Wind farms

In California, green energy enthusiasts are finding themselves pitted against endangered species advocates as environmental hurdles get in the way of the state’s renewable energy goals. It's happened elswhere in the West as well, and expect more of the same, as pressure builds to produce to produce more alternative energy.

The Los Angeles Times reports that as companies race to finalize permits and break ground by the end of next year on solar energy projects, the presence of sensitive habitat, rare plants and endangered creatures threatens to  slow or stop  some of the projects closest to securing permits.

"The development of solar-power facilities in the desert has been a top priority of the Obama administration as it seeks to ease the nation's dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming. In addition, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged that the state meet one-third of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2020.

Companies are racing to finalize their permits and break ground by the end of next year, which would qualify them to obtain some of the $15 billion in federal stimulus funds designated for renewable energy projects.

Timber companies and their unemployed workers are going green -renewable energy green - as the timber industry in Washington state continues to wither and die. Alternative energy projects involving wind and solar power, and some just plain alternatives - like producing products used in toothpaste and ice cream - are coming out of the companies that once pumped out logs, reports Arla Shepherd in High Country News.

Projects include participation in the largest solar plant ever proposed in the Northwest, the 400,000 photovoltaic panel Teanaway Solar Reserve in Kittitas County. Timber company American Forest Land Co. is leasing the project 400 acres of clear-cut land near Cle Elum, Wa. InvestigateWest also wrote about the Teanaway Researve in July.

"Since 2001, 16 wind projects -- totaling nearly 1,600 megawatts -- have sprung up in the state, which now ranks fifth in the nation for wind capacity. On Earth Day this year, Gov. Chris Gregoire authorized two pilot projects in eastern and western Washington that would experiment with converting wood waste into energy. And in the lower Kittitas Valley, Puget Sound Energy operates a small-scale solar project -- 500 kilowatts from 3,000 panels -- which has demonstrated that solar can work just fine even in the relatively cloudy Northwest.

-- Rita Hibbard

Plans to expand a proposed 42-turbine wind farm onto state land have been shot down by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) because the area is home to the endangered spotted owl, reports Kathie Durbin of The Columbian.

SDS Lumber Company had considered leasing the forested land for possible expansion of their Whistling Ridge Energy Project in southwest Washington, but withdrew because of concerns over endangered species in the area, a DNR spokesman said. The controversial land is prime spotted owl habitat and the DNR is federally required to treat it as such.

A similar story was making headlines last month, InvestigateWest noted, when the presence of the endangered marbled murrelet complicated plans for a 32-turbine wind mill, also in southwest Washington. Towers in the Radar Ridge project would stand directly in the shorebird's flight path between ocean feeding grounds and the only remaining nesting site in the area. Not unlike the Whistling Ridge project, the land is owned by the state Department of Natural Resources, and is leased to Energy Northwest, a public power developer.

Both cases highlight Washington power companies' struggle to comply with I-937, a state initiative that requires large energy companies to obtain 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources, such as wind. The initiative, intended to to help wean the state off fossil fuels and turn to green energy, has stirred up debate as to just how "green" wind power can be -- if winged wildlife are harmed in the process.