Bomb scare evacuates UW buildings

SEATTLE – Several University of Washington buildings were evacuated Friday afternoon after someone discovered a suspicious package near a building used by the forestry school.

Police later determined the object found outside Bloedel Hall was simply batteries wrapped together with some wire. It was unclear whether the package was left as a bomb hoax or by accident.

A phone message for additional details was not immediately returned by UW campus police.

A worker alerted authorities around 2:20 p.m., describing the package as a cluster of pipe bombs with a wire sticking out. Three buildings were evacuated and portions of two nearby streets were closed temporarily while a bomb squad, campus police, Seattle police and the fire department investigated.

Bloedel Hall houses offices and research and instructional laboratories for the forest products and engineering program with the College of Forest Resources, according to the UW’s Web site.

Earlier this year, the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for a May 21 fire at the UW’s Center for Urban Horticulture. The school has sought $5.4 million to repair damage from the arson.

Tacoma

Unused diesel generators up for sale: Thirteen unused diesel generators put up for sale by Tacoma Power are only expected to fetch about two-thirds of their original price. The generators, which cost about $8 million earlier this year, were part of a generator farm set up on the city’s tide flats during last winter’s energy crunch when wholesale energy prices skyrocketed. The farm saved the utility almost $10 million, said Tacoma Power superintendent Steve Klein. The 30-generator energy farm Tacoma Power ran from January through May produced electricity at about $125 per megawatt hour. At the time, power sold for anywhere between $250 and $2,000 per megawatt hour on the spot market, Klein said. The operation added 49 megawatts to the city’s power grid – enough to serve 28,000 homes a year.

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