In its annual report, Northwest Environment Watch, a research center based in Seattle, notes that the region's dams generate an abundant supply of cheap energy, "but that power is transmitted across mountains and deserts on power lines that are impossible to defend against hikers with backpacks of explosives."
Oil and gas run through a handful of pipelines that are just as difficult to defend, said the report.
Another problem: each system relies on another. Pipelines need electricity to run pumps and controls. The region's electricity grid needs fuel for its natural gas turbines. And many pipelines share routes with power lines.
"The pipelines are literally underneath the wires," the report noted. "In at least one place in the region — prudence argues against naming it — a night's work with a backhoe could sever regionally vital arteries for oil, natural gas and electricity."
"Cascadia Scorecard 2005," which grades the Northwest on seven indicators of environmental health, paints a gloomy picture of how easy it would be for terrorists to exploit the weaknesses in the region's energy system.
But the authors said they're not trying to peddle fear. They want people and policymakers to make energy conservation a higher priority and realize that doing so could boost the economy.
Among its recommendations, the report called for:
• "Decoupling" utilities' profits from sales — a practice that would let them make money even when they sell less energy.
• A stronger push to make vehicles more fuel-efficient,
• Price breaks for people who buy more fuel-efficient products, Other ideas include getting more people to use "cellulose ethanol," a plant-based fuel from crop and forest residues and urban wastes.
The report also encourages utilities to invest in "demand response" systems like a project the Bonneville Power Administration is trying out, recruiting consumers who agree to turn off power-sapping devices temporarily in exchange for cheaper rates.
Another promising innovation the report highlights is the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's work on preprogrammed "smart grid" electronic tools that could respond to surges in prices and demand for power and gas.
The report points to a host of other energy-saving technologies: compact fluorescent lamps that are now small enough to fit into most light sockets, rooftop cooling units that circulate air from the outdoors when the temperature is right rather than machine-chilled air, and lighted exit signs that used 5 percent as much power as the incandescent bulbs in most commercial buildings.
Despite all the emerging technologies, the report said energy consumption in the Northwest rose slightly last year, based on a formula that factors in per capita use of highway fuels and nonindustrial electricity.
Translation: Residents of Washington, Oregon and Idaho consumed the equivalent of 762 gallons of gasoline per person last year — up from 750 gallons in 2003, but down from a peak of 783 in 1999, the report said.
