Energy News Digest for July 22, 2008

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)

- Puget Energy sale wins over some critics
- Centralia Steam Plant May Change Ownership
- Sequim power restored
- Snohomish County PUD to consider buying hydro plant
- Grant PUD budget analyst appointed to Ephrata City Council
- Wall Street Journal Opinion – Let's Have Some Love for Nuclear Power
- Internet Channel Can Help Utilities Ease the Sting of Delinquent Payments
- The Olympian Opinion – Fines warranted if shellfish were farmed illegally
- Scientists say nonnative game fish threat to salmon
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Opinion – Pacific NW Fisheries: Reckless ideas
- Oregon Coast Albacore Tuna Has Arrived
- CANADA – Can Vancouver Island's trollers survive?
- CANADA – Salmon's return to Coquitlam Lake spawns community celebration
- Saving rain: How much is too much? Rain that falls on your roof isn't yours for the taking
- Attendance light at first public forum to discuss Black Rock water reservoir
- Skagit County – Sauk River will run its course again
- CALIFORNIA – Slowdown on Folsom Lake anticipated as water level drops
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Op/Ed – Will environment survive the enviros?
- Local schools shining light on solar panels
- GM eyes electric grid for plug-ins
- Full speed ahead on new energy
- NY Times Opinion – T. Boone Pickens Rides the Wind
- Kitsap County Considers Ways to Curb Energy Consumption
- Building green from the ground up
- Carter's energy policy seems prescient today
- Western Climate Initiative Members To Outline Strategy
- Free Market Energy Could Cost Data Centers a Bundle
- Time Warner Cable Using Fine Print To Foist Caps On Customers
- Wire thieves hit I-5 ramps in Tacoma
- CALIFORNIA – Copper thieves cut power to school surveillance system

WEATHER

Forecast for Mason County, Washington
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=sew&smap=1&textField1=47.21528&textField2=-123.09944

(NOTE: Some readers have noted that the NWS forecast has not been updated regularly. Apparently there is a refresh issue with the weather web site. If you visit and the forecast isn’t updated, press F5 or refresh the web page. That should take care of the issue)

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

Puget Energy wins over some critics – Some critics of a takeover of Puget Energy by a group of Australian and Canadian investors have reached a proposed settlement with the utility (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008065128_pse220.html

Centralia Steam Plant May Change Ownership (KELA Radio, Centralia)
http://www.kelaam.com/pages/localnews/?Steam-Plant-May-Change-Ownership=1&blockID=10603&feedID=410

Sequim power restored (KONP Radio, Port Angeles)
http://www.konp.com/local/3835

Everett Herald – This Week's Public Meetings: Snohomish County PUD, 9 a.m. Tuesday , PUD headquarters, 2320 California St., Everett. Commissioners will consider buying the Youngs Creek Hydroelectric project located four miles south of Sultan for $745,000.

Grant PUD budget analyst appointed to Ephrata City Council (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/07/21/news/news05.txt

Wall Street Journal Opinion – Let's Have Some Love for Nuclear Power
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121659839296769061.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Energy Pulse Commentary – Internet Channel Can Help Utilities Ease the Sting of Delinquent Payments
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1782

FISH & WILDLIFE

The Olympian Opinion – Fines warranted if shellfish were farmed illegally – If Taylor Shellfish Farms illegally harvested oysters and geoducks from state tidelands in Totten Inlet, the Mason County company should face stiff fines by state regulators (Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/story/511984.html

Scientists say nonnative game fish threat to salmon – A panel of scientists has advised letting anglers catch more shad, smallmouth bass and walleye in the Columbia and Snake rivers to help out wild salmon(KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/25739344.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Opinion – Pacific NW Fisheries: Reckless ideas
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/371644_fisheriesed.html?source=rss

Oregon Coast Albacore Tuna Has Arrived (North Coast Oregon)
http://northcoastoregon.com/articles/local_news/oregon_coast_albacore_tuna_has_arrived

