Energy News Digest for March 31, 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)

- Ex-Grant County PUD treasurer's lawsuit set
- We've got dams, dams, and even more dams
- Montana – NorthWestern rate deal questioned
- Pacific Gas and Electric putting money where its apology is
- North Carolina – Stanly County group to protest Alcoa plans
- April Is "PayItGreen" Month – Con Edison Urges Customers to Pay Bills Online
- North Carolina – Duke Energy's air quality permit illegal
- Delaware Wins High Court Fight Over proposed liquefied natural gas terminal
- Fuel cells, sweaters may be the future of electricity
- Oceanographer Predicts Better Salmon Runs Next Year
- Humane Society asks for injunction against killing Columbia River sea lions
- Dino Rossi takes the plunge – Salmon too scarce for GOP candidate
- Alaska’s record catch is herring on side of fortune
- California – Scientists breed smelt in case species becomes extinct
- Canada – North Coast declared off-limits for fish farms
- United Kingdom – Has salmon farming outgrown itself?
- Wading Through an Endangered Species Backlog
- NY Times Op-Ed Contributor – Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird?
- Chelan County PUD wants geese to cease nest takeovers
- Inland Northwest mountain snow levels higher than 30-year average
- Winter dredging of Cowlitz River finished, but more silt awaits
- Cost of new KingCo sewage plant rises to $1.8 billion
- Deadline near for Black Rock comment
- Proposed stream water rule could limit Sequim-area building development
- No clear winner in Cowlitz County's water taste test
- BPA calculates administrative costs of wind power
- Kennewick winery gets greener
- San Jose to share $2.4M as 'solar city'
- San Jose Mercury News Editorial: Trees trump solar panels
- The Global Wind Energy Council Says Wind Boom will Continue
- Farmers Expected to Plant Less Corn
- More inconvenient truths about energy efficiency
- New Jersey – Energy conservation good for world, pocketbook
- Sierra Sun Op/Ed – My Turn: Setting lighting standards versus banning bulbs
- PUD Dam on Columbia part of emergent climate exchange
- Gore begins huge public campaign to go green
- Warming felt more in Western U.S.
- Counties Begin Programs to Tackle Climate Change
- Canada – Carbon tax will bring jobs back home: report
- Life in the 'Burbs: Heavy Costs for Families, Climate
- San Francisco entrepreneur floats a bold idea to 'fertilize' ocean
- Applying Gandhi’s Ideas to Climate Change
- It's wait and see for two state computer projects
- Minneapolis Wi-Fi Network Working but Limited
- Chattanooga seeks federal funds for fiber optics
- Comcast Cable CTO: Bandwidth Hogs Will Experience Slowdowns
- Net Neutrality Redux: No Legislation Needed
- Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More
- Reboot it! Microsoft broadband device shuts down during FCC test
- Metal thieves in Portland and Vancouver areas are taking connectors that firefighters use
- Police report: Metal thieves put public at risk
- Three Roy city employees suspended with pay
- Buyers' Revenge: Trash the House After Foreclosure
- Hybrid cars have unintentional flaw: They're too quiet
- Sixteenth Century Finds a Home in Belfair

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Sangfroid • \sawn-FWAH\ • noun – self-possession or imperturbability especially under strain – Etymology: French sang-froid, literally, cold blood

“Watch what happens when I open this breaker,” cackled the scientist. Instantly the entire eastern seaboard went dark, sparking a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission study into the hiring of “mad scientists with sangfroid tendencies”. Unfortunately, it also spawned 250 new regulations as part of the National Energy Reliability Corporation’s rule-making activities.

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

Ex-PUD treasurer's lawsuit set in Grant County – Fired employee seeks $4 million (Columbia Basin Herald)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/03/28/news/news05.txt

We've got dams, dams, and even more dams (Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/NEWS06/506294318/1025/rss1025

Montana – NorthWestern rate deal questioned – State agrees to a $15 million-a-year rate increase for the company's electric and natural gas rates - but not everyone believes it's a good deal (The Missoulian)
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/03/31/news/mtregional/news07.txt

Pacific Gas and Electric putting money where its apology is – Apologies and checks for January outages on the way (San Jose Mercury News)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8755333?source=rss

