Good Morning,

SBA to allow business lending to content creators, Lululemon pops 7% on new board of directors appointee, 7 - Eleven drops lawsuit against Nike, semiconductor and tech companies have a sell off, Portland parents now questioning school district’s construction plans, Montana judge gives green light on psychiatric facility construction.

— Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe here —

Let’s Rip

OpenAI nears up to $30 billion funding round at $1.25 trillion valuation led by UAE investors  (CNBC)

Trump invokes Cold War-era Defense Production Act for oil production, refining (Reuters)

PNW Rip partners with G.A. Rogers for professional and executive hiring in the Pacific Northwest. If you’re in the area (or moving here), check them out here.

Need a side hustle? G.A. Rogers pays for successful referrals - reach out to learn more.

Largest gas pipeline network in Northwest could grow as Oklahoma-based owners pursue expansion (WSS)

“The Oklahoma-based company that owns one of the largest gas pipeline networks in the Northwest is beginning to pursue permits to expand that network, and to pump more gas to the region to meet rising electricity demand.

Pipeline company Williams, owner of the 4,000-mile long Northwest Pipeline system that brings fracked gas from Rocky Mountain states to Idaho, Washington and Oregon, last month submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission paperwork to build a new pipeline called the Silver Spur between two existing gas transmission lines in Idaho and Nevada. The news was first reported by the nonprofit gas industry watchdog group Oil and Gas Watch.

If approved, the 88-mile pipeline would carry up to 275 million additional standard cubic feet of natural gas per day to the Northwest, while states like Oregon and Washington simultaneously try to drive down gas consumption through policies and pollution caps meant to slow the growing threat of climate change. Environmental advocates say Williams’ claims that the pipeline is meant to meet overall demand for electricity growing in the region masks that the demand is being driven almost entirely by data centers.

The Hood River-based nonprofit environmental organization is raising alarms about the proposed expansion with state officials and earlier this year led 20 organizations in calling on Washington and Oregon leaders to block fossil fuel expansion in the region.

Two analyses from Columbia Riverkeeper and the Seattle-based think tank Sightline Institute show that a growing number of Northwest utility companies are spending on new gas-powered energy infrastructure or buying gas-powered energy from other states to power new demand coming almost exclusively from data centers.

A recent analysis by ECOnorthwest found data centers today are responsible for nearly one-quarter of all power consumption in Oregon.

A spokesperson for Williams on Thursday said the company does not disclose information about its customers, and that analyses show the Northwest will continue to need natural gas and more of it.

“Natural gas remains a critical part of maintaining reliability as renewable energy and demand continues to grow,” they wrote.

As part of the permitting process, FERC and other federal agencies will review the Silver Spur project, and eventually hold public meetings and comment periods. The company has said in interviews it plans to complete the pipeline in 2030.

The pipeline expansion would be significantly more than the 150 million cubic feet per day that Canadian pipeline company TC Energy was approved to add to its Gas Transmission Northwest Express pipeline in 2023, and that got major pushback from the region’s Democratic leaders, including U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and then-Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington.”

A Turbine, a Superfactory, and the World’s Most Advanced Foundry—Oh my (X)

Today Boom unveils three major milestones on the path to delivering the world’s most advanced turbine at scale: shipping of the first turbine core, a 2GW Superpower Superfactory in South Denver, and the world’s most advanced digital foundry—to cast single crystal turbine blades and vanes.

“In 1882, Thomas Alva Edison flipped the switch on the world’s first electric grid in New York City. Two decades later, the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane. And for the next few decades, the world enjoyed rapid progress in energy production and speed—which together powered a rapidly improving world. People connected across the globe as cities were lit, hospitals were electrified, and we were able to heat and cool our homes. Long before EVs, electrification meant dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the mass deployment of refrigerators and air conditions. Regardless of what was happening outside, we could stay warm or cool inside. And things kept getting better—rapidly. Our prosperity increased along with our energy production and with the speed of transit.

Then in 1973, something strange and frightful happened: we banned supersonic flight in the US, and at the same time halted what had been exponential growth in energy production per capita. Since then, we’ve enjoyed progress mainly in low-energy technologies — like computers, the internet, and biotech. But higher energy technologies, like flying cars, planetary weather control, and, yes, supersonic passenger flight, haven’t come to pass. And superintelligent AI—which promises to be the greatest amplifier of human ability yet—requires enormous amounts of power.

The natural question is “why did we stop” — which we will leave for another time, but for today, the question is, “why not start anew?”

In perhaps a poetic moment, the same technology, team and culture can attack both of these civilization-scale problems—simulataneously accelerating energy and transit.

In December, Superpower was an idea. Less than a year later, we are rolling out our first fully-assembled prototype turbine core, the same turbine core that will power both our Symphony supersonic engine and our Superpower 42MW natural gas turbine.

As we built Sprint Core, one thing we learned was that the traditional aerospace supply chain could not move at supersonic speed. So we started making our own turbine components from scratch, ourselves. Sprint core includes numerous Boom-made components, including compressor vanes, high-pressure turbine blades, the central drive-shaft, and turbine cases and frames.

By the numbers, this Superfactory is enormous. Nearly 200,000 sq ft. Over 75 large-format state-of-art CNC and CMM machines. A network of multi-ton overhead cranes. Employing up to 500 machinists, technicians and manufacturing engineers —working hand-in-hand with the engineers and designers under the same roof.

Today, the Superfactory is already operational and producing its first parts. In fact, the factory is running even as it’s still under construction. When fully activated, it will produce 2GW/year of the world’s most advanced modular turbine.

But this is merely a down payment. America—and the world—need one to two orders of magnitude more power production, and we expect to build many future Superfactories at locations throughout America.”

Home furniture brand Blu Dot blew up on CTV with help from Roku Ads Manager. Here’s how:

After a test campaign reached 211,000 households and achieved 1,010% ROAS, the brand went all in to promote its annual sales event. It removed age and income constraints to expand reach and shifted budget to custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was strongest.

The results speak for themselves. As Blu Dot increased their investment by 10x, ROAS jumped to 2,308% and more page-view conversions surpassed 50,000.

“For CTV campaigns, Roku has been a top performer,” said Claire Folkestad, Paid Media Strategist, Blu Dot. “Comping to our other platforms, we have seen really strong ROAS… and highly efficient CPMs, lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with.”

Using Roku Ads Manager, the campaign moved from a pilot to a permanent performance engine for the brand.

Learn More

Send us News

Work with us

Follow on X

Keep Rippin’