Energy News Digest for June 18, 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)

- WA storm knocks out power
- Puget Sound Energy Urges Customers to Report Power Outages
- Era of cheap power is ending – Idaho Power has long relied on hydropower and coal
- Cat starts Grant County PUD substation fire
- MONTANA – NorthWestern seeks to sell stake in Colstrip, Montana power plant
- Heat tightens New England electricity supplies
- NEW YORK – Our power, their dollars: New York Power Authority reaps windfall
- PENNSYLVANIA – King Coal Country Debates a Sacrilege, Gas Heat
- NORTH CAROLINA – Duke has right to cut trees on private property
- 2000 NY Times – Lack of Power In the West Proves a Boon For Some
- Eureka Times-Standard Op/Ed – Klamath River isn't in good shape
- Seattle Times Op/Ed – Finding a system that sustains the Pacific groundfish fishery
- Researchers scramble to deal with dying oysters
- Ballard locks close for salmon screen work
- Water transfers will not need permits
- EPA Slams Winlock Landowner – Agency Requires 100 Acres of Wetlands to Be Restored
- Bottled Water Banned For King County Workers
- $4.5 Million Water Bill for a New York Agency
- U.S. eyes solar as energy costs rise
- Don't Mess with Texas Wind
- Hot Air Proves Useful – Xcel will use wind, solar energy to power national political conventions
- Energy Pulse Commentary – Utilities and Net Metering
- CALIFORNIA – Richmond looks at updating regulations for biofuel developers
- Out of the frying pan and into the power grid
- Recycle compact fluorescent bulbs
- Energy: Turn lights off, New Zealanders told, as drought hits power plants
- Wal-Mart helps save energy at 19 state capitols
- ALASKA – Learning to love the low-power line
- Seattle Times Columnist – Your footprint's looking good, Seattle
- Hey, Portland: Try to fit twice the people here
- U.S. voluntary carbon market does not reward complexity
- Amazon.com back up after having more trouble today
- Shareholders try to kill Yahoo severance plan
- PENNSYLVANIA – Documentary on Dying Philly Wi-Fi Network
- Many U.S. tech workers eager to telecommute, survey suggests
- Surprising spring snow blankets Washington mountains
- Nurses in Mason County share information at picket
- Tree thieves plead guilty at Port Orchard WA
- CALIFORNIA – Things get ugly at gas pumps in Orange County
- For about $500 a season, you can have own farmer

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Postlude • \POST-lood\ • noun – *1: a closing piece of music; especially: an organ voluntary at the end of a church service 2: a closing phase

The beautiful wedding service was only slightly marred by the insertion of the inappropriate postlude to end the event, “the Piňa Colada Song.”

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

WA storm knocks out power (The Associated Press, via the Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/473771.html

Puget Sound Energy Urges Customers to Report Power Outages (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jun/09/pse-urges-customers-to-report-power-outages/

Era of cheap power is ending – Idaho Power has long relied on hydropower and coal. That is changing (The Idaho Statesman)
http://www.idahostatesman.com/eyepiece/story/404378.html

Cat starts Grant County PUD substation fire (The Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080609/NEWS04/391644683

MONTANA – NorthWestern seeks to sell stake in Colstrip, Montana power plant (CNN Money)
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/aa78ae0fa57c22a884319dcf260d2300.htm

Heat tightens New England electricity supplies (The Associated Press, via WPRI-TV, Providence, RI)http://www.wpri.com/global/story.asp?s=8456265

NEW YORK – Our power, their dollars: New York Power Authority reaps windfall as low-cost electricity lacks more local customers “…an estimated $161 million is used mostly to subsidize businesses outside the region and fund authority operations statewide…” (McClatchy Tribune Business News, via Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5CkillnsrXSmk%7DGL%7Dbfen%5Fv

PENNSYLVANIA – King Coal Country Debates a Sacrilege, Gas Heat (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/us/10coal.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

NORTH CAROLINA – Duke has right to cut trees on private property: Homeowners get proof, but still are unhappy with utility (McClatchy Tribune Business News, via Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5CkikpqojRSmk%7DGL%7Dbfen%5Fv

While I was looking online for confirmation of the US Supreme Court rejection of the Residential Exchange appeal, I found this golden oldie: 2000 NY Times – Lack of Power In the West Proves a Boon For Some “…Part of the proceeds are to be reinvested in upgrading the plants and in financing new power-generating capacity, including gas- and wind-powered generators that would make the plants energy self-sufficient by 2007….”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E5DE163BF93AA15751C1A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

FISH & WILDLIFE

Eureka Times-Standard Op/Ed – Klamath River isn't in good shape (Eureka, CA)
http://www.times-standard.com/opinion/ci_9537833

