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Posts Tagged ‘Oregon’

MATTHEW PREUSCH, Oregonian.com, August 1, 2009
Newport, Oregon – The fleet that fishes for black cod, perch and other groundfish off the Oregon coast is a shadow of what it once was. And so are the fish stocks that it harvests and hauls into processors like those anchoring the historic waterfront here in Newport.
But new rules [...]

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ELIZABETH RUSCH, Smithsonian Magazine, July 2009
She was in the water when the epiphany struck. Of course, Annette von Jouanne was always in the water, swimming in lakes and pools as she was growing up around Seattle, and swimming distance freestyle competitively in high school and college meets. There’s even an exercise pool in her basement, [...]

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PETER ASMUS, Pike Research, June 17, 2009
The earth is the water planet, so it should come as no great surprise that forms of water power have been one of the world’s most popular “renewable” energy sources. Yet the largest water power source of all – the ocean that covers three-quarters of earth – has [...]

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Excerpts from FRANK HARTZELL’s article in the Mendocino Beacon, June 4, 2009
Ocean Power Technologies’ subsidiary California Wave Energy Partners in it’s “wave energy project proposed off Cape Mendocino has surrendered its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) preliminary permit, making two major companies that have abandoned the area in the past two weeks.
The moves come at [...]

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COLIN SULLIVAN, The New York Times, April 14, 2009
Palo Alto — Technology for tapping ocean waves, tides and rivers for electricity is far from commercial viability and lagging well behind wind, solar and other fledgling power sectors, a panel of experts said last week during a forum here on climate change and marine ecosystems.
While the [...]

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SUSAN CHAMBERS, The World, February 3, 2009
Coos Bay — The announcement came as a surprise to everyone.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Thursday order issuing a preliminary permit for a 200- to 400-buoy wave energy project off of Newport shocked Ocean Power Technologies leaders as well as the public.
“It’s a project, a site that is not [...]

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MendoCoastCurrent, January 31, 2009
On January 26, 2009, Lockheed Martin and Ocean Power Technologies agreed to work together to develop a commercial-scale wave energy project off the coasts of Oregon or California.
OPT is providing their expertise in project and site development as they build the plant’s power take-off and control systems with their PowerBuoy for electricity [...]

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Susan Chambers, The World, January 26, 2009
Coos Bay, Oregon – Ocean Power Technologies is feeling pressure as local groups, the state and even the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urge the company to shrink its 200-buoy Coos Bay plan.
Oregon Wave Energy Partners I, as Ocean Power Technologies, filed its notice of intent and preliminary application document [...]

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CASSANDRA PROFITA, The Daily Astorian, January 26, 2009
In a move eagerly anticipated by liquefied natural gas opponents on the North Coast of Oregon, President Barack Obama has named Jon Wellinghoff acting chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“The move, together with likely changes to the board’s makeup in the coming months and pending challenges to [...]

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MendoCoastCurrent, January 7, 2009
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher today issued the following statement:
Today I announce my intention to step down as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), effective January 20, 2009. Although my term as commissioner does not end until 2012, I will also immediately begin to recuse myself from [...]

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MendoCoastCurrent, December 15, 2008
Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) recently reported quarterly financials and also recent developments:
- Deployed and tested a PowerBuoy off the coast of Spain under the wave power contract with Iberdrola
- Awarded $2.0 million from the US Department of Energy in support of OPT’s wave power project in Reedsport, Oregon
- Deployed and tested a [...]

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MICHELLE MA, Seattle Times, November 17, 2008
What started out as a mad dash to extract energy from the ocean’s waves and tides has slowed to a marathoner’s pace — complete with a few water breaks and sprained ankles along the way.
In the past three years, more than 100 preliminary permits have been issued nationally for [...]

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TERRY DILLMAN, South Lincoln County News, September 23, 2008
Oregon’s emergence as a national leader in developing wave energy technology crested Thursday, when the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced grant support to establish the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) in Newport.
The agency selected 14 research [...]

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MendoCoastCurrent, October 13, 2008
A new prototype of a wave energy device being developed by Oregon State University and Columbia Power Technologies was successfully tested last month in the ocean off Newport, Oregon, providing valuable data and moving the research program closer to commercialization.
In a $1 million research effort during the past year, 18 different “direct [...]

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ISABEL ORDONEZ, Dow Jones News Service, October 6, 2008
Surfers aren’t the only ones itching to jump in the water and catch some big waves.
Dozens of companies, from oil giant Chevron Corp. to smaller firms like Ocean Power Technologies Inc., have invested in or are evaluating the potential of technology designed to harness electrical energy from [...]

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KATE GALBRAITH, The New York Times, September 23, 2008
For years, technological visionaries have painted a seductive vision of using ocean tides and waves to produce power. They foresee large installations off the coast and in tidal estuaries that could provide as much as 10% of the nation’s electricity.
But the technical difficulties of making such systems [...]

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MendoCoastCurrent, September 9, 2008
Fort Bragg, California City Council has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Concerns escalated last August when FERC denied Fort Bragg’s second request for a rehearing on FERC’s national licensing policies for wave energy or hydrokinetic energy projects. The community stakeholders, [...]

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US Air Force Academy, Air Force Link, August 20, 2008
The next source of alternative energy could come from ocean waves, and Air Force Academy professors have been granted funding to dive into this research.
The National Science Foundation has awarded the Academy’s Aeronautics Department $285,619 to support a cyclodial propeller wave energy converter research project to [...]

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TERRY DILLMAN, Newport News-Times, July 25, 2008
It sank to the bottom in 150 feet of water just one day before its planned retrieval. After nine months of waiting for the right weather and ocean conditions, divers and salvage vessels are currently on site to assist in the rebirth of a 75-foot, 40-ton wave energy buoy.
Developed [...]

