Energy News Digest for April 14, 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)

- Portland General Electric looks to avoid lawsuit over Boardman emissions
- Future of coal-generated electricity unclear
- Oregon regulators alter tax bills of 2 utilities
- Hydropower proposal calls for work at Montana's Gibson Dam
- Sacramento Municipal Utility District considers plan to tie rates to hydroelectric system
- Orchardist, engineer to vie for Chelan, Grant County PUD
- Liquefied Natural Gas terminal opponents move to put the issue on Oregon’s fall ballot
- Alberta – British Columbia gains thanks to Alberta's power pain
- Decoupling would release utilities' inner entrepreneur
- News Tribune Opinion – Salmon cutbacks serve as warning
- Collapse of Chinook season devastates salmon trollers
- West Coast Cancels Salmon Fishing Season
- Ocean salmon anglers get ready – Washington's ocean salmon anglers will have a short, but early, season
- Canada – Fraser River Sockeye season is threatened
- Cold weather lengthens steelhead season on Salmon River
- BPA offers $15.5 million to mitigate Montana fish issues
- California – Cashing in on your solar savings
- The technology that will save humanity – The solar energy you haven't heard of
- Canada – Wind farm ready to breath life into employment scene in Queen Charlotte Islands
- Fuel, Food Demand Raise Corn, Soybean Prices
- Biofuels go from savior to villain
- Who needs ethanol? Let's just reveal the long-held secrets of 200 mile-per-gallon carburetor!
- 'Built Green' movement is picking up energy
- Ohio – Green with Envy: Save money, energy while staying connected
- Washington State Looks to Cut Down on Car Miles to Address Climate Change
- Green transportation is key in Oregon
- California – City paying a premium for carbon offsets
- The Carbon Olympics – Keeping track of the Olympic torch's carbon footprint—one leg at a time
- Passionate users beg for Microsoft to save XP, potential seems slim that Microsoft will agree
- The conversion to digital TV could be a cost to cable users
- FCC to look into firms' use of customer data
- Shelton Fire Chief Taking Job In San Juan Islands
- Housing slump taking toll on lumber mills
- Foreclosures Leads Residents To Abandon Homes In NW
- Klickitat County welcomes garbage from British Columbia
- David Ammons moves on – Dean of Capitol Press Corps accepts new assignment

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Deglutition • \dee-gloo-TISH-un\ • noun – The act or process of swallowing

Man, Derwood looked cool. He was getting a dressing down from his boss that would turn most folks into a dry husk of humanity. Unfortunately, it was Mr. D’s uncontrolled deglutition that did him in. That Ichabod Crane Adam’s apple bobbing up and down on his long, slender neck showed the powerful emotional forces that were at war within that calm exterior.

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

Portland General Electric looks to avoid lawsuit over Boardman emissions – Environmental coalition says utility's power plant violates Clean Air Act (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/04/14/story8.html?ana=from_rss

Future of coal-generated electricity unclear (Arizona Republic)
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/82431.php

Oregon regulators alter tax bills of 2 utilities – PacifiCorp's customers will pay a bit more, and Portland General Electric’s could get a break – For the first time since the state Legislature passed a controversial utility tax law in 2005, the financial tab is coming due. (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/120797251257670.xml&coll=7

Hydropower proposal calls for work at Montana's Gibson Dam (The Great Falls Tribune, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1337411~Hydropower_proposal_calls_for_work_at_Montana_s_Gibson_Dam.html?cid=rss-Montana_Headlines

Here’s the Gibson Dam baby picture!
http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/dams/mt00571.htm

Sacramento Municipal Utility District considers plan to tie rates to hydroelectric system (Sacramento Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/04/14/story12.html?ana=from_rss

Orchardist, engineer to vie for Chelan, Grant County PUD (Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/NEWS04/428335984

Liquefied Natural Gas terminal opponents move to put the issue on Oregon’s fall ballot (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1207965328174920.xml&coll=7

Alberta – British Columbia gains thanks to Alberta's power pain – The deregulation of Alberta's electrical system may be controversial here, but it has been a bonanza for British Columbia, say industry observers. Deregulation handed $500M bonanza to BC Hydro, critics say. (The Edmonton Journal)
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=c4dfeb43-b0ca-4af7-a98a-1e5315ee1f4e&k=56566

Decoupling would release utilities' inner entrepreneur “…implement decoupling now and give them incentives to make money reducing our electric bills…” Ed Note: yes, like sending all customers two CFL bulbs and charging them $12 for the privilege. (Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology)
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2008/04/14/newscolumn3.html?ana=from_rss

WATER, FISH & THE ENVIRONMENT

News Tribune Opinion – Salmon cutbacks serve as warning
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/333885.html

Collapse of Chinook season devastates salmon trollers – In Charleston, on the Oregon coast, a way of life seems endangered (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/120798150649040.xml&coll=7

West Coast Cancels Salmon Fishing Season – The West Coast has seen a severe shortage of King Salmon in the past year, so lawmakers cancelled this year's salmon fishing season. (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89588772&ft=1&f=2

Ocean salmon anglers, get ready – Washington's ocean salmon anglers will have a short, but early, season this year. (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/415940.html

Canada – Fraser River Sockeye season is threatened – Commercial, recreational fishing might be scrapped due to dismal numbers (Victoria Times-Colonist)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=869f833b-8cb8-46e3-85c1-dc94ae7d7d34&k=62663

Cold weather lengthens steelhead season on Salmon River (The Associated Press, via the Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/418272.html