North Carolina – Stanly County group to protest Alcoa plans – A Stanly County-financed group will stage protests in Raleigh against the relicensing of Alcoa Inc.'s hydroelectric operations on the Yadkin River. (Charlotte Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/03/24/daily51.html?ana=from_rss

News Release – April Is "PayItGreen" Month – Con Edison Urges Customers to Pay Bills Online (Yahoo! Finance)
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080331/0381115.html

North Carolina – Duke Energy's air quality permit illegal (Associated Press)
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/state&id=6046600

Delaware Wins High Court Fight Over NJ – Delaware won a Supreme Court fight with New Jersey on Monday, likely killing a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the Delaware River (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/31/national/w071128D98.DTL&feed=rss.business

Fuel cells, sweaters may be the future of electricity (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004315149_sundaybuzz30.html?syndication=rss

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

Oceanographer Predicts Better Salmon Runs Next Year (Oregon Public Radio)
http://news.opb.org/article/oceanographer-predicts-better-salmon-runs-next-year/

Humane Society asks for injunction against killing Columbia River sea lions (Boston Herald)
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view.bg?articleid=1083905&srvc=rss

Dino Rossi takes the plunge – Salmon too scarce for GOP candidate (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/23//area_news/10170522.txt

Record catch is herring on side of fortune – Fishermen in Alaska haul 14,723 tons of fish, making millions of dollars in a day (Contra Costa Times)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_8748766?source=rss

California – Scientists breed smelt in case species becomes extinct in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Sacramento Bee, may require free registration)
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/823346.html

Canada – North Coast declared off-limits for fish farms – But licenses announced for South Coast anger environmentalists
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=7d674b46-2432-4c94-802d-7ab69d7acb30&k=42451

United Kingdom – Has salmon farming outgrown itself? (The Daily Telegraph)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/03/31/eawigan131.xml

Wading Through an Endangered Species Backlog (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89209746&ft=1&f=7

NY Times Op-Ed Contributor – Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/opinion/30stutchbury.html?ex=1364616000&en=9cbc717e643c4fc9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Chelan County PUD wants geese to cease nest takeovers – The PUD has been thwarted at every turn in its six-year campaign to help out an osprey pair in the Sleepy Hollow area. The problem: Canada geese. (The Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080329/NEWS04/402071978

Inland Northwest mountain snow levels higher than 30-year average (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_id_spring_snowpack.html

Winter dredging of Cowlitz River finished, but more silt awaits (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/31//area_news/10179927.txt

Cost of new KingCo sewage plant rises to $1.8 billion (Associated Press, via the Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/404556.html

Deadline near for Black Rock comment (Tri-City Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/141868.html

Proposed stream water rule could limit Sequim-area building development – The most powerful force to manage growth in Eastern Clallam County could flow out of your faucet. (Peninsula Daily News)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080329/NEWS/803290303

No clear winner in Cowlitz County's water taste test (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/03/28/top_story/10177739.txt

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

BPA calculates administrative costs of wind power – Windy days let energy producers cut back on the use of dams and coal-fired plants as more turbines are integrated into the power grid (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1206757513278130.xml&coll=7

Kennewick winery gets greener “…three-kilowatt solar panels will provide most of the energy needed for the tasting room and on sunny days, when it creates more than they use, the power is returned to the grid through Benton PUD's net metering program…” (Tri-City Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/915/story/141874.html

San Jose to share $2.4M as 'solar city' (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/03/24/daily75.html?ana=from_rss

San Jose Mercury News Editorial: Trees trump solar panels: They benefit neighborhoods
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8755328?source=rss

The Global Wind Energy Council Says Wind Boom will Continue (Renewable Energy World Online)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=51984&src=rss

Farmers Expected to Plant Less Corn – Farmers are expected to plant less corn this year, which could mean higher continuing higher costs for consumers at the grocery store. (Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004317238_applantingreport.html?syndication=rss

CONSERVATION

More inconvenient truths about energy efficiency (The Economist, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/356885_greenenergy30.html?source=rss

New Jersey – Energy conservation good for world, pocketbook (Courier Post, Cherry Hill)
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/COLUMNISTS15/803300361/1003/business

Sierra Sun Op/Ed – My Turn: Setting lighting standards versus banning bulbs
http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20080330/OPINION/830876305

