Energy News Digest for June 23, 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)

- Seattle Times Editorial – Block PSE sale
- The News Tribune Editorial – Puget Sound Energy deal is a dicey
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Opinion – Puget Sound Energy: A dubious plan
- Jefferson County PUD awards contract to study proposal to provide electricity service
- Grant County PUD eyes new coal plant
- And the Lobbyists Dance – Pacific Gas & Electric spent nearly $2 million lobbying o
- NEW YORK – Some Severance Deals at the New York Power Authority Required Silence
- Poll: Nuclear power could be the answer
- Duke Energy’s Jim Rogers – A Green Coal Baron?
- NORTH CAROLINA – Duke Energy wants to team up with cities to bury power lines
- OREGON – Northwest Natural's big pipes, big dreams
- Opposition mounts to clean air change affecting parks
- VIRGINIA – Power plant is ground zero in battle of energy vs. environment
- News Release – FERC Chair’s statement on cost of electric generation staff presentation
- Chicago Tribune OpEd – Meeting Illinois' energy needs
- NEW ZEALAND – Electricity Commission called to account
- The Fuss Over Fish – Lesley Stahl Reports On The Debate On What To Do To Protect Endangered Salmon
- Wenatchee World Editorial – Still caught in the salmon cycle
- News Release – Spring Chinook returns to Columbia River maintain healthy numbers
- Columbia's spring Chinook run has improved (
- OREGON – Salmon solution? Tribal hatchery mimics wild habitat to give Coho a fighting chance
- Bering Sea pollock fleet faces closure over salmon
- Alarmist Headline of the Day – Wild Salmon to be Extinct in 10 Years
- Ebola-Like Virus Threatens Great Lakes Fishing Industry
- Fish-eating Indians have crucial stake in clean Columbia River
- Supreme Court to Review Decision on Navy Sonar Use and Its Potential Harm to Dolphins and Whales
- Rural water transfers worry some across state
- Saving Puget Sound is an economic problem
- Clark County, WA – Two cities, two agencies clash over sewer plans
- Capacity Issues – Olympia Neighborhood Has A Stinky Problem
- City of Port Angeles adding chemical to fight copper in water
- Economy puts a plug in bottled water use
- Northwest Whitewater Rafters Loving The Huge Snowpack
- Google, Not Ghosts, Behind Creepy View of Chesapeake
- OREGON – Biofuel from Scotch Broom?
- Daily News Opinion – Ethanol rush may be doing more harm than good
- CALIFORNIA – Green energy fund is nearly out of steam
- Pay Per kilowatt-hour – Taking startup costs out of home solar
- Geothermal meetings set in energy-hungry West
- Renewable Energy a 'Finance-driven' Industry
- OREGON – Oregon farmer cuts costs with wind power
- OREGON – Morrow County approves special tax program for Willow Creek Wind Farm
- East Valley Tribune Editorial – Renewable Energy: Raising the bar, raising the costs
- UNITED KINGDOM – Homemade energy to prop up grid
- Puget Sound area ponders a future with a 'new green economy'
- Group urges energy conservation
- NW Energy Experts Say it's Time to Run, Not Walk, Towards a New Era in Energy Efficiency
- Everett Herald Opinion – When they do go out, compact fluorescent bulbs need recycling
- The New Trophy Home, Small and Ecological
- Ways to Conserve Energy and Lower Bills
- Years Later, Climatologist Renews His Call for Action
- CANADA – A carbon plan, budget and campaign platform rolled into one
- Quincy suffers a setback as a server-farm center – Data dreams go bust
- Okanogan County, WA – Loomis residents seek wireless Internet service
- Portland's Free Wi-Fi Network Going Off Line
- MINNESOTA – Carver County thinks a ring (of fiber optics) may woo business
- Cable ads attacking Verizon confuse consumers
- Once an Internet Giant, InfoSpace Dismantles Itself
- CANADA – Bell Canada Subject to Country’s Biggest-Ever Takeover
- Online bandwidth hogs to be cut off at trough?
- New technology could reduce power in data centers by 80 percent
- Technology worker shortage has businesses, educators worried
- NBC service will show Olympic events via computer
- Fading La Niña Clears Way For Summer Warmup
- Senate panel OKs $2 M for radar station on Washington coast
- Iconoclastic Comic George Carlin Dies at 71
- “When does checking e-mail after hours constitute working overtime?”