CANADA – Can Vancouver Island's trollers survive? Trollers on the Island's west coast say a proposed salmon treaty will kill their livelihood - if it isn't already doomed by declining stocks (Victoria Times Colonist, BC)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=8d212d58-2d6c-4ec4-b34d-cb646c3fd5ae

CANADA – Salmon's return to Coquitlam Lake spawns community celebration – First sockeye brought back to lake in more than 100 years, but expert urges improved transport system (Globe and Mail, Canada)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080722.BCSALMON22/TPStory/National

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Saving rain: How much is too much? Technically, rain that falls on your roof isn't yours for the taking. It's a resource of the state, which regulates the use of public waters through an allocation process that can take years to navigate (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/371529_rain21.html

Attendance light at first public forum to discuss Black Rock water reservoir – A state Department of Ecology request for public comment on a list of alternatives to large storage reservoirs to serve the Yakima River Basin got little response Monday afternoon (Yakima Herald-Republic , WA)
http://www.yakimaherald.com/stories/6036

Skagit County – Sauk River will run its course again (The Everett Herald, WA)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080722/NEWS01/554555991/-1/RSS02

CALIFORNIA – Slowdown on Folsom Lake anticipated as water level drops (Sacramento Bee)
http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/1098322.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Op/Ed – Will environment survive the enviros?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/371648_gerson22.html?source=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Local schools shining light on solar panels – Solar panels are popping up at schools all over the region, through grants from Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008063326_solarpanels21m0.html

GM eyes electric grid for plug-ins – meetings with power companies aim to prepare grid for new hybrid (San Jose Mercury News, CA)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9957180?source=rss

Full speed ahead on new energy – T. Boone Pickens and Al Gore challenge the next president to remake the US energy industry. (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0722/p08s01-comv.html

NY Times Opinion – T. Boone Pickens Rides the Wind
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/opinion/22tue3.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

CONSERVATION

Kitsap County Considers Ways to Curb Energy Consumption (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jul/21/county-looks-at-curbing-employees-car-use-work/

Building green from the ground up: Fieldbrook couple constructs nature-powered home (Eureka Times-Standard, CA)
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_9946582

Carter's energy policy seems prescient today (Baltimore Sun, MD)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.tucker21jul21,0,4524555.story

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Western Climate Initiative Members To Outline Strategy (Oregon Public Radio)
http://news.opb.org/article/2634-western-climate-initiative-members-outline-strategy/

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Free Market Energy Could Cost – While deregulation would be welcomed with open arms by electricity generators and smaller power consumers, chief information officers in charge of large data centers may have a tougher time adapting (Forbes Magazine)
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/18/brewster-electric-deregulation-tech-cio-cx_es_0721brewster.html?feed=rss_technology

Time Warner Cable Using Fine Print To Foist Caps On Customers – As company PR tests its 'message' in cap trial market (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Time-Warner-Cable-Using-Fine-Print-To-Foist-Caps-On-Customers-96259

GENERAL NEWS

Wire thieves hit I-5 ramps in Tacoma (KING-TV, Seattle)
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_072108WAB_wire_thieves_i-5_tacoma_JM.799fe58a.html?npc

CALIFORNIA – Copper thieves cut power to school surveillance system, escape (Sacramento Bee, CA)
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1099151.html

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Fired worker accused of trying to cut boss' power
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080722/ap_on_fe_st/odd_electricity_arrest;_ylt=Ap3b2UdBOBhcNTJxF7Sz9zXtiBIF

Cable repairman taken for ride in cherry picker
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080722/ap_on_fe_st/odd_cable_truck_theft;_ylt=Ak0yDS7_hPGE6X3qHshRT3_tiBIF

Man blows up apartment spraying for bugs?
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2142142620080721?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest

Mounties flush out tourist accidentally locked in a loo – Chemainus has redefined the phrase "tourist trap"
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=c625a9ba-0b45-4b70-9daa-cecb1b5f1a69

World Santa Claus Congress meets in Copenhagen
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_on_fe_st/odd_santa_claus_congress;_ylt=Ar0cZorm0hHYf0aZphHCsi_tiBIF