Energy News Digest for May 28, 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)

- Richland residents won't see rebate for electricity until at least August
- Barbed Wire Doesn't Stop Lewis County Wire Thieves
- In Vermont, a Debate Swirls Around an Aging Nuclear Plant
- Activist group sues to stop Florida Power & Light plant
- State of Vermont releases draft energy plan
- United Kingdom – Blackouts hit hundreds of thousands as generators fail
- Energy Pulse Commentary – Deregulation: 'Oh Captain, My Captain!' Who's Charting the Course?
- Kitsap Salmon Projects Struggle With Delays, Costs
- Canada – The long road home for Fraser River sockeye
- Lawsuit Challenges City And Developer Water Rights
- Woodland looking into repairs to keep Horseshoe Lake at proper levels
- Cantwell, Inslee focus on acidic oceans at Seattle hearing
- Environmentalists Overpowering Developers in Fight to Save Natural Areas
- Portland General Electric launches renewable energy Web site
- Renewable Energy in the U.S.: Sneaking in the Backdoor or Walking Through the Front?
- Putting wind to work on farms
- Hybrids are hot, but some drivers are concerned about the high cost of replacing that gas-saving battery
- Duke Energy to debut 'smart meters' in Indiana
- Illinois – Incentives provide buzz to energy-efficiency effort
- Get used to high food costs, water shortages – Climate report offers a dire look at next 50 years in U.S.
- Seattle Post Intelligencer Editorial – Global Warming: At critical mass
- Study examines underground carbon dioxide storage in northeastern British Columbia
- Seattle Times Guest Columnist – A step in the right direction on national climate policy
- Everett Herald Editorial – Fast Internet service shouldn't be urban-only
- Report: State of Broadband According to Akamai
- Study: Web-video viewers to top 1 billion by 2013
- Wireless Broadband Boosts Economy
- Kansas – Cable system ushers in digital era
- Dell misled customers, judge rules
- AT&T Utility Cabinets in Connecticut Need Landowner Approval
- Agreement may mean end of cable set-top boxes
- Mason County: Family dog found shot 6 times
- State Senator Dan Swecker faces open-heart surgery
- Dow Chemicals: Country in "true energy crisis"; ups prices
- King County’s investing tactics faulted
- Metal jungle gym stolen from Kelso school
- Walla Walla District of Army Corps of Engineers to get new commander

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Heliolatry • \hee-lee-AH-luh-tree\ • noun – Sun worship

“Boy, those ancient religions and their sun worship,” scoffed Tiffani to her deeply tanned companion. “How they would have the gall to worship the sun as a god and arrange their lives around its heavenly path is beyond me,” she sighed as she slathered on another layer of sunscreen to ward off the affects of another four hours spent on sunbathing. Her unwitting heliolatry would be her undoing ten years later.

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

Richland residents won't see rebate for electricity until at least August (Tri-City Herald)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/196184.html

BARBED WIRE DOESN'T STOP LEWIS COUNTY WIRE THIEVES – It seems wire thieves will stop at nothing, including stealing thousands of feet of barbed wire to get at the copper wire. Someone took off with 6,000 feet of barb wire fence during the theft off the Fisher Road in the Winlock area. It had been tied to the copper wire belonging to the Lewis County PUD. (KELA Radio, Centralia)

In Vermont, a Debate Swirls Around an Aging Nuclear Plant – After part of a cooling tower collapsed last August, the company that runs it blamed rotting wooden timbers that it had failed to inspect properly (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/business/28nuke.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Activist group sues to stop Florida Power & Light plant (South Florida Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/05/26/daily10.html?ana=from_rss

State of Vermont releases draft energy plan (Burlington Free Press)
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/NEWS01/805280314/1009

United Kingdom – Blackouts hit hundreds of thousands as generators fail – Seven power stations shut down. The unscheduled stoppages were regarded as an unprecedented sign of the fragility of Britain’s power infrastructure (The Times Online)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4016552.ece

Energy Pulse Commentary – 'Oh Captain, My Captain!' Who's Charting the Course? “…With the pending expiration of rate caps in states that embarked on restructuring…We are all going to be paying more for electricity. A lot more….”
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1752

FISH & WILDLIFE

Kitsap Salmon Projects Struggle With Delays, Costs (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/may/27/kitsap-salmon-projects-struggle-with-delays/

Canada – The long road home for Fraser River sockeye (Chilliwack Progress)
http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/19285674.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Lawsuit Challenges City And Developer Water Rights – Environmentalists and tribes are challenging the water rights of cities and home-builders granted under a 2003 Washington State law (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/2181-lawsuit-challenges-city-and-developer-water-rights/

