Energy News Digest for December 12, 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)

Grays Harbor County and PUD bill could top $20 million
Mason County Storm Damage Over $18 Million
Injured Grays Harbor PUD Worker Recovering
Mason County PUD No. 3 Approves 2008 Budget
Clark Public Utilities budgets call for unchanged water, electric rates
No increases seen for Cowlitz PUD
California sues U.S. over utility pole transformers
U.S. Senate Energy Bill Drops Renewable Energy Mandates
Dams and Salmon On The Docket In Redden's Court
Accentuate the positive – Big spring Chinook run forecast for Columbia
Salmon and sea lions, a sad situation
Makah whalers plead not guilty to tribal charges
Idaho Power buys geothermal energy: Move could result in higher electric bills
USA Today Opinion – Our view on energy mandates: States wean from fossil fuels, so why can't Washington?
Why did solar energy lose its flare?
The Electric Vehicle Acid Test – Are they really any better for the environment than gas-guzzling cars?
Off-Peak Laundry? Pricing Power by the Hour
Scientists wonder if Arctic melting a blip or a warning
Lewis County's past strategy: Build and hope for flood control
Oregon – State warns retailers not to charge excessive prices after storm
Olympia’s protest bill: $112,168
WA state auditor: Staffers at WSU Tri-Cities inflated enrollment

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Harry • \HAIR-ee\ • verb – 1: to make a pillaging or destructive raid on: assault 2: to force to move along by harassing *3: to torment by or as if by constant attack

Harry harried his heavenly housemates with hour-long histrionics about housekeeping. Finally the harangue wore out, as Harry’s housemates hustled him out the door onto the dust heap.

WEATHER

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

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

Grays Harbor County and PUD bill could top $20 million (Daily World, Aberdeen)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2007/12/11/local_news/02news.txt

MASON COUNTY STORM DAMAGE OVER $18 MILLION – Mason County suffered over $18 Million in storm damage from the December 3rd storm. According to the County's Director of Emergency Management, Marty Best, the preliminary damage estimation to public facilities is $10 Million and personal property damage is over $8 Million. Fifteen homes were destroyed and 38 homes sustained major damage. Mason County P.U.D. No. 1 reported about $100,000 in damage. Mason County P.U.D. No. 3 had over $1.2 Million damage. The City of Shelton sustain close to a Million dollars damage. And the Skokomish Tribe is reporting a little over $100,000 just in initial damages. The County is still gathering damage reports and resident who haven't already done so are encouraged to call Mason County's Division of Emergency Management at 427-7535. The hardest hit areas in Mason County were in Potlatch, Union, Hoodsport, Tahuya, Dewatto, and Lilliwaup. Officials are calling this disaster one of the largest disasters in Mason County's history. Officials are also hoping that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will make federal assistance available to Mason County residents. If that happens Best will be requesting Disaster Assistance Centers be located in the County to help people register their damage with FEMA. In the meantime, Non-Perishable food, blankets, clothing, and household goods are still available for those in need at the Mason County Fairgrounds in Shelton and at the Theler Community Center in Belfair. (KMAS Radio, Shelton)

Injured Grays Harbor PUD Worker Recovering (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/14827510/detail.html

News Release – Mason County PUD No. 3 Approves 2008 Budget: Increased operating costs mean small rate increase (Mason County PUD No. 3)
http://www.masonpud3.org/News/display.asp?NewsID=396

Clark Public Utilities budgets call for unchanged water, electric rates (The Oregonian)
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/12/clark_public_utilities_budgets.html

No increases seen for Cowlitz PUD – The Cowlitz PUD board Tuesday adopted a "status quo" budget for 2008 that includes no electric rate increases and puts no money toward a proposed Kalama power plant. (Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2007/12/12//area_news/doc475f96f135f0c561986787.txt

California sues U.S. over utility pole transformers – action being sought against the Bush administration over the U.S. Energy Department's new efficiency standards for the 40 million electric transformers on utility poles around the nation, saying the rules are too weak and would allow pollution that contributes to global warming. (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/12/BA1FTSBR2.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

