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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
271

中國綠色媒體:反怒江大壩之媒體角色 / China's environmental journalism: media's role in the Anti-Nujiang campaign

盧郁涵, Lu, Yu Han Unknown Date (has links)
中國環境保護主義記者在近期的反怒江大壩運動中,整合水電移民的草根抗爭以及黨政媒體的力量,成功引發龐大輿論以影響中國中央決策,乃至展現中國社會與國家的關係逐漸轉變,尤其媒體在受到中央控管之下,還得以發揮民間社會的強大力量,證明中國綠色媒體在中國邁向民主化的過程中扮演不可或缺的角色。 / Media in China are generally categorized as the extensions of propaganda machine for the central government, because despite media commercialization, China maintains heavy-handed censorship at the whim of political will. However, there are still instances in which journalists are active participants of social movements in China. One recent case in particular is the “Battle to Protect the Nu River,” in which China’s environmental NGOs, scholars, and media formed joint coalition to fight off the Nu River Project, and stop efforts to build hydropower plants on Nujiang. This paper uses John Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model to map out the ways in which the Policy Entrepreneurs – environmental journalists – capitalized on tools of the press to influence public opinion and decision-makers in the government, systematically brought the anti-NRP campaign up to the policy agenda, and eventually swayed the outcome of the national policy. Since the beginning of the proposal to build a cascade of 13 dams on the World Heritage site of Nujiang in 2003, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao personally intervened, and twice ordered suspension of the project. Therefore, while the final outcome of the anti-NRP campaign is still pending, at least China’s environmental journalists have successfully prolonged the unusual nine-year hiatus on a project that was slated for three consecutive Five-Year Plans.
272

Simulering av vågförhållanden i vattenkraftmagasin / Simulation of wave conditions in hydropower reservoirs

Jonsson, Elon January 2009 (has links)
<p>Kraftindustrin arbetar oavbrutet med att försöka höja och upprätthålla dammsäkerheten i Sverige. Erosionsskydd för fyllningsdammar skall dimensioneras och utformas så att de medverkar till en god dammsäkerhet. Vid dimensionering och projektering av erosionskydd måste vågberäkningar utföras för att bedöma angripande våglast. I Sverige genomförs dessa beräkningar utifrån kraftföretagens riktlinjer för dammsäkerhet, RIDAS. Uträkningarna och bedömningar av våglasterna är ur dammsäkerhetssynpunkt viktiga eftersom de ofta avgör erforderligt fribord. Vågberäkningarna är behäftade med stora osäkerheter, speciellt i fall då störningar i form av öar, uddar och uppgrundande partier finns framför dammkonstruktionen.</p><p>Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att utvärdera vågförhållanden och därmed våglasterna på Vojmsjöns regleringsdamm. Vågförhållandena har simulerats och analyserats med den numeriska modellen MIKE 21 Spectral Wave. Tillvägagångssättet är nytt och modellen har tidigare inte använts inom området. Således genomfördes en verifiering och orienterande kalibrering i magasin Sädvajaure. Utifrån de kunskaper och erfarenheter som erhölls vid utförandet i Sädvajaure användes modellen i fallstudie Vojmsjön. Ett mer övergripande syfte har varit att utreda om förfarandet är en ny möjlig metod för att utvärdera vågor i vattenkraftmagsin.</p><p>Undersökningen i Sädvajaure visade på en relativt god korrelation mellan uppmätta och simulerade våghöjder. Modellens noggrannhet är starkt beroende av tillförlitligheten hos indata. Mer exakt indata hade förmodligen resulterat i ännu bättre samband. Fallstudie Vojmsjön visade på signifikanta skillnader i resultat mellan vågberäkningarna enligt RIDAS och de av modellen simulerade. RIDAS beräkningsmetoder överskattar våghöjderna i området framför Vojmsjöns regleringsdamm, främst till följd av att beräkningarna genomförs med grova förenklingar av magasinets form och att vågorna antas propagera fritt utan inverkan av refraktion och uppgrundande partier.</p><p>Förfarandet med att använda en numerisk modell för att analysera vågor i vattenkraftmagasin anses vara tillämpbar. Metoden bedöms, utifrån denna studie, vara ett bra komplement för tillfällen när RIDAS beräkningsmetoder anses vara otillräckliga och särskilda utredningar är påkallade. Liknande mer grundliga utredningar, skulle kunna ge bra underlag för att fatta goda ekonomiska och dammsäkerhetsmässiga beslut.</p> / <p>The power industry is constantly trying to raise and maintain the safety of dams in Sweden. Erosion protection for embankment should be designed to contribute to a high level of dam safety. When designing an erosion protection, wave calculation must be carried out to assess the wave load. In Sweden, these calculations and assessments are based on the Power Companies Guidelines for Dam Safety, named RIDAS. The calculation of wave loads is important from a dam safety point of view, because they often determine the required freeboard. The wave calculations are subject to large uncertainties especially in cases when islands, capes and shoaling areas are located in front of the dam construction.</p><p>The aim of the thesis has been to assess the wave conditions and thereby the wave loads in reservoir Vojmsjön. The approach has been to simulate and analyse the wave conditions with a numerical model MIKE 21 Spectral Wave. The procedure is new and a verification and orientated calibration was conducted since the model has not previously been used in the field. The verification of the model was carried out in reservoir Sädvajaure. Based on the knowledge and experience obtained during the investigation at Sädvajaure the model was used in the case study Vojmsjön. A more general aim has been to investigate whether the approach is a new possible method to evaluate waves in hydropower reservoirs.</p><p>The investigation in Sädvajaure showed a relatively good correlation between measured and simulated wave heights. The model precision is highly dependent on the accuracy of input data. More accurate input data had probably given even better results. Case study Vojmsjön showed significant differences in result between wave calculation based on RIDAS and the model simulated. RIDAS calculation methods overestimate the wave heights in the area in front of regulation dam Vojmsjön. Mainly because the calculations are based on simplifications of the reservoir structure, but also depending on the fact that the waves are assumed propagating freely without the influence of refraction and shoaling.</p><p>The approach of using a numerical model to evaluate the waves in hydropower reservoirs is believed to be applicable. The method is considered to be useful as a complement in investigations when RIDAS calculation methods are considered being insufficient and special investigations is necessary. Similar more extended investigations could provide good material to make good decisions, both from an economic and a dam safety point of view.</p>
273

