Editor's Take: September 11, 2009
OregonDOT, Flickr.
On the Road to Solar
Power's coming from some unlikely places these days. An Idaho man is getting a vote of confidence -- and $100,000 -- from the US Department of Transportation for his vision of lining the nation's highways with solar panels. With the grant he's building a working model of the panels. In Bellingham, gases from dairy cow manure are being turned into fuel that could power buses.
Editor's Top Picks
Your editor today is Lisa Stiffler | View All Today's News
Idaho man gets federal money for vision of solar power
Boise Idaho Statesman
09/11/2009
Does an Idahoan have a pie in the sky idea, or a way to pave America's roads with green energy gold?
Go to article.
Tiny fish scores big win for endangered species
BC Local News
09/10/2009
A court ruling involving an obscure BC minnow is being hailed as a much broader legal victory that will force better protection of other endangered species.
Go to article.
Goal delayed to cut BC's greenhouse gases
Toronto Globe and Mail
09/10/2009
BC's Minister for Climate Action has granted the province's public sector an extra two years to meet carbon-emission targets. It's a dramatic departure from the policy enshrined in legislation in 2007.
Go to article.
US cap-and-trade bill popular with public
The Economist
09/10/2009
In August, a Zogby poll found that 71 percent of likely US voters support the Waxman-Markey bill, a proposal to create a cap-and-trade mechanism for carbon dioxide that cleared the House of Representatives in June. But the bill still faces an uphill climb in the Senate.
Go to article.
Wolves aren't making it easy for Idaho hunters
New York Times
09/10/2009
Hunting and killing are not the same thing. Even as Idaho has sold more than 14,000 wolf-hunting permits, the first 10 days of the first legal wolf hunt here in decades have yielded only three reported legal kills.
Go to article.
Ashland backs affordable, green housing
Ashland Daily Tidings
09/11/2009
A vote by Ashland city leaders to waive the fees for Verde Village, an affordable, green housing development, came this week despite warnings that a waiver could further strain the revenue-strapped city.
Go to article.
Dairy "cow power" to fuel Bellingham buses
Bellingham Herald
09/10/2009
Come next spring, Whatcom County residents could be riding a bus powered by cow manure, thanks to a $500,000 grant for Western Washington University's Vehicle Research Institute.
Go to article.
US poverty increases more in the West
Seattle Times
09/10/2009
A University of Washington researcher looking at new US Census data found that more than one in eight Americans were below the official poverty line, and poverty is growing slightly faster in the West than elsewhere in the country.
Go to article.
Low salmon returns could hurt BC grizzlies
CBC BC
09/10/2009
The collapse of some salmon stocks on the West Coast is raising concerns that BC's grizzly population may be going hungry just as the bears need to build up their weight for their winter hibernation.
Go to article.
MT gas station owner protests ethanol with corn patch
Missoulian
09/11/2009
Conoco owner Ross Grenfell of Hellgate, Montana, planted an 80-stock patch of corn on the corner of his gas station and auto shop this summer. He's protesting the state's pursuit of more ethanol in fuel -- a decision he sees as environmentally unsound.
Go to article.