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MendoCoastCurent, August 12, 2008
Last Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its latest denial for a rehearing on the Mendocino Wave Energy project on the Northern California coast.
The denied Petitioners include Fishermen Interested in Safe Hydrokinetics (FISH) with Attorney Elizabeth Mitchell, Mendocino County, Fort Bragg, Lincoln County in Oregon and others representing concerned citizens, [...]

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Platts/McGraw-Hill, August 2008
Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is looking to generate power from Scottish waters as well. Nasdaq-listed OPT reported July 28 that it had signed a berth agreement with the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland. OPT can, under the berth agreement, deploy and operate its unit as well as hook [...]

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Environmental News Service, July 29, 2008
The governors of California, Oregon and Washington Tuesday announced the details of their plan to address ocean and coastal management issues such as polluted runoff, oil spills and marine garbage along the West Coast.
The West Coast Governors’ Ocean Action Plan is the result of a 2006 agreement signed by the [...]

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Portland Business Journal, July 28, 2008
The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council gave its approval of the site of a wind farm billed to be the largest in the world.
The Shepherd’s Flat Wind Farm, which would span Gilliam and Morrow counties in north-central Oregon, is proposed to have 303 wind turbines with a peak capacity of [...]

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MendoCoastCurrent, July 27, 2008
Finavera Renewables CEO Jason Bak provides this overview of 2008 activities to date and an outlook for the remainder of the year.
“The first half of 2008 has been an exciting period for Finavera Renewables,” commented CEO Jason Bak. “Our strategy [in] wind projects is to develop an approximate one gigawatt pipeline with [...]

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The World, Worldwide Ocean Energy News, April 12, 2008
Sport and commercial fishermen, members from related marine industries and Ocean Power Technologies representative Steve Kopf met again Wednesday — and made tentative progress on rebuilding trust.
A robust agenda that included discussing the difference between a traditional licensing process and an integrated licensing process — two different [...]

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The World, April 10, 2008
The proposed Florence, Oregon wave energy park is no more.
At least, not on paper.
“Energetech America, under Oceanlinx Limited, respectfully requests to withdraw its preliminary permit application for the Florence Oregon Ocean Wave Energy Project …,” the company said in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 26.
Oceanlinx filed [...]

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On April 7, 2008, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected the wave permit application of Sonoma County, California, and also the permit application of Lincoln County, Oregon, see attached letter relative to the Sonoma permit, below.
SonomaRejection

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This is an older FERC map showing detail of Oregon & Washington best.

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JEFF BARNARD, The Associated Press, April 7, 2008
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Gov. Ted Kulongoski said Monday he is willing to go to court to make sure any liquefied natural gas facilities slated for Oregon are needed and safe.
Kulongoski was reacting to a letter from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about state concerns over proposals to [...]

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News Release from FERC: March 27, 2008
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the state of Oregon have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to coordinate procedures and schedules for review of wave energy projects in state waters off the coast of Oregon. This effort will be undertaken in an environmentally sensitive manner, while taking [...]

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Susan Chambers, The World Link, March 21, 2008
REEDSPORT — Fishermen and port officials talked of trust Wednesday night at the Port of Umpqua commission meeting.
The meeting was an impromptu first battleground over what fishermen see as a violation of trust and wave energy company Ocean Power Technologies see as a business decision.
OPT filed a preliminary [...]

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Susan Chambers Staff Writer The World January 18, 2008
REEDSPORT — It’s all about balance in a growing debate about marine reserves and, to a lesser extent, wave energy.
Chip Terhune, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s chief of staff, opened the Reedsport marine reserves and wave energy discussion with about 75 people Thursday night at the Port [...]

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Susan Chambers The World April 10, 2007
A wave breaks off the southern Oregon Coast as wind blows some of the surf backward. That wave attraction is attracting power producers. To date, seven projects are proposed for the Oregon Coast, to tether power-generating buoys to the ocean floor to ride ocean swells. World File Photo
 
CHARLESTON – [...]

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From Three Tree Journal (tres_arboles), January 17, 2008
The Surfrider Foundation, a national ocean recreation advocacy organization is developing a policy position on wave energy projects and their potential effects on recreational uses. As a policy wonk, tres_arboles recognizes their need to avoid stridency on this issue, and approach it with critical, but supportive attention. On [...]

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LIBBY TUCKER, The Associated Press & the Ashland Daily Tidings, January 28, 2008
NEWPORT, Oregon — Eighty-two feet above the shore at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, biologist Joel Ortega spots a gray whale swimming three nautical miles offshore.
A few seconds later, his team of observers, on hand with binoculars, a surveying instrument called a theodolite and [...]

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From Stoel Rives January 8, 2008

Portland, Oregon – The Oregon Wave Energy Trust, or OWET, has received the first part of its $4.2 million budget approved by the 2007 state legislature, and is moving ahead with plans and activities to make Oregon a global leader in this emerging industry.
“We recognize there are a variety [...]

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MARIANNE LAVELLE, U.S. News & World Report, December 18, 2007
The idea of harnessing energy from ocean waves to produce electricity for U.S. homes and businesses takes a giant leap forward today as the nation’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, announces the first commercial agreement to purchase power generated with this cutting-edge technology.
PG&E signed the [...]

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Note: This is an older article from 2007 yet still very current in its coverage of environmental and permitting concerns related to Wave Energy and Tidal Energy projects.

MICHAEL LUFKIN & LAURA FANDINO, Marten Law Group, July 11, 2007

The adoption of renewable energy portfolio standards promises to push forward investment in the development of wave and [...]

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