Environment

Environment

September 28, 2016 - Workers with Zilla Rack install PV modules on two racks just north of the NREL parking garage. The first row modules are part of a project called the Regional Test Centers (RTCs), small demonstration systems for PV industry to help get some initial performance validation and bankability study from the national labs.. The PV modules in the second row are part of a new DOE program called PV Lifetime. The intent is to study with high accuracy the initial degradation of PV modules, and to make all of the data publicly available. (Photo by Dennis Schroeder / NREL)

How The U.S. Could Halve Climate Emissions By 2030

Next week, President Biden will announce a number that could shape the rest of his presidency: a new goal to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement marks the country’s renewed commitment to the Paris accord, the international climate change agreement that former President Trump withdrew from.

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File photo, March 2, 2020: Farmer Ben DuVal with his wife, Erika, and their daughters, Hannah, third from left, and Helena, fourth from left, stand near a canal for collecting run-off water near their property in Tulelake, Calif. Federal officials announced in April 2021 that farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project spanning the Oregon-California border will get 8% of the deliveries they need amid a severe drought. CREDIT: Gillian Flaccus/AP

Epic Drought Means Water Crisis For Parts Of The West Coast, Though Much Of Northwest Is OK

Hundreds of farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project that spans the Oregon-California border learned Wednesday they will get a tiny fraction of the water they need amid the worst drought in decades, as federal regulators attempt to balance the needs of agriculture against federally threatened and endangered fish species that are central to the heritage of several tribes.

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Rattlesnake Mountain on the Hanford Reach National Monument has restricted and protected access. It's considered a sacred site by Northwest tribes, including the Yakama Nation and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla. CREDIT ANNA KING/NW NEWS NETWORK

‘It’s Irreversible’: Goldendale Green Energy Project Highlights A History Of Native Dispossession

The Goldendale Energy Storage Project would be a solution to generate energy when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. But, to the Yakama Nation, the destruction of those sites would add another heartbreak to an ever-expanding list. Countless important cultural areas have faced destruction across the Northwest, largely because they’re not understood by non-tribal members.

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A hydrogen fuel cell electric bus on loan from SunLine Transit in Palm Springs was displayed at the Intercity Transit bus barn in Olympia on March 25, 2021. CREDIT: Tom Banse/N3

Interest In Hydrogen Fuel Grows Across The Northwest – And Tax Dollars Follow

More folks from Northwest government and industry are jumping on the hydrogen bandwagon to test if the alternative fuel could be a viable and green replacement for diesel and gasoline in some situations. The potential converts include more than half a dozen transit agencies from Everett to Eugene, state legislators and Boeing’s drone subsidiary in the Columbia River Gorge.

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A mass stranding of Velella velella at Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon, in 2015.

‘Blue Tides’ Of Sailor Jellies On Northwest Coast Correlate With Warmer Seas In Winter

New research out of the University of Washington finds a correlation between warmer ocean waters and mass strandings of By-the-wind sailor jellyfish over the past two decades. The brief, widespread beachings of “gazillions” of purplish-blue jellies along the Pacific Northwest coast create a memorable sight for those who chance to be in the right place at the right time.

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