You are now in California and the U.S. Home Headline Media Coverage category.

Bonneville, The Northwest’s Biggest Clean-Power Supplier, Faces Promise And Perils In Changing Energy Markets

When workers started pulling apart the three largest hydroelectric units in North America — capable of supplying more than enough power for all of Seattle — they found the damage far worse than expected. They encountered large cracks, worn-out bearings and a defect in a critical weld that, if left in place, could fail, unleashing catastrophic flooding inside the powerhouse that risked killing workers and destroying the 7 million-pound generator-turbine units. That last discovery halted work for 10 months to give engineers time to come up with a fix that would ensure a crucial covering would hold fast. “How do we deal with the unexpected?

OPINION: All Californians Should Have Safe, Clean Water. But How Do We Make It Happen?

“Few California urbanites grasp the intolerable, third-world conditions that nearly a million of their fellow Californians live in when it comes to accessing safe drinking water,” said Michael Mantell, president of the Resources Legacy Fund. “That residents of a state with the fifth largest economy on the planet lack that access is nothing short of scandalous.” Lea Ann Tratten, a partner at TrattenPrice Consulting, described the Californians who suffer most without access to clean water and reiterated the urgency for action. “The heaviest burden of the toxic taps crisis has fallen on our most marginalized communities, communities of color and people with low-incomes,” Tratten said.