Northwest briefly

WASHINGTON – Under pressure from Northwest lawmakers, the Bush administration Thursday abruptly scrapped its plan to immediately start a new policy that could boost electric rates in the Northwest.

Instead, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman agreed to meet with the lawmakers to talk about changes in the Bonneville Power Administration’s financial structure in the budget proposal the White House sent to Congress earlier this week.

The administration proposed diverting nearly $1 billion in BPA revenues over the next 10 years to the federal Treasury. By some estimates, that could add about 5 percent to residential electric bills.

But facing a barrage of questions Thursday from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Bodman agreed to consult with Congress before proceeding.

“We will talk to you before we do anything,” Bodman said, though he didn’t rule out the administration acting on its own.

After the hearing, Cantwell cautioned not to expect too much from the administration and said the region’s lawmakers would be looking for a way to legislatively protect BPA.

Tri-City Herald

Bellingham: Alaska may take ferry and go home

A partisan political battle over oil drilling in Alaska could end up stripping Bellingham of its Alaska ferry stop.

A resolution introduced in the Alaska House of Representatives calls for terminating Washington state’s involvement with the Alaska Marine Highway System, which ferries passengers and vehicles between Alaska, Canada and the U.S. mainland.

Alaska Rep. Kurt Olson, the legislator who introduced the bill, said he hoped it would inspire conversation among congressional members from Washington on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

If Washington loses its stop in the ferry system, it would end Bellingham’s 17-year run as the system’s southernmost port of call. The Port of Bellingham won a competition with Tacoma and the Port of Seattle for the route in 1988. The port later spent more than $10 million to construct the Bellingham Cruise Terminal.

Bellingham Herald

Seattle: Jail guard faces sex assault charge

A King County jail guard has been charged with first-degree custodial sexual assault involving two women.

Harland D. Richmond, 36, engaged in sexual activity with two inmates in October, according to charges filed Thursday by prosecutors in Superior Court. He has been placed on administrative leave pending arraignment on Thursday.

Richmond, the son of a retired member of the sheriff’s command staff, could face 15 to 20 months in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Three women being held in the downtown jail told investigators Richmond offered them drugs, extra food and other favors in exchange for sex, and he then moved them to different cells and engaged in sex with two of them, investigators wrote.

Associated Press

Vancouver, Wash.: High winds blow in havoc

A Vancouver couple were waiting this morning for a crane to lift a 110-foot hemlock out their living room, where it landed after crashing through their ceiling in a windstorm just after midnight.

The 3-foot-diameter tree toppled on Martin and Carol Golding’s home in the Forest Ridge neighborhood as wind gusts whipped through southwest Washington, scattering tree limbs, garbage cans, recycling boxes and trash on roadways and knocking down power lines.

About 800 Clark Public Utilities customers remained without power Friday.

The Columbian

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