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

PUD Dam on Columbia part of emergent climate exchange – For nearly 50 years, Rocky Reach Dam on the Columbia River has been quietly producing enough low-cost electricity to power two cities the size of Seattle. Now the dam north of Wenatchee is on the front lines of the nation's effort to control greenhouse-gas emissions and curb global warming (Seattle Times – Insert cynical comment about I-937 here)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004315714_carbon30m.html

Gore begins huge public campaign to go green (Washington Post, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004316880_gore31.html?syndication=rss

Warming felt more in Western U.S. – An analysis of 50 studies finds that the region's temperatures are increasing faster than in the rest of the country and the planet as a whole (Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/la-na-climate28mar28,0,4364705.story

Counties Begin Programs to Tackle Climate Change (The Kitsap Sun, may require free registration)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/mar/30/counties-begin-programs-to-tackle-climate-change/

Canada – Carbon tax will bring jobs back home: report – tariffs would bring industry back to developed world in search of better efficiency (Vancouver Sun)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=dabbb781-f95d-4a80-85b2-4b6d4e3bfa28

Life in the 'Burbs: Heavy Costs for Families, Climate (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89231809&ft=1&f=3

San Francisco entrepreneur floats a bold idea to 'fertilize' ocean – Sees ocean 'fertilized' with iron as a tool to slow climate change (Sacramento Bee – May require free registration)
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/821934.html

Applying Gandhi’s Ideas to Climate Change (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/nyregion/30towns.html?ex=1364616000&en=6e68be72590a5c74&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

It's wait and see for two state computer projects – State agencies are preparing to launch two new computer projects that might never be used — at a cost of $7.5 million. (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/403568.html

Minneapolis Wi-Fi Network Working but Limited – Slow speeds and too many trees among glitches to be worked out (Broadband Reports – comments may include PG-13 language)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Minneapolis-WiFi-Network-Working-but-Limited-93133

Chattanooga seeks federal funds for fiber optics – Chattanooga officials hope to use about $5.4 million in federal money to help EPB bring Internet, cable and telephone service to inner-city neighborhoods (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/mar/29/chattanooga-seeks-federal-funds-fiber-optics/?local

Comcast Cable CTO: Bandwidth Hogs Will Experience Slowdowns (GigaOM)http://gigaom.com/2008/03/31/comcast-cto-tony-werner/

Net Neutrality Redux: No Legislation Needed (The Motley Fool)
http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2008/03/28/net-neutrality-redux-no-legislation-needed.aspx

Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More – Plaintiffs think a giant particle accelerator might produce a black hole or something else that will spell the end of the Earth — and maybe the universe (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/science/29collider.html?_r=1&ex=1364616000&en=d2e8c16ad98184fd&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Reboot it! Microsoft broadband device shuts down during FCC test (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004314123_msmachine29.html

GENERAL NEWS

Metal thieves in Portland and Vancouver areas are taking connectors that firefighters use – Crooks make off with brass and iron fittings that help get water into buildings' automatic sprinkler systems (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/120676293893670.xml&coll=7

Police report: Metal thieves put public at risk (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/03/03282008_Police-report-Metal-thieves-put-public-at-risk.cfm?newsletter=2

Three Roy city employees suspended with pay and a state audit is requested after the discovery of inconsistencies in its accounting system (Tacoma News Tribune)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/321803.html

Buyers' Revenge: Trash the House After Foreclosure – Banks Pay People Off To Deter Home Rage; Loose Pets, Paint Spills
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120665586676569881.html

Hybrid cars have unintentional flaw: They're too quiet – Pedestrians, in particular blind people, sometimes can't hear the approaching cars (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1206764705154400.xml&coll=7

Sixteenth Century Finds a Home in Belfair (Kitsap Sun, may require free registration)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/mar/28/sixteenth-century-finds-a-home-in-belfair/

DIVERSIONS

UK Treasury Chief Banned From Pubs Following Beer Tax Hike
http://www.kirotv.com/irresistible/15733571/detail.html

Student's Science Project Sparks NYC Subway Scare
http://www.kirotv.com/irresistible/15733637/detail.html

Judge To 3 Men: Learn English Or Go To Jail – Men Face Prison For Conspiracy To Commit Robbery
http://www.kirotv.com/news/15733012/detail.html

Bradbury novel a tough sell in E. Idaho community read program – The classic book "Fahrenheit 451" is getting the cold shoulder in an eastern Idaho community
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/404473.html