Energy News Digest for January 11, 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)

- Tiny utility takes on BPA's boss
- Maryland Electric Company Sends You Unsolicited Light Bulbs, Charges $12
- Money runs out for low-income energy assistance program
- Vancouver Island – Power line upgrade costs hit $5.1 billion; higher bills predicted for consumers
- California – Environmental group sues over federal energy corridor plan
- FERC approves three planning and operating reliability standards – reversed NERC's reliability registry determinations for 3 companies
- Britain reverses course on nuclear power
- Redford taking on Texas coal-fired power plants
- Disaster in the United Kingdom – Huge energy price hikes threaten pubs
- Floodwaters damaged salmon habitat
- Weyerhaeuser, environmentalists argue logging's effect on floods
- Despite one of best runs of spring Chinook, local anglers likely won't be able to fish downriver of Portland
- Hungry sea lions back in the Columbia, but birds worse problem
- California recreational fishing adds $2B to state economy
- Chemical trace leads U.S. to ban Tofino salmon
- Daily Astorian Editorial – Salmon can't live on shallow symbolism
- Wind generation in BPA control area surpasses 1,000 MW for the first time
- California Seeks Thermostat Control
- Washington State legislation aims to build on last year's climate change bill
- Lifting the Lid: Banks urged to address climate change
- Wired America – America's Most Wired Cities (Forbes – Seattle is #2, Portland #10)
- FCC chairman defends commission practices
- Telcos Defend Broadband Speeds, Reach
- Trees downed by storms create glut, harvest rush
- U.S. Olympic panel bristles at peninsula winery's name

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Cliometrics • \klye-uh-MET-riks\ • noun – the application of methods developed in other fields (as economics, statistics, and data processing) to the study of history

For the moment, Clarence was able to bask in the glory of his doctoral thesis. Through the use of cliometrics, he was able to prove (on paper at least) that the 1929 stock market crash was not due to marginal trading and “irrational exuberance” but rather on men’s fashion trends…specifically the lack of spats for men’s shoes. It wasn’t until he was defending his academic paper that the entire house of cards that was his thesis fell down. It had actually been constructed of 3x5 index cards that fell over when one of the professors sneezed.

WEATHER

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

Tornado in Vancouver WA – Amazingly, nobody was hurt – A lunch-hour tornado raked roofs, shredded trees, downed power lines and jumbled traffic Thursday in Hazel Dell and Fruit Valley. (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/01/01112008_Amazingly-nobody-was-hurt.cfm

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

Tiny utility takes on BPA's boss – The Canby board wants someone other than Steve Wright to oversee an aspect of a crucial rate case (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1200027310193770.xml&coll=7

Maryland Electric Company Sends You Unsolicited Light Bulbs, Charges $12 –Allegheny Power, sent its customers some CFL light bulbs as part of a consumer education program. Sounds nice until you find out that the customers were charged $0.96 a month (about $12 a year) for the two light bulbs. (The Consumerist, beware of possible PG-13 language in the comments)
http://consumerist.com/343376/maryland-electric-company-sends-you-unsolicted-light-bulbs-charges-12

Here’s the original story: Faithful Allegheny Power customer considers mailing 'underhanded' (Cumberland Times News)
http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_010091257.html

Money runs out for low-income energy assistance program (The Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080110/NEWS01/509864848

Vancouver Island – Power line upgrade costs hit $5.1 billion; higher bills predicted for consumers. Groups warn that massive upgrades will jolt consumers for years to come (Victoria Times Colonist)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=8f54662d-ec82-43dd-ac89-ba01df1ead66&k=98739

California – Environmental group sues over federal energy corridor plan – An environmental group sued the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday for designating an energy corridor in Arizona and California that will bypass normal reviews for new high-voltage power lines. (Associated Press, via Press-Enterprise)
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/WST_Energy_Corridors_322955C.shtml

FERC approves three planning and operating reliability standards – FERC approved three reliability standards proposed by NERC; reversed NERC's reliability registry determinations for 3 companies. (Utility Automation & Engineering)
http://uaelp.pennnet.com/display_article/316026/22/ARTCL/none/none/1/FERC-approves-three-planning-and-operating-reliability-standards/

Britain reverses course on nuclear power (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/346951_britain11.html

