Energy News Digest for June 12, 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)

- Skagit and Jefferson County Public utilities talk of supplying PSE customers
- Hearing on the Role of Hydropower – Congressional Testimony of Scott Corwin, Executive Director, Public Power Council
- Hearing on the Role of Hydropower – Congressional Testimony of Tim Culbertson, General Manager of Grant County PUD
- CANADA – B.C. Hydro evaluating gas-fired power plants
- US Department of Energy says natural-gas supplies rose last week
- CONNECTICUT – Three Companies To Build New 'Peaking' Power Plants
- Alcoa Shares Fall Sharply
- City of Aberdeen Utility tax hike proposed
- New face and pace of Truckee Donner Public Utility District
- New salmon treaty welcomed – Revisions to 1985 U.S.-Canada treaty await signatures
- West Coast lawmakers vow to save salmon-fishing subsidy
- West Coast trawlers may land share of fishery
- ALASKA – Deshka River king salmon go missing
- Judge's State of Washington water ruling a blow to builders
- Tacoma Water snubs water conservation billboards
- Hard to swallow – Do tiny quantities of drugs in Portland’s drinking water pose a threat to human health?
- CANADA – The Case for Selling Our Water
- The Olympian Editorial – The huge cost of big success for Columbia Basin water agreement
- Weyco’s Lewis County Clear-Cut Mudslide Could Prompt New Rules
- Pacific Power's legal concerns threaten to end Oregon's solar boom
- OREGON – Blocking Out The Sun – Utility giant eclipses Oregon solar generation
- CANADA – BC Hydro going green to power 500,000 homes
- NEW ZEALAND – Home-made power? It's a breeze
- CALIFORNIA – Power plant output from solar, biofuel
- MASSACHUSETTS – Municipal utilities pay $4M for Berkshire Wind project assets
- UNITED KINGDOM – Wave power scientist enthused by green energy
- San Francisco Chronicle Op/Ed – San Francisco should lead the way - build green
- MICHIGAN – Mackinac Bridge dimming lights to save energy
- Global Warming Man Made or Natural Cycle?
- Head for the Hills! Creatures Flee Global Warming
- Centralia Downtown Broadband Internet Pilot Suspended
- CALIFORNIA – Cities have to bid bye-bye to free Wi-Fi
- SAN FRANCISCO – Different sort of free Wi-Fi starts to thrive
- Verizon expands fast DSL to more areas
- NEW JERSEY – Service suffers as Verizon upgrades to fiber optics
- Cable Corn Farmer Sock Puppets Attack Google
- Olympia couple sues Port of Tacoma over acquisition of Maytown land

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Nadir • \NAY-deer\ • noun – 1: the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer 2: the lowest point

The fall at the wastewater treatment plant’s intake, and the succeeding journey would live forever in Ambrose’ memory. After careening down pipes and through trenches, he thought he had reached the nadir of his sloppy, gut-wrenching journey through the bowels of the facility. Upon hearing the whirling sounds emanating from the upcoming digesting tanks, he knew he was wrong.

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

Skagit and Jefferson County Public utilities talk of supplying PSE customers – Proposed sale to new investors raises concerns (Bellingham Herald, WA)
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/438228.html

Hearing on the Role of Hydropower – Testimony of Scott Corwin, Executive Director, Public Power Council to the Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power Unites States House of Representatives
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3328108/Public-Power-Council-Testimony-to-US-House-of-Representatives-Committee-on-Natural-Resources-Subcommittee-on-Water-and-Power-?ga_from_send_to_friend=1

Hearing on the Role of Hydropower – Testimony of Tim Culbertson, General Manager of Grant County PUD to the Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power Unites States House of Representatives: “Hydropower: Providing 75% of America’s Current Renewable Energy. Exploring Its Role as a Continued Source of Clean, Renewable Energy for the Future”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3328219/June-12-2008-Tim-Culbertson-Congressional-Testimony-on-Hydropower?ga_from_send_to_friend=1

CANADA – B.C. Hydro evaluating gas-fired power plants (Straight.com, Vancouver, BC)
http://www.straight.com/article-149336/bc-hydro-evaluating-gasfired-power-plants

US Department of Energy says natural-gas supplies rose last week (The Associated Press)
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080612/natural_gas_storage.html?.v=1

CONNECTICUT – Three Companies To Build New 'Peaking' Power Plants (The Hartford Courant)
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctpeakpower0612.artjun12,0,4939600.story

Alcoa Shares Fall Sharply on Downgrade market disappointed with both the strategic direction and with the company’s near-term earnings because of high materials and energy costs (Reuters, via the NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/business/12alcoa.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

City of Aberdeen Utility tax hike proposed (The Daily World, Aberdeen)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/06/12/local_news/02news.txt

New face and pace of Truckee Donner Public Utility District – General manager working to improve foundation (The Sierra Sun, CA)
http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20080612/NEWS/279156122/-1/rss03

FISH & WILDLIFE

New salmon treaty welcomed – Revisions to 1985 U.S.-Canada treaty await signatures (Bellingham Herald, WA)
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/business/story/438222.html

