Over the past 5 years, electricity rates have gone up by 50%: How the Pacific Northwest’s Dream of Green Energy Fell Apart — ProPublica
Both states, rich with hydro-power options, have pushed green energy solutions.
Oregon and Washington trail nearly all other states in adding new sources of renewable energy. Iowa, a Republican-led state with roughly the same population and usable volume of wind as Oregon, has built enough wind farms to generate three times as much wind power.
What’s held the Northwest back is a bottleneck Oregon and Washington leaders paid little attention to when they set out to go 100% green, an investigation by ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting found: The region lacks the wiring to deliver new sources of renewable energy to people’s homes, and little has been done to change that.
Meanwhile, WA and OR have both destroyed at least one dam, each, and have proposed to destroy several rivers on the Snake River – all of which were generating electricity.
Oregon’s past Governor, Kate Brown, was tied for the lowest ranked Governor in all 50 states. The Governor before her, Gov. Kitzhaber, resigned in disgrace, after it was revealed his lover was using her connections to the Governor to secure consulting contracts. The current Gov. Tina Kotek is ranked about the 46th worst Governor of all 50 states. L:acking effective leadership, Oregon is expected to see continued rate hikes and soon, rolling blackouts (seriously) as the state descends into third-word infrastructure status.
(I live in Oregon but leaving the state is now on our radar.)
