Articles written by Don C. Brunell
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Power of Reliable Power
Our state’s economy and way of life hinges on low cost and reliable electricity. Since Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams were completed in the early 1940s, Washington has enjoyed both. We are a...
Cosmic Crisp is Needed Lift for Washington
Imagine tuning into the Sunday morning talk shows and wondering if the politicians and commentators could possibly find something positive to say about one another or the state of affairs in America....
Turn America's innovators loose on greenhouse gases
Assuming that reducing greenhouse gases are an ongoing challenge, we need government policies and the “political will” to turn our nation’s entrepreneurs and researchers lose to take risks and innovat...
Business Needs to Tell Its Story
By Don C. Brunell Many years ago, a reporter asked George Weyerhaeuser, then CEO of Weyerhaeuser Co., why his company spent so much time and money informing its workers, public officials and people...
Battery-operated locomotives coming
More battery-operated cars and trucks are making their way onto streets and highways, so why not trains? That may not be too far off if BNSF tests are successful. BNSF Railway and Wabtec (formerly GE Transportation) are developing a battery-electric...
Careful Not to Follow Sweden's Haste
Sweden and Washington State are very similar. Both have strong “green” movements and are quickly moving to eliminate all carbon-emitting fuels from cars and power plants. The caution for Washington elected officials is not to jam through hastily man...
America's Renewed Interest in the Moon
With all of the attention on the 50th anniversary of the Lunar landing, many are looking ahead to the next half century of space exploration. Of particular interest is returning to the Moon which may come as early as 2024. For example, Boeing is...
China's Mighty Migrating Mandate
What happens in China, doesn’t always stay in China. In fact, when it comes to tough new garbage and recycling restrictions, they may migrate elsewhere sooner than you might think. For example, S...
Restoring Affordability to a College: Education Is Vital to America
When my parents graduated from high school in 1936, a college education was too expensive for the son of a copper miner and the daughter of a plumber. Eighty years ago, our country was in the middle of the Great Depression and teens took odd jobs to...
Rare Earth Metal Dilemma
Hopefully, when American and Chinese leaders meet to resolve trade differences, talks won’t breakdown and result in a new round of tariffs or product restrictions. It is in both nations’ interests for presidents Trump and Xi Jinping to find com...
Family-owned business backbone of America
During the 1992 presidential campaign, then-candidate Bill Clinton famously intoned, "I feel your pain," reassuring voters he understood what they were going through. Since then, similar statements of empathy have become a staple for politicians....
Normandy Clicker D-Day Innovation
During World War II, the American GI earned the reputation for being innovative, adaptable and resilient. Nowhere was that more evident than the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. For example, Gen. Maxwe...
Max Fix Critical to Washington
Last January, Boeing was poised for another record year. The company’s order book burst at the seams. Things seem to be going Boeing’s way. In 2019, Boeing planned to step up deliveries of KC46 aerial refueling jets to the U.S. Air Force and the new...
Could Seattle Put on a World's Fair Today?
On April 21, 1962, the Seattle World’s Fair opened. The “Century 21 Exhibition” ran for six months, drew 11 million visitors, turned a profit and left the Northwest with a wonderful Seattle Cente...
Removing Snake River dams is unwise
There are dams that should come down and those that shouldn’t. Hopefully, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts its review of the 14 federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, that will b...
Washington's Big Tax Bump
With the dust settling from the 2019 legislative session, the focus is assessing the impacts on taxpayers and our economy. Our state’s budget grew by a whopping 17.5 percent, which is one of the largest increases ever. Gov. Jay Inslee and his D...
New Montana law aims to keep people in their homes
Montana’s legislature took the unusual step of exempting older, less-valued mobile homes from property tax as a way to stem homelessness. The bipartisan legislation, which Gov. Steve Bullock signed into law last week, aims to keep people in their h...
E-Waste Reduction Requires Innovative Approaches
“One of the biggest challenges of the 21st Century is dealing with the progress of the 20th Century - especially old computers, monitors, cellular phones and televisions. These appliances depend on p...
Retrieving Ocean Trash Is Only First Step
People across our planet are increasingly aware of the growing amounts of trash floating in our oceans. While we are finding new ways to collect it, the more vexing problem is what to do with it. The...
Lawmakers Need to Re-examine Budget Before Adjourning
Before lawmakers wrap-up their work in Olympia, they should re-examine their hefty new state spending plan. The budget may not be sustainable even with a substantial increase in taxes. It may force...
Inconvenient truth about batteries
By Don C. Brunell Each year Americans throw away more than three billion batteries constituting 180,000 tons of hazardous material and the situation is likely to get much worse as the world shifts to...
California Wildfires Spark Renewed Debate Over Underground Power Transmission Lines
November’s Camp Wildfire was California’s deadliest killing 86 people and destroying 14,000 homes along with more than 500 businesses. The financial fallout is forcing PG&E, northern Cal...
Those Pesky Tax Incentives
By Don C. Brunell Darned if you do, or darned if you don’t! That’s the dilemma elected officials face in determining whether to offer tax incentives for companies to locate in their city, county or...
Growing Resistance to Corporate Incentives
The circumstances leading to Amazon’s decision to scrap its New York City project are trends corporate leaders need to examine closely. There are cultural and political shifts in America which are c...
Student Debt Draining Retired Income
ots is written about students exiting college saddled with hefty student loans; however, the impact on retired parents went largely unnoticed. Recently, Wall Street Journal writer AnnaMaria Andriotis...
