Rank14's Blog

Oregon’s green energy “crisis”

rank14 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:17:16 +0000

Oregon was initially doused with green energy tax credits to help bolster the economy while making it more green, but in recent months lawmakers have scaled back both energy credits and what it takes to acquire them. As part of the American Recovery Act, the options for Oregon’s green energy revolution are varied and complex. Green tax credits as an effective way to kickstart Oregon’s economy are being rethought as the number of new jobs being created is low compared to month-by-month job losses.

The Leaburg power substation, which acts a buffer, downstream from the Leaburg Hydroelectric plant, to the Eugene-Springfield area.

Green Tax credits have been used for a variety of things and not in the way that they were intended for our economy, according to Jeff Nelson, director of the Springfield Utilities Board (SUB) who says, “You’re probably creating local jobs if the project moves forward, just for the operation of the project.” According to Nelson, many companies are receiving the green energy tax credits to buy solar panels— but purchasing them from overseas, instead of locally. And while the credits have lured some companies to Oregon, there has been little in the way of proposed development here in Eugene. Uni-Chem, a Korean company, began making plans to utilize the defunct Hynix semi-conductor plant in West Eugene, but interest has waned. Other companies who are utilizing the credits are focusing on creating small-scale solar projects, and Peg Boulay, Co-Director of Environmental Sciences at the University of Oregon, notes that the majority of development will be in residential and business districts.

The potential for these projects to feed back into the grid is there as Oregon provides a discount for users who produce some of their own electricity, but it isn’t enough to offset the cost for most.

The issue that comes into question is the feasibility of Oregon for all of these projects. “Wind is not Oregon’s strongest point, but the [solar] profile in Oregon is not as bad as you might think,” says Nelson. Currently the majority of development for wind is in the Columbia River Gorge which is “gusty” as described by Boulay, but has the benefit of the Dams on the river to help mitigate energy overflow. When it’s very windy, the dam can shut down and act as a buffer for all of the excess energy that’s being produced. When the wind is negligible, the dam can go into full production to pick up the slack. As compared to the Midwest which has sustained winds a majority of the time, projects away from dams and other mitigating power sources are problematic. Nelson, contends, however; that having too much power is worse than not enough.

“Solar projects have incredible environmental damage because basically it’s a no-grow zone, a nuke zone, there’s nothing there other than solar panels,” says Boulay. Solar impacts our environment by taking up large tracts of real estate in which nothing else can grow. The threat to flora and fauna in a region is another factor, according to Boulay.

The same can be said for wind turbines, which require a large chunk of earth to be moved for a cement anchor to be placed.

Both forms of green energy generation require a lot of infrastructure in terms of control buildings and providing road access to each solar array and turbine— a lot of human activity is present in areas that were previously left undisturbed.

Anything is better than our current heavy reliance on hydroelectric energy, which is where 80% of the energy for the town of Springfield, Oregon comes from, according to Nelson. Older dams without fish ladders have an extremely high mortality rate of salmon, a precious food resource. Dams also stop the flow of silt downstream preventing the enriching of the soil near rivers as a negative coincidental impact on the bounty for local farmers.

In terms of the effectiveness of green energy tax credits, it’s complex, Nelson describes it as a “fragmented process” that needs to be taken as an aggregate.

Oregon reaching 25% reliance on green energy by 2025 is the goal the state has set for itself, but Oregon is getting a slow start on it.

As far as recovering Oregon’s economy goes, the expectation is to have 300,000 jobs created by 2025— Oregon has lost around 148,600 jobs to date due to the current recession.

In terms of training, there is a shortage: There are only two green energy worker training facilities in Oregon. A majority of the new green energy workers will come from out of state as it is not possible to churn out the numbers needed to fill jobs by 2025.

Oregon is trying hard to balance being green while trying to provide jobs. Oregon has a golden opportunity here to become a green energy leader in the nation and a blueprint for what to do — and not to do — in terms of making it happen. Oregon’s reliance on hydroelectricity has dramatic environmental impacts, but wind and solar will have impacts as well, just of a different kind. All things considered there is no one solution, and only through an amalgamation of solutions will an answer be found— figuring out the right combination of solutions is the biggest challenge.

