Outside Idaho Power's Boise headquarters, at 13th and Idaho streets, protesters turned out today to urge the utility company to move to more renewable resources, eliminate coal plants and invest in solar and wind power.

Representatives from the Snake River Alliance, Idaho Rivers United and others arranged themselves on the sidewalk. They organized a mock shareholders meeting, enlisting Steve Crowley dressed in a blazer, sporting a blue and orange tie to act as CEO.

• Jessica Murri
• Protesters like Sara Cramer, center, urge Idaho Power to ditch coal energy today outside the utility's annual meeting.

In the protest turned street theater, Crowley allowed mock shareholders, dubbed "care-holders" by the organizers, to voice their grievances with the management of Idaho Power.

"You sound like one of those climate-change believers!" Crowley told one woman, who voiced concern about CO2 emission. "I’m agnostic on the subject, and generally like warm weather."

• Jessica Murri
• Sara Cramer, left, and Lisa Young embrace after an emotional meeting with mock Idaho Power CEO Steve Crowley during today's protest outside the Idaho Power annual meeting.

An hour prior to the street-side care-holders meeting, SRA's Ken Miller went inside the building to attend the shareholder session. He and seven other alternative energy-minded people each purchased one share of Idaho Power stock to gain admission.

"One share will get you in the door," said Miller. "They were trading around $40. Lots of people buy a share just to get a chance to ask the company questions. We asked what the company is doing to invest in alternative and renewable energy."

As Idaho Power gavels in its annual shareholders' meeting in Boise this afternoon, a more informal assembly is taking place on the pavement just several hundred feet from the facility. The protest is dubbed a "Care-Holders Meeting" by its sponsor, the Snake River Alliance.

SRA’s slogan, “Idaho’s Nuclear Watchdog and Clean Energy Advocate,” hints to the nature of the protest. In essence: select Idaho energy customers want to make their voice against coal-fired energy generation heard.

The United States currently relies on coal for 50 percent of its energy production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The National Mining Association says it's closer to 30 percent.

“The United States is home to the largest recoverable reserves of coal in the world," reads a statement from the EIA. "Coal is produced in 25 states spread across three coal-producing regions, but approximately 72 percent of current production originates in just five states.”

At 41 percent, Wyoming leads the way in coal harvesting, explaining why one of Idaho Power’s three coal energy plants resides in that state.

Currently, Idaho’s emissions and overall carbon foot print ranks 47th in the nation. according to the U.S. Department of Energy [though the ranking only includes in-state power generation]. Idaho Power uses low-sulphur coal to narrow the amount of two major toxic gases emitted when burning, which might have something to do with their ranking as third-lowest in the nation.

When DHM Research conducted a recent survey, they noted most Idahoans did not realize how much, if any, coal was used to power their computer, television and other appliances.

Snake River Oil and Gas, which waited on the sidelines as Bridge Resources became Idaho's first successful natural gas explorer and then failed under crumbling walls of debt, has partnered with a Houston-based company to purchase most of Bridge's Idaho assets.

AM Idaho, a subsidiary of Alta Mesa Holdings of Houston, had not been disclosed as the successful buyer of Bridge's assets in early March, when the troubled Canadian-based company was trading its shares for less than 10 cents. But the Houston operation was unveiled when Snake River President Richard Brown announced its new partnership last week.

The companies have stated their intentions of re-analyzing seismic data in the region surrounding Payette and Washington counties, where Bridge and Snake River had been negotiating hundreds of land and mineral leases with Idaho landowners.

The U.S. State Department acknowledged receiving TransCanada Energy's revised application for its Keystone XL oil pipeline today, but the new path is still angering environmentalists.

The new route avoids the Sandhills region of Nebraska, the area that led to President Barack Obama's halt of the plan earlier this year. However, Bold Nebraska, which opposes the plan, said Keystone would still travel near an aquifer used by eight states.

According to the Washington Post, the proposed $7-billion pipeline would run from northern Alberta and oilsand (or tar sand) extraction sites to Steele City, Neb., and (eventually) refineries at the Gulf of Mexico. Because it crosses the U.S.-Canada border, the State Department must approve the plan.

A State Department news release said it would “determine if granting a permit for the proposed pipeline is in the national interest.”

The earliest it could be approved would be late 2013, after reviews based on environmental, health, cultural, economic and foreign-policy factors.