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Iconoclast • \eye-CON-uh-klast\ • noun Etymology: Medieval Latin iconoclastes, from Middle Greek eikonoklastEs, literally, image destroyer 1: a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration 2: a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions

Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Samuel Clemens (AKA “Mark Twain”), and other famous iconoclastic humorists lined the corridor leading to the comic afterlife. “Quiet everyone,” shouted Pryor. “George Carlin is on the way.”

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

Seattle Times Editorial – Block PSE sale – The proposed leveraged buyout of Puget Sound Energy by foreign investors should be blocked as harmful to the public interest (Seattle, WA)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008009433_pugetenergyed22.html?syndication=rss

The News Tribune Editorial – Puget Sound Energy deal is a dicey – This is one the commissioners can’t afford to get wrong. Reliable service and reasonable power and natural gas rates for more than 1.7 million customers, most of them in the Puget Sound region, depend on it. (Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/394744.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Opinion – Puget Sound Energy: A dubious plan (Seattle WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/367834_pugeted.html?source=rss

Jefferson County PUD awards contract to study proposal to provide electricity service (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080621/NEWS/806210305

Grant County PUD eyes new coal plant – Proposed project could be another energy source (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/06/20/news/news02.txt

And the Lobbyists Dance – Pacific Gas & Electric spent nearly $2 million lobbying on climate change, energy issues in first quarter (The Associated Press)
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080623/pg_e_lobbying.html?.v=1

NEW YORK – Some Severance Deals at the New York Power Authority Required Silence – At least 19 employees were required to keep secret the circumstances of their departures in order to obtain severance pay or benefits (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/nyregion/22disclosure.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Poll: Nuclear power could be the answer (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/06/16/daily38.html?ana=from_rss

Duke Energy’s Jim Rogers – A Green Coal Baron? (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Rogers-t.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

NORTH CAROLINA – Duke Energy wants to team up with cities to bury power lines (Triangle Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/06/23/story8.html?ana=from_rss

OREGON – Northwest Natural's big pipes, big dreams – Liquefied Natural Gas terminals: The gas company dares to be dull with storage and pipelines but still ends up in a fight (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/121394310569470.xml&coll=7
Opposition mounts to clean air change affecting parks – Critics fear the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will adopt a rule in the waning days of the Bush administration that will make it easier to build coal-fired power plants near national parks (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008010447_apcleanairparks.html?syndication=rss

VIRGINIA – Power plant is ground zero in battle of energy vs. environment (The Virginia Pilot, Hampton Roads, VA)
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/power-plant-ground-zero-battle-energy-vs-environment

News Release – FERC Chair’s statement on cost of electric generation staff presentation “… FERC and state commissions are regulating in a high-cost environment; the U.S. needs massive investments in new electricity generation, transmission, and distribution; we are beginning to confront climate change challenge…” (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
http://www.ferc.gov/news/statements-speeches/kelliher/2008/06-19-08-kelliher-A-3.asp

Chicago Tribune OpEd – Meeting Illinois' energy needs (Chicago, IL)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-vp0619lettersbriefs0jun19,0,750023.story

NEW ZEALAND – Electricity Commission called to account – We put a collective $230 million on the table to prevent a repeat of winter 2003 when power shortages threatened and prices skyrocketed and what do we get? (Stuff.com, New Zealand)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592553a13.html

FISH & WILDLIFE

The Fuss Over Fish – Lesley Stahl Reports On The Debate On What To Do To Protect Endangered Salmon – regurgitated story from 2000, with minimal follow up reporting (CBS News, 60 Minutes)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/20/60minutes/main4198581.shtml

Wenatchee World Editorial – Still caught in the salmon cycle – Salmon politics in the Northwest follow a rhythmical pattern, a predictable cycle, the Pacific biennial litigious oscillation (Wenatchee, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/OP03/984453274/1025/rss1025

News Release – Spring Chinook returns to Columbia River maintain healthy numbers – Ocean conditions, hydro system improvements credited with these solid fish returns (Bonneville Power Administration)
http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/1582/212535/

