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Towns could save themselves from wildfire — if they knew about this money
PACKWOOD, Wash. — Last year, Don Pratt fled from his home as a wildfire swept down the mountainside here in Washington’s Cascade Range. “Heading out, I thought it was the last time I was going to see the house,” he said. As residents evacuated and smoke engulfed the small mountain community, fire crews with bulldozers […]
Tech breakthrough could boost states’ use of geothermal power
Lawmakers in some states have been laying the groundwork to add geothermal power to the electrical grid and pump underground heat into buildings. Now, a technological breakthrough could dramatically expand those ambitions — and perhaps unleash a new wave of policies to tap into geothermal sources. Last month, a company announced the successful demonstration in the West of […]
‘This is the existential crisis’: A push for climate change education
When wildfires and smoke swept through Oregon in 2020, Lyra Johnson’s family made plans to evacuate their home near Portland. Johnson, then 14, was told she might have to quickly learn to drive — despite not having a license — in order to get her grandmother to safety. Thankfully, the danger passed before Johnson was […]
State wildlife agencies focus on ‘hook and bullet’ work. Some see a new path.
SEATTLE — The Cascade red fox, which lives high in the mountains of Washington state, is struggling to survive. State wildlife managers want to send researchers into the field to find out why. They’re also aiming to vaccinate pygmy rabbits against a deadly virus, restore habitat to support the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly and establish new […]
West warms to geothermal energy as a path to clean power goals
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY, Colo. — In Colorado’s quest to transition to renewable energy, the state’s leaders want to take an old-school approach: Drill, baby, drill. They won’t be prospecting for oil, though, but instead mining the Earth’s underground heat to power geothermal electricity plants. Other Western states are paying close attention. “Anything we can […]