Taming Exotic Beauties : Swedish Hydro Power Constructions in Tanzania in the Era of Development Assistance, 1960s - 1990s

Öhman, May-Britt January 2007 (has links)
This study analyses the history of a large hydroelectric scheme – the Great Ruaha power project in Tanzania. The objective is to establish why and how this specific scheme came about, and as part of this to identify the key actors involved in the decision-making process, including the ideological contexts within which they acted. Although the Tanzanian actors and the World Bank (IBRD) are discussed, main focus is on the Swedish actors on project level.Kidatu, the first phase of the Great Ruaha power project (constructed between1970-1975), became the first large-scale hydropower station in Tanzania. As such, it paved the way for Tanzanian entrance into the Big Dam Era and significant changes within the Tanzanian landscape. As well as the dry river bed at Kidatu, and the small reservoir that precedes it, the Great Ruaha power project also involved the creation of a huge artificial lake, the Mtera reservoir. The Kidatu hydropower station was the first large undertaking within Swedish bilateral aid, and implied the takeover of control of hydropower construction in Tanzania by Swedish enterprises, replacing the enterprises of the former colonial power. A hydropower plant is a complex technoscientific artefact. The construction of a hydropower plant is preceded by a large number of technological choices, scientific prestudies and estimations of costs and revenues. A hydropower plant is also a complex social creation, and is as such filled with social actors engaged in conflicts, compromises and power structures. The decision to construct Kidatu hydropower station was a result of negotiations and activities within what is called “development assistance”. This brings in yet another dimension, the political one, involving export and import of technology, foreign capital, and foreign influence in decision-making processes, as well as ideas about how to bring development and progress to a people supposed to be living in “poverty and misery”. The study is divided into three main parts. The first part analyses the context of Swedish development assistance in the support to the construction of hydropower plants. This part discusses Swedish state-supported hydropower exploitation of indigenous people’s territory within Sweden’s borders in the 20th century and the background of Swedish development assistance, from the 1950s to the early 1960s. The second part analyses the event of Swedish development assistance entering Tanzania and the Great Ruaha power project, with the main focus being on the period 1965 – 1970. The third part is an analysis of the technoscientific basis for the decisions taken to implement the Great Ruaha hydropower scheme. Main focus is on the period 1969-1974, discussed against the backdrop of precolonial and colonial studies. While focus is on the 1960s and 1970s, in both part two and three events in the 1980s and 1990s are discussed. The study shows that although Sweden was not a colonial power in Tanzania, colonial imagery, and relations to the colonial era, as well as Sweden’s background of internal colonialisation, exerted an influence on the decision-making process and the actors involved in the Great Ruaha power project.The study is mainly based on archival sources, complemented with oral sources from Tanzania and Sweden. Recognizing the complexity of large-scale hydropower and the attempts to control watercourses that large scale hydropower necessitates, in the specific context of decolonisation and development assistance that the decision-making process behind the Great Ruaha hydropower scheme reveals, the analysis of the actors involved is based on feminist and postcolonial perspectives. / QC 20100825
274

