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Charles Redell - PortfolioHere you will find samples of my recently published work. Please contact me if you would like to review more of my clips.
Energy and the Environment
Developer Asks to Leapfrog NorthWestern's Transmission Queue The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been called to referee a skirmish over transmission rights between a major utility and a small power plant developer in Montana. Montgomery Great Falls Energy, which purchased the 277-MW Great Falls Energy Center from NorthWestern Energy in March 2007, planned to bring the natural-gas fired generator online by November 2008. NorthWestern began developing the project as a 277-MW plant that would use natural gas combined-cycle technology. At the time of the sale, the developer said it would start engineering work on the plant and touted plans to build a generator that would run on either natural gas or a coal-based synfuel, depending on market demands. But now, less than a year later, the project is the focus of a FERC proceeding, brought by Montgomery Great Falls, which claims that NorthWestern mismanaged its transmission interconnection request queue. Montgomery wants FERC to force NorthWestern to move its project to the head of the line. According to filings at FERC, Montgomery changed the plant from an IGCC project to one that includes coal-based synfuels. Northwestern told Montgomery during negotiations that a change in fuels would delay the in-service date for the full 277-MW plant one too many times and would constitute a material change to the agreement. "It would have been impossible" to bring the full project online by the Jan. 31, 2007 commercial operations date in that original Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA), Montgomery said. Instead, the company said it would bring 172 MW online in January 2007 and the rest would come online four months later. NorthWestern told Montgomery that because of earlier FERC rulings, no more material changes to the LGIA could be allowed. Montgomery would either have to stick to the January date for the full 277 MW or change the agreement to only 172 MW for that date, and make a new interconnection request for the remaining megawatts.
Site C Dam Costs Higher Than Expected Capital costs for the proposed Site C dam on the Peace River in British Columbia could run more than twice what the Crown government predicted when it decided to revisit the project earlier this year, according to a BC Hydro feasibility review of the project. Earlier this year, the province projected capital costs for the project to be about CAD $3 billion, based on a 2005 cost estimate. But according to the BC Hydro study released earlier this month, the dam is estimated to cost between $5.5 billion and $6 billion, or about $46/MWh to $97/MWh, in 2008 dollars. If the process continues to move forward and the dam is built, ground is not expected to be broken until 2012. The 900-MW project would be located about 40 miles upstream from Alberta, and would join two existing hydro generators on the Peace River -- the W.A.C. Bennett and G.M. Shrum. The Site C dam would generate about 4,600 GWh a year, or 30 percent of the power generated by the Bennett dam, according to BC Hydro. Earlier this fall, The Vancouver Sun reported that the government's requirement for the province to be energy independent will require BC Hydro to raise rates by 7.5 percent a year for the next decade. Need for Site C stems from a need for an additional 19,000 to 29,000 GWh each year by 2025, according to BC Hydro. A number of resources can be used to meet the requirements of the provincial energy plan, including wind, biomass, other renewables, clean coal and a dam at Site C, BC Hydro says. This is not the first time Site C has been examined. Its history reaches as far back as 1957, when the project went into hibernation because of lack of demand. The site was examined again in 1982, but shelved a few years later when the British Columbia Utilities Commission found that electricity demand forecasts in the early 1980s "did not warrant its development," according to BC Hydro. The plan re-surfaced again in 1989, and was killed in 1991 when other resources such as conservation were used to meet rising demand, BC Hydro said. Earlier this year, Site C was brought back into play when Premier Gordon Campbell announced the BC Energy Plan, which calls for the province to become energy independent by 2015.
