Gov. Ted Kulongoski ordered a hurry-up review Tuesday of Oregon's incentives for renewable energy companies in the face of ongoing criticism of the tax breaks. ...The governor's request comes on the heels of an investigation by The Oregonian that revealed state officials downplayed the estimated cost of the incentives before they were expanded by the 2007 Legislature at Kulongoski's urging.

Umatilla County is again asking the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council to do away with a 400,000 acre box designated as an energy generation area. The box sits along the north border of the county, in about the center. It includes Milton-Freewater, Adams, Athena, Weston and some of Pendleton. In 1999 the siting council designated the EGA in response to a legislative mandate. The Oregon Department of Energy has been unclear on the EGA's original purpose, but some have said it was meant to analyze cumulative effects of many small wind farms in a given area.

State officials deliberately underestimated the cost of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's plan to lure green energy companies to Oregon with big taxpayer subsidies, resulting in a program that cost 40 times more than unsuspecting lawmakers were told, an investigation by The Oregonian shows. Records also show that the program, a favorite of Kulongoski's known as the Business Energy Tax Credit, has given millions of dollars to failed companies while voters are being asked to raise income taxes because the state budget doesn't have enough to pay for schools and other programs.

The rows of white turbines spinning over wheat fields and ridgelines in eastern Oregon are ample evidence that renewable energy from wind is real and growing. ...But wind developers are just getting started. And thousands of miles of new power lines carried by skyscraper-sized steel towers will need to be laid across deserts, farms and forests as more wind farms rise in farther-flung corners of Oregon and the West. It won't be cheap, or without controversy.

Just east of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area on the Oregon-Washington border, one can't drive down I-84 without noticing turbine after turbine peeking out from the crest of the hills. But even as wind farms in Oregon and Washington set a new record for power production in August 2009, renewable energy developers are looking to lay claim on the latest prime spots for power projects. While solar and other renewable energy companies are anxious to take advantage of federal grants, state tax credits and plentiful opportunities thanks to state renewable energy portfolios, gaining access to suitable land is tougher than ever.

California's push to supersize its renewable energy standards could drive electricity rates higher for Northwest consumers, strain the west's transmission and hydroelectric systems, and create a host of thorny policy issues. The California Assembly passed a pair of bills Friday to create the nation's most aggressive renewable energy mandate. It would require utilities to meet one third of their customers' needs with green energy such as wind, solar and geothermal by 2020.

Portland General Electric announced plans late today to build two new natural gas power plants by 2015 and spend more than $500 million to keep its controversial Boardman coal-fired power plant burning for three more decades. ...Environmental groups and other critics quickly denounced the plan, calling it risky for ratepayers and the environment, while business groups said it makes sense for PGE to bank on reliable power.

When three Eastern Oregon wind farms got big federal grants last week, the news brought a debate that has been simmering at the state level to a boil. Because wind farms are expensive, wind power company officials say, they need all the help they can get. But some say the recent grants serve as a high-profile reminder that Oregon doesn't need to spend more to woo wind farms. "Oregon is far more generous than other states," in terms of renewable energy credits, said Jody Wiser, chairwoman of Tax Fairness Oregon. "And it's not driving more building in Oregon; it's just giving money away."

So many businesses are getting tax subsidies under Oregon's effort to promote alternative energy that the state now estimates it will spend $167 million on them in 2009-11, up from $68 million it gave out in similar tax breaks in 2007-09. The higher spending demonstrates the increasing popularity of Oregon's Business Energy Tax Credit. But it comes at time when other state programs face cutbacks, and that's giving some lawmakers heartburn.

Richard Jolly, the man who filed the Goal 5 amendment aimed to disallow windmills in a 200,000 acre area of the Blue Mountains, may re-file his amendment. Jolly said he wanted to rewrite it to include more than just the viewshed, which was the basis of his Goal 5 amendment addressed by the Umatilla County Planning Commission at its last two meetings. The proposal has flared up opinions on both sides - those who want to preserve the beauty of the Blues without wind farms, and those who want a chance to get their share of the wind energy gold rush.

Today the Bonneville Power Administration will install the first of fourteen anemometers to better track where and how hard the wind is blowing. The BPA, which markets power from the Northwest's network of federal hydroelectric dams, has struggled to incorporate increasing amounts of variable wind energy into the region's electric grid.

One controversial power line project through the north state has been halted, but state agencies, municipal utilities and power companies are studying other potential new north state lines. Examining how to connect the state to developing renewable power, the Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI) recently released a report that shows a potential new power transmission line running from the Oregon border through Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties and south to Tracy.

An Independence company is hoping to make wind turbines a more common feature of the Willamette Valley landscape. WindEnergy expects to have a handful of small-scale installations on residential properties by October. "We expect once one goes up in a neighborhood, others will consider it."

Green power, green jobs, renewable energy collide with the Endangered Species Act in a proposed wind farm in Southwest Washington. The project calling for between 48-60 megawatts of power is proposed for 3,359 acres of Washington Department of Natural Resources land northwest of Naselle, Washington. ...The DNR has the power to stop the project if it deems the project endangers Murrelets.

Environmental groups in Oregon have united to oppose the construction of new wind farms in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. One county is listening to their concerns. Umatilla County Planning Commission members intend to hear an amendment to the community's Comprehensive Plan that could ban future wind power developments from certain areas.

Get ready for a series of major investments and associated rate increases by Portland General Electric Co. ...The Portland-based utility told financial analysts Thursday that it was pulling the plug on a near-term plan to add 218 megawatts of new wind power because of financial market conditions. The company still plans, however, to complete the ongoing expansion of its Biglow Canyon wind farm and add another 300 to 400 megawatts of wind or other renewable power to meet Oregon's renewable energy standard by 2015.

Oregon lawmakers tried to save millions of taxpayer dollars by trimming state subsidies enjoyed by wind energy farms, but Gov. Ted Kulongoski said today he plans to veto that effort. In doing so, the governor signaled he has little tolerance for any retreat on his vision for the state as a national center for alternative energy -- recession or no. ...Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, who led the effort to rein in wind farm tax credits, said ...the tax breaks go too far and cost too much.

Politicians are straining to convince people the government is stimulating the economy. In Oregon, where lawmakers are spending $176 million to supplement the federal stimulus, Democrats are taking credit for a remarkable feat: creating 3,236 new jobs in the program's first three months. But those jobs lasted on average only 35 hours, or about one workweek.

Utility customers gulped power at record levels Monday and Tuesday as the Portland area entered the longest stretch of 100-degree days in nearly three decades. Portland General Electric Co. reported scattered blackouts in the metro area as transformers overheated and sagging power lines came into contact with foliage ..."There seems to be a lot of evidence that when you get extreme cold or heat events, you don't see very much wind generation, at least at the east end of the gorge," said Wallace Gibson, a generation and transmission analyst with the power planning council. "Right now, we're pretty much not relying on wind to meet peak loads."

A proposal to disallow wind turbines in the Blue Mountain foothills continues Thursday night before the Umatilla County Planning Commission in the Pendleton Convention Center. Milton-Freewater-area resident Richard Jolly first made his proposal to the nine-member commission at a June 25 meeting, asking for a Goal 5 amendment to set aside a section of land east of Highway 11 as a viewshed to be protected for its aesthetic, natural resource and wildlife values.