A large mountain snowpack, steady rainfall and surplus hydropower have once more led the Bonneville Power Administration to order Northwest wind farms to cut production. In the spring of 2011, BPA sent out a similar order, leading wind farm owners to complain that they were losing millions of dollars in production. Wind energy companies filed their grievances with federal regulators, accusing BPA of violating contracts.

The Associated Press reports that BPA confirmed that its most-recent orders came during the early morning hours of Sunday, and again today.

Gas prices have shot up as much as 70 cents a gallon since December 2011, but motorists have been a bit surprised this past week to notice that prices at the pumps are actually beginning to go down. With six weeks to go until Memorial Day, a number of states have reported the drop. Gas is now $3.85 per gallon in Michigan (down 5 cents in the past week), $4.33 in Illinois (down 34 cents since the end of March). The national average for a gallon of unleaded gas is $3.93 (down 4 cents in the past week).

Idaho's statewide average at the pump is $3.75 for a gallon of unleaded gas. The cheapest price, $3.53, is being reported in eastern Idaho. The highest prices, $3.95 per gallon, were being reported in north-central Idaho in the Grangeville and Moscow areas.

Energy industry analysts say there's no relief in sight at the nation's gas pumps.

While prices jumped 6 percent in February, market experts said many of the nation's refineries have been idled or shut down permanently because their owners claimed they were losing money on them. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sunoco is expected to close another of its large refineries this July, "taking another 335,000 barrels per day in production capacity off the market."

Nationwide, prices at the pump averaged $3.83 a gallon on Friday, according to the AAA. That's only about 6.7 percent below the record high of $4.11 from July 2008.

In Idaho, the cheapest unleaded gas reported in the last 48 hours was $3.51 a gallon at three stations near Coeur d'Alene. The highest prices were reported at a service station in Salmon with gas at $3.84 a gallon, and in South Boise with a price of $3.81 a gallon.

Gas prices are spiking again, but this time oil industry analysts are doubly worried that the rise is occuring before the traditional point in the year prices at the pumps usually go up.

Nationwide, gas prices are averaging $3.54 per gallon of unleaded. In some part of the country it's already topped $4 per gallon. Experts are predicting that the average national price could be as high as $4.25 by mid April and close to $5 a gallon by Memorial Day.

Increased oil prices are again attributed to tensions with Iran and an ever-rising demand for fuel from China.

The overall impact on the economy could be dramatic. Economists predict that for every 10-cent hike at the pump American consumers cut other spending by $9 billion.

The Gem State's lowest prices at the pumps can be found in Eastern Idaho. According to idahogasprices.com, unleaded gas can be found for $2.99 per gallon at a number of stations in Pocatello. The highest prices, $3.49 per gallon, were reported in Hailey and Ketchum.

A proposed $2 billion facility that would convert coal into gasoline is moving toward reality but not before passing muster from the Idaho National Laboratory.

The Associated Press reports the plant, which would be funded by Wyoming state industrial development bonds and based in the small town of Medicine Bow, west of Cheyenne, would transform coal mined underground at the site into approximately 10,600 barrels of gasoline per day.

Before anything moves forward, though, the INL has been asked to perform a due diligence review of the project at a cost of $130,000. If and when the INL agrees to the review, the analysis is expected to take about 30 days.

Additionally, the Wyoming Legislature would have to authorize the sale of the industrial development bonds.

The Environmental Protect Agency unveiled first-of-its-kind standards today, sharply limiting mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants from the nation's 1,400 coal- and oil-burning power plants.

In its statement today, the EPA said the new standards will prevent up to six premature deaths in Idaho, while creating up to $54 million in health benefits in 2016.

The rule, formally known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, marks the first time the federal government will enforce limits on mercury, arsenic, acid gases and other poisonous and carcinogenic chemicals emitted by the burning of fossil fuels.

The closest facility to be impacted by the rule would be the coal-fired power plant in Boardman, Ore. Portland General Electric has already filed to close the plant by 2020. The plant accounts for 15 percent of the power provided by PGE, Oregon's largest electric utility.

A number of power plant operators are likely to challenge the rules in court, claiming that they would be expensive and could eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. But not everyone in the power industry is pushing back. Ralph Izzo, CEO of Public Service Enterprise Group, the parent of one of the nation's largest electric utilities, said the EPA action was "long overdue," claiming that the new standards could give enough flexibility to allow power generators to come into compliance "without any threat to the reliability of electric supply."