Mar. 12—The Washington state Legislature has made its first significant investment in nuclear energy generation in more than a decade. Before adjourning last week the Legislature unanimously passed a 2023-25 state supplemental capital budget that includes $25 million for Energy Northwest to continue its new nuclear development efforts. "This is a big moment for our region," said Rep. Stephanie ...
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Falling debris and dropped tools that landed in open and operating parts of Portland International Airport led to a brief shutdown in work on the massive main terminal renovation. No one was injured in any of the four incidents, spokesperson Allison Ferré said, and the areas were largely closed to passengers. But the Port of Portland, which operates the airport, halted construction for three ...
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek wants to scrap a plan to implement tolls on large sections of two Portland-area interstates, she said Monday. Kotek sent a letter to the Oregon Transportation Commission on Monday saying the Regional Mobility Pricing Project for Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 should be halted, KGW-TV reported. Kotek said in the letter that the “state’s path toward ...
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Mar. 11—President Biden signed a spending bill Saturday that includes a record annual budget of just over $3 billion for the Hanford nuclear site in Eastern Washington and averted a partial government shutdown that would have included the Department of Energy. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, advocated for the record Hanford budget. The money ...
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Mar. 10—The coho salmon has already conquered the Ballard Locks fish ladder, swum 17 miles through urban Seattle waterways and powered through a tunnel under nine lanes of Interstate 405. It faces a gantlet of pipes and concrete tunnels ahead, the legacy of human development over once-pristine habitat. Next up is a nearly 300-foot pipe beneath an indoor shooting range and a parking lot. If the ...
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Mar. 4—MOSES LAKE — Construction crews have started pouring the concrete slab on the second floor of the Samaritan Hospital. "This is your first concrete slab that's not on the ground," said Damon Gardella of the Klosh Group, part of the construction management team. Joe Kunkel, consultant on the hospital project, said Feb. 27 that the steel supports for all three floors should be installed by ...
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SEATTLE (AP) — A conservative-backed effort to repeal Washington state's landmark carbon pricing program and tax on the sale of stocks and bonds is putting the budget into limbo, with billions of dollars at stake and just days left in this year’s Legislative session. Lawmakers are scrambling to finalize a trio of statewide supplemental budgets that feature new investments in everything from ...
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Feb. 25—Developers of a huge wind farm proposed for construction near Anchorage say it could help provide a much-needed boost to the area's energy needs, and will be most productive when it's most needed, when temperatures drop and demand for energy soars. They say it could have provided 20% of the electricity used in the city during the recent extreme cold snap, reducing the strain on natural ...
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Feb. 25—New figures from the Don Young Port of Alaska show that unusually high amounts of cargo moved across the dock last year, a potential sign of growing activity in key economic sectors, port representatives said. A surge in cement shipments indicates a potential rise in construction activity while air cargo continues to soar at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, requiring ...
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration, leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes and the governors of Oregon and Washington celebrated on Friday as they signed papers formally launching a $1 billion plan to help recover depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. The plan, announced in December, stopped short of calling for the removal of four controversial dams on the Snake ...
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