Energy News Digest for May 13, 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 Partners for Pipeline Project
- Puget Sound Energy: Raise gas rates by $60 a year?
- Fitch Rates Grays Harbor PUD No. 1 $27 million Electric Revenue Bonds 'A'; Outlook Stable
- Congressional Research Reports – Aging Infrastructure: Dam Safety
- In memoriam, Sonny Smart – Former PUD manager remembered as 'tremendous teacher'
- More Countries Looking to Nuclear Power
- Time for Germany to reverse its nuclear phase-out policy?
- Tennessee Valley Authority working to stay on top in changing industry
- Congressional Research Reports – Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Infrastructure Security: Issues for Congress
- Australia – Electricity workers to strike in Queensland
- Complaints -- Who needs them?
- Lower Columbia steelhead fishing delayed
- Meetings Begin On Federal Disaster Assistance For Fishermen
- Who Killed the Sea Lions?
- Beaches suffer as walls go up
- Northwest rivers to rise along with temperatures
- Energy Dept. says wind power could be savior
- Big growth in wind power expected
- Head Winds Buffet Some Wind Energy Projects
- Bill Clinton, on his 2nd trip to the area, turns to energy
- Obama, speaking in Bend, turns energy to oil alternatives
- Red tape, costs entangle fans of 'green' fuel
- Energy Pulse Commentary – Perfect Storm Warnings for Renewable Energy
- Australia – Wind farm vow to power desalination
- Seattle Times Columnist – We have the tools and smarts to create a greener energy future
- In Oregon, McCain touts his cap-and-trade system to fight global warming
- Climate change barely bothers wealthy, polluting nations: study
- San Jose passes buck on trees
- Phone Service Back To Normal for Hood Canal Communications Customers
- Utah – Payson again says 'no' to UTOPIA refinancing
- Angry Customers Sue T-Mobile over Texting Charges
- Charter Starts Selling Your Browsing History
- Congressional Research Reports – "Spam": An Overview of Issues
- Student Hurt in School Bus Collision near Allyn in Mason County
- Midweek rain could give way to record-breaking temperatures by Saturday
- Why old gas pumps can't keep up with price hikes
- California – Military cracks down on scrap-metal scavengers
- Mason Firm Named Tree Farm of The Year
- Microsoft's free WorldWide Telescope brings Windows users up close to the universe

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Attitudinize • \at-uh-TOO-duh-nyze\ • verb – To assume an affected mental attitude: pose

Natalie was feeling saucy at the annual meeting of the Scott Baio Fan Club. She came in her Bugsy Malone costume, saying it was time to attitudinize the event with something more interesting than the “Charles in Charge” and “Joanie Loves Chachi” hacks that showed up in costume every year.

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 PARTNERS FOR PIPELINE PROJECT – Puget Sound Energy has partnered with Tulsa-based natural gas provider Williams Co. to announce a call for binding commitments from shippers interested in a proposed Blue Bridge pipeline project. The pipeline, which would increase capacity piped from a site in Stanfield, Ore. and would serve the Pacific Northwest. Blue Bridge would be operated as part of Williams' Northwest Pipeline system, with service provided under Northwest's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Gas Tariff. PSE would be an anchor shipper on Blue Bridge and may become an equity investor in the project. The pipeline would run 172 miles along an existing natural gas pipeline corridor and require upgrades to a facility in Chehalis. (South Sound Business Examiner)

Puget Sound Energy: Raise gas rates by $60 a year? (The Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080513/BIZ/597431773/-1/RSS03

Fitch Rates Grays Harbor PUD No. 1 $27 million Electric Revenue Bonds 'A'; Outlook Stable (BusinessWire)
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080512006158&newsLang=en

Congressional Research Reports – Aging Infrastructure: Dam Safety
http://opencrs.com/document/RL33108

In memoriam, Sonny Smart – Former PUD manager remembered as 'tremendous teacher' (Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/NEWS04/318370302

More Countries Looking to Nuclear Power – The increasing number of developing countries interested in nuclear power programs raises concerns about the proliferation of nuclear arms. (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Middle-East/May-June-08/More-Countries-Looking-to-Nuclear-Power.html

Time for Germany to reverse its nuclear phase-out policy? (Power Engineering)
http://pepei.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ARTCL&PUBLICATION_ID=6&ARTICLE_ID=326790&C=Regu&dcmp=rss

Tennessee Valley Authority working to stay on top in changing industry, but public status, priorities here to stay (Knoxville News Sentinel)
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/may/11/timely-transformation/

Congressional Research Reports – Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Infrastructure Security: Issues for Congress
http://opencrs.com/document/RL32073

Australia – Electricity workers to strike in Queensland – Workers at three state-owned electricity companies will walk off the job on Wednesday and march on state parliament as part of an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions (The Age)
http://news.theage.com.au/electricity-workers-to-strike-in-qld/20080513-2dmg.html

Complaints -- Who needs them? (Utility Automation & Engineering)
http://uaelp.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ARTCL&PUBLICATION_ID=22&ARTICLE_ID=327672&C=INDUS&dcmp=rss

FISH & WILDLIFE

Lower Columbia steelhead fishing delayed (Associated Press, via the Columbian)
http://news.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP05132008news316612.cfm?newsletter=10

Meetings Begin On Federal Disaster Assistance For Fishermen (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/2061/meetings-begin-federal-disaster-assistance-fishermen/

Who Killed the Sea Lions? A salmon shortage. Dead mammals. Inside a maritime mystery. (Newsweek Magazine)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/136621

