Energy News Digest for November 28, 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)

- More snow headed our way late Wednesday
- Energy NW – Power-plant plan rejected; fails to meet emissions law
- Generator-related – 3 children die in Grant County of carbon monoxide
- Grays Harbor PUD Interested – Weyco will look at other mill offers
- OSU prof talks up tiny nuclear plants
- Final tweaks made to 2008 Chelan PUD budget
- Clark County Utility Hook-Ups Slow
- Clean energy vs. whales: how to choose?
- Oxygen Levels Help Hood Canal Fish, Research Project Flourish
- The reservoir set to go into West Richland continues to bring in complaints
- Idaho May See Water War Over Snake Plane Aquifer
- Clark County – Parakeets that call power company home to be killed.
- Google to enter clean-energy business
- City of Portland might get in the wind farm business
- Winds of Change Blow into Roscoe, Texas
- Economist says conservation push could backfire
- Caves to Google – Verizon Wireless opens network
- Cable Industry Wins Compromise on F.C.C. Plans

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Clairvoyant • \klair-VOY-unt\ • adjective – 1: having the ability to see beyond the range of ordinary perception *2: of or relating to the power or faculty of discerning objects not present to the senses

Bartholomew sat alone in the corner of the crowded bar room. His eyes screwed shut and a look of utmost concentration on his face. He was hoping to call upon his non-existent clairvoyant talents to read the mind of his date. The only message he received was “we’re sorry, the number you have dialed has been changed or disconnected. Please hang up your mind and try again.”

WEATHER

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

More snow headed our way late Wednesday – The Cascades could get more than a foot of snow Wednesday and some areas of Seattle might see wet snow, according to the National Weather Service. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/341432_weather28.html

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

Energy NW – Power-plant plan rejected; fails to meet emissions law – New power plants built to light Washington must limit their greenhouse-gas pollution, according to a ruling Tuesday that affirms a new direction for the state's pursuit of electricity. (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004039453_powerplant28m.html

Generator-related – 3 children die in Grant County of carbon monoxide (Wenatchee World)
http://www.wenworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS04/71127015/1001

Grays Harbor – Weyco will look at other mill offers. The Weyerhaeuser Co. is no longer in “exclusive sales discussions”…concerning its mothballed Cosmopolis Pulp Mill. That could open the door to a joint offer made by the Grays Harbor PUD and Evergreen Pulp (Daily World, Aberdeen)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2007/11/27/local_news/02new.txt

OSU prof talks up tiny nuclear plants – Over lunch Monday, the Corvallis City Club envisioned a future in which the city’s electricity needs could be met with portable nuclear reactors. (Corvallis Gazette-Times)
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2007/11/27/news/community/6loc01_nukes.txt

Final tweaks made to 2008 Chelan PUD budget (Wenatchee World)
http://www.wenworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS04/711270043/1001

CLARK COUNTY UTILITY HOOK-UPS SLOW AS HOUSING MARKET CONTINUES TO STALL – New residential electrical power hook-ups with Clark Public Utilities slowed to a crawl in October. The number of residential customers with the utility totaled 164,285 last month, up a mere 0.9 percent from October 2006 as local builders cut back operations in the face of declining home sales. There is a 11.4-month supply of new and existing homes for sale in the county with sales off 27 percent last month from a year ago. For more on what it takes to sell a house, see Wednesday's Columbian business section.

Candidates Offer Different Views on Energy Policy “…The truth is that the answer to high prices is high prices…” (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/politics/28energy.html?ex=1353992400&en=2f65d63c1157e84d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Nevada – No energy experience, but qualified to work for Gibbons. The state's energy secretary appoints someone with no energy experience to be her second in command. How can the governor's critics resist not weighing in? (Las Vegas Sun)
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2007/nov/28/566687176.html

AmerenUE to pay $180M in reservoir collapse settlement – AmerenUE and the state of Missouri reached a settlement, announced Wednesday, worth nearly $180 million resolving the state's lawsuit and claims for damages associated with the December 2005 collapse of AmerenUE's Taum Sauk reservoir. (St. Louis Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2007/11/26/daily31.html?ana=from_rss

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Clean energy vs. whales: how to choose? Northwest's dams are a source of clean energy. But scientists say they endanger salmon and orcas. (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1128/p03s01-usgn.html

Oxygen Levels Help Hood Canal Fish, Research Project Flourish (Kitsap Sun, may require free registration)
http://kitsapsun.com/news/2007/nov/27/oxygen-levels-keep-hood-canal-fish-research/

