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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Oregon Exploring Ways to Protect Electric Grid on Coast from Catastrophe

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Monday, January 2, 2017   

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon will be getting some help in preparing its energy grid for natural disasters such as the large Cascadia earthquake scientists believe could devastate the Northwest.

The state has been chosen by the National Governors Association for a "policy academy," which will include workshops that provide technical policy and regulatory assistance. Adam Schultz, senior policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Energy, said Oregon has a particular interest in making sure its coastal areas are prepared.

"Wind and ice storms - heavy wind - can knock down power lines,” Schultz said. "And then there’s the big black-swan event, which is the impending Cascadia subduction zone earthquake. We realize there's a significant risk to the coastal areas."

According to Schultz, there are unique risks in those areas, where strips of land are sometimes only a mile wide.

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, New York became a laboratory for dealing with natural disasters. Schultz said the state is working on the resiliency of its electrical grid, which largely failed after the storm.

One way to secure the electrical grid could be through micro-grids that run on renewable energy. Schultz said communities could create small islands of power that run on the sun or wind.

"If there was a catastrophic event, you can imagine a situation where perhaps the utility, working the local municipalities, could have a micro-grid system with a solar and storage technology that allows it to continue operation locally for, say, a police or fire station or a medical facility or community center,” he said.

The other three states involved in the policy academy are Washington, Rhode Island and Kentucky. Workshops will begin in February and continue for 16 months. For its project, Oregon will be partnering closely with Central Lincoln Peoples Utility District, which serves nearly 40 percent of the state's coast.




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