The Pacific Northwest holds an abundance of resources for energy
production, from hydroelectric power to coal, nuclear power, wind
turbines, and even solar panels. But hydropower is king. Dams on
the Columbia, Snake, Fraser, Kootenay, and dozens of other rivers
provided the foundation for an expanding, regionally integrated
power system in the U.S. Northwest and British Columbia. A broad
historical synthesis chronicling the region's first century of
electrification, Paul Hirt's new study reveals how the region's
citizens struggled to build a power system that was technologically
efficient, financially profitable, and socially and environmentally
responsible.
Hirt shows that every energy source comes with its share of costs
and benefits. Because Northwest energy development meant river
development, the electric power industry collided with the salmon
fishing industry and the treaty rights of Northwest indigenous
peoples from the 1890s to the present. Because U.S. federal
agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation built many of the large dams in the region, a
significant portion of the power supply is publicly owned,
initiating contentious debates over how that power should best
serve the citizens of the region. Hirt dissects these ongoing
battles, evaluating the successes and failures of regional efforts
to craft an efficient yet socially just power system.
Focusing on the dynamics of problem-solving, governance, and the
tense relationship between profit-seeking and the public interest,
Hirt's narrative takes in a wide range of players-not only on the
consumer side, where electricity transformed mills, mines,
households, commercial districts, urban transit, factories, and
farms, but also power companies operating at the local and regional
level, and investment companies that financed and in some cases
parasitized the operators. His study also straddles the
international border. It is the first book to compare energy
development in the U.S. Northwest and British Columbia.
Both engaging and balanced in its treatment of all the actors on
this expansive stage, The Wired Northwest helps us better
understand the challenges of the twenty-first century, as we try to
learn from past mistakes and re-design an energy grid for a more
sustainable future.
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