Don Brunell 5/26/11

There is no energy panacea

By 2025, the TransAlta energy facility in Centralia must replace coal with natural gas to generate electricity, but Washington has no gas to offer. Fortunately, we have neighbors with an abundance of gas - natural gas, that is - to ship to us.

In Washington, three-quarters of our electricity comes from hydropower. But 14 percent of it comes from coal burned at the TransAlta facility, which employs 600 people in good family-wage jobs and provides heat and light for 1.23 million homes. We must replace that coal with another type of fuel, and the energy source of choice...