Thursday, December 27, 2007

Energy News Digest for December 27, 2007

All the links in today’s news digest lead to current stories. Please note that some media organizations update their web sites regularly, which may result in broken links in the future.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

- Eugene Register Guard Opinion – Sharing BPA’s benefits
- Most utilities behind BPA rebate proposal
- Energy Northwest ditches project to bury emissions
- Nuclear ‘Renaissance’ Takes Root in Idaho
- Okanogan PUD comes to aid of flooded towns
- Grant County PUD plans for retiring workers
- California – Sacramento County to offer utility-tax rebate to major users
- Sport anglers in N. Idaho irked about gillnetting season
- Stillaguamish Tribe hoping grant money will save Chinook salmon
- Canadian salmon facing another poor year, report predicts
- Calif. Faces Water Limits over Threatened Smelt
- Global Warming Jeopardizes Norway's Fish Farms
- Can wind be groomed to become a dependable source of electricity?
- How Electric Cars Could Save the Grid
- Tumwater area green building in works
- Conservation by Fiat – Portland slows down on green rules
- Flat-screen TVs devour electricity, jack up energy bills
- NFL Plans to Offset Super Bowl's Carbon Footprint
- Analysts find Qwest's Montana profits excessive
- For a Price: Bremerton Ferry Riders Get Access to Wi-Fi
- Texting while driving illegal Jan. 1
- Voters may settle family leave
- Deputies Spread Thin in the Thick of North Mason
- Olympia area house fire uncovers large drug operation
- Dicks played role as backer of Wilson's crusade

These and links to more stories in today’s Energy News Digest

WORD OF THE DAY

Rescind • \rih-SIND\ • verb – 1: to take away: remove *2: take back: cancel 3: to make void (as an act) by action of the enacting authority or a superior authority: repeal

“Getting toothpaste back into the tube,” expounded the physics teacher, “is probably easier than rescinding an uncontrolled nuclear reactor. But for extra credit, write a 2,000 word essay on which of these is the more annoying of the two.” He said. “You have ten minutes.”

WEATHER
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=sew&smap=1&textField1=47.21528&textField2=-123.09944

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

Eugene Register Guard Opinion – Sharing BPA’s benefits. The Northwest’s investor-owned utilities and their publicly owned counterparts have long argued over access to low-cost electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration.
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=40477&sid=5&fid=1

Most utilities behind BPA rebate proposal – Tri-City utilities are mostly supporting a Bonneville Power Administration plan to offer short-term rebates while working on a resolution to a long-running dispute between public and private utilities over federal benefits. (Tri-Cities Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/9536593p-9447596c.html

Energy Northwest ditches project to bury emissions – Energy Northwest is abandoning plans to consider injecting some carbon dioxide emissions underground at its proposed Pacific Mountain Energy Center near Kalama. (Tri City Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/9540855p-9452083c.html

Nuclear ‘Renaissance’ Takes Root in Idaho (NW Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=3435

Okanogan PUD comes to aid of flooded towns (Omak Chronicle)
http://www.omakchronicle.com/nws/n071225b.shtml

Grant County PUD plans for retiring workers – Thirteen PUD workers are participating in a special 18-month-long employee development program launched last summer for the first time. (Columbia Basin Herald)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2007/12/26/news/news02.txt

Tiny drop in power bills for Pacific Gas & Electric residential customers (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/27/MN7MU503D.DTL&feed=rss.news

From Southwest to Northeast: Electricity supplier gets PSC approval – A California company has been certified to become the fourth electricity supplier to residents in the Delmarva Power service area. (The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware)
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071227/BUSINESS/712270345

California – Sacramento County to offer utility-tax rebate to major users: Program is tied to expansion or capital improvement projects. Sacramento County hopes to lure manufacturers and other businesses by offering utility-tax rebates to big electricity users. (Sacramento Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/12/24/story7.html?ana=from_rss

New Zealand – More energy please, but keep it clean (Stuff.com)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4337210a13.html

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Sport anglers in N. Idaho irked about gillnetting season (Lewiston Tribune, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1120063~Sport_anglers_in_N__Idaho_irked_about_gillnetting_season.html?cid=rss-Idaho_Headlines

