News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Boeing’s new cost-reduction plan has deep ramifications for Washington because the bulk of the 4,500 job cuts are likely to land here. CEO Dennis Muilenburg asked investors to view the savings initiative as “playing offense in a competitive marketplace” even though Boeing has a $431 billion backlog of 5,800 aircraft orders. Translated, Muilenburg means the aerospace giant needs to find ways to lower the price tag of its airplanes. Boeing leaders worry because Airbus’ A320 scooped up 63% of the...
When Boeing rolled out its first 737 MAX last month, there was little fanfare. Nevertheless, its importance to the company’s future and our state can’t be overstated. The good news is Boeing delivered more airplanes last year than Airbus, and it has a backlog of 5,800 orders. However, a yellow flag goes up when it comes to the 737 MAX. It is behind the Airbus A320neo in development and sales. According to the Seattle Times, “Not counting Airbus sales in December — those figures are still to come — the European jet maker’s A320neo in 2015 had...
On Dec. 12, Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke patiently waited two hours in line with 70,000 volunteers at Arlington National Cemetery to collect wreaths and secure them to headstones. Thousands of others across our nation joined those at Arlington honoring soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who died while serving America. In all, nearly one million wreaths were laid this year. Wreaths Across America is a privately funded charity that accepts no government money. As part of the project, truckers volunteer to haul the wreaths, and veterans and...
Today, many elected officials are fixated on tearing down coal-fired power plants and replacing them with solar and wind farms. But that isn’t practical, because when there is no wind or sunlight, those plants produce no electricity. There is an alternative. Nuclear power plants supply 10 percent of the world’s electricity. But opponents say they are too dangerous and too expensive. They point to the 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union, considered to be the world’s worst nuclear disaster. But 30 years later...
Maybe there is finally something Democrats and Republicans can agree on — fixing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare. From the day it was signed into law in 2010, Republicans have tried unsuccessfully to repeal Obamacare, saying it is unworkable and unaffordable. Until this year, Democrats have held the line for the President. But not now. After the President leaves office, change will come. The first is repeal of the so-called Cadillac Tax, the 40 percent excise tax on generous health care plans, which is scheduled to b...
Tesla is the premium entry in the electric car market, with a starting price of $75,000. According to the Wall Street Journal, the high-end “Signature” model costs $132,000, slightly more than the base price for Porsche’s AG’s 911 GT3. Even with a $7,500 federal tax credit, an assortment of state tax credits, and $10,000 in fuel saving over five years, the driver’s investment is over $110,000 – far beyond the reach of the average family. However, Tesla’s luxury styling and impressive performance give high-end buyers the best of both worlds ...
In China, the government has launched an “eat more potatoes” campaign – and Washington state could benefit as a result. China’s potato push is, in part, an environmental effort to provide more clean drinking water for its exploding urban population and offset its polluted water from factories and inadequate sewer treatment. Home to more than 1.3 billion people, China has, until recently, enjoyed a decades-long economic boom that raised more than 600 million people out of poverty, according to World Bank statistics. Urbanization is expecte...
Imagine rolling into Olympia in your travel trailer each year for the start of the legislative session knowing your district has the highest unemployment in the state and the lowest average annual wage. Folks in your sprawling rural 7th District earn between $15,000 and $20,000 less than the state average wage. Stevens, Pend Oreille, Ferry and Okanogan counties are rich in minerals and have abundant forests and natural public grazing lands, but over the years mining, logging and lumber mill jobs dried up, in large part due to government...
Yakima Valley farmers have the same problem as their California counterparts: there just isn’t enough water for crops, migrating fish and people. In California this year, an estimated 564,000 acres of prime cropland will be left unplanted because of the fourth straight year of drought. Economists at the University of California, Davis estimate the drought has caused $2.7 billion in economic losses and cost 18,000 farm workers their jobs. The water shortage is so acute in California that Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a 25 percent reduction, which has...
How is Seattle’s Lighthouse for the Blind connected to the Export-Import Bank? Very closely. Since 1918, The Lighthouse for the Blind has provided education, training and manufacturing jobs for people with visual and hearing disabilities. Of the 400 people currently employed there, approximately 240 are blind or deaf-blind. In its certified machine shop, the Lighthouse employs more than 70 visual or hearing-impaired machinists whose customer list includes the Federal Defense Logistics Agency, T...
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple has announced new rules that reduce the vapor pressure in oil tanker cars leaving his state’s booming oil patch. The goal is to reduce the risk of fiery explosions like the one that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec in July 2013. In separate efforts, Congress is beefing up safety standards for oil tank cars and the White House is calling for increased rail inspections and slower speeds for oil trains traveling through populated areas. Meanwhile, the Washington legislature is working to tighten r...
California is in the midst of a fierce water war, a conflict that holds lessons for us in Washington state. In many ways, we are alike. Both of our states’ populations are growing and we have some of the world’s most prolific agriculture regions, which require lots of water. Washington is served by a vast network of storage reservoirs that make up the Columbia River drainage. It stretches from the northern Canadian Rockies to as far south as Wyoming. On the other hand, California, with its 38 million people, has series of reservoirs in the Sie...
