Northwest News

There’s been some speculation over the years as to how wind farms would hold up in the event of a large wildfire. Now, the verdict is in. From EarthFix, Courtney Flatt reports a central Washington wind farm was not damaged.

Scorched earth surrounds wind turbines just outside Cle Elum, Washington. A fire that drove through over the last week and a half destroyed more than 50 houses and has burned an estimated 23,000 acres. It did not burn 48 wind turbines.

Operations manager Eric Melbardis says gravel landscaping protected the turbines from the fire.

Law enforcement officers seized more than eleven thousand marijuana plants in Blaine County Idaho Thursday. The illegal grow operation was on public land in the Sawtooth National Forest near Galena Summit. Several agencies were involved.

Two Oregon conservation groups have a new idea for cooling down streams. Their plan is similar to the credits used to offset carbon emissions. And today, the federal government is backing the plan with a grant. Amelia Templeton of Earthfix explains.

A horse in Klamath County has tested positive for West Nile virus. It’s the first reported case in a mammal in Oregon this year. Amelia Templeton of Earthfix reports.

This week, we’re taking a look at some of the claims made about marijuana. Voters in Oregon and Washington will decide this November whether to legalize pot. Ballot measures in both states would allow the drug to be sold in state-licensed stores. The Oregon initiative would allow people to grow their own. One of the claims made by opponents of the legalization measures is that the marijuana of today is much more potent than the pot smoked decades ago. Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman looked into whether that’s true.