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Beaches suffer as walls go up – On beach after beach, barriers of concrete and boulders are erected to keep the Sound from washing away valuable real estate (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004409777_growth_shorelines15m1.html

Northwest rivers to rise along with temperatures (Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080512/NEWS04/411994257/-1/BIZ01

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Energy Dept. says wind power could be savior (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/12/MNLE10L2KM.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

Big growth in wind power expected (Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004409716_windenergy13.html

Head Winds Buffet Some Wind Energy Projects (Northwest Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=3861

Bill Clinton, on his 2nd trip to the area, turns to energy (The Bend Bulletin)
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080512/NEWS0107/805120366/1041&nav_category=

Obama, speaking in Bend, turns energy to oil alternatives – The Democrat says government and individuals must share responsibility (The Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1210474514111150.xml&coll=7

Red tape, costs entangle fans of 'green' fuel (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9941849-54.html?tag=nl.e703

Energy Pulse Commentary – Perfect Storm Warnings – Renewables investment, we are told, faces “The Perfect Storm.” But what does it mean?
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1739

Australia – Wind farm vow to power desalination (Sydney Morning Herald)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/wind-farm-vow-to-power-desalination/2008/05/13/1210444436869.html

CONSERVATION

Seattle Times Columnist – We have the tools and smarts to create a greener energy future – Can we really go "green" to achieve big-time energy savings?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004409066_peirce13.html?syndication=rss

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

In Oregon, McCain touts his cap-and-trade system to fight global warming (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004409844_mccain13m.html

Climate change barely bothers wealthy, polluting nations: study (CNET News)
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9942587-54.html?tag=nl.e703

San Jose passes buck on trees – San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed may want to plant 100,000 trees around town over the next 15 years, but it's going to be everyday homeowners who are left footing the bill (San Jose Mercury News)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9241991?source=rss

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

PHONE SERVICE BACK TO NORMAL FOR HOOD CANAL COMMUNICATIONS CUSTOMERS – Telephone service has been restored for customers of Hood Canal Communications and others. A fiber optic line in the Aberdeen area was cut this morning that knocked out phone service for several areas served by Century Telephone. Hood Canal service was restored about 11 AM. However, other areas, especially those on the Washington Coast, won't have service restored until about two this afternoon. This outage did have an impact on emergency calls to ShelCom. Hood Canal had to divert 9-1-1 calls from its customers to the Internet which then connected them to ShelCom. However, now that regular phone service has been restored, operations at ShelCom have returned to normal. During this phone outage, some one who tried to make a phone call to or from affected telephone customers only heard a fast busy signal. (KMAS Radio, Shelton)

Utah – Payson again says 'no' to UTOPIA refinancing (The Daily Herald)
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/266017/18/

Angry Customers Sue T-Mobile Over Texting Charges (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/money/16244639/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=news

Charter Starts Selling Your Browsing History – Don't worry, it's all to bring you an 'enhanced online experience...' (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Charter-Starts-Selling-Your-Browsing-History-94356

Congressional Research Reports – "Spam": An Overview of Issues Concerning Commercial Electronic Mail
http://opencrs.com/document/RL31953

GENERAL NEWS

Student Hurt In School Bus Collision Near Allyn in Mason County (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16251381/detail.html

Midweek rain could give way to record-breaking temperatures by Saturday (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004409951_weather13m.html?syndication=rss

Why old gas pumps can't keep up with price hikes (Associated Press, via the Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080513/BIZ/409320816/-1/RSS03

California – Military cracks down on scrap-metal scavengers (Associated Press, via the Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1388441~Military_cracks_down_on_scrap_metal_scavengers.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines

MASON FIRM NAMED TREE FARM OF THE YEAR – Hama Hama Tree Farm, managed by David Robbins and his family, has been named the 2008 Washington State Tree Farmer of the Year, recognizing the company's commitment to enhancing its forest land. "The Robbins family deserves to be recognized for their many years of excellent forest management and their commitment to forest stewardship," Washington Tree Farm Program chair Bryon Loucks said. The award was announced at the annual meeting of the Washington Farm Forestry Association, which is a co-sponsor of the Washington Tree Farm Program. David Robbins' grandfather, H.M. Robbins, started Hama Hama Logging Co. in 1922. In 1972, Robbins became involved in the management of the property, which lies on the west side of Hood Canal and includes the Hama Hama River, Johns Creek, and 400 acres of estuary and tideflats. The tree farm is mostly composed of Douglas fir with scattered stands of alder, hemlock and cedar, and supports a sustainable harvest of 1.4 million board feet per year. (South Sound Business Examiner)

Microsoft's free WorldWide Telescope brings Windows users up close to the universe (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004409651_telescope13.html?syndication=rss

DIVERSIONS

Texas Girl Wins State Team Track Title – On Her Own
http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=806832

Students Participate In World's Largest Scavenger Hunt
http://www.kirotv.com/irresistible/16241063/detail.html

Man says JetBlue made him sit on toilet, sues for $2 million
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_on_fe_st/jetblue_lawsuit;_ylt=Akdn.weFEKUIxcJ1kcb3SNXtiBIF

Drunk 'Darth Vader' punished for Jedi attack – A booze-fuelled Briton pretending to be Star Wars villain Darth Vader was punished Tuesday for a bizarre surprise attack on two Jedi fanatics
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/britaincourtoffbeatentertainmentfilmstarwars;_ylt=AlZWpUgAbInqrGFt4v6RnoXtiBIF