HOQUIAM - Imperium Renewables expects its new biodiesel refinery in Hoquiam to be in full operation this month. The $73 million plant at the Port of Grays Harbor is designed to produce up to 100 million gallons of biodiesel per year from such sources as canola, soy and related oil products. Production was scheduled to begin in July.

NEWPORT - Pend Oreille County's Public Utility District has awarded a $69 million contract to a North Carolina company to replace the turbines on the Box Canyon Dam on the Pend Oreille River in Washington's northeast corner. The upgrade is expected to increase the dam's electricity output from 60 to 78 megawatts. The contractor, Andritz VA Tech Hydro, will replace the first turbine in 2009-'10, with three others to follow. The dam serves about 8,500 Pend Oreille County customers, with 80 percent of the power going to Ponderay Newsprint Co., the Spokane Journal of Business reported.

KENT - One of the state's highest-paid CEOs has retired. Stephen Light stepped down as chief executive of Kent-based Flow International in July, after engineering a turnaround at the company, which builds high-pressure water jets for cutting materials in manufacturing. Light, 60, became Flow's CEO in 2003, while it was losing money. After losses in 2004 and 2005, Light managed to get Flow back in the black. The company posted a profit of 15 cents per share for its 2006 fiscal year (ending March 30), for which he was rewarded with cash bonuses and stock options totaling nearly $4.8 million, making him Washington's 11th-highest-paid CEO. He also was named Ernst & Young's Northwest entrepreneur of the year in the turnaround category.

Light was replaced by Charles Brown, the former president and chief operating officer of the pump, pool and spa divisions at Pentair Inc. in Minnesota.

SEATTLE - Seattle and King County are attracting record numbers of visitors, who are spending more than ever before. The number of overnight visitors grew to a record 9.4 million last year, up 3.4 percent from 2005, according to Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau. The visitors spent a record $4.75 billion, up 10 percent. Total state and local taxes paid by visitors while in King County rose 11.4 percent, from $376 million in 2005 to $419 million in 2006.

TACOMA - After five years of construction, the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened in July. It is the longest classic suspension bridge built since New York City's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964. The new bridge, which cost $849 million, is intended to create a safer, less-congested corridor linking the Kitsap Peninsula to Tacoma and Interstate 5.

WENATCHEE - Wenatchee's only locally headquartered bank, NCWCommunity Bank, has been acquired by the parent company of Walla Walla-based Banner Bank. Banner Corp. has agreed to pay $18.5 million in cash and stock - about $41 per share - to acquire the eight-year-old NCW and its $90 million in assets. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. NCW has one branch in Wenatchee, with a second under construction in East Wenatchee. If approved by regulators, the deal would give Banner 79 branches and 13 loan offices across the Northwest, with more than $4.2 billion in assets.