Interviewee Profile: Peg Boulay

rank14 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:18:13 +0000

Choosing Peg Boulay as an interviewee to ask about the ecological effects of green energy was a no-brainer: The projects she leads specifically collect ecological and scientific data, with projects in the past relating specifically to my topic.

Boulay is Co-Director of the environmental leadership program, which is a community service learning program that helps students get professional experience while working with businesses. She also advises environmental-science majors. She works with another track of projects, that educates K-12 students.

That’s the boring part: Now let’s get down to the science!

For the first type of renewable energy, we talked about solar paneling systems and the vast amounts of real estate they take up, as well as the ecological damage they can cause, she says: “…we’ll probably never have super-large scale solar power.” She then talked about solar projects in the southwest that can take up to a square mile and commented: “Solar projects…have incredible environmental damage because basically it’s a no-grow zone, a nuke zone, there’s nothing there other than solar panels and they’re very large. So, a lot of impact at that one site and then transmission lines have impact.”

She added that our best bet in Oregon is on a smaller scale where individual buildings can feed energy back into the grid with no additional environmental impact: The buildings have already been built.

We moved on to wind power: “The tax credits have significantly driven development of wind power and in fact, wind power is not economically feasible without tax credits.” Our wind power is more “gusty” and isn’t sustained, so it provides a challenge and makes it less desirable than in the southwest. Despite that, the Columbia River Gorge and Steens Mountain have seen exponential growth of wind power in the last five years. Each turbine has an impact of about a 100′ radius due to a concrete block used to anchor them down. When coupled with a grid of turbines, roads, and development around it. On an environmental level, wind power has an unintended environmental effect: It harms flight-based fauna that may be sucked into the turbines and killed, specifically bats when they hit a low pressure spot in the vortex which they are drawn to. “Literally, their lungs implode and they explode from the inside out from the pressure change,” she adds as a macabre description. The other is that it affects certain types of grasses from growing.

Still and all, she reserves a certain awe for wind turbines as she describes being inside one of the towers: “Turbines are amazing if they are the size of a football field…each blade is about the size of a gray whale…”

Interviewee Profile: Jeff Nelson

rank14 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:24:28 +0000

At 15 years of experience with the Springfield Utilities Board(SUB) with additional job experience at Emerald People’s Utility District, the Director of Resource Management for SUB has only one anomaly to his profile: He lives in Eugene.
When asked if that’s a conflict of interests when he pays his utility bill every month, he laughs and says that it allows him to track competing utilities and to compare trends between them. He’s just another example of the commuter culture that has erupted between Eugene and Springfield, further blending the two cities together.
When asked about federal green energy tax credits he happily admits to doing his part to stay green, explaining about his new ductless water pump and the state tax credit he also received. It’s a trend he’s starting to see more and more of: residential customers taking advantage of green energy tax credits on a personal level to save a buck.
Before I can stop him, he’s already begun to discuss wind energy and potential green development here in Oregon. The “green power movement” as he describes it is a “fragmented process” and is lacking a cohesive policy. Due to this he worries about the competitiveness of the local production of wind turbines, “there’s no perfect solution that I’ve seen.” He describes competition overseas and how part of the tax credits are to create jobs, however; there are people who are going to get the tax credits and still buy their turbines overseas, he says that “…you’re probably creating local jobs if the project moves forward, just for the operation of the project.” Then he points out that the majority of federal dollars are going overseas: “Does it create jobs in the green industry? Yes. Does it always create jobs in the U.S.? No.”
As the manager of SUB’s power portfolio, he is no stranger to hydroelectric power: SUB has preference rights to the Bonneville hydroelectric plant on the Columbia river, where it receives all of its power: 80% of it is from the damn, the rest is composed of wind and nuclear energy.

He’s also no stranger to the concept of hydroelectric power’s adverse effects on the environment, there are four parts to this puzzle involving salmon, he explains: “Hatcheries, Harvest, Hydroelectric Generation, and habitat.” Habitat refers to the in-river environment, but also the ocean conditions. Hydroelectic depends on whether or not the dam was built with fish ladders in mind, if not, the mortality rate of salmon will be high. Harvest depends on how many are caught at sea, and hatcheries dictate how many new salmon there are per generation.

