AP: The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday offered support for a major wind energy project planned for the Columbia Plateau in Eastern Oregon. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the department was offering to guarantee $1.3 billion of the financing for the $2 billion Caithness Energy LLC Shepherds Flat project. "This project is part of the administration’s commitment to doubling our renewable energy generation by 2012, while putting Americans to work in communities across the …