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The Gravy Train to nowhere?

Posted Thu, Dec 4, 6 a.m.

With Obama's new New Deal gaining momentum, let's remain skeptical of big projects that are touted as economic saviors. States like ours may be desperate, but a boondoggle is still a boondoggle.

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Seattle's recycling program runs into plunging prices

Posted Wed, Nov 26, 6 a.m.

When world prices for metals and paper were riding high, Seattle had a little gold mine shipping out its recyclables. Then the prices sank by as much as 75 percent. Gold mine became a black hole.

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A court blocks an Arctic Ocean drilling plan by Shell

Posted Mon, Nov 24, 11 a.m.

A coalition of environmental groups just won a court decision, blocking Shell from drilling exploration wells in the Beaufort Sea. The ruling bears on the impacts of noise on bowhead whales.

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Voters in one county reject Puget Sound Energy

Posted Thu, Nov 6, 9:11 a.m.

The Jefferson County Public Utility District appears to be the only winner among three populist campaigns to take over now-private electric services.

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Voters might pull the plug on Puget Sound Energy

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 7:35 p.m.

In light of PSE's acquisition by an overseas holding company, residents of Skagit and Jefferson counties and Whidbey Island will decide next week whether to form their own public utility districts.

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Life is an electric highway

Posted Mon, Oct 20, 7:46 p.m.

At $109,000, it's not for everyone. But it's cutting the edge, it's fast, and you can get a sales-tax exemption if you buy a Tesla Roadster.

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'Zero net energy' homes: an experiment in Issaquah

Posted Wed, Oct 8, 2 a.m.

A Seattle-area developer and local governments have teamed up to build townhouses that, in theory, will give back more energy than they use. Will that work? It will depend in part on who lives in them.

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LEED-ing the way to sustainability

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 5 a.m.

It seems like every month, a new trend or concept emerges in Seattle's green scene. But what does Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design have to do with the building boom in Seattle, and how does it work? Consider this the everyman's guide to the LEED process.

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The future of 'nowhere'

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 5 a.m.

Urban planners love to hate the suburbs, but what's going to become of them? Will Bellevue eventually become a post-carbon ghost town or a new urban hybrid? Some reflections on the urban/suburban debate.

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Locals are in revolt against Puget Sound Energy

Posted Mon, Aug 4, midnight

With Washington's biggest utility about to be bought by foreigners, public power advocates in four counties are hoping to switch their portions of the grid to local control. Voters will decide in November.

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Gauging the biofuels backlash

Posted Sun, Jul 13, 8 p.m.

Some would have you believe that making fuels from crops and other biomatter is responsible for food shortages. Probably not, but there are legitimate questions about the net gain — is there one? — of producing and using biofuel versus conventional petroleum.

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What's wrong with this carbon footprint?

Posted Fri, May 30, midnight

It was, the Brookings Institution admitted, a flawed study. But it's the best data we have on the impact of urban areas on climate. This business of quantifying carbon emissions is as complicated as technological urban life itself.

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Seattle's water is Bellingham's wishful drinking

Posted Tue, May 27, 5 a.m.

Motorboats, dogs, people — they're all in it up in Whatcom County. Now the state of Washington is cracking down.

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Love the warrior but hate the war, and other weekend ruminations

Posted Fri, May 23, 4 p.m.

Also: Whom to blame for gas prices, kudos for the schools supe, Sound Transit's latest audit, and polygamy's free pass.

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A rebirth of architectural activism

Posted Sun, May 18, 8 p.m.

Red balloons and hot dogs help in a University of Washington grad student's fight to save the Nuclear Reactor Building. Plus: Honors for the state's historic preservationists.

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Spin the bottle: The climate-action mayor misses the point on drinking water

Posted Thu, May 15, 5 a.m.

Seattle's tap water is the "gold standard," says Greg Nickels. Really? No, not really. It could be a lot better.

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Another Teton Dam

Posted Sat, May 10, midnight

The golden age of dam building has long since passed, capped by the tragic failure in 1976 of the last big dam, an earthen structure on the Teton River of Idaho. Few new dam projects are being proposed these days, and many dams are being purposefully breached. But that hasn't stopped some from resurrecting the possibility of a new Teton Dam.

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The city's own series of tubes

Posted Wed, May 7, 5 a.m.

Would municipal broadband service for all residents be better and cheaper than what the free market is providing now? Seattle City Hall wants to find out.

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Did I assassinate Garfield?

