Letter: Wind and solar power can’t replace Columbia Generating Station electricity

Physicians for Social Responsibility continues to prove its ignorance of basic common sense. Their report, noted in the Herald, insinuates that solar and wind energy could replace the contribution of Columbia Generating Station.

That notion is best described by Vizzini in the 1987 movie Princess Bride — “Inconceivable!” Wind/solar are intermittent at best, while electricity from Energy Northwest lights your world safely nearly 24/7. Solar only works when the sun shines, so you’re really out of luck 50 percent of the time, more in Seattle and Portland for obvious reasons, since storage of solar-generated power is not yet a real option. Want to depend on wind? Be my guest, unless it’s not windy. And you have to love those bald eagle-killing blades as long as a 747’s wing.

PSR, your focus should be on the awful conditions of the waterways in Elliot Bay, Seattle, and the Willamette River in Portland. If you want to make a difference, help prevent the pollution that is causing tumors on food fish in those waterways, instead of trying to eliminate one of the last great energy resources the great people of the Pacific Northwest depend on, PSR included.

This story was originally published February 26, 2017 at 3:53 AM with the headline "Letter: Wind and solar power can’t replace Columbia Generating Station electricity."