Current Stories
Editor's Top Picks
Streetcars are our desires
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/03/2009
In Boise, a proposed $60 million trolley plan became a major theme of local elections Tuesday but also represents an American revival. Some 80 US cities have proposals for streetcars, which they hope will become engines for prosperity that will reduce congestion and air pollution by turning back the clock.
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Streetcars on the ballot amid trolley revival
Seattle Times
11/02/2009
A streetcar revival in American cities isn't just kicking up sparks from the tracks, they're flying down at city hall, too. In Idaho's capital, a proposed $60 million trolley plan has become a major theme of local elections Nov. 3.
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Idaho's 'smart meters' could cut energy use
Boise Idaho Statesman
10/29/2009
Smart meters being installed in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon will let homes and businesses see how energy they can save by turning off lights by checking usage before and after, or by measuring 'phantom loads' -- the electricity used by appliances, even when they are turned off.
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Western lawmakers collaborate on climate
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
10/27/2009
Lawmakers from many western states agreed Monday that they should consider collaborating on developing technology to capture and store the carbon gas that's generated from burning fossil fuels.
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Staging a nuclear comeback
Boise Idaho Statesman
10/25/2009
US nuclear power could be emerging from a long sleep sparked by the Three Mile Island reactor accident in 1979, widespread environmental concerns and soaring capital costs. The Idaho National Laboratory, the first to light a bulb with atomic power, stands to play a key role in that future.
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Views: A Tale of Two Rivers
Seattle Times
10/26/2009
Call it a tale of two rivers. On the one hand, there is the Klamath, where after decades of battling over water, salmon, jobs and livelihoods, stakeholders have come to an agreement to put the river and its communities on a path to recovery and remove four outdated dams. On the other hand, there is the Northwest's Columbia-Snake River basin.
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Idaho nursery gives forests a start
Seattle Times
10/21/2009
A Coeur d'Alene nursery is a genetic storehouse for Western forests. One of six nurseries in the national forest system, it grows seedlings that can be used to replenish woods wiped out by fires.
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Views: There's real power in energy conservation
Oregonian
10/18/2009
Right now, all most people want to talk about is the next great renewable energy source - wind farms, solar arrays, small-scale nuclear plants, even wave energy. Yet a proposed 20-year energy plan wisely doubles down on the Northwest's long history of conservation to meet 85 percent of the region's new demand for electricity.
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MT stops wolf hunt near Yellowstone
Seattle Times
10/13/2009
Montana wildlife commissioners shut down gray wolf hunting Tuesday in the backcountry adjacent to Yellowstone National Park after nine of the predators were killed there in recent weeks. Commissioners, however, kept the statewide kill quota at 75.
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Wolf quota eyed after nine shot near Yellowstone
Seattle Times
10/12/2009
Wildlife officials in Montana will consider changes to the state's inaugural wolf hunt after nine of the predators were shot in just three weeks along the border of Yellowstone National Park. All but two of the 11 wolves killed in Montana came from a small portion of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, along the northern border of Yellowstone.
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After hard times, Idaho town of Emmett reinvents itself
Boise Idaho Statesman
10/13/2009
When the mill closed, Emmett seemed destined to become a bedroom community. Even the mill closure failed to slow a steady population increase. Mill workers retrained for jobs elsewhere and became commuters. People from larger cities were drawn by Emmett's small-town charm. From2000 to 2008, its population grew from 5,490 to 6,357. Growth, however, did little to help the local businesses. Store after store went dark as commuters did their shopping in Boise and other Treasure Valley towns. Now, that appears to be changing.
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In BC, one less worry about health care
Boise Idaho Statesman
10/11/2009
In most respects, the residents of Creston, British Columbia - a rural farming community about 35 miles north of Bonners Ferry - are little different from their Idaho neighbors. One major difference, though, is they rarely seem to worry about how to pay for their health care needs.
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Could resource consolidation save states money?
Boise Idaho Statesman
10/12/2009
As part of a government reform initiative, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has released the results of a task force look at consolidating agencies that protect the environment, fish and wildlife and manage state-owned lands. Could Idaho learn something?
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Idaho is in energy-efficient building vanguard
Boise Idaho Statesman
10/08/2009
Idaho builders and officials are working together to ensure that new homes meet international energy-efficiency standards, experts say.
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Big Idaho land swap generates opposition
Oregon Public Broadcasting
10/06/2009
The US Forest Service and a Portland-based timber company are considering a large land swap in Idaho that would put nearly 40,000 acres of highly-valued forest in public hands and give the company dozens of smaller parcels. Some say it's a good deal. But opponents lament what the public would lose.
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Baby boomers head for the country
Oregonian
10/04/2009
Urban planners have until now assumed that retiring baby boomers will downsize to a high-rise and spend their days lapping lattes and taking the streetcar to the art museum. But new data from the US Department of Agriculture says baby boomers will head to the country in big numbers, in the Northwest changing the face of rural Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
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NW bike commuting rising, but still less than Europe
KUOW
10/01/2009
Census numbers that came out last week showed a big increase in bicycle commuting in the Northwest -- a point of pride for the region. But compared to Copenhagen, Denmark, how do we really stack up?
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Look to energy efficiency retrofits first
Oregonian
10/01/2009
The Pacific Northwest is primed to lead the development of green-collar jobs but should focus immediately on energy efficiency retrofits to homes and commercial buildings, according to a report released by Sightline Institute.
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Wolf hunting season expands in Idaho
Oregon Public Broadcasting
10/01/2009
Idaho's first ever wolf season has expanded to the entire state. During the first month, hunters in selected areas killed 16 wolves.
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Views: Can Boise afford not to build a streetcar?
Boise Idaho Statesman
09/30/2009
We need to get our economy back on track - on that everyone agrees. During these difficult times, government and business must work as partners to jump-start the essential, high-impact projects that will get our economy and our people moving again. For our community, that project is the Boise Streetcar System.
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Views: Grizzlies, back on the list
New York Times
09/28/2009
Last week, a federal district judge in Montana put the grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone National Park area back on the endangered species list. The ruling makes it clear that saving a species like the grizzly isn’t just a matter of counting bears. It is also a matter of saving habitat.
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Fewer NW commuters driving solo
Oregon Public Broadcasting
09/23/2009
New numbers from the US Census Bureau show gas prices and the recession are changing behavior even for the employed. Washington and Idaho had some of the highest increases in commuters switching to carpools or public transit.
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Idaho's changing climate
Boise Idaho Statesman
09/23/2009
Idaho fishermen, skiers, power companies, wine makers, river floaters - all have been affected by global warming in the past few decades.
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Views: Obama goes schizophrenic on salmon
Crosscut
09/23/2009
A recent opinion by the Obama administration factors in the effect of climate change on California salmon runs and the orcas that depend on them. So why is the one on the Columbia and Snake rivers so oblivious?
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Views: Columbia River salmon recovery to please a critic
Seattle Times
09/22/2009
The federal district judge who has twice rejected plans for salmon and steelhead recovery in the Columbia River Basin might find revisions by the Obama administration to his liking. No predicting his reaction, but it is time to put an improved plan to work.
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