Energy News Digest for April 23, 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)

- United Kingdom – Soaring energy prices fuelling a domestic crisis
- These days, all natural gas pipelines lead to small towns in Klamath County, such as Malin
- Oregonian Op/Ed – Pointing fingers won't save any fish
- Terry Flores’ NY Times Op/Ed Letter – The Salmon Problem
- Sacramento Bee Editorial: Ocean reserves will rebuild fish populations
- Hatchery salmon returns may offset low wild fish quotas in 2008
- Bellingham Technical College seeks funds for new hatchery facility
- Fishing – All’s slow with lake trout season looming
- Yakama tribal spokesman voices concerns about Black Rock
- New Chelan County PUD reservoir planned for north Wenatchee
- Montana – Wind farm markets expansion
- Changing the Current – State Environmental Laws Drive Power Producers to Renewable Resources
- News Release – PSE Selects Five Puget Sound-Area Schools for Solar Power Installation Grants
- Need a job? Green-collar opportunities await
- Washington PUD Association Headquarters Earns LEED Platinum Rating From U.S. Green Building Council
- Don’t Trash Compact Fluorescents
- Maryland – Montgomery Aims to Make Green Homes Mandatory
- LED light bulbs: Are you ready to make the switch?
- Slump forces locals to rethink financial commitment to greenness
- Carbon Offsets – Who's tracking the trackers?
- Montana – State orders more study of emissions
- Hold the Carbon: Cafeterias Focus on Green Fare
- AAA sells tags to boost eco-friendly energy
- Grant County PUD Fiber installation costs to increase
- Net-neutrality law not necessary now, FCC chairman says
- Yahoo Reports Jump in Profit; Suitor Microsoft Is Unimpressed
- Show Us Your 50Mbps! Minneapolis customers show off their sweet, delicious speed, cost: $150 per month
- Two Shelton Schools Locked Down While Police Arrest Robbery Suspects
- Global food crisis poses unpalatable options
- Rice shortage hits home in Seattle

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Truculent • \TRUCK-yuh-lunt\ • adjective – *1: feeling or displaying ferocity: cruel, savage 2: deadly, destructive 3: scathingly harsh: vitriolic 4: aggressively self-assertive: belligerent

At the laughing comments about his “vintage” Yugo hatchback, Franze’s face slowly froze into a mask-like, bulldog expression. “I’ll challenge your AMC Pacer to a drag race any day,” he raged, his truculent, protective manner overtaking what started as a polite conservation about jumper cables, baling wire and duct tape.

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

United Kingdom – Soaring energy prices fuelling a domestic crisis (The Scotsman)
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Soaring-energy-prices-fuelling-a.4010070.jp

These days, all natural gas pipelines lead to small towns in Klamath County, such as Malin – Hearings on two of three pipelines will be this week (Herald and News)
http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2008/04/22/viewpoints/op-ed/doc480d8300aea60889759919.txt

FISH & WILDLIFE

Oregonian Op/Ed – Pointing fingers won't save any fish
http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/120890851648840.xml&coll=7

Terry Flores’ NY Times Op/Ed Letter – The Salmon Problem
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/opinion/lweb22salmon.html?ref=opinion

Sacramento Bee Editorial: Ocean reserves will rebuild fish populations
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/879188.html

Hatchery salmon returns may offset low wild fish quotas in 2008 (Alaska Public Radio)
http://aprn.org/2008/04/21/hatchery-salmon-returns-may-offset-low-wild-fish-quotas-in-2008/

Bellingham Technical College seeks funds for new hatchery facility – Fisheries technology building in disrepair. A slanted second floor is only one of the structural problems plaguing the home of the college (Bellingham Herald)
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/386678.html

Fishing – All’s slow with lake trout season looming (News Tribune, Tacoma)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/outdoors/story/342304.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Yakama tribal spokesman voices concerns about Black Rock (Yakima Herald Republic)
http://www.yakimaherald.com/stories/3416

New Chelan County PUD reservoir planned for north Wenatchee – the tank will ensure adequate fire suppression and water supplies in northern Wenatchee for at least 50 years (Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/NEWS04/390852912

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Montana – Wind farm markets expansion – NWE's declining of offer opens energy to other potential buyers (Billings Gazette)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/04/22/news/state/21-windexpansion.txt

Changing the Current – State Environmental Laws Drive Power Producers to Renewable Resources (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/21/AR2008042103004.html

