State wildlife officials are implementing restrictions on public lands across the east side of the state weeks earlier than in past years due to low snowpack and the ongoing drought. 

Eastern Oregon residents who have lived for years with contaminated water can move forward with a class action lawsuit against the Port of Morrow and large food processors in the area, a federal judge ruled.

As data centers increasingly dominate conversations around the country, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and two partners have published a one-stop shop to help guide development. 

Of the agency’s top priorities is the eradication of Japanese beetles in south central Washington. They’ve been found in Kennewick, Pasco, Sunnyside, Mabton, Wapato and near SeaTac. 

Umatilla Electric Cooperative in Hermiston is one of six utilities across Washington and Oregon that have absorbed the bulk of energy demands of data centers in the region. A growing number of utilities are using booming data center demand to justify skirting climate rules in both states that mostly ban the build-out of new gas infrastructure, citing the need for regional energy reliability. 

A state agency has awarded $2.4 million to support 16 new electric vehicle charging slots across three sites in Benton County. 

Supporters of a Goldendale pumped-hydro energy storage project have said it will help meet growing regional energy demand, and the project developers tout its potential to one day power up to half a million homes without sending harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But mounting evidence shows a large data center campus could be among the main beneficiaries of that power. 

Officials with the U.S. Department of Energy and Bechtel National, the firm that designed the Waste Treatment Plant, lauded the accomplishment, saying it reflects momentum in the cleanup effort and progress toward the next chapter for the Hanford site. 

Bonneville Power Administration’s financial performance is a mixed bag at the halfway point of its fiscal year but its leaders say the agency is still on track to meet most of its end-of-year targets. 

The irrigation district serving much of the city of Kennewick as well as other outlying areas of Benton County has begun refilling canals that went dry a week ago following repairs to a critical pumping station.