Posted Thu, Apr 17, midnight

When it comes to pissing off rural America, I think I'm one up on Barack Obama.

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Cool ideas for doomsday

Posted Thu, Apr 3, 5 a.m.

While global warming is producing an Arctic land rush, climate change could also result in the far north becoming humanity's ark.

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Other media

Europe running out of gas The spat between Russia and the Ukraine over natural gas leaves European nations with little to burn as winter cold sets in.

Got wind, please send power lines, says Montana Some worry that a vast expansion of transmission lines to the sunny West could end up producing a boom in coal-powered utilities.

Federal gas tax boost: an idea whose time has come? It's only been proposed since 1980, but now the political planets seem to be lining up.

The Green New Deal starts to make economic sense States like Michigan, desperate to spur economic growth, are looking seriously at retooling America with green collar jobs. But will Obama oblige?

Get ready for wireless electricity A new technology might enable you to recharge laptops and other electronic devices without cords.

Blog posts

Coal ash for a Christmas gift in Tennessee

Posted Sat, Dec 27, 5 p.m. 2008

The clean coal debate just got a new twist, after a dam holding an ashy sludge breaks in Appalachia.

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Washington Hall and Nuke Building updates

Posted Tue, Nov 18, 10:53 p.m. 2008

There's progress to report on efforts to save two Seattle landmarks.

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A better idea for Detroit

Posted Sat, Nov 15, 3:18 p.m. 2008

Don't bail the automakers out, and don't bankrupt them. Use the government's purchasing power to transform them to the green economy.

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Dam big science

Posted Thu, Nov 6, 12:36 p.m. 2008

Scientists take a pulse before Elwha dam removal.

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The Nuke Building could get nuked

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 5 p.m. 2008

You may have read in late August that Hanford's B reactor was granted National landmark status by the U.S government. The B reactor was the world's first full-scale nuclear reactor and it helped drive the famed Manhattan Project. It produced the plutonium used for the first atomic test blast and for the bomb the U.S. dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The deserved designation offers a hook to check on what's going on with the University of Washington's own historic Nuclear Reactor Building (More Hall Annex) in Seattle. It was slated for demolition this summer while it was also up for national register consideration. So, what happened?

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Why Palin, why now

Posted Fri, Aug 29, 10 a.m. 2008

Everyone's trying to figure out whether or not Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's pick for vice presidential running mate, has experience. As far as election strategy goes, it doesn't matter that Palin has little experience. Sen. John Kerry had far more experience and was several times smarter than President Bush, but in the 2004 debates, Bush behaved like an idiot child kicking sand, Kerry responded with intelligent remarks, and the voters picked Bush anyway. With Palin, McCain is going after two things simultaneously: 1) the feminist-minded voters still pissed that Obama beat Clinton and 2) the independents who don't see themselves in either party.

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Sausage Links, money for nothing edition

Posted Fri, Aug 8, 12:15 p.m. 2008

Was the latest Elway poll a little off? Released Monday, Aug. 4, the poll showed Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire leading Republican challenger Dino Rossi by a whopping 16 points. Today, Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly says Elway "may be wrong." Meanwhile, both candidates are still sparring over Gregoire's recent accusations of racism in a Republican attack ad. Rossi, however, has responded by saying: How could the ads be racist? I'm part Native American myself. ...

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Land rush on top of the world

Posted Thu, Aug 7, 5:21 a.m. 2008

The search for the Northwest Passage spurred the European exploration of the Pacific Northwest. With global warming, Arctic land claims are heating up as the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Russia, Iceland and Norway vie for sea lanes, the seabed and once ice-bound islands. Finally, there's a great visual to sort out these competing claims.

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Sausage Links, row, row, row your boat edition

Posted Fri, Jul 25, noon 2008

Gov. Chris Gregoire spent yesterday on Puget Sound, touting her environmental record while bashing her Republican opponent, Dino Rossi. Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly rode along (you can even see him to the left of Gregoire in the Everett Herald's photo of the boat tour), but remained unconvinced of her ability to connect with voters. Here's Sound Politics' take on the story. ...

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Sausage Links, cats, bats, and politicians edition

Posted Tue, Jul 22, 2:07 p.m. 2008

Remember when everyone thought Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner wasn't going to get extra money from the party to beat U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn? Well, think again. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has "reserved $949,000 of air time to boost Burner's campaign." Here's the reaction from the right-wingers at Sound Politics. ...

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