News Release – BPA uses aluminum shunts to increase power line capacity and save money (Bonneville Power Administration)
http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/1582/186166/

Judge greenlights AEP pollution settlement – Columbus-based American Electric Power has been pilloried as one of the biggest polluters in the country. But that changed yesterday when a federal judge approved what the government calls the largest environmental settlement in history. (Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, via Power Marketing Association OnLine)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5ChhjloolSTfcw11rbfem%5Ev

U.S. Senate Energy Bill Drops Utility Rules, Keeps Most of Tax Package – Senate leaders are planning to introduce a slimmed-down package of energy legislation, eliminating a minimum requirement for utilities' use of renewable resources (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/11/AR2007121102197.html?nav=rss_business

News Release – President George W. Bush nominates Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff, to another term as Commissioner (White House Web Site)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071211-8.html

Missouri – Suit filed to halt Taum Sauk project. The Great Rivers Environmental Law Center and Missouri Parks Association filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) failed to evaluate most of the significant impacts of Ameren UE's Taum Sauk project before authorizing its reconstruction. (St. Louis Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2007/12/10/daily28.html?ana=from_rss

New Hampshire – Power company decides Hanover wrong on pole use. An official from electric company National Grid has reversed his position and now sides with local telecommunications company segTEL in that company's lawsuit against the town of Hanover. (Hanover Union Leader)
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=7f814db6-6d3f-4dd9-8121-c3876b85c2be&headline=Power+company+decides+Hanover+wrong+on+pole+use

Dark days ahead for energy-strapped South Africa – Constant power cuts are darkening the mood among South Africans, with President Thabo Mbeki admitting that government was at fault for ignoring growing energy needs. (AFP News Service)
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFt-NzKEPX5hkooDK7DnsA7RjguQ

News Tribune Opinion – Let there be light again over the Narrows. Some public agency has the opportunity to be Santa this season and win the gratitude of thousands of South Sounders. How? Simply by taking $1.5 million – already appropriated by the Legislature – and using that money to hire a contractor to string decorative lights over the new Narrows Bridge.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/227381.html

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Dams And Salmon On The Docket In Redden's Court (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/dams-and-salmon-docket-reddens-court/

Accentuate the positive – Big spring Chinook run forecast for Columbia. Here's the number salmon anglers have been waiting to learn: a whopping 269,300 spring Chinook - the third-best run in recent times - are forecast to enter the Columbia River headed for waters upstream of Bonneville Dam. (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/sports/localNews/2007/12/12122007_Big-spring-chinook-run-forecast-for-Columbia.cfm

Salmon forecasts: good news, bad news situation – The spring Chinook run in the Willamette looks bleak -- the opposite of the Columbia's (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/1197428106174720.xml&coll=7

Salmon and sea lions, a sad situation (Eugene Register Guard)
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=34485&sid=40&fid=1

Makah whalers plead not guilty to tribal charges (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20071212/NEWS/712120304

Seattle Times Editorial – Hands on the spigot. Watching Western Washington bail out from record rainstorms, it is easy to forget how much of the country is in the grip of record drought.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2004066097_watered12.html

Local company to help build Elwha water plant – A Port Angeles company will share in part of a contract to build a nearly 70 million dollar water treatment plant on the Elwha River. (KONP Radio, Port Angeles)
http://www.konp.com/local/3296

Port Angeles eastside sewer project a half-million beyond expected cost (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20071211/NEWS/712110304

Oregon – Springfield Utility Board likely to raise water rates. Water rates for customers are expected to climb 9.6 percent in January — as they did last January and probably will do so again in 2009 and 2010. (Eugene Register-Guard)
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=34477&sid=4&fid=1

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Idaho Power buys geothermal energy: Move could result in higher electric bills (Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, via Power Marketing Association OnLine)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5ChhjkkouYTfcw11rbfem%5Ev

