Energy News Digest for April 29, 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)

- Puget Sound Energy's rate increase under scrutiny – Groups fault new request by utility
- Montana – Highwood power plant group ousts Billings electric co-op
- Nation's Attorneys General Gather in Idaho for Energy Summit
- Wire theft case yields federal charges
- Wire thieves leave hazardous waste at Idaho campsites
- Oregon – Liquefied Natural Gas foes fear 'bait and switch' changes
- New York – Broadwater Will Ask U.S. to Authorize Gas Terminal
- Baltimore Sun Blog – Why deregulation is an electric-company bonanza
- Coal price hikes boost electric rates, more increases coming
- What's true, false about coal
- News Release – California ISO Issues 2008 Summer Assessment
- Wintry weather boosts Wisconsin Energy profit
- Five more sea lions trapped at Bonneville Dam
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Op/Ed – Salmon decline is a wake-up call
- Condit Dam reservoir is fish hotspot
- Flying fish
- Drop that salmon! How to eat seafood ethically
- Shipper to pay for illegal ocean dumping
- Bainbridge Island Survey Shows Residents Concerned About Water
- Water raises concerns on Bainbridge, but is there a problem?
- Farmers fret over icy Oregon lakes
- In face of criticism, Oregon leaders stand by push for ethanol
- NW Biodiesel Producers Squeezed by Prices
- Biodiesel plants idled by rising soybean prices
- The Ethanol Cure's Side Effects
- Florida – Let solar power compete on cost
- Power struggle: Wind vs. sun hotly debated
- Paper Recycling—Is It Worth It? Landfills, recycling, and incineration
- Want a plug-in hybrid? Get in line for a battery
- Cold cash for an old fridge
- Creating a Methane-Free Cow
- FCC dealt setback in broadband-over-power-lines push
- Vietnam now has ‘Intel inside
- Metal thieves’ latest target has fire districts on high alert
- Port of Vancouver tries to force Alcoa to table
- Weyerhaeuser loses finished alder case; vows appeal

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Cognizable • \KAHG-nuh-zuh-bul\ • adjective – *1: capable of being judicially heard and determined 2: capable of being known

“Will our wholesale power rates go up,” asked the eager power supply manager at a public utility. “Difficult to say,” intoned the fortune teller at the local fair. “There’s no cognizable way to peer into the inner workings of THAT black box,” she droned…all the while demanding her $100 fee.

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

Puget Sound Energy's rate increase under scrutiny – Groups fault new request by utility (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/360963_pse29.html

Montana – Highwood power plant group ousts Billings electric co-op – The group trying to build Montana’s first major coal-burning power plant in more than a generation has removed a Billings-area electric cooperative from its ranks (Helena Independent Record)
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/04/29/top/65st_080429_coop.txt

Nation's Attorneys General Gather in Idaho for Energy Summit (Northwest Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=3810

Wire theft case yields federal charges – Three local men have been indicted federally in connection with the theft of more than 3,500 pounds of telephone wire from several locations in Cowlitz County (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/04/29//area_news/doc481667bd3d372301526285.txt

Wire thieves leave hazardous waste at Idaho campsites – A sharp increase has been reported in illegal burning of wire insulation on public lands throughout the West. (The Associated Press, via the Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/433097.html

Oregon – Liquefied Natural Gas foes fear 'bait and switch' changes – As federal regulators work to complete their final environmental review of the Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas terminal, LNG opponents argue several changes to the project plans are not being addressed. (The Daily Astorian)
http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=50879&TM=60029.62

New York – Broadwater Will Ask U.S. to Authorize Gas Terminal – An energy company will appeal to the Commerce Department in its bid to build the world’s first floating liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/nyregion/29terminal.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Baltimore Sun Blog – Why deregulation is an electric-company bonanza
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/hancock/blog/2008/04/why_deregulation_is_an_electri.html

Coal price hikes boost electric rates, more increases coming (The Associated Press)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hfCNnB9UPK_bnuqHRDjTjqotOQ4gD90B2H680

What's true, false about coal – Whether to build new coal-fired power plants in western Kansas has turned into one of the hottest political power struggles in decades (McClatchy Tribune Business News, via Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5CjprqmmqUUnjt9K%22bfen%5Fv

News Release – California ISO Issues 2008 Summer Assessment (California ISO, via Electric Energy Online)
http://www.electricenergyonline.com/IndustryNews.asp?m=1&id=88594

Wintry weather boosts Wisconsin Energy profit (The Business Journal of Milwaukee)
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/04/28/daily16.html?ana=from_rss

FISH & WILDLIFE

Five more sea lions trapped at Bonneville Dam (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/04/04292008_Five-more-sea-lions-trapped-at-Bonneville-Dam.cfm/

