Energy News Digest for March 20, 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)

- Bonneville Power Administration settlement to help pay down Ashland Fiber Network debt
- City of Port Townsend backs study of electric utility
- Southern Montana Electric meeting to discuss new funding possibilities
- States’ Battles Over Energy Grow Fiercer With U.S. in a Policy Gridlock
- Coal Can't Fill World's Burning Appetite
- Pacific Northwest gets new proposal on natural gas
- New Hampshire – Nuclear watchdog group raises alarm over Seabrook plant
- U.S. Department of Energy insistent Yucca on track
- Evaluating Texas Competition: One Year of Full Competition
- News Release – FERC joins investigation into Florida blackout
- Soldier Electrocutions Probed in Iraq
- The Columbian Editorial – In our view: Repair service fails
- Online Convenience Fee Is 63% Of Utility Bill
- Spring Chinook salmon fishery on Columbia offers good catch
- Collapse of Coho run will mean low catch limits for ocean salmon
- Seattle Times Editorial – No free lunch for sea lions
- Coming soon to Sea World: local sea lions
- Tests find unsafe chemical levels in bass near Bonneville Dam
- Kalama developer accused of stealing water
- Goats prevent fires, anger neighbors
- Ethanol: How the promise dwindled
- Canada – People downwind worry about Metro's 'waste-to-energy' plan
- After saving energy, recycle intact CFLs
- S.F. moves to greenest building codes in U.S.
- Spring's sprung earlier, warmer
- FCC Finally Realizes 200kbps is Not Broadband
- Comcast Tells FCC It Doesn’t Have Authority to Interfere With "Traffic Shaping"
- F.C.C. Bans Exclusive Phone Deals for Apartments
- US-Swedish carrier spat 'breaks' the Internet
- Suspect In Series Of Gas Thefts Arrested
- A tipping point at the gas pump for consumers?
- Sky-high fuel costs hit some extra hard
- Pierce County road crew workers yank signs, real estate agents steamed
- Trees take the fall for a better view

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Compunctious • \kum-PUNK-shus\ • adjective –*1: arising from remorse or regret 2: feeling remorse or regret

Immediately after leaving the comfort station, Gertrude started to suffer guilty, compunctious feelings. She felt the hard stares of her co-workers; the shrugged shoulders. “Perhaps I should have replaced the toilet paper after using the last sheets,” she pondered.

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

Bonneville Power Administration settlement to help pay down Ashland Fiber Network debt – Solar panels will not get financing from deal (Ashland Daily Tidings)
http://www.dailytidings.com/2008/0319/stories/0319_council.php

City of Port Townsend backs study of electric utility (Port Townsend Leader)
http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=20376&TM=77094.26

Southern Montana Electric meeting to discuss new funding possibilities – A coal-fired power plant proposed east of Great Falls will be the main topic of the annual meeting Friday of the board of directors (Great Falls Tribune)
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/NEWS01/803200309/1002

States’ Battles Over Energy Grow Fiercer With U.S. in a Policy Gridlock (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/us/20energy.html?_r=1&ex=1363752000&en=f83363a2bcc68d76&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Coal Can't Fill World's Burning Appetite – With Supplies Short, Price Rise Surpasses Oil and U.S. Exporters Profit (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/19/AR2008031903859.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Pacific Northwest gets new proposal on natural gas – Yet another proposal has surfaced to bring massive quantities of natural gas into -- and through -- the Pacific Northwest. (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/120589711716650.xml&coll=7

New Hampshire – Nuclear watchdog group raises alarm over Seabrook plant (McClatchy Tribune Business News, via Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5CjijlompZTnk%216%3C%22bfen%5Fv

U.S. Department of Energy insistent Yucca on track (Pauhrump Valley Times)
http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2008/Mar-19-Wed-2008/news/20402562.html

Evaluating Texas Competition: One Year of Full Competition (Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5D%5CjijlqqjRTnk%216%3C%22bfen%5Fv

News Release – FERC joins investigation into Florida blackout (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
http://www.ferc.gov/news/news-releases/2008/2008-1/03-19-08.asp

Soldier Electrocutions Probed in Iraq – A U.S. House committee chairman has begun an investigation into the electrocutions of at least 12 service members in Iraq, including that of a Pittsburgh soldier killed in January by a jolt of electricity while showering. (Associated Press, via the San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/20/national/a072728D40.DTL&feed=rss.business

