy Plan Report, AEHI, & Micron Goes Solar
By Liz Woodruff @ 5:37 PM :: 508 Views :: Clean and Renewable Energy, Bruneau nuclear reactor, Idaho Energy Updates
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The Idaho PUC accepts an unusual settlement between Idaho Power and several customer groups that sets a moratorium on future rate cases until 2012. Meanwhile, the PUC and the Office of Energy Resources file their report to the Legislature on how they believe they are implementing Idaho’s 2007 Energy Plan, and the Payette County Planning and Zoning Commission approves a change to the county’s comprehensive plan that could allow for an eventual rezoning of property as a step toward development of a nuclear reactor. Finally, Micron Technology signs a deal with an Australian firm to get into the solar PV manufacturing business at Micron’s Boise campus.
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Thanks to our members, major donors, and these foundations for making our work possible: Edwards Mother Earth, Bullitt, Lightfoot, Patagonia, and New Belgium Brewing.
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