Seattle Times Op/Ed – Slade Gorton: Finding a system that sustains the Pacific groundfish fishery
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004467905_sladeop10.html

Researchers scramble to deal with dying oysters – A bacterium explodes in numbers, killing oyster larvae before they can grow (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1212974723237650.xml&coll=7

Ballard locks close for salmon screen work (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/366471_ballard10.html?source=rss

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Water transfers will not need permits – The movement of billions of gallons of water around the country for drinking, irrigation and other uses will not require permits under the Clean Water Act (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004467327_apwatertransfers.html?syndication=rss

EPA Slams Winlock Landowner – Agency Requires 100 Acres of Wetlands to Be Restored at Horse Center Site (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/rss/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1213033958&archive=

Bottled Water Banned For King County Workers (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16554168/detail.html

$4.5 Million Water Bill for a New York Agency – One of the biggest water bill deadbeats in New York City is the Economic Development Corporation – Hasn’t paid a bill in 22 years (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/nyregion/10water.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

U.S. eyes solar as energy costs rise “…Panels…to convert sunlight into electricity are still too expensive in most regions to compete with cheaper, less environmentally friendly fuels like coal without generous subsidies…” (the Globe and Mail, Canada)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080606.wsolar0607/BNStory/energy/home

Don't Mess with Texas Wind (Living on Earth)
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00023&segmentID=2

Hot Air Proves Useful – Xcel will use wind, solar energy to power national political conventions (Denver Business Journal – Ha! Ha! I couldn’t resist)
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/06/09/daily9.html?ana=from_rss

Energy Pulse Commentary – Utilities and Net Metering
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/ate/story?id=52703&src=rss

CALIFORNIA – Richmond looks at updating regulations as interest from biofuel developers grows (Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, CA)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9533662?source=rss

Out of the frying pan and into the power grid – If fry grease can run a Mercedes, why can't it power the restaurant it came from? (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9961038-54.html

CONSERVATION

Recycle compact fluorescent bulbs (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/living/story/473929.html

Energy: Turn lights off, New Zealanders told, as drought hits power plants (The Guardian, United Kingdom)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/10/drought.energy

Wal-Mart helps save energy at 19 state capitols (Kansas City Star, MO)
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/656544.html

ALASKA – Learning to love the low-power line – Some evade high electric costs by turning toward clotheslines (The Fairbanks News-Miner)
http://newsminer.com/news/2008/jun/08/learning-love-low-power-line/

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Seattle Times Columnist – Your footprint's looking good, Seattle “…the Pacific Northwest has major hydropower sources that don't emit carbon…”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004467900_nealpeirce10.html?syndication=rss

Hey, Portland: Try to fit twice the people here (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1212812711154650.xml&coll=7

U.S. voluntary carbon market does not reward complexity (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9963532-54.html

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Amazon.com back up after having more trouble today (Associated Press, via the San Jose Mercury News, CA)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9530071?source=rss

Shareholders try to kill Yahoo severance plan: report (Reuters)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080610/wr_nm/yahoo_severance_dc_2

PENNSYLVANIA – Documentary on Dying Philly Wi-Fi Network (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Documentary-on-Dying-Philly-WiFi-Network-95153

Many U.S. tech workers eager to telecommute, survey suggests (Reuters)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080610/tc_nm/telecommuting_survey_dc_1

GENERAL NEWS

Surprising spring snow blankets Washington mountains (Associated Press, via the Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://news.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP06102008news327415.cfm

Nurses in Mason County share information at picket – Hospital, union are discussing retroactive pay, unpaid leave (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/473842.html

Tree thieves plead guilty at Port Orchard WA (Associated Press, via the Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://news.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP06102008news327233.cfm

CALIFORNIA – Things get ugly at gas pumps in Orange County – a doctor waiting in line to buy gas grabbed a tire iron and confronted a motorist who cut into the line (The Associated Press, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1433653~Police__Things_get_ugly_at_gas_pumps_in_Orange_County.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines

For about $500 a season, you can have own farmer (Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004468394_apfarmscenesharingharvests.html?syndication=rss

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER – DIVERSIONS

Sudoku-playing jurors make judge stop drug trial
http://www.theolympian.com/nationworld/story/474060.html

Tokyo fireman drives trucks 20 years without license
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUST31976920080610?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

McCain Googling for VP? McCain joked on Monday that Google, the popular Internet search engine, had made investigating his list of potential candidates a little bit easier
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0926840220080610?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Short Indian leader demands taller statue
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_re_as/india_short_statue;_ylt=AhscQAhL0Gn5Y_boSiNvym3tiBIF

Ohio man stalls long enough to get new outhouse
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_fe_st/odd_new_outhouse;_ylt=AgKcEBp5iBgU4n_6G22JjKbtiBIF