First, a story I did on a large scale solar power experiment on the same site as Puget Sound Energy's wind farm between Ellensburg and Vantage. Today, it was another step in the direction of using non-polluting generation - an experiment in tidal power.

The experiment is designed to use acoustical profiling to measure the speed of tides as they moved through Admiralty Inlet. And it's just one of 10 areas from the San Juans to the Tacoma Narrows being studied as possible sites where the tides could move fast enough at depth to turn slow-moving turbines and generate significant amounts of electricity.

Gee, weren't we just reading about this stuff and looking at the artists' renderings in the likes of Popular Science just a few issues ago? I guess time moves faster than we realize.

It could be seven to 10 years before Snohomish County's public utility district can bring tidal power into being here. It actually does currently exist in several places around the world, not the least of which is New York City's East River.

Whether it happens or not will depend in part on environmental considerations. Could underwater turbines affect fish and whales? Would they disturb sediment on the bottom?

Even so called "good energy" sources have grown issues. Right now, Governor Gregoire and the Kittitas County Commission are at odds over the future of another wind farm project. The controversy is about how wind farm turbines look, and whether they ruin the view. At least the tidal turbines will be out of sight.