Energy News Digest for June 16, 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)

- Olympian Op/Ed – Steve Johnson: Should Thurston PUD start providing electricity to customers?
- BRITISH COLUMBIA – Undersea cable between Canada and Port Angeles gets permits
- MONTANA – Power line route for Mountain States Transmission Intertie project would abut wilderness
- MONTANA – Flathead aluminum plant may trim jobs
- Great Falls Tribune Op/Ed – The Montana Public Service Commission feels Montanans' energy pain
- Utilities raising price of power – Utilities across the USA are raising power prices up to 29%
- MICHIGAN – Group takes issue with energy bills
- And so it begins: NERC enforces compliance with electric reliability standards
- Cleaning Coal
- A powerful revival – Old One-Hundred year old Holtwood Hydroelectric Dam in Pennsylvania upgraded as electricity source
- SOUTH CAROLINA – Meter reader caught electricity thefts, Greer police say
- Alaska’s ‘golden goose’ is a fish – By branding its wild salmon as gourmet – and banning salmon farms
- Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality finish management plan for Lake Coeur d'Alene
- Larger sockeye run on the Cedar River is on the horizon
- Columbia River Gorge – In the water, in the air, in the Great Divide
- Wind Power Touted for West Lewis County
- Grays Harbor County PUD officials say fears over Cosmopolis biomass cogeneration are unfounded
- CALIFORNIA – Utility finds foes to renewable energy line plan
- Congress urged to keep alternative energy booming
- A New Wind Power Design Good for Rural and Urban Environments
- Maine waters, wind touted as untapped energy
- New Jersey weighs bill encouraging alternative farm energy
- Jumping on the L.E.D. Bandwagon – Next stop, television
- China Increases Lead as Biggest Carbon Dioxide Emitter
- Days of bandwidth buffet on Internet appear to be numbered
- Google prepping broadband-monitoring tools
- Minnesota: An Internet backwater soon? Is the end of the Internet at hand?
- Kentucky city gets $1 million grant for fiber-optics
- The News Tribune Opinion – Online is forever, and it’s usually not private
- Good Grief Charlie Brown! Oil hits record near $140 a barrel on dollar, fire
- Thurston County Government – Poor planning led to budget woes
- Stimulating Confusion – As millions of taxpayers await checks, others find themselves with two
- Landscaper faces $163,000 bill for topping trees in Lacey public right of way

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Obeisance • \oh-BEE-sunss\ • noun – 1: a movement of the body made in token of respect or submission: bow *2: acknowledgment of another's superiority or importance: homage

“Kiss my grits,” shrilled the agitated Florence Jean Castleberry to the unruly customer at the diner counter. Unexpectedly, the grizzled truck driver immediately dropped to one knee in obeisance, gently removing the steaming bowl of hominy grits from the counter and planting a kiss on the gloppy goo.

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

Olympian Op/Ed – Steve Johnson: Should Thurston PUD start providing electricity to customers? (Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/columnists/story/478198.html

BRITISH COLUMBIA – Undersea cable between Canada and Port Angeles gets permits, but project delayed (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080615/NEWS/806150308

MONTANA – Power line route for Mountain States Transmission Intertie project would abut wilderness study area (Helena Independent Record)
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/06/14/top/80lo_080614_powerline.txt

MONTANA – Flathead aluminum plant may trim jobs – Job prospects appear to be tightening in the Flathead Valley, bad news for workers facing layoffs at Columbia Falls Aluminum Company “…’The futures prices are up around $105 or $110 per megawatt hour,’ far higher than the plant can afford, even with hefty subsidies from Bonneville Power Administration…” (The Missoulian)
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/06/16/news/local/news03.txt

Great Falls Tribune Op/Ed – The Montana Public Service Commission feels Montanans' energy pain and wants to ease it – The increasing costs of energy of all kinds are knocking holes in family and small business budgets all across the state of Montana
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/OPINION/806160304

Utilities raising price of power – Utilities across the USA are raising power prices up to 29%, mostly to pay for soaring fuel costs, but also to build new plants and refurbish an aging power grid (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-06-15-power-prices-rising_N.htm

MICHIGAN – Group takes issue with energy bills – Consumers Energy wants the state to limit its competition, a lobbying group alleges, so that it doesn't have to worry it will lose customers after bills increase next year. (Jackson Citizen Patriot, MI)
http://blog.mlive.com/citpat/2008/06/group_takes_issue_with_energy.html