Measurement and modelling of unbalanced magnetic pull in hydropower generators

Wallin, Mattias January 2013 (has links)
Hydropower research is often perceived to be an old and exhausted field of study but with ageing equipment and the need for more intermittent operation caused by an increased share of other renewable energy sources new challenges lie ahead. The main focus of this dissertation are the electromagnetic forces resulting from nonuniform air gap flux, whether it be caused by rotor eccentricity or a faulty field winding. Results are predominantly obtained from measurements on an experimental generator and numerical simulations. With the computational capacity available today it is possible to numerically analyse physical phenomena that previously could only be studied with analytical tools. Numerical models can also be expanded to encompass more than one aspect of generator operation in coupled field-circuit models without model complexity surpassing computer capability. Three studies of unbalanced magnetic pull, UMP, in synchronous salient pole generators constitute the main part of this thesis. The first is a study of how parallel stator circuits affect the unbalanced magnetic pull caused by rotor eccentricity. Depending on the relationship between the geometry of the separate circuits and the direction of the eccentricity it was found that parallel circuits could reduce the UMP substantially. Secondly, an investigation of the effect of damper winding configuration on UMP was performed. The results showed that damper winding resistivity and the distance between the damper bars in a pole determine the effectiveness of the damper winding in reducing the UMP. Simulations of a production machine indicate that the reduction can be substantial from damper windings with low resistivity. The third study analyses the consequences of field winding interturn short circuits. Apart from a resulting rotating unbalanced magnetic pull it is found that the unaffected poles with the same polarity as the affected pole experience an increase in flux density. In a fourth article a new stand still frequency response, SSFR, test method including measurements of damper winding voltage and current is presented. It is found that the identified models are capable of predicting the stator to damper transfer function both with and without the damper winding measurements included.
275

Simulering av vågförhållanden i vattenkraftmagasin / Simulation of wave conditions in hydropower reservoirs

Jonsson, Elon January 2009 (has links)
Kraftindustrin arbetar oavbrutet med att försöka höja och upprätthålla dammsäkerheten i Sverige. Erosionsskydd för fyllningsdammar skall dimensioneras och utformas så att de medverkar till en god dammsäkerhet. Vid dimensionering och projektering av erosionskydd måste vågberäkningar utföras för att bedöma angripande våglast. I Sverige genomförs dessa beräkningar utifrån kraftföretagens riktlinjer för dammsäkerhet, RIDAS. Uträkningarna och bedömningar av våglasterna är ur dammsäkerhetssynpunkt viktiga eftersom de ofta avgör erforderligt fribord. Vågberäkningarna är behäftade med stora osäkerheter, speciellt i fall då störningar i form av öar, uddar och uppgrundande partier finns framför dammkonstruktionen. Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att utvärdera vågförhållanden och därmed våglasterna på Vojmsjöns regleringsdamm. Vågförhållandena har simulerats och analyserats med den numeriska modellen MIKE 21 Spectral Wave. Tillvägagångssättet är nytt och modellen har tidigare inte använts inom området. Således genomfördes en verifiering och orienterande kalibrering i magasin Sädvajaure. Utifrån de kunskaper och erfarenheter som erhölls vid utförandet i Sädvajaure användes modellen i fallstudie Vojmsjön. Ett mer övergripande syfte har varit att utreda om förfarandet är en ny möjlig metod för att utvärdera vågor i vattenkraftmagsin. Undersökningen i Sädvajaure visade på en relativt god korrelation mellan uppmätta och simulerade våghöjder. Modellens noggrannhet är starkt beroende av tillförlitligheten hos indata. Mer exakt indata hade förmodligen resulterat i ännu bättre samband. Fallstudie Vojmsjön visade på signifikanta skillnader i resultat mellan vågberäkningarna enligt RIDAS och de av modellen simulerade. RIDAS beräkningsmetoder överskattar våghöjderna i området framför Vojmsjöns regleringsdamm, främst till följd av att beräkningarna genomförs med grova förenklingar av magasinets form och att vågorna antas propagera fritt utan inverkan av refraktion och uppgrundande partier. Förfarandet med att använda en numerisk modell för att analysera vågor i vattenkraftmagasin anses vara tillämpbar. Metoden bedöms, utifrån denna studie, vara ett bra komplement för tillfällen när RIDAS beräkningsmetoder anses vara otillräckliga och särskilda utredningar är påkallade. Liknande mer grundliga utredningar, skulle kunna ge bra underlag för att fatta goda ekonomiska och dammsäkerhetsmässiga beslut. / The power industry is constantly trying to raise and maintain the safety of dams in Sweden. Erosion protection for embankment should be designed to contribute to a high level of dam safety. When designing an erosion protection, wave calculation must be carried out to assess the wave load. In Sweden, these calculations and assessments are based on the Power Companies Guidelines for Dam Safety, named RIDAS. The calculation of wave loads is important from a dam safety point of view, because they often determine the required freeboard. The wave calculations are subject to large uncertainties especially in cases when islands, capes and shoaling areas are located in front of the dam construction. The aim of the thesis has been to assess the wave conditions and thereby the wave loads in reservoir Vojmsjön. The approach has been to simulate and analyse the wave conditions with a numerical model MIKE 21 Spectral Wave. The procedure is new and a verification and orientated calibration was conducted since the model has not previously been used in the field. The verification of the model was carried out in reservoir Sädvajaure. Based on the knowledge and experience obtained during the investigation at Sädvajaure the model was used in the case study Vojmsjön. A more general aim has been to investigate whether the approach is a new possible method to evaluate waves in hydropower reservoirs. The investigation in Sädvajaure showed a relatively good correlation between measured and simulated wave heights. The model precision is highly dependent on the accuracy of input data. More accurate input data had probably given even better results. Case study Vojmsjön showed significant differences in result between wave calculation based on RIDAS and the model simulated. RIDAS calculation methods overestimate the wave heights in the area in front of regulation dam Vojmsjön. Mainly because the calculations are based on simplifications of the reservoir structure, but also depending on the fact that the waves are assumed propagating freely without the influence of refraction and shoaling. The approach of using a numerical model to evaluate the waves in hydropower reservoirs is believed to be applicable. The method is considered to be useful as a complement in investigations when RIDAS calculation methods are considered being insufficient and special investigations is necessary. Similar more extended investigations could provide good material to make good decisions, both from an economic and a dam safety point of view.
276

Wind Farms Influence on Stability in an area with High Concentration of Hydropower Plants

Engström, Staffan January 2011 (has links)
The number of large-scale wind farms integrated to the power system in Sweden is increasing. Two generator concepts that are widely used are Doubly-Fed Induction Generators (DFIG) and Full Power Converters (FPC). The study is of a quantitative character and the aim of the Master thesis is to compare DFIG-models with FPC-models integrated in an area with high concentration of hydropower. Then it is possible to examine how the dynamics in the power system change depending on the selection of technology (DFIG or FPC) when connecting a wind farm. The power system is simulated during a summer night, i.e., a low load is connected. The Master thesis covers stability analysis of the power system by using rotor angle stability that are split into small-signal stability and transient stability (time-domain simulations) and finally voltage stability to see how the hydropower generators react when varying the power production in the wind farm. The Master thesis concludes that independently of wind turbine technique, integration of a wind farm has slight impact on the stability in the power system compared to a power system without a wind farm, even though the load is low. Further, an integration of a wind farms affects the reactive power production in neighbouring hydropower plants. Finally, when increasing the size of the wind farm the neighbouring hydropower station consume less reactive power which can induce problem with the voltage stability.
277

Damming the Mekong: the social, economic and environmental consequences of the Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project

