Energy News Digest for February 4, 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)

* Rating agencies affirm strong ratings for BPA-backed bonds
* Oregon – Secretary of State Bradbury says LNG 'dirty fuel' for state
* Threat of Power Shortages Generating New Urgency
* A ‘Bold’ Step to Capture an Elusive Gas Falters
* Seattle City Light travel audit finds little fault
* Charleston, SC Post & Courier Op/Ed – Nuclear shouldn't be termed 'renewable'
* The Columbian – Final Salute: Charles Luce excelled at running BPA, Con Edison
* Important salmon decision expected to come this week
* Local tribe first ever certified for habitat plan
* Move Over Beavers, Here Come Salmon
* Calif. companies accused of fouling Columbia
* Alaska – Salmon interests gather to get as much as they can from state
* Seattle Post-Intelligencer Opinion – Orca Pods: Seeking salmon
* Boycott of beer company urged in effort to free a killer whale
* Montana – Deadline looms for tribal water rights agreement
* A Valentine from Jefferson County: Showdown meeting over new septic rules
* Wind farms blow past supply of techs to run them
* Debate – Are wind farms good sources for environmentally safe energy?
* Costco's newest supplier: the sun
* Canada – Ottawa confident in striking climate-change deal with Alberta
* Canadian government 'muzzles' scientists
* NFL using clean energy to offset Super Bowl's impact
* Washington Post Editorial – The California Waiver
* Google working to thwart Microsoft takeover of Yahoo
* Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Bill Virgin – Let's count the ways Yahoo sale could be bad idea
* Philly Fears Earthlink May Bail on WiFi Network
* Internet problems continue with fourth cable break
* Shelton’s Weekly Newspaper Sold
* Road Restrictions For All Mason County Roads
* Exxon's eye-popping yearly earnings: $40.6 billion
* Port of Seattle debacle helps drive open-government measure
* Daily News Editorial – Solving metal thefts requires vigilance, severe punishment
* Olympia – South Capitol residents want city to quiet lobbyist parties

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Pamphleteer • \pam-fluh-TEER\ • verb – *1: to write and publish pamphlets 2: to engage in partisan arguments indirectly in writings

Horace peddled his political arguments in Hyde Park each morning for ten years as the London crowds moved in a gray, groaning mass to their jobs. His main efforts were to pamphleteer the people to quit their jobs for a carefree romp in the grass of the park. His ulterior motive was to snag an open job when an unwitting employee took his advice. Until his dying day he never succeeded.

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

Rating agencies affirm strong ratings for BPA-backed bonds – Two financial rating agencies affirmed their strong ratings on Energy Northwest bonds and all other nonfederal debt backed by the Bonneville Power Administration. (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/01/28/daily40.html

Oregon – Secretary of State Bradbury says LNG 'dirty fuel' for state. The official says a terminal anywhere would take Oregon "180 degrees in the wrong direction" (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1201839914151770.xml&coll=7

Washington, DC – Threat of Power Shortages Generating New Urgency – Electric power has already become painfully expensive in Washington and its suburbs. Now, local utilities say, it could become something even worse: scarce. (Washington Post – Hey, how’s that deregulation thing working out? Price signals anyone?)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/02/AR2008020202554.html?wpisrc=rss_business

A ‘Bold’ Step to Capture an Elusive Gas Falters – Capturing heat-trapping emissions from coal-fired power plants is on nearly every climate expert’s menu for a planet whose inhabitants all want a plugged-in lifestyle. (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/weekinreview/03revk.html?ex=1359867600&en=1a525e4aea55ebbb&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Seattle City Light travel audit finds little fault (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/349757_travel02.html

Charleston, SC Post & Courier Op/Ed – Nuclear shouldn't be termed 'renewable'
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/feb/04/nuclear_shouldnt_be_termed_renewable29549/

The Columbian – Final Salute: Charles Luce excelled at running BPA, Con Edison
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/02/02022008_Final-Salute-Charles-Luce-excelled-at-running-BPA-Con-Edison.cfm

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Important salmon decision expected to come this week – Columbia River salmon anglers and non-tribal gill-netters will have to wait until Friday evening to find out how much hatchery spring Chinook salmon each group will get this year. (Tacoma News Tribune)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/272817.html

Local tribe first ever certified for habitat plan – The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe has become the first tribe in the nation to get federal certification for efforts to restore a watershed. (KONP Radio, Port Angeles)
http://www.konp.com/local/3393

Move Over Beavers, Here Come Salmon (Science Magazine)
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/201/2

Calif. companies accused of fouling Columbia (The Oregonian, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1199053~Calif__companies_accused_of_fouling_Columbia.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines

Alaska – Salmon interests gather to get as much as they can from state – Cook Inlet reds expected to fuel greatest debate (Anchorage Daily News)
http://www.adn.com/front/story/300918.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Opinion – Orca Pods: Seeking salmon. Good times on one visit can lead a family to annual California trips. But there's something very worrisome about the new travel habit of the local orcas' L pod.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/349736_orcased.html?source=rss

Boycott of beer company urged in effort to free a killer whale – Take a look at that beer and think of a captive whale, suggests whale researcher Paul Spong. (Victoria Times-Colonist)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=0fcbfd0f-b87a-4a82-8bec-08e39ff7c654&k=79737