Using Energy to Change the World I'm a pretty committed environmentalist which leads me to consider the affects on the environment of most every action I take. Yes, sometimes I do things that I know are not particularly good (like drive). But I always consider what I am about to do which is a step I'd like to try and convince more environmentalists to do. Surprisingly, last night at Grist's reader party celebrating their book "Wake Up and Smell the Planet" I realized that that even the most visible environmentalists don't always do that. It was a pretty good event. Loud music helped inject energy into a scene filled with a beautiful green crowd all happily tipping back complementary glasses of organic vodka, wind-powered beer and eating locally grown organic snacks. People wandered about chatting, purchased copies of the new book, signed up for information on hip organic clothing and ways to reduce the amount of junk mail that gets sent out. But each table I passed that was littered with the print propaganda of Grist and its sponsors left me wondering if the minds that that stuff will impact outweighs the impact on the environment that stuff and the energy it took to produce it will have. Every available surface was covered with multiple bookmarks promoting the new book, a tent-folded menu pimping the event's sponsors and various other pieces of paper informing guests of one environmental organization or another. But all of it was just preaching to the choir since everyone there was already a reader of Grist and knows how awful junk mail is for the environment. So was it really necessary to use the energy required to create all that paper to convince us all to take steps to protect the environment? Think about it. To produce all that material (printed with soy-based ink on recycled paper) the paper had to be recycled in the first place, the ink had to be made, the computers had to be used to design the ads, the press had to be run to print each item, and eventually all that paper will again be recycled when the information is no longer useful. Each of those steps requires a lot of energy. Now, I'm not knocking Grist in the least. I support their mission and hope a lot of people buy the book. I think the energy used in producing the book is worth its impacts (and most likely green anyway published as it is by The Mountaineers) because it will be a resource used by people who don't already know how to live green. I'm just wondering if those designing last night's event and events like it, which cater to the choir, are a wise use of energy? Originally published on ecometro.com at http://www.ecometro.com/community/blogs/seattle_go/archive/2007/10/22/using-energy-to-change-the-world.aspx
Features
Seattlest Interviews: Adrian Tomine, Author of Shortcomings
Tomine is coming to Seattle to promote his first full-length graphic novel Shortcomings. Seattlest used it as an opportunity to geek out during an interview with one of our favorite writer/artists.
You told The Believer that you wanted Shortcomings to be as readable as possible so you could reach a broader audience. How did you do that?
A lot people talk about Raymond Carver as a big influence on your stories but who you do you consider to be your literary influences?
It seems like books and other forms of art are a constant in your work. Like that New Yorker cover where the two people are sitting on the different subways and they see each other. The only connection that they have in that moment is the book. It seems like books, films and music have a major role in your stories. Originally published on Seattlest.com. To read more of this post, please visit http://seattlest.com/2007/11/12/adrian_tomine_s.php
Encrypt it If I wanted to, I could read any e-mail that you write. So could the government, your boss, and the system administrators of every computer your messages pass through. Every time you send an e-mail without encrypting it, it's like putting a letter in the mail with no envelope—and forfeiting your right to privacy. Though strong encryption has been available since 1991, and a Gallup poll conducted last September showed that 81 percent of Internet users are concerned about privacy on the Internet and 86 percent are concerned about software that can scan thousands of e-mails for keywords, most e-mails get sent with no protection at all. So why isn't it common practice to seal them? Most people don't even know they can. But teaching people to encrypt their e-mails is the easy part. There are two more hurdles to jump before we all realize the importance of protecting e-mail.
Originally published in Seattle Weekly. To read the rest of this article, please visit
The Fabulous Mrs. Baker Boys Seattle Filmmakers Brian McDonald and Kris Kristensen are about to deliver the next Rosemary's Baby with their supernatural thriller Mrs. Baker. (Please note: During production, the working title of Inheritance was Mrs. Baker) As the setting for hits such as Sleepless In Seattle, this city might seem like a film town, but it is rare that an independent, commercially successful movie is actually made here. It's even more rare when it is done by Seattleites. The majority of the Seattle film scene produces inaccessible art-house films that most of us won't go to, but the current buzz around Mrs. Baker, the first feature film by up and coming local film duo Brian McDonald and Kris Kristensen, says that the drought is about to end. Though it may be more economical and easier to make a commercial film in Vancouver, B.C.