When my parents graduated from high school in 1936, a college education was too expensive for the son of a copper miner and the daughter of a plumber. Eighty years ago, our country was in the middle of the Great Depression and teens took odd jobs to help put food on the table and pay the family bills. In those days, no bank would lend money to college students. Following World War II, there was new hope. The GI bill paid for veterans to complete their college or trade school education. My father...
It’s that time of year when we count our blessings. In America, they are abundant, especially this year. For starters, the unemployment rate is down from 7 percent last December to 5.8 percent. Washington state mirrors the national average. Housing starts, retail sales and our gross domestic product are all up from last year, signs of an improving economy. Since consumer spending drives economic growth, low interest rates have helped. Home mortgages and auto loans hover in the 3- to 4-percent range. Contrast that to Russia, where interest rates...
There is a new look to Bavarian tourism these days. In the past, tourists flocked to Munich’s city square like Seattle’s New Year’s revelers at the Space Needle. They came to see the ancient Glockenspiel, a giant cuckoo clock on the city hall tower, and then dash to the nearby famed Hofbrauhaus for beer, brats and Bavarian music. Now the Glockenspiel has some real competition. It is BMW World, a mammoth, ultramodern, high tech new car showroom adjacent to the 1972 Olympic Stadium. It is so large prospective buyers can take a “Beamer” for a test...
It’s often difficult to “connect the dots,” to show people how the global marketplace affects their daily lives. But plunging gasoline prices are giving Americans a first-hand lesson in the law of supply and demand. The law of supply and demand holds that when a commodity is in short supply, the price of that commodity goes up. When the supply of that commodity increases, producers compete for market share by lowering their prices. As a result, consumers benefit. That’s what’s happening with gas prices. The price of gasoline has been dropping...
Remember the rhyme of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink?” Even though water covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, less than two percent is fresh water. Therein lies the problem. As the world’s population grows, demand for water is increasing; in periods of drought it becomes a crisis. California has been in the grip of a severe drought this year. As summer ends, we are beginning to see the economic impact, and it is staggering. The University of Californi...
Today, there is a tendency to look with distain at manufacturing facilities, especially those located on working waterfronts. Historically, those factories were sited there because the raw materials and finished products could be transported only by water. But as our state and nation progressed, railroads, highways and even airports were added and industrial areas formed. In fact, our legislature, cities, counties and ports funded the necessary improvements to those areas to specifically...
Later this year, Alan Mulally will leave Ford Motor Company. On July 1, he turns the reins over to 53-year-old Mark Fields, closing a storied career at Ford and Boeing. While he hasn’t divulged his plans, hopefully he will bring his talents to government. Mulally inspires people with his confidence, humility and charisma. His turnaround of Ford has been spectacular. Yes, government is different than the private sector, but anyone who can bring together people with diverse interests and varied b...
Let’s face it. We’re spoiled. Even in our tough economy, most Americans enjoy a myriad of conveniences we take for granted. We awake to a warm house, turn night into day with the flip of a light switch, jump into a hot shower, get dressed and grab a cup of fresh brewed coffee before heading to work in our car or on the bus. On the way home, we stop at the grocery store to pick up a few items from the 40,000 choices offered there. What do all these things have in common? They are made possible by...
The Seattle Times headline said it all: “Obama running out of reasons to reject Keystone XL.” For five years, the Keystone XL pipeline has been mired in studies, red tape and delay. Now, the State Department has released its final report, concluding that the pipeline would have little or no environmental impact. The State Department has jurisdiction because the pipeline would cross the U.S. border, carrying 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Western Canada to Nebraska, where it would con...
The New Year is traditionally a time for reflection and renewal. A shiny new year lies ahead, full of promise. The New Year is a time when people pledge to change their lives: lose weight, stop smoking, be a better parent, work harder, work less. Regardless of your situation, the New Year holds the opportunity for a fresh start. Our nation needs a fresh start. We are now entering the fifth year of the economic "recovery," the slowest on record since the Great Depression. While there have been...
Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler made national news when he quickly rejected President Obama’s call for insurers to extend individual health insurance policies cancelled because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare. While five million insurance policies have been cancelled to date, the Obama administration estimated that as many as 18 million of these policies will be cancelled because of the ACA. Here in Washington state, some 290,000 people h...
In 1992, a single male sockeye salmon managed to swim 900 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River to Redfish Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, the end of his migratory journey. Biologists dubbed the sole survivor, “Lonesome Larry.” By 2010, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council happily reported record-setting runs for sockeye —nearly 387,000 had climbed the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam. The numbers, which fluctuate annually, stand at 186,000 this year. The resurgence of the soc...
A small critter is causing big problems in the South Puget Sound. It’s called the Mazama pocket gopher. Some 100,000 pocket gophers inhabit prairie lands throughout northern California, Oregon and Washington. Our state is the northernmost part of its range, where separate populations are scattered in pockets throughout the area, including Thurston and Pierce counties. Last December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed to list several subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher in W...