USA Today Opinion – Our view on energy mandates: States wean from fossil fuels, so why can't Washington?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20071212/cm_usatoday/ourviewonenergymandatesstatesweanfromfossilfuelssowhycantwashington

Why did solar energy lose its flare? Underutilized alternative source could curb bad gases (MSNBC)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22185017/

Washington Post Op/Ed – Food vs. Fuel; By Robert J. Samuelson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/11/AR2007121101834.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

The Green Gap in Communications and Messaging – There is a growing misalignment between people’s stated intentions, e.g., their desire to be more environmentally conscious or to save energy, and their actual purchasing and consumption behavior. (Energy Pulse Commentary – VERY interesting article)
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1625

Pennsylvania Senate vote expected on $650M alternative energy bill (WHP, Harrisburg)
http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5a0bdf07-03cc-4cf9-b108-a783a19613fd&rss=50

The Electric Vehicle Acid Test – Are they really any better for the environment than gas-guzzling cars? (Slate Magazine)
http://www.slate.com/id/2179609/fr/rss/

CONSERVATION

Off-Peak Laundry? Pricing Power by the Hour – Pepco is about to start sending personal e-mail messages to Jonathan and Lauren Schwabish every few hours that could determine when they do the dishes, wash the baby's clothes or turn on the air conditioner. (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/11/AR2007121102502.html?nav=rss_technology

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Scientists wonder if Arctic melting a blip or a warning – Ice disappeared at record levels this summer (Associated Press, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/343215_melt12.html

Hard Choices on Climate Can Wait for Next President, Aides Indicate (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/12/AR2007121200478.html?nav=rss_world

Paying other nations to be green – Some at the Bali summit see carbon credits as a way to save the rain forests and reduce greenhouse gases. Others have doubts. (Associated Press, via the Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-deforest12dec12,1,468306.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true

GENERAL NEWS

Lewis County's past strategy: Build and hope for flood control – Chehalis and Centralia are geographically challenged, a fact brought home by record flooding last week in the Chehalis River Valley. (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/297347.html

Oregon – State warns retailers not to charge excessive prices after storm (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2007/12/10/daily16.html?ana=from_rss

New Tribune Opinion – Few natural disasters can match the demoralizing aftermath of a flood.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/227378.html

Olympia’s protest bill: $112,168 – The protests of military shipments at the Port of Olympia last month cost the city of Olympia at least $112,168. Officials say the city should consider sending the bill to the port and “other entities” (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/297321.html

WA state auditor: Staffers at WSU Tri-Cities inflated enrollment (KNDO-TV, Tri Cities)
http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=7485651

Former employee accused of bomb threats at Lacey Wal-Mart (Associated Press)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1100575~Former_employee_accused_of_bomb_threats_at_Lacey_Wal_Mart.html?cid=rss-Washington_Headlines

DIVERSIONS

These are GREAT –'Danger: Avoid Death' contest winner. Words to live by, from a warning label on a small tractor: "Danger: Avoid Death."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071212/ap_on_fe_st/odd_wacky_warnings;_ylt=AsqIktsNfXCdpSgY.NLX4bDtiBIF

Icelandic teenage caller tricks White House – A teenager says he convinced the White House he was Iceland's president and managed to schedule a call with George W. Bush but was found out before he got to talk to the U.S. president.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071212/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_iceland_bush;_ylt=Ao8buPqgz29I3GIl0ymgrfDtiBIF

Merriam-Webster's word of '07: 'w00t'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_fe_st/word_of_the_year;_ylt=AqZYhc1mj5HlEqiLZ4bdB3XtiBIF

Men drive straight to work, women stop a lot – Men and women do have different driving habits according to a new study that shows women squeeze more stops into their daily commute than men.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=6c07918f-338a-4e78-8069-27ed42682ac9&k=1491

After a Window Washer’s 47-Floor Plunge, the Big Question Is: How Did He Survive? A 29-year-old man plunges 17 stories in the atrium of a hotel in Minneapolis, landing on an overhang.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/nyregion/12fall.html?ex=1355115600&en=f717ebf517f800cc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss