Steelhead Count in Idaho (since March 11, 2011)

Dam	Date of Count	Daily Count	2011	2010	Average of Last 5 Years
Bonneville	May 30	66	4,147	8,328	4,914
Lower Granite	May 30	4	12,288	10,463	9,436

Adult Chinook Salmon Count in Idaho (since March 11, 2011)

Dam	Date of Count	Daily Count	2011	2010	Average of Last 5 Years
Bonneville	May 30	1241	165,102	241,349	128,103
Lower Granite	May 30	856	41,905	79,368	33,539

Cell Phones and Cancer Risk (National Cancer Institute)

Key Points

• Cell phones emit radiofrequency (RF) energy, which is another name for radio waves (see Questions 1 and 2).
• Research suggests that the amount of RF energy produced by cell phones is too low to cause significant tissue heating or an increase in body temperature (see Question 2).

Hire One is an Effort We All Need to Succeed (Guest Opinion)

By Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter

Our economy is starting to grow again, but too many Idahoans remain out of work.

That’s what I said in January in my annual State of the State address as I proposed augmenting our broader Project 60 initiative with a “Hire One” campaign encouraging Idaho’s roughly 55,000 employers to add personnel to their operations whenever possible.

Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Testimony Before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Thank you for inviting me to testify. Americans are again suffering at the pump. Gasoline and diesel cost more today than they did a year ago.

As ExxonMobil’s CEO recently testified, the prices of those fuels are a function of crude oil prices, which are set by global supply and demand. As a matter of geology, America will never control more than a tiny fraction of the world’s oil supply. Therefore, America cannot prevent gasoline and diesel prices from rising. Still, all else being equal, buying a barrel of American oil is better than buying a barrel of foreign oil.

Know where the wind blows to boost power grid capacity

By David Hambling

WIND farms need to connect to the grid, but existing power lines may not have spare capacity, and new lines can cost over £1 million per kilometre. Now a computer model is being developed to help engineers exploit the boost given to existing capacity by the wind itself.

Analysis of 500-year-old salmon finds importance of smaller juveniles

NEWPORT, Ore. – Chinook salmon reared in the upper stretches of the Columbia River watershed 250 to 500 years ago used to leave their freshwater habitat and enter the estuary – and possibly even the Pacific Ocean – when they were smaller and younger than most of their contemporary counterparts.

The Scientific Testing of Trash Eating Microbes (Addition to Previous Story)

By Aaron Kunz

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In September of 2010 a Blackfoot Company called Environmental Recovery of Idaho embarked on a ten week process to turn municipal solid waste or trash into compost.  The man who spearheaded the science, 59-year old Ted Carpenter says he spent most of his life dreaming about turning trash into dirt.  But it would take most of his life time to find a company that would support his work as an effort to reduce the size of landfills.

Microbes May Turn Idaho Trash Into Compost

Life in the Northwest has its obvious perks: beautiful rivers, mountains, and all that clean air.

Trash is also a way of life in the region. Every cardboard pizza box, hamburger wrapper, and old pair of shoes not recycled finds its way to a landfill.

EPA Releases Searchable Website for Drinking Water Violations

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced improvements to the availability and usability of drinking water data in the Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) tool. ECHO now allows the public to search to see whether drinking water in their community met the standards required under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which is designed to safeguard the nation’s drinking water and protect people’s health. SDWA requires states to report drinking water information periodically to EPA. ECHO also includes a new feature identifying drinking water systems that have had serious noncompliance.