Columbia's spring Chinook run has improved (KIRO News Radio, Seattle)
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=67091

OREGON – Salmon solution? Tribal hatchery mimics wild habitat to give Coho a fighting chance (Corvallis Gazette-Times, OR)
http://gazettetimes.com/articles/2008/06/22/news/top_story/1aaa01_salmon.txt

Bering Sea pollock fleet faces closure over salmon (The Associated Press, via the San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/22/financial/f122207D96.DTL&feed=rss.business

Alarmist Headline of the Day – Wild Salmon to be Extinct in 10 Years (Natural News)
http://www.naturalnews.com/023491.html

Ebola-Like Virus Threatens Great Lakes – Killing fish and threatening the $4 billion commercial and sport fishing industry (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/environment/May-June-08/Ebola-like-Virus-Threatens-Great-Lakes-.html

Fish-eating Indians have crucial stake in clean Columbia River (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/06/06222008_Fisheating-Indians-have-crucial-stake-in-clean-Columbia-River.cfm/

Supreme Court to Review Decision on Navy Sonar Use and Its Potential Harm to Dolphins and Whales (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16684325/detail.html?treets=sea&tml=sea_break&ts=T&tmi=sea_break_1_09530106232008

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Rural water transfers worry some across state – Local officials fear transferring the rights to water and letting it flow hundreds of miles downriver will dry out their rural farming community (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008011149_water22.html?syndication=rss

Saving Puget Sound is an economic problem – The laws and regulations that protect it from the most egregious dumping work pretty well, but the only way to finance the prevention of non-point-source pollution is to impose fees (Crosscut, Seattle, WA)
http://crosscut.com/puget-sound/15225/Saving+Puget+Sound+is+an+economic+problem/

Clark County, WA – Two cities, two agencies clash over sewer plans (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/06/06222008_Two-cities-two-agencies-clash-over-sewer-plans.cfm/

Capacity Issues – Olympia Neighborhood Has A Stinky Problem (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16674603/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=news

City of Port Angeles adding chemical to fight copper in water (KONP Radio, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.konp.com/local/3745

Economy puts a plug in bottled water use – More consumers are turning to tap water to save money and help the environment (The Associated Press, via the Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1213925136105530.xml&coll=7

Northwest Whitewater Rafters Loving The Huge Snowpack (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/2398-northwest-whitewater-rafters-loving-huge-snowpack/

Google, Not Ghosts, Behind Creepy View of Chesapeake (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/20/AR2008062002896.html?nav=rss_technology

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

OREGON – Biofuel from Scotch Broom? Tillamook farmer's son takes on cream of science crop – Hayden Bush scores bronze at an international competition (The Oregonian, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1213928718210880.xml&coll=7
Daily News Opinion – Ethanol rush may be doing more harm than good (Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/06/23/editorial/doc485c2d296ca61614539361.txt

CALIFORNIA – Green energy fund is nearly out of steam (San Francisco Business Times)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/06/23/story14.html?ana=from_rss

Pay Per kilowatt-hour – Taking startup costs out of home solar (East Bay Business Times)
http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/06/23/story3.html?ana=from_rss

Geothermal meetings set in energy-hungry West (The Associated Press, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1450437~Geothermal_meetings_set_in_energy_hungry_West.html?cid=rss-Idaho_Headlines

Renewable Energy a 'Finance-driven' Industry (Renewable Energy World Online)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=52854&src=rss

OREGON – Oregon farmer cuts costs with wind power (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/367982_smallwind23.html?source=rss

OREGON – Morrow County approves special tax program for Willow Creek Wind Farm “…without it, Oregon would be one of the most expensive places to site a wind farm…” (The East Oregonian, Pendleton, OR)
http://www.eastoregonian.info/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=79319&TM=73256.79

East Valley Tribune Editorial – Raising the bar, raising the costs “…the state should further disrupt free markets and take even more money out of everyone's wallet in order to pursue the dream of a renewable energy economy…” (Phoenix, AZ)
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/119095

UNITED KINGDOM – Homemade energy to prop up grid (The Times of London)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4187635.ece