Wolf, Jason 03 January 2013 (has links)
More than a decade after the World Bank was forced out of the dam-building industry due to the social and environmental consequences of the projects they helped to finance, World Bank support for the development of the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) Hydroelectric Project, located atop the bio-diverse Nakai Plateau in central Laos, signals the re-emergence of the Bank’s involvement in large-scale dam construction initiatives. The NT2 project is the Bank’s response to its international critics. The project is a ‘test case’ for a new model of hydropower development that seeks to counteract any negative consequences to the surrounding environment and populations through the enactment of a new set of environmental and social safeguards that the Bank had spent over a decade developing. As the optimal consequence, if NT2 achieves the goal of safeguarding the bio-diverse environment of the Nakai region through the creation and implementation of long-term ‘socially and environmentally sustainable’ livelihood activities capable of raising the living standards and income levels of Nakai villagers beyond the national poverty line, then the NT2 model of development will be validated and its use in other World Bank supported hydroelectric initiatives all but assured. The alternative result is that the new safeguard mechanisms fail to achieve these goals, significantly contributing to the destabilization of one of the of the most environmentally and culturally unique regions in the world. This thesis analyzes the effectiveness of NT2 social and environmental safeguards in order to determine to what extent this new model of development is achieving the objectives it set prior to construction. Using a range of data, it analyzes outcomes produced from the core safeguards program of the project: the resettlement livelihoods’ programmes. Analysis of villagers’ livelihoods after resettlement clearly indicates that the NT2 model was never able to overcome challenges posed by reduced access to forest and agricultural lands for re-establishing villagers’ core land-based livelihood activities. As a result, many villagers have abandoned the livelihoods programmes at resettlement villages across the Plateau. In the short term, these villagers have, nevertheless, significantly increased their incomes through intensified commercial fishing and export-oriented rare timber and endangered wildlife extraction activities. The problem for NT2 developers such as the World Bank is that this form of economic activity is neither socially nor environmentally sustainable, placing the regional environment, local populations and the NT2 project in jeopardy. / Graduate
278

Assessing the Tradeoffs of Water Allocation: Design and Application of an Integrated Water Resources Model

2015 November 1900 (has links)
The Bow River Basin in Southern Alberta is a semi-arid catchment, with surface water provided from the Rocky Mountains. Water resources in this basin, primarily surface water, are allocated to a variety of users- industry, municipalities, agriculture, energy and needs for the environment. The largest consumptive use is by agriculture (80%), and several large dams at the headwaters provide for over 800,000 MWhrs of hydropower. This water is managed by the 1990 Water Act, distributing water via licenses following the “first in time first in right” principle. Currently, the basin is over-allocated, and closed to any new licenses. Conflicts between different water users have consequences for the economy and the environment. By using an integrated water resources model, these conflicts can be further examined and solutions can be investigated and proposed. In this research an integrated water resources model, referred to as Sustainability-oriented Water Allocation Management and Planning Model applied to the Bow Basin (SWAMPB), is developed to emulate Alberta’s Water Resources Management Model (WRMM). While having the same allocation structure as WRMM, SWAMPB instead provides a simulation environment, linking allocation with dynamic irrigation and economic sub-models. SWAMPB is part of a much larger framework, SWAMP, to simulate the water resources systems for the entire South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB). SWAMPB integrates economics with a water resources allocation model as well as an irrigation model- all developed using the system dynamics approach. Water is allocated following the allocation structure provided in WRMM, through operation rules of reservoirs and diversions to water users. The irrigation component calculates the water balance of farms, determining the crop water demand and crop yields. An economic valuation is provided for both crops and hydropower generation through the economic component. The structure of SWAMPB is verified through several phases. First, the operation of reservoirs with fixed (known) inflows, and modeled releases, are compared against WRMM for a historical simulation period (1928-2001). Further verifications compare the operation of SWAMPB as a whole without any fixed flows but fixed demands to identify errors in the system water allocation. A final verification then compares both models against historical flows and reservoir levels to assess the validity of each model. SWAMPB, although found to have some minor differences in model structure due to the system dynamics modeling environment, is to be evaluated as an acceptable emulator. SWAMPB is applied to assess a variety of management and policy solutions to mitigating environmental flow deficit. Solutions include increasing irrigation efficiency (S1), requiring more summer release from hydropower reservoirs at the headwaters (S2), a combination of the previous two (S3), implementing the In-Stream Flow Needs (S4) and implementing Water Conservation Objectives (S5). The solutions are not only examined by their ability to restore river flows, but also with respect to the economic consequences and effect on hydropower, irrigation, and municipalities. It is found that the three technical solutions (S1, S2, and S3) provide economic gains and allow more efficient water use, but do little to restore streamflows. Conversely, the two policy solutions (S4 and S5) are more effective at restoring river flow, but have severe consequences on the economy and water availability for irrigation and municipal uses. This analysis does not recommend a particular solution, but provides a quantification of the tradeoffs that can be used by stakeholders to make decisions. Further work on the SWAMP methodology is foreseen, to link SWAMPB with other models, enabling a comprehensive analysis across the entire SSRB.
279

The challenges and Opportunities of the Grand Renaissance Dam for sustainable Energy - Water - Food - Ecosystem services Nexus in Ethiopia. / The challenges and Opportunities of the Grand Renaissance Dam for sustainable Energy - Water - Food - Ecosystem services Nexus in Ethiopia.