He sees our future as operating with a high dependency on hydroelectricity, with evermore respect to salmon, and the goal of reaching 30% renewable energy sans-hydroelectricity will depend solely on how much Oregon grows, but he does see Oregon, if the “fragmented process” becomes more cohesive, as having solar energy “…in the mix.”
“Wind is not Oregon’s strongest point…but the [solar] profile in Oregon is not as bad as you might think.”

Oregon’s solar energy cools down

rank14 — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:57:03 +0000

The confidence in green energy in Oregon is slowly fading after the promises of massive funding to wind and solar energy production facilities last fall. Government tax credits and stimulus funds are getting put up for vote for reductions, and Governor Kulongoski is already budgeting for them to be reduced. Tax credits for bio-diesel are also being reduced, but to provide more of a balance there is focus on necessary green jobs education and training programs. Oregon’s green revolution may be further away than we think, if it comes at all.
Source 1: http://news.opb.org/article/6706-house-approves-scaled-back-green-tax-credits/
Source 2: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100209/GREEN/2090335/1001/news

10 sources for my topic:

rank14 — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:00:48 +0000

Topic:

Energy-effecient jobs.

Title:

“Oregon’s Energy-Inefficient ‘Green Revolution‘”

Category:

Citizen; opinion column.

Summary:

The author argues that spending millions of dollars on solar energy in Oregon, a primarily cloudy state, is a waste, especially because most of our energy comes from hydroelectricity. Why should we pour so much money into what is so ineffecient for us?

Summary of sources:

President Obama speech

Governor Ted Kulongoski speech

The Governor’s Budget 2009-11

Unclassified briefing of Nellis Air Force Base’s solar capabilities

2008 Bonneville Power Administration

The sources represent the viewpoints and missions of the politicians in charge of Oregon’s energy initiatives as well as governmental factsheets and findings backing up her viewpoint.

Source analysis:

Cascade Policy institute is a public policy thinktank that has existed since 1991. They are non-profit and non-partisan.

Usefulness:

It’s important to see what the critics and lauders are saying in regards to Oregon’s new green jobs initiatives and the feasability of the projects that are being started. It’s important to know what other people are thinking, especially those within a think tank.

Works cited:

http://www.cascadepolicy.org/2009/07/17/oregon’s-energy-inefficient-“green-revolution”/

Ross, Sarah. “Oregon’s Energy-Inefficient “Green Revolution” Cascade Policy Institute

July 17, 2009. Accessed Feb.10, 2010

Topic:

Oregon’s green energy funding is increasing

Title:

“Oregon exceptionally generous with green-energy subsidies”

Category:

Mainstream journalistic, news report from the web version of the The Oregonian.

Summary:

Oregon is spending millions of dollars on green energy projects. Governor Kulongoski is calling for higher taxes to support more of them, despite the recession. Some of them are risky.

Summary of sources:

An Oregonian investigation

Director of Oregon center for Public Policy

Senator Ginny Burdick (D-Portland)

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski

Jody Wiser of Tax Fairness Oregon

Susan Otcenas of Team Estrogen, an environmentally-friendly clothing company for women

Lynn Frank, former director of the department of energy

These sources are the profesionals, lawmakers, leaders, and political figures directly involved with Oregon’s green tax credits.

Source Analysis:

The Oregonian is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the west coast, having been fonded in 1850. It is the largest newspaper in the Pacific Northwest by circulation. They have won a pulitzer almost every year since 1993. It has been said that they have a conservative bent with a focus on big business, but a quick look at their opinion page would dictate otherwise.

Usefulness:

The investigational power of The Oregonian is a powerful force. The opinions and facts straight from the people directly involved with these tax credits is invaluable.

Works Cited:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/oregon_is_exceptionally_genero.html

Esteve, Harry. “Oregon exceptionally generous with green-energy subsidies” The Oregonian.

Jan. 02, 2009. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.

Topic:

Oregon’s renewable energy.

Title:

Oregon Department of Energy’s official website on www.oregon.gov

Category:

Institutional

Summary:

The portal to find out all about Oregon’s green energy policy with links to different types of power, different sustainable objects like transportation or public buildings. Contains a list of rules and Energy programs.

Summary of sources:

The Oregon government.

The Oregon Department of Energy

Official government information: Policies and plans. Information site for the public.