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Op/Ed – Salmon decline is a wake-up call – It is hard to find the silver lining in a situation as dire as the collapse of wild salmon off the Oregon and California coasts
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/360943_salmon29.html

Condit Dam reservoir is fish hotspot (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/sports/localNews/2008/04/04282008_Condit-Dam-reservoir-is-fish-hotspot.cfm?newsletter=1

Condit Dam is on the removal list. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia listing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condit_Hydroelectric_Project

Flying fish – Doug Malone of Battle Ground on Sunday visited Lucia Falls on the East Fork of the Lewis River and came away with photos of fish forging their way up the waterfall (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/04292008news310753.cfm/

Drop that salmon! With the days of indiscriminate fish consumption long gone, food writer Taras Grescoe explains how to eat seafood ethically (Salon Online)
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/04/29/bottomfeeder/index.html?source=rss

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Shipper to pay for illegal ocean dumping (The Oregonian, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1365159~Shipper_to_pay_for_illegal_ocean_dumping.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines

Bainbridge Island Survey Shows Residents Concerned About Water (Kitsap Sun)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/apr/25/bi-survey-shows-residents-concerned-about-water/

Water raises concerns on Bainbridge, but is there a problem? Ensuring that Bainbridge Island has an adequate water supply came out as the top concern among all the issues that worry island residents, according to a yet-to-be-released survey (Kitsap Sun)
http://blogs.kitsapsun.com/kitsap/waterways/archive/2008/04/water_raises_concerns_on_bainb.html

Farmers fret over icy Oregon lakes – Anglers also face trials from lack of snowmelt in higher elevations (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1209174909105040.xml&coll=7

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

In face of criticism, Oregon leaders stand by push for ethanol – As food prices rise, ethanol's consumption of corn comes in for scrutiny (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1209345914235720.xml&coll=7

NW Biodiesel Producers Squeezed by Prices – Alternative fuel prices rising nearly as fast as fossil fuels (Northwest Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=3804

Biodiesel plants idled by rising soybean prices – The rising price of soybeans is putting the squeeze on biodiesel producers, leading some to close down operations. (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9930000-54.html?tag=nl.e433

The Ethanol Cure's Side Effects (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/28/AR2008042802401.html?nav=rss_business

Florida – Let solar power compete on cost – Some have advocated that developers of solar energy be allowed to jump to the head of the line and take 3 percent of the state's energy sales without regard to cost (Tallahassee Democrat)
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080428/OPINION05/804280306/1006/OPINION

Power struggle: Wind vs. sun hotly debated (Arkansas Democrat Gazette)
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/224176/

Paper Recycling—Is It Worth It? Landfills, recycling, and incineration. (Slate Magazine)
http://www.slate.com/id/2190164/?from=rss

Want a plug-in hybrid? Get in line for a battery (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9930421-54.html?tag=nl.e703

CONSERVATION

Cold cash for an old fridge (Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080429/NEWS01/302614421/-1/news01

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Creating a Methane-Free Cow – By now we all know that cows produce methane when they digest grass, and that methane is a big contributor to global warming. (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90031367

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

FCC dealt setback in broadband-over-power-lines push (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9930223-7.html?tag=nl.e433

Vietnam now has ‘Intel inside – Intel’s billion-dollar Vietnam bet along the Hanoi Highway – its biggest semiconductor manufacturing plant ever – is rising up from the flatlands of former rice fields (The News Tribune, Tacoma)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/347241.html

GENERAL NEWS

Metal thieves’ latest target has fire districts on high alert (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/04/04292008_Metal-thieves-latest-target-has-fire-districts-on-high-alert.cfm/

Port of Vancouver tries to force Alcoa to table – The Port of Vancouver is asking a judge to force Alcoa Inc. to arbitration as the local agency tries to close on the purchase of Alcoa property in the Vancouver Lake lowlands near the Columbia River (The Columbian)
http://www.columbian.com/business/businessNews/2008/04/04292008_Port-tries-to-force-Alcoa-to-table.cfm/

Weyerhaeuser loses finished alder case; vows appeal (Associated Press, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1365200~Weyerhaeuser_loses_finished_alder_case__vows_appeal.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines

DIVERSIONS

Losing weight, 300-Pound Inmate Complains Jail Doesn't Feed Him Well
http://www.kirotv.com/health/16034180/detail.html

So, you don't like the color, right? Government official dismantles $268,000 sculpture over color
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2931874320080429?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

People urged to chip in for hydroelectric project
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL2955933420080429?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Want Lower Gas Prices? Man Says Try Prayer
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/16032135/detail.html

Dude! Like, Those Ads Live Forever
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/arts/television/27itzk.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin