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South Park announces rebrand to South America, Oregon Governor supports a data center moratorium, Idaho awards $645k for AI Projects, Montana Governor proposes flat tax rate at 4.7%, Washington employment participation hits 50 year low, NuScale jump 15%.

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PNW Market Look

As of market close 9.8.26

Oil nears $100 as US launches new strikes on Iranian tankers (FT)

LIV Golf files for bankruptcy with at least $500mn in liabilities (FT)

Headline Roundup

Gov. Tina Kotek says she now supports a data center moratorium (OPB)
Two more Seattle-area casinos to close, 238 workers laid off as Maverick Gaming retreats from Washington (KVI)
Oregon Paid Consultants Handsomely to Recruit a Hospital Chief. Two Years On, the Search Continues. (WW)
Modular apartments in Bend, Oregon, sell to Fourth Avenue Capital for $20M (DJC)
King County announces $900,000 in funding for community-led tourism around Seattle, others (KOMO)
Idaho Board of Education awards $645,000 for AI innovation projects (IBR)
Gianforte launches flat income tax initiative (MTFP)
USDA Backs $5.85M Hubbard Manufacturing Deal, Preserving 75 Jobs (SBJ)
Developers stumble over Bellingham’s land use code. City planners are simplifying it (CD)
US banning dairy products, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles from Canada (Ground)
Canada's Retaliatory Tariffs on $20bn of US Goods Take Effect (Ground)
WA work force participate rate hits 50-year low (PBJ)
NuScale Power Spikes 13%, Oklo Climbs 7%: Is the Nuclear Selloff Finally Exhausted? (247WS)

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Community Highlight

Oregon coast lacks tsunami-proof evacuation structures to survive the Big One, state report warns (OPB)

“The state has only one of at least 15 structures needed to prepare the coast, officials say

A worst-case tsunami triggered by a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake could kill as many as 40,000 people along the Oregon Coast, according to a state analysis.

The threat is why emergency managers recently released guidance on coastal structures that are specifically designed to save lives in a disaster.

These so-called tsunami vertical evacuation structures can be towers, apartment buildings or parking garages constructed to withstand the force of giant ocean waves triggered by an earthquake.

Oregon currently has just one verified tsunami vertical evacuation structure, located at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, with two more in the process of being developed.

State emergency leaders estimate 15 to 20 are needed in vulnerable areas along the coast from Brookings to Astoria. But for small coastal communities, securing the millions of dollars needed to design and build structures capable of surviving a tsunami can be a major challenge.

ome coastal communities could see the first tsunami waves reach shore within 10 minutes of an earthquake, leaving little time for residents to flee to higher ground, said Bridget Good, a mitigation analyst with OEM. For anyone caught in the waves, the chance of survival is estimated at less than 1%, she added.

“Vertical evacuation structures can be designed to save hundreds, even thousands of people per structure,” Good said.

Multiple state and federal partners spent four years developing the latest guidance for building different types of evacuation structures. The 99-page document also includes hazard maps, GIS tools and offers ways for communities to get involved.”

Rip’s Spotlight

Bonneville eyes switch to CAISO’s EDAM from Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+ (UD)

“BPA’s decision is crucial to market development in the West. The agency provides about one-third of the electric power produced in the Northwest, mainly from 22.5 GW of federal hydroelectric resources. BPA also operates about 15,000 circuit miles of high-voltage transmission in its service territory, which includes Idaho, Oregon, Washington, western Montana and parts of Montana, California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

“Bonneville may have to withdraw certain transmission capacity from optimization within the market — an outcome antithetical to the ostensible goal of efficiently utilizing system infrastructure, which is the bedrock of attempts at well-functioning electricity markets,” he said in his letter to the ROWE.

Also, EDAM would provide more market depth and liquidity than Markets+, Kavulla said.

Not including BPA’s generation and demand, the average net generation in EDAM totaled 39 GW versus Markets+’s 19 GW and EDAM’s average demand totaled 48 GW compared to 19 GW for Markets+, according to the letter, which cited recent U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

For BPA to join EDAM, the Regional Organization for Western Energy must meet governance-related criteria Kavulla outlined in the Sept. 3 letter to the newly formed organization, which is preparing to oversee EDAM and the Western Energy Imbalance Market.
Kavulla, a former energy executive and regulator who joined BPA on June 29, said he was looking at the federal power marketer’s decision to join Markets+ with “fresh eyes,” and that his evaluation will be based on three principles: the ability to trust the durability of market rules; the depth and liquidity of the market; and how seams between markets affect reliability and economic efficiency.”