Post by: scottr on February 05, 2013, 04:34:07 PM
Snohomish PUD has proposed placement of a hydroelectric dam on the South Fork of the Skykomish River near Sunset Falls. If you have ever traveled along Highway 2 or fished the upper Sky you know what a travesty damming this section of the river would be. According to estimates this dam would add about 1% to SnoPUDs total capacity. We already have too many dams and wind factories in this state. We should focus on energy conservation or sell a little less to California before we dam another river.
Please sign the petition here and share this with your fishing buddies.
http://www.savetheskyriver.org/ (http://www.savetheskyriver.org/)
From the web site of the conservation group fighting this proposal
Quote
In Sept., 2011, Snohomish County Public Utility District submitted a preliminary permit application (FERC P-14295) to build a large scale hydroelectric project near Sunset Falls on the South Fork of The Skykomish River. The proposed project is directly below the popular trails leading to Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls. A proposed low head dam would divert water from the river above Sunset Falls. The proposed project is in conflict with with the Washington State Renewable Energy Standards and voter approved 1-937 mandates which exclude new fresh water dams from renewable energy credits.
Post by: ML_Hunter on February 06, 2013, 12:36:37 AM
Fact is, we NEED more electric power, we NEED more fuel.
Without these two amenities, our country might as well be a third world country. So as demand grows for electric power, our power providers need to look for new areas to harness more power.
Yes we can conserve but that will only take us so far, and with our growing population, we are still in need of more energy.
I am not for more dams, I highly against the way natural gasses are collected, I am not a huge fan of coal mining...I think you get the picture here (although I am for wind energy :chuckle:). But we need the energy, so we must compromise...
Post by: scottr on February 06, 2013, 05:53:47 PM
We've lost tens of thousands of prime hunting shrub steppe habitat in this state to wind factories. We're spending billions to move fish up and down the Columbia. We should not build another dam or wind factory until we have exhausted all other conservation options. Right now we're like the guy that bitches about not having enough money but still goes out to dinner 3 times a week and buys what ever he wants. Wasteful energy consumption needs to be curbed before we take more Washington wildlife habitat out of production to feed California and Nevada's electricity appetite.
Post by: ML_Hunter on February 06, 2013, 07:14:45 PM
Post by: scottr on September 04, 2013, 11:25:43 PM
http://www.nwcouncil.org/fw/program/2013amend/comment-form (http://www.nwcouncil.org/fw/program/2013amend/comment-form)
Post by: Hermit on September 13, 2013, 06:02:46 PM
Post by: huntnphool on September 13, 2013, 06:18:09 PM
It's not the 1940's. There are viabile alternative sources of power.Just out of curiosity what are they?
Post by: WildlifeAssassin on September 15, 2013, 08:15:33 AM
Post by: Special T on September 15, 2013, 08:30:35 AM
Alternative sources of energy are mostly useful for Specific locations for specific reasons. Many people now using wind, solar, and mini hydro do so because they suffer a specific hurdle. Usually that hurdle is the cost of hooking up to the grid making the drawbacks of alternative energy more palatable. Our Homes are a huge power drain, not matter how "efficient" they are made. IMO this is mostly a design and social issue how we see a home. Earth sheltered homes & straw bail hay construction are just a couple of the out of the box ways of thinking that help solve this problem. Unfortunately they do not fit into the mental picture of what we think of as a home.
Post by: Stump on September 15, 2013, 09:06:39 AM
Post by: Elkaholic daWg on September 15, 2013, 09:17:40 AM
Post by: jnevs23 on September 15, 2013, 12:57:00 PM
Post by: splitshot on September 15, 2013, 12:59:50 PM
Post by: Knocker of rocks on September 15, 2013, 01:07:50 PM
Too bad the same type of folks who are against this, were also fighting tooth and nail to stop construction of Nuclear facilities ( the second cheapest way to produce electricity) 30-40 years ago. This state had 5 under construction, only finished 1, and abandoned 2 that were 80% complete. As for this weir dam I'm not sold on fighting it as I find NIMBY's quite annoying!
The understanding of neo tectonics has changed so remarkably in the last thirty years that even if they had been completed, all the Satsop site facilities may have been closed by this time, because even those like Roland Tabor did not recognize the likelyhood of magnitude 9 earthquakes in SW Washington.
The true cost of power generation is always hard to fully amortize. Especially with nuclear, we still cannot say that we know or have a plan to handle the wastes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#US_Department_of_Energy_estimates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#US_Department_of_Energy_estimates)