Woodland looking into repairs to keep Horseshoe Lake at proper levels (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/05/28//area_news/doc483cc03ff1c5f342166496.txt

Cantwell, Inslee focus on acidic oceans at Seattle hearing (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004442320_pugetsound28m.html?syndication=rss

Environmentalists Overpowering Developers in Fight to Save Natural Areas (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/environment/May-June-08/Environmentalists-Overpowering-Developers-in-Fight-to-Save-Natural-Areas.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Portland General Electric launches renewable energy Web site (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/05/26/daily10.html?ana=from_rss

Renewable Energy in the U.S.: Sneaking in the Backdoor or Walking Through the Front? (Renewable Energy World Online)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/recolumnists/story?id=52490

Putting wind to work on farms – Financing company MMA Renewable Ventures is branching into wind energy, betting places like family farms are underserved (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9952638-54.html

Assaulted Batteries – Hybrids are hot, but some drivers are concerned about the high cost of replacing that gas-saving battery (Newsweek Magazine – Wow, the editor had to REALLY reach for that PUN-ishing headline)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/138808?from=rss

CONSERVATION

Duke Energy to debut 'smart meters' in Indiana (Business Courier of Cincinnati)
http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/05/26/daily19.html?ana=from_rss

Illinois – Incentives provide buzz to energy-efficiency effort (The Chicago Tribune)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed-notebook-comed-ameren-may28,0,6496458.story

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Get used to high food costs, water shortages – Climate report offers a dire look at next 50 years in U.S. (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/364800_climate28.html?source=rss

Seattle Post Intelligencer Editorial – Global Warming: At critical mass
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/364777_g2g8ed.html?source=rss

Study examines underground carbon dioxide storage in northeastern British Columbia
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=28b15589-844e-46f4-9d26-c265c15b5c15

Seattle Times Guest Columnist – A step in the right direction on national climate policy
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004442764_golden28.html?syndication=rss

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Everett Herald Editorial – Fast Internet service shouldn't be urban-only
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080528/OPINION01/489599619/-1/rss05

Report: State of Broadband According to Akamai (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/05/27/report-state-of-broadband-according-to-akamai/

Study: Web-video viewers to top 1 billion by 2013 (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9952659-7.html

Wireless Broadband Boosts Economy (NY Times)
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/wireless-broadband-boosts-economy/index.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Kansas – Cable system ushers in digital era: Company won’t leave analog TVs behind (Lawrence Journal & World)
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/may/28/cable_system_ushers_digital_era/

Dell misled customers, judge rules – Conduct called 'bait advertising' (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Post Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/364808_dell28.html?source=rss

AT&T Utility Cabinets in Connecticut Need Landowner Approval – CT Attorney General applauds anti 'lawn fridge' ruling (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-VRADs-in-CT-Need-Landowner-Approval-94782

Agreement may mean end of cable set-top boxes (San Jose Mercury News)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9394886?source=rss

GENERAL NEWS

Mason County: Family dog found shot 6 times (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/19309024.html

State Senator Dan Swecker faces open-heart surgery (The Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/461598.html

Dow Chemicals: Country in "true energy crisis"; ups prices (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/28/financial/f054806D81.DTL&feed=rss.business

King County’s investing tactics faulted – The County must take "rapid and forceful action" to bring its troubled $4.5 billion investment pool up to industry standards “…Investments totaling $207 million are in default…” (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004442314_investments28m.html?syndication=rss

Metal jungle gym stolen from Kelso school (The Daily News, Longview)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/05/28//area_news/doc483cc8dbba181588482052.txt

Walla Walla District of Army Corps of Engineers to get new commander (The Union Bulletin, Walla Walla)
http://www.union-bulletin.com/articles/2008/05/27/local_news/080527local03corps.txt

DIVERSIONS

"Flintstones" arrested in car emissions protest
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2737843420080527?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Pot bust gone awry – Boy, they REALLY make tourists feel welcome here!
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUST16792520080527?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Hair Patrol: Barber Ticketed For Monday Work
http://www.kirotv.com/irresistible/16403332/detail.html

Car Chase Scenes Race For Title Of Greatest
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/16332399/detail.html

Lawmakers Are Telling People to Pull Up Their Pants – Saggy pants may be a fashion trend, but lawmakers and school officials around the U.S. say the fad is indecent and want it banned
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/politics/May-June-08/Lawmakers-Are-Telling-People-to-Pull-Up-Their-Pants.html

Car Surfing Lands Man In Hospital, Police Say “…a classic case of what happens with alcohol, a vehicle and stupidity…"
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16408537/detail.html