BPA offers $15.5 million to mitigate Montana fish issues (The Missoulian)
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/04/11/bnews//br48.txt

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

California – Cashing in on your solar savings – Electricity generated by a solar roof cuts a homeowner's utility bill, but some of those folks are upset when they learn that the best they can do is end up with a $0 bill, no matter how much power they produce (San Jose Mercury News)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8901807?source=rss

The technology that will save humanity – The solar energy you haven't heard of is the one best suited to generate clean electricity for generations to come. (Slate Magazine)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/14/solar_electric_thermal/

Canada – Wind farm ready to breath life into employment scene in Queen Charlotte Islands (Canada.com)
http://www.canada.com/cityguides/princerupert/story.html?id=e673428e-9c56-4c18-a75a-44b2e86474d7

Fuel, Food Demand Raise Corn, Soybean Prices (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89598524&ft=1&f=10

Biofuels go from savior to villain (National Post, Canada)
http://www.nationalpost.com/newsletter/story.html?id=439710

Who needs ethanol? Let's just reveal the long-held secrets of 200 mile-per-gallon carburetor! (Lodi News Sentinel)
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2008/04/10/opinion/columnists/hansen_steve_080410.txt

CONSERVATION

'Built Green' movement is picking up energy – Energy-efficient homes are becoming more popular in South Sound, according to the Olympia Master Builders (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/business/story/417563.html

Ohio – Green with Envy: Save money, energy while staying connected (The Post)
http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/Articles/Opinion/Columns/2008/04/14/23760/

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Washington State Looks to Cut Down on Car Miles to Address Climate Change (Associated Press, via MyNorthwest.com)
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=45162

Green transportation is key in Oregon – Gov. Ted Kulongoski promised Friday an aggressive push to address problems of transportation, greenhouse gases and climate change (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/358846_green12.html

California – City paying a premium for carbon offsets – The same city that was the first in the county to ban Styrofoam became the second in the state Wednesday to begin voluntarily paying extra on its PG&E bills to help offset greenhouses gases (The Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1339224~City_paying_a_premium_for_carbon_offsets.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines

The Carbon Olympics – Keeping track of the Olympic torch's carbon footprint—one leg at a time (Sale Magazine)
http://www.slate.com/id/2188876/?from=rss

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Passionate users beg for Microsoft to save XP, potential seems slim that Microsoft will agree (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004346394_apmicrosoftsavexp.html?syndication=rss

San Francisco Bay Area tops nation in fast Internet access (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/14/BUH3103EIR.DTL&feed=rss.business

The conversion to digital TV could be a cost to cable users – 28 million analog customers in U.S. facing 2 options Ed Note: Oooo, another reason to raise cable rates! (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/14/BUFD1046KJ.DTL&feed=rss.business

FCC to look into firms' use of customer data – Staff is expected to recommend that it review rules on how phone and cable companies can use customer information as they try to take business from each other (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1147553620080412?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest

GENERAL NEWS

SHELTON FIRE CHIEF TAKING JOB IN SAN JUAN ISLANDS – The City of Shelton’s Fire Chief, Jim Ghiglione, has decided to step down from his position. Ghiglione made his announcement Friday morning and will be leaving the position July 11. The Chief has accepted a position as Fire Chief of Lopez Island Fire and Rescue. Ghiglione has been vacationing in the San Juan Islands for the past 15 years and sees this is an opportunity to fulfill his family’s dream of retiring to a place in the islands. He negotiated a delayed start date so that he can continue to work on his ongoing responsibilities with the City of Shelton, most of which are close to implementation. One of the most important is the proposed merger of Shelton Fire and Mason County Fire District 5. This project started over four years ago and it was agreed that should the merger become feasible that he would step down consequently eliminating the Shelton Fire Chief’s position. The Chiefs are recommending that the Commissions adopt an interim agreement for fire services and are optimistic that the recommendation will be approved. Another project is the new fire station that has been in the planning stages for quite some time. Chief Ghiglione and City Administrator Dave O’Leary discussed the project and both agree that the City has well qualified staff who can step up and manage the project to a successful completion. In his letter of resignation, Jim stated “I want to thank all the citizens for their support these past 27 years. All of my successes are due to the citizens, the elected officials who gave me this opportunity, the members of the Shelton Fire Department, and City staff." (KMAS Radio, Shelton)

Housing slump taking toll on lumber mills – The drop in new home construction has timber industry experts predicting a staggering drop in U.S. demand for lumber. (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/358966_sawmill14.html?source=rss

Foreclosures Leads Residents To Abandon Homes In NW (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/15869678/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=news

Klickitat County welcomes garbage from British Columbia – Vancouver is running out of room at its dump and wants to send a half-million tons of garbage a year to Washington by train for burial near the Columbia River (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/358794_garbage12.html

David Ammons moves on – Dean of Capitol Press Corps accepts new assignment (Tri-City Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/944/story/153967.html

DIVERSIONS

Police Follow Trail Of Wrappers In Candy Store Break-In
http://www.kirotv.com/news/15857731/detail.html

Man Accused Of Using Counterfeit Money To Post Bail
http://www.kirotv.com/news/15857716/detail.html

Corporate Waterboarding? Team-Building or Torture? Court Will Decide
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/12/AR2008041201739.html?nav=rss_nation

Canadian Survey: Couples with no kids make the best neighbors
http://www.dose.ca/news/story.html?id=b9a31d72-5f78-4fd8-83ac-867bcac6e622