Source Analysis:

Straight from the scientists and lawmakers in the employ of Oregon’s government. The Oregon department of energy was created in 1975.

Usefulness:

The facts and opinions that the Oregon and Federal governments are working off of for the green tax credits and energy initatives currently being put in place.

Works Cited:

http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/RENEW/index.shtml

Oregon Government. Accessed. Feb. 7, 2010.

Topic:

Green Manufacturing.

Title:

“Oregon ‘Green’ Tax Breaks Cost More Than Predicted”

Category:

Journalistic: Business magazine for managers.

Summary:

Luring green energy manufacturing businesses to Oregon is costing up to 40 times more than anticipated. Billions have been given to failed companies while taxpayers are asked to pay more.

Summary of sources:

Energy staff

Kulongoski’s spokeswoman Anna Taylor

Rep. Phil Barnhart of Eugene

Records obtained by the Oregonian

Key people dealing with the green energy initiative.

Source Analysis:

Additional voices of key people involved in the green energy initiative and a furthre exploration of the records obtained by the Oregonian.

Usefulness:

It’s useful because it describes the ins and outs of the green energy intiative and its effects on the economy including unemployment and land prices.

Works Cited:

http://www.manufacturing.net/News-Report-Oregon-Tax-Breaks-Cost-More-Than-Predicted-110209.aspx?menuid=

Esteve, Harry. Oregon ‘Green’ Tax Breaks Cost More Than Predicted. The Associated Press

Nov. 02, 2009. Accessed Feb. 9, 2010.

Topic:

American Recovery Act

Title:

“Oregon Receives $7.25 Million In Recovery Act Grants For Energy Efficiency Projects”

Category:

Offbeat Journalistic: Government monitor.

Summary:

Governor Ted Kulongoski announced $7.25 million in Recovery Act funds to be distributed to 95 projects around the state of Oregon.

Summary of Sources:

Governor Ted Kulongoski

Governor’s Oregon Way Advisory Group

Oregon Department of Energy Director Mark Long

Government sources.

Source Analysis:

A more in-depth look at Governor Ted Kulongoski’s announcement and what it means.

Usefulness:

Replete with figures, and specifies where funds will be allocated and for what type of projects.

Works Cited:

http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/oregon-receives-7-25-million-in-recovery-act-grants-for-energy-efficiency-projects-11521.html

The Gov Monitor

Oct. 21 2009. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.

Topic:

American Recovery Act

Title:

“Eight Months Into Implementation, Recovery Act Spurs Clean Energy Innovations”

Category:

Community

Summary:

Update on the effects of the American Recovery Act, that are generally good. Also details how it is spurring growth in the clean energy sector.

Summary of sources:

Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

Government bureaucracy at its finest.

Source analysis:

Kind of an underground beatnik view from a community of environmentalists where they report on what they feel is relevant to their cause.

Usefulness:

The people that report on whether or not this is working made their first report and it’s important to see how much of an effect it’s had.

Works Cited:
http://apolloalliance.org/feature-articles/eight-months-into-implementation-recovery-act-spurs-clean-energy-innovations/

Buffa, Andrea. Apollo Alliance

Oct. 30, 2009. Accessed: Feb. 2, 2010.

Topic:

American Recovery Act

Title:

“U.S. Recovery Act Awards $100 Million in Green Job Training Grants”

Category:

Off-beat news: Green business news site.

Summary:

Details of green job training and 25 new green energy projects across the country. $28 million going to green auto manufacturing restructuring.

Summary of sources:

Employment and training administration.

Government source.

Source analysis:

The Employment and Training Administration is a subfacet of the U.S. Department of Labor and is heavily involved with the American Recovery Act. They are in charge of all federal grants that train workers in the U.S.

Usefulness:

It’s important to see exactly what the Department of Labor is doing to train for all these new green manufacturing industries that are being lured to the U.S. It’s also important to see how they are going to staff their own public works and rretrofitting projects. Also more important because it’s from this year and therefore more relevant.

Works Cited:

U.S. Recovery Act Awards $100 Million in Green Job Training Grants

GreenBiz Staff, “U.S. Recovery Act Awards $100 Million in Green Job Training Grants” www.greenbiz.com

Jan. 07 2010. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.