West Coast lawmakers vow to save salmon-fishing subsidy – Officials are protesting a plan by the Bush administration to take $70 million from the $170 million approved in the farm bill (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004472266_salmon12m.html?syndication=rss

West Coast trawlers may land share of fishery (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/366751_fishlimits12.html?source=rss

ALASKA – Deshka River king salmon go missing – Return numbers are so low on the river, the state is considering restrictions (Anchorage Daily News, AK)
http://www.adn.com/fishing/story/434007.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Judge's State of Washington water ruling a blow to builders – The Legislature overstepped its boundaries by passing a law classifying developers as local governments when it comes to getting rights to pump drinking water out of the ground (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/366644_water12.html

Tacoma Water snubs water conservation billboards – Summer is coming – at least on the calendar – and that means it’s time for Tacoma Water to launch its annual conservation campaign (The News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/387018.html

Hard to swallow – Do tiny quantities of drugs in Portland’s drinking water pose a threat to human health? (Portland Tribune, OR)
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=121303862600044100

CANADA – The Case for Selling Our Water – Few suggestions raise our temperature faster than that we should sell any of it, especially to America (The Tyee, Vancouver, BC))
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2008/06/12/SellingWater/

The Olympian Editorial – The huge cost of big success for Columbia Basin water agreement (Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/126/story/475365.html

Weyco’s Lewis County Clear-Cut Mudslide Could Prompt New Rules – State-Commissioned Studies Will Be Considered in Possible Logging Policy Changes for Slopes (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/rss/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1213206310&archive=

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Pacific Power's legal concerns threaten to end Oregon's solar boom – About 80 percent of commercial solar projects could be at risk if they are found out of compliance with utility law (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1213241104179110.xml&coll=7

OREGON – Blocking Out The Sun – Utility giant eclipses Oregon solar generation – The explosive growth in Oregon solar-power projects has lurched to a halt, thanks to objections from a utility that has ironically been a strong proponent of developing renewable resources (Willamette Weekly, Portland, OR)
http://wweek.com/editorial/3431/11084/

CANADA – BC Hydro going green to power 500,000 homes – Largest ecofriendly power call in five years seeks wind, solar, hydro and other sources (The Vancouver Sun, BC)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=69b04943-2f8f-4c87-aac9-8e07b002bdea

NEW ZEALAND – Home-made power? It's a breeze (The New Zealand Herald)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10515883

CALIFORNIA – Power plant output from solar, biofuel – You can't have solar energy without the sun, which makes nighttime and very rainy days something of a problem if you want electricity 24/7. (San Jose Mercury News, CA)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9560899?source=rss

MASSACHUSETTS – Municipal utilities pay $4M for Berkshire Wind project assets (Boston Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/06/09/daily39.html?ana=from_rss

UNITED KINGDOM – Wave power scientist enthused by green energy (The Times of London)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/careers_in/careers_in_science/article4111684.ece

CONSERVATION

San Francisco Chronicle Op/Ed – San Francisco should lead the way - build green
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/12/EDCJ117IS6.DTL&feed=rss.opinion

MICHIGAN – Mackinac Bridge dimming lights to save energy (The Associated Press, via MLive.com)
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/mackinac_bridge_dimming_lights.html

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Global Warming Man Made or Natural Cycle? (Adam’s View)
http://www.nolanchart.com/article4029.html

Head for the Hills! Creatures Flee Global Warming (Live Science)
http://www.livescience.com/animals/080612-mountain-species.html

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Centralia Downtown Broadband Internet Pilot Suspended – Underground: Power Line Work and Lack of Connectivity Halts Project; $500,000 Already Spent (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/rss/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1213205136&archive=

CALIFORNIA – Cities have to bid bye-bye to free Wi-Fi – The free municipal Wi-Fi dream appears to be coming to an end for a handful of Bay Area cities (San Francisco Chronicle, CA)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/12/BU681140TT.DTL&feed=rss.business

SAN FRANCISCO – Different sort of free Wi-Fi starts to thrive (San Francisco Chronicle, CA)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/12/MN6N117KJU.DTL&feed=rss.news

Verizon expands fast DSL to more areas (The Associated Press)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_on_hi_te/tec_verizon_dsl_2

NEW JERSEY – Service suffers as Verizon upgrades to fiber optics (The Star-Ledger)
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/service_suffers_as_verizon_upg.html

Cable Corn Farmer Sock Puppets Attack Google – Weirdest headline of the year award (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Cable-Corn-Farmer-Sock-Puppets-Attack-Google-95199

GENERAL NEWS

Olympia couple sues Port of Tacoma over acquisition of Maytown land (The Olympian, via the News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/387071.html

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Jail break foiled by air vent
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSHER25787420080612?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Drivers turn to blow-up dolls, dogs dressed as children to beat traffic rules
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSHER25771920080612?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Swooping Crows Spook Workers at King County Building
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16573668/detail.html

SOTP? Crew Misspells Marker At Intersection – Misspelling Happened In Stockton, Calif.
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/16585691/detail.html