Puget Sound area ponders a future with a 'new green economy' (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/367796_bluegreenjobs20.html

CONSERVATION

Group urges energy conservation – Energy experts convened in Portland last week to start work on a renewed effort to achieve energy conservation in homes, offices and industries of the Northwest. (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/486321.html

NW Energy Experts Say it's Time to Run, Not Walk, Towards a New Era in Energy Efficiency
"…We face a rapidly changing energy landscape. The cost of alternative generating resources, like wind power, is rising…" - Steve Wright, BPA administrator (Salem-News, OR)
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june192008/energy_oregon_6-19-08.php

Everett Herald Opinion – When they do go out, compact fluorescent bulbs need recycling (Everett, WA)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080623/OPINION01/241851950/-1/RSS05

The New Trophy Home, Small and Ecological (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/us/22leed.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Ways to Conserve Energy and Lower Bills (National Public Radio, Talk of the Nation – 40 Minutes)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91742292

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Years Later, Climatologist Renews His Call for Action (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/science/earth/23climate.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

CANADA – A carbon plan, budget and campaign platform rolled into one (The National Post)
http://www.nationalpost.com/newsletter/story.html?id=599705

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Quincy suffers a setback as a server-farm center – Data dreams go bust (Puget Sound Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/06/23/story2.html?ana=from_rss

Okanogan County, WA – Loomis residents seek wireless service – Okanogan County PUD commissioners heard recently that Loomis residents are still hoping to get wireless Internet access to their area “…The natives are restless…” (The Omak Chronicle, WA)
http://www.omakchronicle.com/nws/n080621a.shtml

Portland's Free Wi-Fi Network Going Off Line (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/2390-portlands-free-wi-fi-network-going-line/

MINNESOTA – Carver County thinks a ring (of fiber optics) may woo business – The ring would connect 80 to 100 sites or agencies, allowing for ultra-fast transmission and sharing of files and data (Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN)
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/20551244.html?location_refer=Entertainment

Cable ads attacking Verizon confuse consumers – Claims about Comcast fiber network don’t reveal hybrid nature of the system (The Associated Press)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gY_prL0mK0WtSLkO1_ZuBxNDDVJgD91DVA680

Once an Internet Giant, InfoSpace Dismantles Itself (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/technology/23infospace.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

CANADA – Bell Canada Subject to Country’s Biggest-Ever Takeover (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/business/May-June-08/Bell-Canada-Subject-to-Country-s-Biggest-Ever-Takeover[2].html

Online bandwidth hogs to be cut off at trough? The era of carefree, unlimited Internet browsing and downloading might be coming to an end (The San Francisco Chronicle, CA)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/23/BU9V11CIVA.DTL&feed=rss.business

New technology could reduce power in data centers by 80 percent (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9973268-54.html

Technology worker shortage has businesses, educators worried (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008010515_apwatechworkershortage.html?syndication=rss

NBC service will show Olympic events via computer (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2008012365_apolynbccomputercoverage.html?syndication=rss

GENERAL NEWS

Fading La Niña Clears Way For Summer Warmup (NW Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=4016

Senate panel OKs $2 M for radar station on Washington coast (The Seattle Times, WA)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008009981_radar21m.html

Say a naughty word in tribute today – George Carlin mourned as counterculture hero (The Associated Press)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_en_tv/obit_george_carlin_24

Iconoclastic Comic George Carlin Dies at 71 (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91791901&ft=1&f=3

“When does checking e-mail after hours constitute working overtime?” ABC and Writers Skirmish Over After-Hours E-Mail (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23abc.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Hound of Heaven! More Dog Owners Performing 'Holy Muttrimony' – Dog weddings are the latest wave in the larger phenomenon of pet owners treating their animals like their children
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/international/May-June-08/More-Dog-Owners-Performing--Holy-Muttrimony-.html
'
World's Ugliest Dog' Crowned
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16675469/detail.html

Cat May Be To Blame For 15K Losing Power – Driver Swerves To Miss Cat, Hits Pole
http://www.kirotv.com/money/16680866/detail.html

Man beats gunman with fan, wrestles away shotgun
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/20641429.html

Has modern life killed the semicolon?
http://www.slate.com/id/2194087/?from=rss