Topic:

Green energy initiative

Title:

“The latest news on renewable energy and sustainability”

Category:

Institution

Summary:

An update on the status of the green energy technology projects in Oregon.

Summary of sources:

President Obama

Matt Slavin, President of Sustainability Consulting Group

Business Energy Tax Credit

A mix of viewpoints from governmental and private groups.

Source analysis:

Green Power Oregon is hosted by Portland General Electric, that has a big stake in how the future of energy plays out in Oregon.

Usefulness:

It’s important to have a perspective from the private sector, especially one that has such a big stake in Oregon’s energy. Portland General Electric is a huge provider of power to the Willamette Valley. Another more current source on what’s been happening with the American Recovery Act and the green energy initiatives put in place by it.

Works Cited:

http://greenpoweroregon.com/news/article/10-01-12/renewable_energy_keeps_eye_on_betc.aspx

Weinstein, Nathalie. Daily Journal of Commerce Oregon.

Jan. 12 2010. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.

Topic:
Green Jobs

Title:

“Green jobs program awarded $5.3M grant”

Category:

Mainstream journalistic

Summary:

Oregon got a grant of $5.38 million that will go to training jobs in renewable industries.

Summary of sources:

U.S. Department of Labor

Green Jobs Council

Labor interest groups from both the federal and local governments.

Source analysis:

The U.S. Department of labor is in charge of granting funds to all green training programs in the U.S. The Green Jobs Council works with community colleges, business and state agencies in Oregon.

Usefulness:

Very current update on what’s happening with green jobs training and who’s involved with the dispersal of those funds.

Works Cited:

http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/01/20/green-jobs-program-to-800-people-train-1039-ssby/

Weinstein, Nathalie. Daily Journal of Commerce Oregon

Jan. 20, 2010. Accessed Feb. 10, 2010.

10.

Topic:

American Recovery Act

Title:

Stimulus funds nearly 600,000 jobs last quarter

Summary:

Tallies up jobs created by the American Recovery Act.

Summary of sources:

Reports from state, local and corporate recipients of stimulus funds

State governors

Governor Ted Kulongoski

Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery, Accountability and Transparency Board

Vice President Joseph Biden

Reports from government are the most important, but so are the facts from the leaders.

Source Analysis:

CNN was founded in 1980, it was the first network to provide 24 hour news coverage and the first all-new television network in the U.S. CNN is owned by Time-Warner and and the U.S. News network it runs on is owned by Turner Broadcasting System.

Usefulness:

Most recent source yet. The most important part are the collection of the reports of jobs (including green and renewable) created from the states and localities. Something hard to pinpoint or estimate. It details how the American Recovery Act is coming along and how it’s benefitting America.

Works Cited:

Stimulus funds nearly 600,000 jobs last quarter

Luhby, Tami. “Stimulus funds nearly 600,000 jobs last quarter”

Jan. 31 2010. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.

The absent-minded professor and her graduate student

rank14 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:38:27 +0000

Afternoon in the Marche Museum Cafe Photo by Gregory Dewar

Entering through the doors of the Marche museum cafe provided a cacophony of noise: Loud conversations intermingled with the whir of espresso in generation. The establishment was drafty and cool, adding to the poor, but loudly reverberating acoustics to create an unfriendly and sterile feeling environment. The walls were lined with advertisements for the Schnitzer Museum of art, and only those.

Sitting down next to an older looking student, who appeared to be a graduate student, and an even older looking woman with a bowl cut, I began to listen. She left for a minute after greeting him and returned to exclaim “My food isn’t here yet?” She asked him what classes he was taking this term, to which he replied microtheory and metatheory and then began to discuss a one-sided debate beweteen microtheory and social psychiatry.

Her lunch arrived and she seemed to turn off her ears for a moment, digging in, as he continued to ramble on.

They talked about a professor here on campus named Richard. They both agreed that he was great: brilliant, but intimidating, a common theme in the young man’s life: He finds professors intimidating and it impacts his work.

I moved my camera slowly under the table and attempted to take a photograph. I pulled it up, but it didn’t turn out as it was mostly my leg.

The woman is an ethics professor on campus, as she was about to specify what kind specifically at his inquiry, she dropped a napkin, reached down to pick it up and went back to eating as if a conversation had not been happening.

