Maintaining low cost electricity vital for Washington’s clean tech industries

Since the construction of Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams, Washington has enjoyed an abundance of low cost, reliable hydropower. It has been one-key competitive advantage for energy intensive industries and now it is vital to our state burgeoning “clean tech industries.”

Hydropower, along with nuclear, solar and wind, produce no greenhouse gases; however, solar and wind only generate electricity intermittently. Their production must be augmented by reliable sources, which include those using natural gas.

Washington’s Department of Commerce estimates that 90,000 workers in our state are tied t...