Montana – Deadline looms for tribal water rights agreement – Just 300 or so miles east of the Flathead Indian Reservation but more than a century ago, events took place that have led all reservation residents to this point. Who will control the water on this reservation? (The Missoulian)
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/02/04/news/local/news05.txt

A Valentine from Jefferson County: Showdown meeting over new septic rules – Jefferson County PUD is getting out for the septic system monitoring business to focus on water service, King said. PUD now serves about 4,000 customers. (Peninsula Daily News)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080202/NEWS/802020304

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Wind farms blow past supply of techs to run them (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/349859_windshortage04.html

Debate – Are wind farms good sources for environmentally safe energy? (Helium.Com)
http://www.helium.com/debates/sbs/71106-farms-sources-environmentally-energy?page=1

Costco's newest supplier: the sun – A company that boasts of annually selling more than 100 million pounds of ground beef and 40 million rotisserie chickens may find it hard to minimize its carbon footprint. (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sundaybuzz/2004160941_sundaybuzz03.html

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Canada – Ottawa confident in striking climate-change deal with Alberta. The Harper government believes it can strike a deal with Alberta to impose national caps on greenhouse-gas pollution from its largest industrial facilities (Canwest News Service)
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=1076549f-3d58-44a4-b006-859c57606a8c&k=17972

Government 'muzzles' scientists – New policy at Environment Canada makes researchers give 'approved lines' (Victoria Times-Colonist)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=a4038ba3-a928-41e2-94fc-b67db6de9c0b&k=27747

NFL using clean energy to offset Super Bowl's impact (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/environment/2008-02-03-green-nfl_N.htm

Washington Post Editorial – The California Waiver. The EPA administrator's decision was wrong.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020302353.html?nav=rss_opinions

To Pull a Thorn from the Side of the Planet – “…as in other industries with increasing demand for green products, the floral industry is debating what is environmentally correct. Should flowers be organic — that is, grown without synthetic or toxic pesticides?...” (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/fashion/03flowers.html?ex=1359867600&en=7a88ae83053c9280&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Google working to thwart Microsoft takeover of Yahoo (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/349870_microgoog04.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Bill Virgin – Let's count the ways Yahoo sale could be bad idea. Not to snow on everyone's parade, but the big thing to worry about is not whether Microsoft can pull off an acquisition of Yahoo, it's what happens if it actually does.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin/349707_virgin02.html

Philly Fears Earthlink May Bail on WiFi Network – Philadelphia's wireless Internet network was supposed to be a model for the nation, but the project has been plagued by delays and spotty service. (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18632837&ft=1&f=7

Internet problems continue with fourth cable break (Arabian Business)
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/510132-internet-problems-continue-with-fourth-cable-break?ln=en

GENERAL NEWS

SHELTON’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SOLD – The Shelton Mason County Journal has been sold. They are from Wyoming and own two other weekly newspapers. When contacted, employees of Shelton Publishing said that they were told the sale "was in the works" Friday and they did not know who the new owners were.

ROAD RESTRICTIONS FOR ALL COUNTY ROADS – Beginning today, there are emergency load restrictions in place on ALL Mason County roads. According to a bulletin from the County's Public Works Department, these emergency gross load weight restrictions apply to vehicles with conventional or tubeless tires sized 7.00 and up. Emergency vehicles and school buses are exempt from these restrictions which will be in place until further notice. Special Motorized Permits are available for EMERGENCY use only. Please contact Mason County Public Works at 427-9670 or 275-4467, extension 450 for more information. Emergency gross load weight restrictions on all of Northshore Road are still applicable to vehicles weighing over 40,000 pounds. (KMAS Radio, Shelton)

Exxon's eye-popping yearly earnings: $40.6 billion (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004159742_exxon02.html

Port of Seattle debacle helps drive open-government measure (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/349851_access04.html

Daily News Editorial – Solving metal thefts requires vigilance, severe punishment
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/02/04/editorial/10090128.txt

Olympia – South Capitol residents want city to quiet lobbyist parties. Neighborhood group wants city to put new restrictions on area (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/347313.html

An uneven playing field? Academic eligibility rules for high school athletes vary widely (Tacoma News Tribune)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/272769.html

DIVERSIONS

Birds die after binge on fermented berries
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1201922718218740.xml&coll=7

California – With minutes left in Super Bowl, thousands lose power in Brentwood
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8159850?source=rss&nclick_check=1

The Other Big Game – Rating the best and worst ads of the Super Bowl.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/107846?from=rss

Group calls on China to respect rats – An animal rights group called Monday for China to treat rats with kindness and respect, as millions across the nation begin to celebrate the coming Year of the Rat.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080204/ap_on_fe_st/china_rats;_ylt=An7IFqBSdcB5mtm_7X0YIC7tiBIF

Hobo Bandit' in painting arrested – A bank robbery suspect whose "Hobo Bandit" appearance inspired a bank teller to paint his portrait has been arrested, police said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080202/ap_on_fe_st/odd_robber_portrait;_ylt=An9olGVbgRlEFaiAYJ6LTjPtiBIF

Potato tent pegs for Glastonbury – Music fans attending this year's Glastonbury festival will be told to use biodegradable tent pegs in an effort to protect grazing cattle.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080201/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_glastonbury;_ylt=AlUT8re4_Q4H3cNoTo_EljPtiBIF