And so it begins: NERC enforces compliance with electric reliability standards (Utility Automation & Engineering)
http://uaelp.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ONART&PUBLICATION_ID=22&ARTICLE_ID=330890&C=INDUS&dcmp=rss

Cleaning Coal (Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5D%5Ckinnijq%5BThe%7DGL%7Dbfen%5Fv

A powerful revival – Old One-Hundred year old Holtwood Hydroelectric Dam in Pennsylvania upgraded as electricity source (The Baltimore Sun, MD)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bay_environment/bal-te.md.dam15jun15,0,1291485.story

SOUTH CAROLINA – Meter reader caught electricity thefts, Greer police say (The Greenville News, SC)
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/NEWS01/806160310

FISH & WILDLIFE

Alaska’s ‘golden goose’ is a fish – By branding its wild salmon as gourmet – and banning salmon farms – this fishery is thriving sustainably (Christian Science Monitor)
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/06/13/alaska’s-‘golden-goose’-is-a-fish/

Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality finish management plan for Lake Coeur d'Alene (The Associated Press, via the Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/479768.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Larger sockeye run on the Cedar River is on the horizon (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2004477760_outn15.html?syndication=rss

Columbia River Gorge – In the water, in the air, in the Great Divide (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/O/relationships/index.ssf?/base/living/1213143904308420.xml&coll=7

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Wind Power Touted for West Lewis County – Blades of Energy: Consultant Presents Possibilities, With Pe Ell as Example Site (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/rss/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1213379719&archive=

Grays Harbor County PUD officials say fears over Cosmopolis biomass cogeneration are unfounded (The Daily World, Aberdeen, WA)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/06/13/local_news/03news.txt

CALIFORNIA – Utility finds foes to renewable energy line plan (The Associated Press)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYJCibCIJ6_ZXcMaHIdu1DcYvyPQD91AKPAG0

Congress urged to keep alternative energy booming – Congress' decision not to put a price on carbon emissions this year probably won't slow the growth of wind and solar power, but failure to extend tax breaks for these renewable energy sources could. (Business First of Louisville)
http://louisville.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2008/06/16/bureau1.html?market=louisville

A New Wind Power Design Good for Rural and Urban Environments (Voice of America)
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-06-10-voa14.cfm

Maine waters, wind touted as untapped energy (Bangor Daily News, ME)
http://bangornews.com/news/t/midmaine.aspx?articleid=165602&zoneid=182

New Jersey weighs bill encouraging alternative farm energy (The Associated Press, via the Charlotte Observer, NC)
http://www.charlotte.com/nation/story/671913.html

CONSERVATION

Jumping on the L.E.D. Bandwagon – Next stop, television (NY Times)
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/jumping-on-the-led-bandwagon/index.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

China Increases Lead as Biggest Carbon Dioxide Emitter (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/world/asia/14china.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Days of bandwidth buffet on Internet appear to be numbered (The NY Times, via The News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/389451.html

Google prepping broadband-monitoring tools (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9968972-7.html

Minnesota: An Internet backwater soon? Is the end of the Internet at hand? (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
http://www.startribune.com/business/19920264.html?location_refer=Business

Kentucky city gets $1 million grant for fiber-optics (WZTV, Nashville, TN)
http://www.wztv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.tn/224fc391-www.fox17.com.shtml

The News Tribune Opinion – Online is forever, and it’s usually not private (Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/388898.html

GENERAL NEWS

Good Grief Charlie Brown! Oil hits record near $140 a barrel on dollar, fire (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004468388_apoilprices.html?syndication=rss

Thurston County Government – Poor planning led to budget woes – Thurston should have cut earlier, commissioner says (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/479106.html

Stimulating Confusion – As millions of taxpayers await checks, others find themselves with two (MarketWatch)
http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/105233/Stimulating-Confusion

Where's Mine? About 30 million stimulus payments totaling more than $27 billion were sent to taxpayers in the two weeks ending May 9, the U.S. Treasury Department said Friday. (MarketWatch)
http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/105054/Where?

Landscaper faces $163,000 bill for topping trees in Lacey public right of way (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/479904.html

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Help! Family Spam Is Crushing My Inbox! (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91402876&ft=1&f=10

Rare Coffee Sells For $15 Per Cup
http://www.kirotv.com/money/16599424/detail.html

Fighting crows halt trains in India's Bihar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080616/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_india_crows;_ylt=ApC6ro_FihGn0MiA6L2wNpjtiBIF

Italian kidnaps ex-girlfriend to get ironing done
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080616/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_italy_kidnap;_ylt=AjFGsF9Pogy_Hfbj4uCnOartiBIF