Windmills could be the solution for our hatcheries. They could generate power for the pumps, lighting, and housing for the workers. The blades would serve to kill the coumorants that kill the smolts.
Could try this out at the Sol Duc and Bogey/Calawah hatcheries.

I've heard that they are going to install tidal turbines on Admiralty inlet. Might be a problem for the fish.

I suspect you will find a lot of folks who are heavy supporters of the oil and mining industries all of a sudden have a soft spot in their hearts for birds, when previously the only time they ever had a cogent thought about birds was whether to have their chicken fried or baked.

Fish on...

Todd

To simple...............probably work sooooooooooo.........bad idea!

Ok now time out guys. Your pitching garbage over the fence. Let us look at it this way.

Current technology in solar and wind whatever, driven by NOT large scale but home / small biz instalation. The minute it IS MANDANTORY TO DO with nation wide standards and incentives then the price will drop. As one guy said 10 factories will fire up in China and container ships would roll.

This is not a lib or conservative hang up but a political one driven by BOTH THE UGLY PARTIES. If you did what I mentioned you would have private and public power going nuts, oil companies, unions ( big time ) just about anything and any body involved in energy which is about a third of our economy.

It is doable but not with what exist in either party at the present. I think what this country faces for the first time in several generations is and absolute failure of leadership at both the national and state level.

We need to throw ALL the bums out and start over while we have time.

BTW, the remarks that wind turbines use too much land is disingenuous. Most wind farms are located on agricultural lands used to grow wheat, hay, or grazing. In the case of grazing lands, wind farms are a significant value-added asset to the land base. The land around the wind turbines continues to be used for the same agricultural use as before. The turbine towers have very small footprints for the amount of energy produced.

Why you hatin' on alternative energy Hank?

Sg

Yup know that but in most area require roads to each for construction & maintenance. No provision that the roads go away when towers are done so permanent damage. Birds big deal in places.

Being no one has brought it up. On a site I have lost track of a guy stated until we have uniform impact standards that keep all out of court then not much will happen. What he advocated was simple. A nation wide impact matrix that when alternate power ( or industry ) was sited numerical values be applied to each category of impacts. Stay below a certain level of impacts fast track. NO court challenges ( unless impact conditions were falsely identified ) but above your stopped and mitigation is not a method to avoid responsibility.

My first reaction was bull sh--, then I thought about it. Rough concept but if applied to say a coal fired plant bet many would have failed when you put land / air together. Interesting concept.

Oh yeah almost forgot. If you add the cost the US military maintaining sea lanes and other stuff and tacked this cost on to the price of a gallon gas so all could see what energy cost us, I think the price a gallon is about 6 bucks a gallon. ( could be off as it has been a while ). Not to even add in the billions that upend our balance of payments for all energy.

We are being sheltered and lied to every day by every politician from the Prez to whoever be it D or R as to the true cost of energy. No balls and a total lack of leadership.

Get rid of the whole damn bunch.

Rivrguy,

A very good point about impacts. Presently the Federal Power Act has been amended numerous times and incorporates a lot of protection and mitigation standards on hydropower that formerly were lacking. Every time an old hydro project is relicensed, it becomes greener than it was before, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skagit, Baker, and Cushman coming immediately to mind. This is not uniform among differing energy sources. Natural gas gets a pass for being clean burning, but isn't required to mitigate for CO2 or climate change impacts. Tidal energy is still trying to study its impacts, and is a long way from identifying appropriate mitigation measures. And of course the old standby, coal, has been getting a free ride forever in spite of scrubbers and air quality restrictions. Nationally and globally, coal generates the most while mitigating the least for its environmental effects.

For all the bad words we who fish have to say about hydro, hydro is very likely the most fully mitigated of all energy sources, excepting solar.

Hank,

As a conservative I expect you'd like to see gas and oil priced at its true cost, thereby reimbursing the US Treasury for all the "Defense" $ spent to secure and maintain the security of our oil supply. That would be a natural and logical "user" fee, but maybe that appeals more to Libertarians than to conservatives who think global dominance is part of God's plan for the US..

Sg