The reservoir set to go into West Richland continues to bring in complaints – New information about a meeting in West Richland Monday night that wasn't exactly what Columbia Irrigation District leaders or West Richland Residents thought it was going to be. (KNDO-TV, Tri-Cities)
http://www.kndu.com/Global/story.asp?S=7418020

Idaho May See Water War Over Snake Plane Aquifer (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/idaho-may-see-water-war-over-snake-plane-aquifer/

Alaska sentences processor for letting 400 tons of salmon rot (Anchorage Daily News)
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/9480538p-9391724c.html

OSU scientist to visit White House – Carl Schreck, an Oregon State University scientist and one of the leading salmon researchers in the country, has been named the recipient of a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award. (Corvallis Gazette-Times)
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2007/11/28/news/community/5loc05_scientist.txt

Clark County – Parakeets that call power company home to be killed. They have been called the biggest celebrities in Yacolt - dozens of parakeets that have been building nests on power transformers there for years. (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komotv.com/news/local/11887446.html

Supreme Court Is Referee in Delaware River Fight – The case that was argued Tuesday morning has a more modern focus: a huge liquefied natural gas storage and processing plant that BP wants to build on New Jersey’s Delaware River shore in Logan Township. (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/nyregion/28scotus.html?ex=1353992400&en=cab3ada66cd1a247&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Google to enter clean-energy business – Search giant earmarks hundreds of millions of dollars with the goal of generating a gigawatt of clean energy that's cheaper than coal. (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/Google-to-enter-clean-energy-business/2100-13844-6220341.html?part=dht

City of Portland might get in the wind farm business – Commissioner says Sherman County project could help meet renewable energy goal (Portland Tribune)
http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=119610960593894500

Winds of Change Blow into Roscoe, Texas – There's a new sound out on the green grid of cotton fields that make up what West Texans affectionately call the "Big Country." Joining the hum of a seemingly ever-present wind is the rhythmic whoosh of spinning carbon-fiber blades on dozens of huge wind turbines. (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16658695&ft=1&f=2

Vibrant Wind Industry Seeks Tax Credit Extension “…Washington, with 140 MW of new wind capacity, pulls ahead of Minnesota into 4th place…” (Environment News Service - And of course, poor REPI is left out…again!)
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2007/2007-11-26-092.asp

CONSERVATION

Economist says conservation push could backfire – Government is fooling itself if it believes that improving the energy efficiency of appliances, buildings, vehicles and businesses will result in less energy consumption and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report released yesterday from CIBC World Markets. (Toronto Star)
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/280526

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT



TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Caves to Google – Verizon Wireless opens network. Company said on Tuesday it will open its network to any phone or software application by the end of 2008 (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2749533620071127?feedType=nl&feedName=ustechnology

Cable Industry Wins Compromise on F.C.C. Plans – In the face of a lobbying blitzkrieg by the cable television industry, the Federal Communications Commission drastically scaled back Tuesday evening a proposal by the agency’s chairman to more tightly regulate the industry. (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/business/media/28cable.html?_r=1&ex=1353992400&en=9452eec7ddf5181a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Schwarzenegger: Free market best solution for broadband – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up in Los Angeles on Tuesday to give a keynote speech at a state broadband conference, but didn't say much in his speech about broadband after all. (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9823983-38.html?part=dht

GENERAL NEWS



DIVERSIONS

Computer Glitch Leads To Kmart Brawl – A weekend melee at a Kmart store in Wauwatosa was started by a computer glitch.
http://www.kirotv.com/money/14702622/detail.html

Man with $1M bill busted at bank – A bank teller had a million reasons to deny this transaction.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071128/ap_on_fe_st/odd_million_dollar_bill;_ylt=AqXCDMauvYKmsZTTJ23VdKTtiBIF

Judge removed over cell phone jailing – A judge who jailed 46 people who were in his courtroom when a cell phone call interrupted proceedings was removed from the bench Tuesday by a state commission.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071128/ap_on_fe_st/odd_judge_cell_phone;_ylt=An0VLxRuT2S.MRP7s1QSD2vtiBIF

Poultry fat spill causes stinky mess – A waste truck leaked poultry fat along 20 miles of roadway Tuesday, causing at least four crashes and making a stinky mess
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071127/ap_on_fe_st/odd_chicken_fat;_ylt=AtHEExVaOZ9q4j85pQDMbRLtiBIF