Stillaguamish Tribe hoping grant money will save Chinook salmon –Few of the Northwest's struggling salmon runs are as close to extinction as the Chinook that spawn in the south fork of the Stillaguamish River. (Associated Press, via the Columbian)
http://news.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP12252007news252874.cfm?newsletter=10

Canadian salmon facing another poor year, report predicts – There's a vast ocean and many months stretching between now and when salmon runs start to return to the British Columbia coast in 2008. (Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071226.BCSALMON26/TPStory/National

Calif. Faces Water Limits over Threatened Smelt (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17625090&ft=1&f=1001

Look out lutefisk – Global Warming Jeopardizes Norway's Fish Farms (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17638050&ft=1&f=3

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Grooming Wind – Can wind be groomed to become a dependable source of electricity? (Energy Pulse Commentary)
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1632

How Electric Cars Could Save the Grid (Discovery Channel News)
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/12/27/electric-car-grid.html?dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000

CONSERVATION

Green-built building in works – A South Sound developer plans a second green-built office building in Tumwater (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/business/story/310207.html

Conservation by Fiat – Portland slows down on green rules – It was a bombshell to Portland homebuilders when city officials announced at a Chicago conference last month that every new building in the city would be taxed unless it reached a higher level of energy efficiency. (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/119872771684060.xml&coll=7

Flat-screen TVs devour electricity, jack up energy bills – Most consumers aren't aware of the added costs before they trade in their old sets for plasma ones (Salt Lake Tribune)
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7803524?source=rss

Hillsborough Schools Given Assignment: Save Energy – With an electric bill expected to top $40 million this year, the Hillsborough County School District has turned to a team of five men and a few posses of students. (The Tampa Tribune)
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/dec/26/me-patrols-help-knock-down-energy-use/

Electricity Costs Attacked Through XML – A power consortium that distributes a mix of "green" and conventional electricity is implementing an XML-based settlements system that drives costs out of power distribution. (InformationWeek)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20071227/tc_cmp/205203201

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

NFL Plans to Offset Super Bowl's Carbon Footprint (National Public Radio – OK, so what about CO2 from fans, flatulence from those chili-nacho-cheese concoctions-and the hot air from bloviating sports “experts” leading up to the actual game)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17625113&ft=1&f=2

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Analysts find Qwest's Montana profits excessive (Associated Press, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1121276~Analysts_find_Qwest_s_Montana_profits_excessive.html?cid=rss-Montana_Headlines

For a Price: Bremerton Ferry Riders Get Access to Wi-Fi (Kitsap Sun, may require free registration)
http://kitsapsun.com/news/2007/dec/26/bremerton-ferry-riders-get-access-to-wi-fi/

Cisco Green Plan Looks Beyond Routers – Cisco Systems wants to turn the enterprise data network into an electricity meter. (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_002570DE00740E18002573B700743F90.html?ex=1356238800&en=6386c8c2fe79d2b6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

GENERAL NEWS

Texting while driving illegal Jan. 1 – A law making it illegal to send text messages while driving in Washington goes into effect Jan. 1, and state troopers plan to vigorously enforce the rule. (KING-TV, Seattle)
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_122607WAB_texting_driver_KS.54291df9.html

Voters may settle family leave – A state lawmaker says she is open to sending a tax package to voters that would create a long-term means to pay for the state's new paid-family leave program. (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/310239.html

Deputies Spread Thin in the Thick of North Mason (Kitsap Sun, may require free registration)
http://kitsapsun.com/news/2007/dec/26/deputies-spread-thin-in-north-masons-thick/

Olympia area house fire uncovers large drug operation (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/310260.html

Dicks played role as backer of Wilson's crusade – U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks never served in the military. But he was a bona fide lieutenant in "Charlie Wilson's War." (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004091397_dickscharlie25m.html

KGY, port in lease renewal talks (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/business/story/309076.html

DIVERSIONS

Man, 60, sues boy, 8, over ski collision – A 60-year-old man is taking an 8-year-old boy and his dad to court, claiming the boy caused a ski-slope collision that left the older man with a shoulder injury.
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/12/20/man_60_sues_boy_8_over_ski_collision/

Soccer referee pulls out red card, then a gun
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2635269520071226?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Kyrgyzstan touted as ideal delivery hub for Santa
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSEIC47011920071224?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Man spends Christmas Eve stuck in septic tank
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20071227/NEWS02/92748209/-1/RSS01