News Release – PSE Selects Five Puget Sound-Area Schools for Solar Power Installation Grants (Puget Sound Energy, via BusinessWire)
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080423005349&newsLang=en

Need a job? Green-collar opportunities await – Living green is more than a necessity. It's more than a trend. It's a job opportunity. (Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080423/BIZ/297111397/-1/RSS01

CONSERVATION

WASHINGTON PUD ASSOCIATION HEADQUARTERS EARNS LEED PLATINUM RATING FROM U.S. GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL – The Washington Public Utility Districts Association’s new solar-powered headquarters building in Olympia has received “Platinum” certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The WPUDA headquarters, which boasts the largest rooftop solar installation in the state, is the first new-construction office building in Washington to achieve Platinum certification – the highest rating possible under the LEED program. The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance “green” buildings. The program recognizes sustainability is five areas of human and environmental health: site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. WPUDA is a trade association representing 27 public utility districts across the state that provide electricity, water and sewer services and wholesale telecommunications to more than 1.5 million people. Public utility districts are customer-owned utilities governed by locally elected boards of commissioners. (Washington PUD Association)

Don’t Trash Compact Fluorescents (NW Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=3784

Maryland – Montgomery Aims to Make Green Homes Mandatory (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042202839.html?nav=rss_email/components

LED light bulbs: Are you ready to make the switch? (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9923048-54.html?tag=nl.e703

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Slump forces locals to rethink financial commitment to greenness – Organic this and locally-raised that can sometimes cost more than alternatives (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/outlook/index.ssf?/base/news/1207704385182110.xml&coll=7

Carbon Offsets – Who's tracking the trackers? Although standards agencies are moving to bring order to the carbon offset business, it's still an unregulated industry (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080422.green-offsets-0422/BNStory/greensolutions/home

Montana – State orders more study of emissions (Great Falls Tribune)
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/NEWS01/804220304/1002

Hold the Carbon: Cafeterias Focus on Green Fare (National Public Radio – Ed. Note: the Lichtenstein-like graphic looks like it was ripped off from Tacoma Power’s conservation calendars)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89836312&ft=1&f=17

AAA sells tags to boost eco-friendly energy (Associated Press, via the Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/business/businessNews/2008/04/04232008_AAA-sells-tags-to-boost-eco-friendly-energy.cfm/

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Grant County PUD Fiber installation costs to increase (Columbia Basin Herald)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/04/22/news/news01.txt

Net-neutrality law not necessary now, FCC chairman says (Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004367125_fccnet23.html?syndication=rss

Yahoo Reports Jump in Profit; Suitor Microsoft Is Unimpressed (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR2008042202054.html?nav=rss_technology

Show Us Your 50Mbps! Minneapolis customers show off their sweet, delicious speed, cost: $150 per month (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Show-Us-Your-50Mbps-93814

GENERAL NEWS

TWO SHELTON SCHOOLS LOCKED DOWN WHILE POLICE ARREST ROBBERY SUSPECTS – Shelton High School and Oakland Bay Junior High School were locked down Tuesday afternoon while police looked for and arrested two robbery suspects. According to officials, about 2:30pm officers responded to a report of the theft of a purse in the parking lot of Fred Meyer on Wallace Kneeland Boulevard. Two suspects fled on foot, one into the parking lot at the Junior High. As a precaution, the schools were locked down while officers apprehended the suspects without incident. The lockdown was then lifted. (KMAS Radio, Shelton)

Global food crisis poses unpalatable options (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004367259_foodcrisis23.html

Rice shortage hits home in Seattle (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004367150_riceshortage23m.html

DIVERSIONS

Priest Carried Aloft By Balloons Missing – Search Resumes Off Brazil's Southern Atlantic Coast
http://www.kirotv.com/news/15959648/detail.html

Pizza Hut delivers pink slip to employee held at gunpoint – A Republican state lawmaker called on Iowans Friday to boycott Pizza Hut restaurants after the company fired a Des Moines delivery driver who shot an armed robber last month.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080419/NEWS/804190326

Man Turns Bike Into Solar-Powered Vehicle
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/15966657/detail.html

Lost Rings Dug Out Of Disney World's Trash – Mass. Couple Mistakenly Throws Rings Away
http://www.kirotv.com/family/15958912/detail.html

39 Whirlpool workers suspended over smoking lies
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/23/suspended.smokers.ap/index.html?eref=ib_topstories