By Don Jenkins, The Daily News Online
June 7, 2009
The boundary of Pacific County’s public utility district touches a source of clean and inexhaustible energy — the ocean. And PUD manager Doug Miller says he thinks it’s “highly likely” that someday the utility will plug into it.
“I’m excited,” he said. “It’s right here in our backyard.”
Spurred by a nationwide push to develop green energy, entrepreneurs and public utilities are scouting Washington’s coastline from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the mouth of the Columbia River for places to generate electricity by channeling the sea through turbines.
Ocean energy advocates say the sea’s reliability and proximity to coastal population centers provide a big benefit for a country trying to wean itself from fossil fuels. The ocean energy industry, however, is in its infancy and faces technical and environmental problems.
Critics warn that adding turbines to the ocean will bother salmon, migrating whales, boaters and fishermen. The president of the Columbia River Crab Fisherman’s Association, Dale Beasley, says crab pots, which can stray like cattle, won’t be able to coexist with turbines in turbulent seas. “I can’t even imagine how this could be compatible with our industry,” he said.
Meanwhile, environmental groups are torn: intrigued by the prospect of abundant green energy but leery about turning the sea into a power plant. And lawmakers, who are in position to make or break the fledgling form of energy, must balance the competing interests of their constituents.
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