Redford taking on Texas coal-fired power plants – The Sundance Kid is taking on "Goliath" to block the building of coal-fired electricity plants in Texas, the most power-hungry state in the U.S. (Salt Lake Tribune)
http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_7932373

News Whiz – Americans for Balanced Energy Choices Research Identifies Benefits of New Coal-Fueled Power Plant Construction (PR Newswire, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices)
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-10-2008/0004734265&EDATE=

Disaster in the United Kingdom – Huge energy price hikes threaten pubs. Licensees are expecting big hikes in gas and electricity prices following news that Npower has increased rates for domestic users by about 15%. (The Advertiser)
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=55374

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Floodwaters damaged salmon habitat (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/323994.html

Weyerhaeuser, environmentalists argue logging's effect on floods (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004119378_logging11m.html

Despite one of best runs of spring Chinook, local anglers likely won't be able to fish downriver of Portland (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/01/11/this_day/doc4787978bf35b9328445716.txt

Hungry sea lions back in the Columbia, but birds worse problem (KTVC-TV, Bend)
http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=7609251

California recreational fishing adds $2B to state economy (Sacramento Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/01/07/daily42.html?ana=from_rss

Chemical trace leads U.S. to ban Tofino salmon – U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests that found traces of malachite green in Chinook salmon fillets from a Tofino fish farm have flabbergasted the company's general manager. (Vancouver Sun)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=a91cb77a-3906-4c69-84e6-645d3f2f6a59

Daily Astorian Editorial – Salmon can't live on shallow symbolism. Their struggle is a warning of what’s coming for the human population
http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=392&ArticleID=48228&TM=4082.365

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

News Release – Wind generation in BPA control area surpasses 1,000 MW for the first time (Bonneville Power Administration)
http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/1582/188211/

CONSERVATION

Seattle Post Intelligencer Columnist – Make energy resolutions for 2008
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/346893_energy11.html

California Seeks Thermostat Control – Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/us/11control.html?ex=1357707600&en=608b7b5bb2921934&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Legislation aims to build on last year's climate change bill – Follow-up legislation to last year's climate change bill could be unveiled as soon as Monday, setting the stage for broader limits on polluters. (Tri-City Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/9565218p-9477626c.html

Lifting the Lid: Banks urged to address climate change (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSN0852567820080111

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Wired America – America's Most Wired Cities (Forbes – Seattle is #2, Portland #10)
http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2008/01/09/wired-cities-wifi-tech-wireless-cx_ew_0110wired.html

Arizona – Tempe, Chandler municipal broadband network back online with new owner (MuniWireless)
http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/6699/1/23

Winning The Airwaves – Phoning In Wireless Dreams (Forbes)
http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/01/10/verizon-wireless-auction-tech-wire-cx_ew_0110auction.html

FCC chairman defends commission practices (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN0960117420080109

Telcos Defend Broadband Speeds, Reach “…The idea that the U.S. has lost its leadership position in global broadband is greatly exaggerated…" (PC World)
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006204.html

GENERAL NEWS

Trees downed by storms create glut, harvest rush – Private and public forestland owners are scrambling to salvage hundreds of millions of board feet of timber that was blown over in Western Washington by the early December storms. (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/323996.html

Lakefair's royal controversy – Teen calls treatment 'unjust' (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/324002.html

U.S. Olympic panel bristles at peninsula winery's name – A lawyer for the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) wrote to the winery last fall saying its name infringes on the committee's turf. (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004119045_olympic11.html?syndication=rss

DIVERSIONS

Dog Poop Footprints Lead Police To Drunken Driving Suspect
http://www.kirotv.com/irresistible/15021839/detail.html

Gerbing’s Heated Clothing – Mason County 12th Men Fit Seahawks With Heated Britches
http://kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jan/10/mason-county-12th-men-fit-seahawks-with-heated/

Reaction cool to Brown's hot pants – The Green Bay Packers were amused Thursday when told that Josh Brown uses battery-powered heaters in his warm-up pants to keep his kicking leg loose
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/346948_pants11.html

The NFL's Coldest Games
http://www.forbes.com/sportsbusiness/2007/12/14/nfl-packers-bears-biz-sports-cx_tvr_1214frozen.html?boxes=popstories

A First! Snow Falls in Baghdad
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/11/international/i040305S39.DTL&feed=rss.news