-and more hip to make something visceral with no plot-McDonald and Kristensen, 36 and 38 respectively, are following in the dramatic footsteps of successful features with art house credibility such as The Godfather and Taxi Driver. Their movie, Mrs. Baker, billed by the filmmakers as a "supernatural thriller" with a feel somewhere between The Sixth Sense and The Others, is based on a belief that good drama is about the relationships and the tensions between people. Like the struggle between Michael and Sonny Corleone or Travis Bickle and the world around him, Mrs. Baker tells the story of one woman's struggle for control of her body and identity. Mrs. Baker is already making waves as a ghost story. Abbey, a young, successful overachiever extraordinaire, puts everyone before herself, including the 85-year-old Mrs. Baker. When Mrs. Baker dies, Abbey first thinks that her family's history of schizophrenia is showing up when she sees the dead woman at her own funeral. Soon, though, the visions of Mrs. Baker become more and more frequent until Abbey realizes that she is "...walking the fence between the living and the dead," and that she must fight the dead woman for her life. The script was a semifinalist at the Austin Heart of Film Festival in 1999 and is so striking that one local couple decided to allow their Interlake home to be used as the movie's main location, even though horror isn't their thing. They even ended up investing in the project. Perhaps this is why McDonald and Kristensen seemed intensely laid-back in Kristensen's Capitol Hill apartment-cum-editing studio in late July. Considering that they were about to begin postproduction on Mrs. Baker and that eight days into a four-week shoot they had to fire their lead actress due to creative differences, one would think they'd be on edge. But they were very optimistic about the film's future, even as they demurred at being called the talk of the town. Originally published in Seattle magazine. The original link to this article no longer exists. To read the rest of it, please visit the Inheritance web site at http://www.inheritancefilm.com/press/seamag.html
Previews and Reviews
Our Godson Is A Great Dancer
We'd like to preface his comments by saying that from the moment we walked in until the time we left, Eli was trailed by a gaggle of older-than-him little girls. Undoubtedly this, and the bubble machine, helped his review.
Hi Eli. At this point, the bubble machine turned back on and the interview ended. Originally published on Seattlest.com. To read the rest of this review, please visit: http://seattlest.com/2007/12/17/our_godson_is_a.php
Bike Huggers Unite Seattlest's heart's cockles always get warmed when we see a bunch of people who choose to ride their bikes to get around get together, so we were predisposed to love Northwest Film Forum's Second Seattle Annual Bike-In last night. (Almost getting slammed by a driver opening her car door while riding over probably added to our joy at making it there.) 
Unlike most communal bike events in Seattle (Critical Mass, Bike to Work Day), the Bike-In's organizers didn't try to broadcast a message. It was just a community picnic and that was fine by us. Folks spread out blankets, ate dinner and tossed Frisbees while the kids worked on their wheelies. Bands played, Seattle Bike Polo played a few games and green organizations and businesses gave out some schwag. (Best Schwag award goes to 2020 Cycle for their pedal-powered margaritas). The only thing strange about the scene were the piles of bikes beside all the blankets. It was almost as if it were normal to ride bikes to an urban event. Imagine that. Originally published on Seattlest.com. For more of this post, please visit http://seattlest.com/2007/08/30/bike_huggers_un.php
Get Out and Sew: Tank Tops to Totes
People will come to Tank Tops to Totes with their old tank tops and leave with new tote bags made from those tanks. We have to admit, this is not something we ever thought we'd want to do when we first saw the poster. We did think that it was a great idea even if we don't use tote bags or wear tank tops, because it's re-using instead of throwing out. "No matter," we thought, "it's a neat enough event to write about and there must people out there who have tank tops and use tote bags, right?" Turns out, as Jill at Sustainable Capitol Hill happened to point out, we actually do use tote bags all the time, we just forgot that it's the proper name of those bags we use instead of paper or plastic at the super market. Good thing we're a writer. "Okay," we thought, "If we go, we'll end up with something we'd use, but we've never used a sewing machine and aren't really sure what all those lines on sewing patterns are or how they turn into a thing made out of fabric." We love re-using and all, but we're not so into sewing our fingers together. Originally published on Seattlest.com. To read more of this post please visit http://seattlest.com/2007/12/14/get_out_and_sew.php
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Adrian Tomine started making comics in his teens when he created Optic Nerve. In it, he tells stories about people who tend to be searching for answers to questions they seem to think everyone else already knows. After a few years putting out Optic Nerve on his own, it was picked up by publisher 
On Saturday, we took our godson, his mom and his dad to 
For the first time in Seattlest's life, we're actually bemoaning the fact that we don't have any tank tops in our closet. Heck, this is probably the first time we've ever thought about not owning a tank top. Not having one puts a serious crimp in our plans to go to Sustainable Capitol Hill's Tank Tops to Totes this Saturday at 