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The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has announced that Montana Council member Rhonda Whiting will serve out the remaining term as Council chair, replacing for Oregon member Joan Dukes.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber announced this week that Pendleton’s Henry C. Lorenzen has been nominated to serve on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

Charlie Black has been named the new director of Power Planning at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

The Pacific Northwest is likely to continue producing more electricity than it needs in the spring and early summer, a time when demand for power usually is low and the supply of hydropower and wind power can be high because of seasonal storms and the annual snowmelt runoff in the region’s rivers, says an analysis by Northwest Power and Conservation Council staff.

Scientific discussion continues regarding the existence, extent and/or causes of delayed or latent mortality in salmon and steelhead that must negotiate, particularly, the Columbia-Snake river hydro system.

Recent technical memorandums issued by the Fish Passage Center served as warnings, though not the final word, that latent/delayed mortality caused by passage down through the mainstem Columbia-Snake river hydro system may occur in salmon and steelhead, according to an Oct. 13 FPC memo responding to a critique from the Independent Scientific Advisory Board.

Increased conservation during 2010 by Pacific Northwest electricity users saved 254 average megawatts, the equivalent annual power use of 153,900 homes, according to the annual “Utility Conservation Achievements Report” released this week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and Regional Technical Forum.

A draft annual report offered this week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council for public takes a look back at everything from the effectiveness of its fish and wildlife program to power system happenings during fiscal year 2011, which ends at the end of the month.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council unanimously elected Joan Dukes, an Oregon member of the Council, vice chair this week for the remainder of 2011. Dukes replaces Dick Wallace, a Washington member, in the position. Wallace resigned from the Council in June.

High water has started to cause some problems at the outset of a flood season that is expected to last for weeks in the Upper Columbia River Basin.

Columbia Basin Trust and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council have renewed their agreement to collaborate on projects “that promote an understanding and appreciation of the international Columbia River Basin.”

The 20-year-old northern pikeminnow management program has matured to the point of nearing a major milestone – reducing that species’ consumption of juvenile salmon and steelhead by 50 percent from pre-program levels.

Fifteen years of monitoring a suite of 16 physical, biological and ecological “indicators” of ocean conditions has left NOAA Fisheries scientists confident they could now predict with reasonable certainty how young salmon from the Columbia River might fare during their first few months in the Pacific Ocean.

The Independent Scientific Review Panel and Peer Review Groups this week completed their final review of 99 proposals submitted for funding through the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

The Bonneville Power Administration's total fish and wildlife expenditures for 2009 -- $745.2 million -- bring the grand total since 1978 (when the expenditures began) to $12.69 billion, according to a draft report prepared by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday increased water releases from west-central Idaho's Dworshak Dam and Reservoir in hopes of spurring the outmigration of juvenile steelhead and salmon in the lower Clearwater and lower Snake rivers.

The Northwest electricity supply will remain adequate throughout the spring and summer despite a Columbia River basin water supply that is expected to be far below average, according to an analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

A new regional power plan adopted this week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council says 85 percent of the new demand for electricity over the next 20 years in the Northwest can be met by using energy more efficiently.

In its Sixth Power Plan, The Northwest Power and Conservation Council ran a modeling scenario examining the effects of removing the lower Snake River dams on power system costs and carbon emissions.

Montana's Bruce Measure on Wednesday was elected unanimously by members to serve as chair of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council during 2010.

Improved efficiency reduced demand for electricity in the Northwest in 2008 by an amount equal to the power use of about 148,000 homes, the highest annual accomplishment since recordkeeping began 30 years ago, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

Those in attendance at last week's Northwest Power and Conservation Council's saw graphic evidence of just how quickly and completely invasive zebra and/or quagga mussels can disturb infrastructure such as the Northwest region's invaluable dams and water delivery systems.

The total amount of ratepayer revenues expended by the Bonneville Power Administration to boost Columbia River basin fish and wildlife has risen to nearly $12 billion, according to a draft report released this week by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

All of the signs -- called ocean indicators -- point toward swelled returns to the Columbia River basin in 2010 and 2011 that could even challenge 2001's record upriver spring chinook salmon run, according to ongoing research conducted by NOAA Fisheries Service's Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

Idaho's Bill Booth was elected unanimously Thursday to serve a second one-year term as chairman of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

With a favorable Northwest Power and Conservation Council funding recommendation now in hand, an Oregon fish screening project awaits a determination on whether the $198,000 expenditure is prohibited under the Northwest Power Act.

Hydropower authorities in the United States and Canada are beginning to think about the future of the 1964 Columbia River Treaty authorizing construction of three large dams in British Columbia to protect against flooding in the province and downstream in the United States, and to boost electricity generation.

The Northwest has an adequate supply of electricity to avoid severe power outages for the next five years, according to an analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

Changing freshwater conditions, hydro effects, ocean ecosystems, sea lion appetites and other variables continue to vex fisheries experts who predict how many Columbia River salmon will return to spawn each year.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council this week continued its review of proposed strategies for shaping its Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife program and braced for a next round of input.

The Bonneville Power Administration and Northwest Power and Conservation Council are calling on regional power experts to help the Pacific Northwest Resource Adequacy Forum, an ad hoc industry group, perform a sustained hydro peaking capacity analysis -- a review of the entire region's hydro system.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is seeking public comments on the seventh annual report to the Northwest governors on Bonneville Power Administration expenditures to implement the Council's program to protect and rebuild fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is seeking public comments on the seventh annual report to the Northwest governors on Bonneville Power Administration expenditures to implement the Council's program to protect and rebuild fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.

The Northwest now has an early-warning system for potential electricity shortages and high prices to consumers.