Bert Caldwell

The sun set on the Suntree Inns name in January. The three properties surrendered to the horde of lodging franchises that has surged into the Northwest over the last decade.

Washington Water Power Co. could spend $160 million over 50 years to maintain the licenses on its two Clark Fork River dams, according to a plan released Wednesday. The expenditures, about equal to the cost of building the Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge projects in the 1950s, would underwrite a long list of efforts to restore fish and wildlife resources in the watershed. The dams flood more than 10,000 acres of land and block the migration of bull trout and other fish species up the river from Lake Pend Oreille.

Washington residents bewildered by their experience with telephone deregulation might be spared a repeat if an "Electricity Consumers Protection Act" introduced in the Legislature last week is enacted. The bill would help preserve the low cost and high reliability of power in Washington as the nation moves toward loosening the bonds on one of the last regulated industries, said Spokane Sen. Lisa Brown, D-3rd, one of 14 sponsors. She cited studies that project rate increases of as much as 25 percent. "As deregulation unfolds in other industries, like telecommunications, we're seeing that mistakes were made that are hurting consumers," Brown said. "We don't want those mistakes to happen again."

Brian Stone's Moon Inc. makes these stoves for backpacking and other outdoor uses. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

1. Pointing the way. Nathan Batson, president of American Electronic Sign, sees a bright future for the compnay that emerged from bankruptcy in 1996. Photo by Jason Clark/The Spokesman-Review 2. Electronic sign pioneer Luke Williams Jr., who developed the first alternating time and temperature signs four decades ago, started American Electronic Sign in 1988. File/The Spokesman-Review

A tax cut would be a mistake even if the federal Treasury collects more money than it pays out the next couple of years, the chief economist for the Smith Barney brokerage firm said Wednesday. Mitchell Held said he projects surpluses of $40 billion this year and $20 billion in 1999. But those overflows - the first since 1969 - are the result of capital gains revenues and income taxes on huge incentive packages for corporate executives, sources that could dry up quickly if Wall Street suffers a downturn, he said.

The Bonneville Power Administration could trim as much as $159 million a year from its $2 billion budget if managers adopt eight recommendations released Tuesday by a Cost Review Committee. Of the eight, the two likely to be the most controversial are a suggestion that the region's lone nuclear power plant fend for itself in a bruising electricity market, and deep cuts or elimination in some cases in spending for conservation and renewable energy resources. Separating Washington Public Power Supply System Plant No. 2 from the agency's cheap hydropower will help managers determine how much nuclear power increases the overall cost of energy Bonneville sells to utilities up and down the West Coast, said Mike Kreidler, Washington state's representative on the review committee.

Deregulation poses unique challenges for a region that enjoys the lowest electricity rates in the country, U.S. Rep. Rick White, R-Seattle, told a gathering of Northwest energy leaders Wednesday. In other regions, he said, everyone down to welfare officials wants to open up energy markets so businesses and residents alike can cut utility bills that are as much as four times higher than those in the Northwest. Their representatives are supporting efforts in Congress to give consumers that ability, he said.

Bankruptcy filings in the Inland Northwest skyrocketed in 1997, proof - ironically - that the good times continue to roll. Statistics from U.S. bankruptcy courts in Spokane and Boise show a 22 percent climb over year-ago activity in Eastern Washington, and a 30 percent jump in Idaho's four northernmost counties. Filings for Idaho as a whole also went up, 27 percent.

Washington must act on energy deregulation or risk losing the lowest rates in the country, Washington Water Power Co. officials said Wednesday. Although legislation may not pass this year, they said, the issue deserves consideration so the state will be ready when Congress enacts a national deregulation bill. "Deregulation is going to happen," said Chairman Paul Redmond. "Doing nothing is not an option."

New name. New money. New partner. New start. The venture capital company spun off by the Momentum economic development organization dissolved the original $2.9 million fund Dec. 31 and announced the formation of a $10.3 million successor Monday. Formed 10 years ago as Spokane Capital Management, the company has been renamed Northwest Venture Associates, said Tom Simpson.

Coldwater Creek shares doubled in 1997, and so outperformed those of all other Inland Northwest companies in 1997. The Sandpoint mail-order house closed the year at $33.75, twice the closing price on its first day of trading last January. By comparison, Pegasus Gold stock seemed to tumble into one of the company's open-pit mines, closing the year off as the dross not only locally, but globally.

Deer Park residents become power players May 1. Regulators Wednesday approved a Washington Water Power Co. proposal that will allow 2,256 residential and business customers in that community to choose from a menu of rate options. Called More Options for Power Service II, or MOPS II, the program will last two years. During that period starting May 1, participants could buy power based on rates that move monthly or yearly depending on activity in the wholesale market.

Monday's decision by California officials to delay full-scale deregulation of electricity markets until March 31 was welcomed by a Washington Water Power Co. subsidiary competing for business in that state. Avista Energy President Lloyd Meyers said the company had already informed clients its systems would not be ready to deliver power until April 1.

Natural gas rates for Washington residential customers of Washington Water Power Co. will increase almost 10 percent as of Thursday. Washington regulators approved the hike last week. The action will raise the typical homeowner bills $3.64 per month by adjusting the basic monthly charge twice. Thursday, the charge goes to $3.80 from $3.25. The fee goes to $4 next Nov. 1.

Northern Lights Inc. may build a $12 million natural gas system to serve Sagle, Priest River, Oldtown and Newport, General Manager Jon Shelby said Friday. If approved by the cooperative's members, the system could serve as many as 4,500 business and residential customers who now have no access to natural gas, he said.

Japan's consul general in Seattle, Yoshio Nomoto, told a Spokane audience Thursday the central government will no longer protect failing companies. The decision last month not to intervene in the collapse of Yamaichi Securities Co. signals a move toward greater deregulation of the Japanese economy, he said.

Cavanaughs Hospitality Corp. Wednesday announced the purchase of its first Idaho property, the Westbank Holiday Inn in Idaho Falls. The 142-room hotel, to be renamed Cavanaughs on the Falls, brings to 10 the number of hotels operated by the Spokane-based company. The seller was Ron Keil of Portland. Terms were not disclosed.

A subsidiary of Washington Water Power Co. has filed for patent protection on several aspects of its fuel cell technology, the vice president in charge of the project said Wednesday. Kim Zentz said Avista Laboratories wants a patent examiner to review the design, materials and process that have been developed over the last two years at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute. The company's filing covers seven different areas, but the examiner could award fewer or more patents, she said.

As competitive threats emerged, stock of Itron Inc. dropped Monday to its lowest level in more than a year, before rebounding somewhat on Tuesday. Shares of the Spokane maker of automated meter-reading equipment lost one-third of their value between Dec. 4, when they closed at $21.50, and Monday morning, when they briefly dropped to $14.25.

Don't hang up! Mike Kuhn, president of Dakotah Direct, is overseeing the rapid expansion of his company. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

U S West Communications Group has asked Washington regulators to cut rates for some business customers in Spokane. The change, if approved, would be the first made by U S West in response to mushrooming competition for business calls in Washington. Spokeswoman JoAnn Ficca said the Spokane market is the most competitive in the state for local line service, with four other companies either on line or soon to be.

Andresen

Gregory Green has resigned as president of Nextlink Washington, effective Jan. 1, but will continue to provide consulting services to the telecommunications company. Green has been with Nextlink since March 1995, when the Bellevue-based company purchased Tel-West Central Services, which he founded in 1991. Nextlink provides local dial tone services in competition with US West Communications Group. The company has already built a fiber-optic system downtown that Green said will be extended next year to the South Hill hospitals, the Spokane Industrial Park and parts of the North Side.