Energy News Digest for July 23, 2009

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.

To subscribe, email jmyer@masonpud3.org

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

• BPA to Raise Rates; Tri-City Suppliers May Follow
• BPA Announces Power Rate Hikes - Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative
• Lewis PUD & Centralia - Energy Northwest Gets 2 New Members
• Oroville Dam test malfunction injures 5, shuts down power, water flow
• Massachusetts - Plan for prepaid electricity rejected
• Editorial - Aid for Electricity: Rural Residents Spared a Painful Change
• Natural Gas Producers Hedge Investments
• Norwegian Aluminum Supplier Norsk Hydro Posts 73 Pct Q2 Profit Tumble
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Press Ahead With Yucca Mtn Review
• Upper Columbia River Sockeye Fishery A Blast
• Chinook Season Starts To Slow In Puget Sound
• Pacific Northwest Sea Otters Rebound From Extermination
• Work Starts Monday on Shelton Park Sewer Pump Station
• Hidden Cost of Seattle's Bottled Water Ban
• Ex-California Water Company Employee Accused of Trying To Embezzle $9 Million Arrested In U.K.
• Manure Means Money to Handlers Gathered In Iowa
• Montana - Lightning takes down 127-Foot Wind Blade at Judith Gap
• Washington State Wind Power Blowing South
• Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power
• Harvesting Clean Energy along the Road
• Texas - Landowners Advised To ‘Be Careful’ With Wind Turbine Pacts
• Inside A Small Wind-Turbine Beta Test
• United Kingdom - Sit-In Turbine Workers on Isle of Wight Fenced In
• PNNL 'Smart' Technology Helps Homeowners Reduce Grid Stress
• Light-Bulb Drive a 'Win-Win' Project for Lumberjacks, Monarchs
• Oregon Climate Bills Signed In Green Setting
• Energy-Cost Safeguards Sought For Climate Bill
• Climate Change Tax Unpopular Among Americans, Survey Shows
• U.N. Expert: Use of Carbon Tariffs Will Backfire
• Op/Ed - Don't Pass Bills You Don't Read
• Group Gives $300,000 More to Fight Seattle Bag Fee
• Washington State's New Data Center: Wait Just A Minute!
• Microsoft Milestone: Windows 7 Completed
• Lake Chelan - Stehekin to Get Phone Service
• Fire Danger in Hot, Dry Parts of Washington
• Elma - One Killed When Small Plane Hits Power Lines
• Wal-Mart Will Pay Millions to Washington State Workers Forced To Skip Breaks

WORD OF THE DAY

Pachydermatous • \pack-ih-DER-muh-tuss\ • adjective - 1: of or relating to the pachyderms 2a: thick, thickened b: callous, insensitive

The shady, backroom doctor promised that the injection of stem cells from a baby elephant would provide Ambrose with the famed pachydermatous memory traits. “You will never forget again,” crowed the doctor as he drove home the first hypodermic needle. Days later Ambrose found strong memories fixed in his mind…but they were all about tender leaves from the savannahs and frolicking mud-baths in retreating water holes of the furthest reaches of Africa. While he could remember locations of the best rough-barked trees for scratching his behind, he couldn’t remember where he left his keys the day before.

WEATHER

Shelton Forecast and Weather Alerts
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/mapclick.php?textfield1=47.213805&textfield2=-123.113412&site=all&smap=1&searchresult=shelton%2c%20wa%2c%20usa

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

BPA to Raise Rates; Tri-City Suppliers May Follow (Tri-City Herald, WA)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/915/story/655929.html

BPA Announces Power Rate Hikes - not certain how the hike will affect power bills for Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative customers (Baker City Herald, OR)
http://www.bakercityherald.com/Local-News/OTEC-expects-to-announce-soon-how-much-local-customers-rates-will-rise

Lewis PUD & Centralia - Energy Northwest Gets 2 New Members (Associated Press)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/918309.html

Oroville Dam test malfunction injures 5, shuts down power, water flow (Sacramento Bee, CA)
http://www.sacbee.com/1089/story/2046988.html

Massachusetts - Plan for prepaid electricity rejected: State says utility proposal is unfair to low-income clients (Boston Globe, MA)
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/07/23/mass_rejects_utilitys_prepayment_plan_for_low_income_customers/

Anchorage Daily News Editorial - Aid for Electricity: Rural Residents Spared a Painful Change
http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/873400.html

Natural Gas Producers Hedge Investments (New Brunswick Business Journal)
http://nbbusinessjournal.canadaeast.com/transcript/article/734091

Norwegian Aluminum Supplier Norsk Hydro Posts 73 Pct Q2 Profit Tumble “…production in 2009 will be 26 percent of what it was in 2008…” (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2009518505_apeunorwayearnsnorskhydro.html?syndication=rss

Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Press Ahead With Yucca Mtn Review (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009511900_apusnrcchairmaninterview.html?syndication=rss

FISH & WILDLIFE

Upper Columbia River Sockeye Fishery A Blast (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/reeltimenorthwest/2009519350_upper_columbia_river_sockeye_f.html

Chinook Season Starts To Slow In Puget Sound (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2009519935_fish23.html?syndication=rss

Pacific Northwest Sea Otters Rebound From Extermination (KPLU-Radio, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/0/1/1533643/KPLU.Local.News/Sea.Otters.Rebound.From.Extermination

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Work Starts Monday on Shelton Park Sewer Pump Station (Olympian, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/918534.html

Hidden Cost of Seattle's Bottled Water Ban - Mayor Nickel’s Pledge Plagued by Delays, Plumbing Improvements (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/20132778/detail.html

Ex-California Water Company Employee Accused of Trying To Embezzle $9 Million Arrested In U.K. (San Jose Mercury News)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12890778

Manure Means Money to Handlers Gathered In Iowa (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009521407_apusfarmscenemidwestmanure.html?syndication=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Montana - Lightning takes down 127-Foot Wind Blade at Judith Gap (Great Falls Tribune, MT)
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090723/NEWS01/907230301

Washington State Wind Power Blowing South (Puget Sound Business Journal)
http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2009/07/washington_wind_power_blowing_south.html?surround=lfn

Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power - On America’s highways, wind turbines may be the ultimate oversize load (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/business/energy-environment/23turbine.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Harvesting Clean Energy along the Road (NY Times)
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/harvesting-clean-energy-along-the-road/

Texas - Landowners Advised To ‘Be Careful’ With Wind Turbine Pacts (Fredericksburg Standard, TX)
http://fredericksburgstandard.com/articles/2009/07/22/news/03news.txt

Inside A Small Wind-Turbine Beta Test (C/NET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10291704-54.html?tag=nl.e703

United Kingdom - Sit-In Turbine Workers on Isle of Wight Fenced In (Wind Watch)
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2009/07/22/sit-in-turbine-workers-fenced-in/

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

PNNL 'Smart' Technology Helps Homeowners Reduce Grid Stress (Utility Automation & Engineering)
http://uaelp.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ONART&PUBLICATION_ID=22&ARTICLE_ID=366672&C=INDUS&dcmp=rss

Light-Bulb Drive a 'Win-Win' Project for Lumberjacks, Monarchs (The Daily News, Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2009/07/23//area_news/doc4a67be37c17e9826240307.txt

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Oregon Climate Bills Signed In Green Setting (Register-Guard, Eugene, OR)
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/17529673-41/story.csp

Energy-Cost Safeguards Sought For Climate Bill (Pioneer Press, St Paul, MN)
http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_12894917

Climate Change Tax Unpopular Among Americans, Survey Shows (Epoch Times)
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/19996/

U.N. Expert: Use of Carbon Tariffs Will Backfire (Associated Press)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/article/20090722/NEWS02/707229917/1025/rss1025

CNN Op/Ed - Don't Pass Bills You Don't Read
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/23/chaffetz.cap.bill/

BARREL O’ GREEN POTPOURRI

Group Gives $300,000 More to Fight Seattle Bag Fee (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/51434802.html

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Washington State's New Data Center: Wait Just A Minute! (Crosscut Seattle)
http://crosscut.com/blog/crosscut/19024/

Microsoft Milestone: Windows 7 Completed (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/brierdudley/2009520588_brier23.html?syndication=rss

Lake Chelan - Stehekin to Get Phone Service (Associated Press)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/918378.html

GENERAL NEWS

Fire Danger in Hot, Dry Parts of Washington (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009525006_apwahotweather.html?syndication=rss

Elma - One Killed When Small Plane Hits Power Lines (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/51429262.html

Wal-Mart Will Pay Millions to Washington State Workers Forced To Skip Breaks (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/51409262.html

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Taco Bell Ad Star Gidget the Chihuahua Dies At 15
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009519174_apusobittacobelldog.html?syndication=rss

Goat's Crowning As King of Ireland in Doubt
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE56L56220090722?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest

World's first camel-milk chocolates going global
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090721/od_nm/us_chocolate_camel_odd

New Service Lets Jews Tweet A Prayer to God
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009521795_apmlisraelprayertweets.html?syndication=rss

SONG OF THE DAY

Linda Ronstadt - Someone to Lay Down Beside Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41IAef2Jwf0&NR=1

Karla Bonoff - Someone to Lay Down Beside Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C96oDES_Tpw&feature=related