The Columbian Editorial – In our view: Repair service fails
http://www.columbian.com/opinion/news/2008/03/03202008_In-our-view-Repair-service-fails.cfm/

Online Convenience Fee Is 63% Of Utility Bill (Consumerist – Comment section may contain PG-13 language)
http://consumerist.com/369526/online-convenience-fee-is-63-of-utility-bill

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Spring Chinook salmon fishery on Columbia offers good catch (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/outdoors/story/394026.html

Collapse of Coho run will mean low catch limits for ocean salmon – The outlook for ocean salmon fisheries reflects poor Coho forecasts, the worst since the 1990s. (The News Tribune, Tacoma)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/story/313686.html

Seattle Times Editorial – No free lunch for sea lions – U.S. taxpayers and Northwest utility users provide billions of dollars to restore salmon and steelhead populations. Hungry sea lions are dining on the progress, and non-lethal deterrence has failed.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2004293056_fished20.html

Coming soon to Sea World: local sea lions – Officials will begin trapping in the river near Bonneville Dam in early April (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/120589710816650.xml&coll=7

Tests find unsafe chemical levels in bass near Bonneville Dam (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1205805318199950.xml&coll=7

Kalama developer accused of stealing water (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/20//area_news/10165801.txt

Goats prevent fires, anger neighbors – Residents living near open fields take issue with the grazers scaring away other animals (Contra Costa Times)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_8635933?source=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Ethanol: How the promise dwindled (Sacramento Bee, may require free registration)
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/799508.html

Canada – People downwind worry about Metro's 'waste-to-energy' plan (Vancouver Sun)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=f8132e91-68a1-4940-908f-5940e75d1cf6

CONSERVATION

After saving energy, recycle intact CFLs (Honolulu Advertiser)
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Mar/20/bz/hawaii803200318.html

S.F. moves to greenest building codes in U.S. (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/20/MN7QVMJ5T.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Spring's sprung earlier, warmer – Climate change puts the greening season ahead of schedule for many species in the Northwest (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/355707_warmspring20.html

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

FCC Finally Realizes 200kbps is Not Broadband – Votes to reform long-flawed broadband data collection, albeit after-the-fact (Broadband Reports – Comment section may include PG-13 language)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Finally-Realizes-200kbps-is-Not-Broadband-92792

Comcast Tells FCC It Doesn’t Have Authority to Interfere With "Traffic Shaping" (Consumerist – Comment section may contain PG-13 language)
http://consumerist.com/369852/comcast-tells-fcc-it-doesnt-have-authority-to-interfere-with-traffic-shaping

F.C.C. Bans Exclusive Phone Deals for Apartments (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/technology/20fcc.html?ex=1363752000&en=12999867de860d9e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

US-Swedish carrier spat 'breaks' the Internet (Associated Press, via Yahoo! News)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ap_on_hi_te/broken_internet_2

GENERAL NEWS

Suspect In Series Of Gas Thefts Arrested (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/15645051/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=news

A tipping point at the gas pump for consumers? (Associated Press, via the San Jose Mercury News)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8635270?source=rss

Sky-high fuel costs hit some extra hard (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004294030_gasprices20m.html?syndication=rss

Pierce County road crew workers yank signs, real estate agents steamed – Real estate agents, already feeling the brunt of a slowing market, are now facing the brunt of a Pierce County sign law. (News Tribune, Tacoma)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/313676.html

Trees take the fall for a better view – Man suspected of toppling maples on West Seattle slope (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/355720_trees20.html?source=rss

DIVERSIONS

Father sues Montessori teacher for damaging son's self-esteem “…teacher damaged the boy's self-esteem by failing to have him write a poem with the rest of the class, and failed to encourage his strong spelling skills...”
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=e8ad6bca-c4d7-41cd-bfd5-6ea543704658&k=21331

Man gets 30 days' jail for taco theft
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_taco_crime;_ylt=AoU4smDZGdw0m9DzCwpB8jftiBIF

Teen love caught hanging in the balance – Graffiti artist and sweetheart caught red-handed
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ap_on_fe_st/odd_hanging_around;_ylt=Ar2KJkGI6Y4L_tUEkqr6RNLtiBIF

Older Brits behaving badly abroad
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080320/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_oaps;_ylt=Av1tVijC5AS5lE9uhn3MljLtiBIF

Canada robbers nabbed by cops driving getaway taxi
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080320/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_crime;_ylt=Av8v884WySXVlguC56dHBRXtiBIF