After a pause the young man said: “Tenure just seems like such a miserable process” and put an extreme emphasis on that fact.

With no prompting from her, he then began to tell the story of how he used a paper from one class for another class— Theory I— and got an A. He explained that the main criticism he recieved about the paper was that it felt like it’d been written for another class and he didn’t use “Angie” and “Amos”

They seemed at ease in their discussion of graduate and teaching politics, never even glancing toward my surreptitious note-taking.

My cell phone was dead, and estimating the time in the clock-devoid cafe, I stood up abruptly, took a few quick snaps and booked it back to the cinema studies lab.

Timeline of “green” technology incentives in Oregon

rank14 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:52:02 +0000

Are investments in green technological manufacturing, as well as green incentives to homeowners going to be effective in decreasing unemployment in the state of Oregon?

Timeline:

2005: Green Investment Fund instituted in Portland, a total of $425,000 awarded between 2005 and 2009 to “innovative” green building projects. Link here.

May 7, 2008: NAHB (the National Association of Home Builders) urges congress to extend tax incentives to increase energy efficiency and sustainability in new homes.

Oct. 20, 2008: Governor Kulongoski announces an incentive for green technology in Oregon to boost its economy: Solar World in Hillsboro, Ore. produces its first solar panel. Link here.

July 09, 2009: Centron Solar, a Chinese startup comes to Eugene. Plans on taking over old Hynix computer chip manufacturing plant. Link here.

Sept. 22d, 2009: Hynix Semi-conductor, inc. begins to negotiate sale of its computer chip plant to Uni-Chem, that plans on producing solar panels. The sale will bring around 1,000 green jobs back to Eugene. Link here.

Feb. 17, 2009: President Obama signs the “green” economic stimulus package. Link here.

Oct. 27, 2009: President Obama announces $30 million for “Smart Grid” projects in Oregon. Link here.

Nov. 7, 2009: Sanyo Electric Inc. completes construction of phase one of a new solar wafer and silicon ingot manufacturing plant in Salem’s Renewable Energy and Technology Park. Link here.

Jan. 09, 2009: Obama announces $90 million in green tax credits for three Oregon companies, including one in Eugene. Link here.

To Date: The Recovery Act is set to apportion “$600 million in green job training programs – $100 million to expand line worker training programs and $500 million for green workforce training” according to whitehouse.gov‘s energy and environment page.

Additional Resources:

These resources provide additional information, including counterpoints to the green side of President Obama’s Recovery act. They focus on the state of Oregon and range from manufacturing to individual homeowners, who are the intended market for the products and services these businesses will provide. Included is a case study on the practice of renovating homes to be more eco-friendly, including cost-effectiveness. An opinion article has been included on the difficulties one faces when cultivating these green jobs. Also included is a law office’s discussion of the topic from a legal perspective. Many of these sources contain new perspectives on a new issue, focusing on green technology as a way of decreasing unemployment on a nationwide and local level. All are important because they show the many sides of this complex issue as we continue to explore it as a state and a nation.

Going with Green energy— Financial Incentives for Oregon Subdivision Developers & Homebuilders

A legal explanation by a law office of the ways for home owners and sub-division builders to take advantage of available financial incentives for being eco-friendly.

Case Study: Sellwood House

Examination of ways that historical houses can be restored with unnoticeable, yet eco-friendly materials in the Sellwood suburb of Portland.

Solar Power incentives in Oregon

Examples of the various incentives available to Oregonians who switch to solar power.

The Impact of Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax incentives

Pro and Con approach to the Recovery Act funding.

Growing new jobs in a greener world

Opinion article discussing the potential growth in Oregon due to green technology tax incentives.

NOAA proposes habitat protection for sea turtles

rank14 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:02:33 +0000

Federal biologists have proposed three new open-ocean areas as protected habitats for Leatherback sea turtles along the west coast and are seeking public feedback. Sarah McNulty, ecologist, says the areas were chosen to cover feeding areas and migration routes.

According to NOAA, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the three areas will comprise 70,000 acres in California, Oregon, and Washington. The current protected marine habitat for the turtles is on the East coast near the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The turtles, have the largest range of any reptile and have an average lifespan of around 45 years.

The proposed habitat may include Monterey Bay.