Handiso, Bisrat Woldemichael January 2018 (has links)
Ethiopia has been challenged by multidimensional poverty. However, it has the potential to minimize the threat through an integrated multipurpose development process. In this regard, hydropower has a significant role to reduce energy poverty and enhance the multipurpose use of natural resources efficiency. Hydropower is a source of clean, sustainable and renewable energy. It has a contribution to reducing carbon emission and maintaining environmental sustainability. In Ethiopia, it is the major source of electricity. The country is rich in natural resources, including water to produce energy, however, electricity supply is still uncertain. The data shows that the country has the potential to produce 50,000 MW energy from water resources. Yet, it exploited 3,822 MW in 2018, approximately 7.6 % of its potential. Moreover, the country faces issues with energy security. Additionally, water and food supply also face an uncertain future. In this case, the country has planned the growth and transformation plan I and II for 2015 and 2020 to increase the energy production to 10,000 MW and 17,000 MW energy respectively. Consequently, the government launched different multipurpose hydropower plant projects. This project focuses on the multipurpose use of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, particularly for the sustainable energy-water-food-ecosystem service nexus at the national level. I applied the combination of methods such as the energy-water-food-ecosystem nexus, the SWOT analysis and the sustainability assessment as they are suitable for the complexity of such a project. Indeed, the GERD has benefits for the country in producing renewable and clean energy, generating income and increasing the water storage capacity at the national level. However, the project neglected the values of ecosystem services integration with the dam and its sectors. As a result, the dam affected the existed terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem. Therefore, the GERD had not been the well-prepared plan that considers institutional cooperation and sectoral integration to use for multipurpose function and its sustainability. In these regards, unless the dam to take proper management of the project and natural resources, the hydropower plant would not have been generating sustainable energy production. / <p>The paper shows that how to use the reservoir hydropower plant for multipurpose, such as for energy, water, food, ecosystem services integration at local level</p>
280

The Columbia River's region: Politics, place and environment in the Pacific Northwest, 1933--present

Vogel, Eve, 1964- 12 1900 (has links)
xiv, 296 p. : ill. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call numbers: KNIGHT F853 .V64 2007 / This dissertation argues that Columbia River management and politics have been shaped ever since the New Deal by a conception of the Columbia River as the defining feature of the Pacific Northwest region. The study examines how that conception was developed, how it became institutionalized within and by a government agency, the Bonneville Power Administration, and what its impacts have been. Drawing on a mix of archival materials, published and unpublished secondary accounts, interviews, and the author's experience working on Columbia River policy, the dissertation shows that the definition of a Columbia River-centered Pacific Northwest was laid out in 1935 by the four-state Pacific Northwest Regional Planning Commission, influenced in part by a "regionalist" ideal of shared social and environmental well-being. It was institutionalized but narrowed into the federal BPA in 1937. Soon, a three-and-a-half-state Pacific Northwest consisting of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana was being knit together by shared transmission lines and uniformly inexpensive power rates, and by a federal power agency that positioned itself as a regional Chamber of Commerce. Since the Second World War, the Columbia River-centered Pacific Northwest has shaped its collective economic fortunes around exclusive regional access to BPA-provided Columbia River hydropower. But geographically distributed wealth did not end political conflict; private power companies, state governors, Native American tribes, and fish and wildlife agencies have had to be accommodated with distributions of BPA power and money. BPA-centered Columbia River management has through political conflict gradually expanded to serve wider interests, moving closer to the New Deal regionalist ideal. Yet in controversial decisions since 2000, Columbia River managers have chosen to risk wild salmon rather than breach federal Columbia River hydropower dams or allow Pacific Northwest power costs to escalate. They have done this because they have prioritized the most fundamental, and the most regional, Columbia River benefit of all: broadly shared inexpensive power. Understanding the opportunities and constraints of BPA-centered regional Columbia River management is essential in order to meet upcoming Columbia River policy challenges. / Adviser: Alexander B. Murphy

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