Energy News Digest for July 15, 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)

- News Release – Alcoa Reaches New Renewable Power Deal for Wenatchee Smelter
- Whatcom County Public Utility District to study power expansion
- CONNECTICUT – Soon, Electric Heat Could Be Cheaper Than Oil
- The Daily News Opinion – Yucca Mountain stalling only delays inevitable nuclear power push
- The Register Guard Op/Ed – Nuclear power still not safe
- Underground fire leaves Vancouver, B.C. in the dark
- For substation maintenance – One-day outage to put Steilacoom in the dark
- Clallam County PUD commissioners get raises
- News Release – New Kentucky Law Helps Police Stem Metal Thefts
- OREGON – Blasting of Elk Creek Dam on Rogue River will begin
- Offshore Drilling Moratorium Little Effect in NW
- Victoria sewage raising a stink on San Juans
- Mason County’s Haven Lake – North Mason Lake Due for Chemical Treatment
- Seattle man helps get clean water for developing countries
- CALIFORNIA – State rebates lead more people to go solar
- US Constellation unit works to tame wily wind power
- "Anaconda" Could Provide up to 20 MW of Wave Energy
- Home energy audit can help curb waste
- Ocean could be place to store fossil fuel mess
- Unusual Litmus Test – Green Speed Dating: Finding Carbon-Neutral Love
- Grant County PUD – Titan Building voices concern over dark fiber
- NORTH CAROLINA – Isolated N.C. County Gets Wired
- VERMONT – Fairpoint insists DSL Expansion on Track
- Pensioners battle Qwest over insurance benefit
- Microsoft deal spurned, outraged Icahn refocuses on ousting Yahoo board
- Allyn Man Injured in Skagit Construction Accident Dies
- Permit Reality Check Puts a Halt to Belfair Fantasy Faire
- Wildfire near Mount Adams unfurls eruption like smoke plume
- Starbucks announces first wave of closings; none in Washington

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Indurate • \IN-duh-rut\ • adjective – Physically or morally hardened

After weeks of working under the tutelage of a cane-wielding taskmaster of the Shady Lane Energy Trading Company, Bartholomew’s moral compass had hardened into an indurate, reptilian shell. Even the wailing stories of poor “Grandma Millie” failed to shake his new personae.

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

News Release – Alcoa Reaches New Renewable Power Deal for Wenatchee, WA Smelter (BusinessWire – It’s nice to know that hydropower is considered renewable somewhere on this planet!)
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080715005215&newsLang=en

Whatcom County Public Utility District to study power expansion – The PUD has decided to take a serious look at enlarging its role in providing electric service (The Bellingham Herald, WA)
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/467506.html

CONNECTICUT – Soon, Electric Heat Could Be Cheaper Than Oil (The Hartford Courant. CT)
http://www.courant.com/business/custom/consumer/hc-heating0715.artjul15,0,425737.story

The Daily News Opinion – Yucca Mountain stalling only delays inevitable nuclear power push (Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/07/15/editorial/doc487bd23399ca7163372651.txt

The Register Guard Op/Ed – Nuclear power still not safe (Eugene, OR)
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=123987&sid=5&fid=1

Underground fire leaves Vancouver, B.C. in the dark (The Associated Press, via MyNorthwest.com)
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=73506

For substation maintenance – One-day outage to put Steilacoom in the dark (The News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/412499.html

Clallam County PUD commissioners get raises (KONP Radio, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.konp.com/local/3817

News Release – New Kentucky Law Helps Police Stem Metal Thefts – Metal Thefts Can Cause Dangerous Phone and Electric Outages, Potential for Electrocution (PR Newswire)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080715/aqtu533.html?.v=13

FISH & WILDLIFE

OREGON – Blasting of Elk Creek Dam will begin – Only a third complete, the dam on a branch of the Rogue River will be ripped apart to let Coho salmon go upstream (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1216092310156540.xml&coll=7

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Offshore Drilling Moratorium Little Effect in NW (Northwest Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=4092

Victoria sewage raising a stink on San Juans – Lack of treatment an issue among candidates running for county commission (The Victoria Times Colonist, BC)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=b59d7f7a-13dd-47f4-a49f-62d6b3700eab

Mason County’s Haven Lake – North Mason Lake Due for Chemical Treatment (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jul/14/north-mason-lake-due-for-chemical-treatment/

Seattle man helps get clean water for developing countries (The Associated Press, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1486986~Man_helps_get_clean_water_for_developing_countries.html?cid=rss-Washington_Headlines

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

CALIFORNIA – State rebates lead more people to go solar (The San Francisco Chronicle, CA)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/14/BUNL11OVEF.DTL&feed=rss.business

US Constellation unit works to tame wily wind power “…BPA is reviewing the hydropower supply in the Northwest as additional wind generation and rising electric use strains the hydro network…” (Reuters)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14434878.htm

"Anaconda" Could Provide up to 20 MW of Wave Energy (Renewable Energy World Online)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=53012&src=rss

CONSERVATION

Home energy audit can help curb waste – Process tests for leaks in the heating and cooling system (The News-Leader, Springfield, MO)
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/LIFE/807150338

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Ocean could be place to store fossil fuel mess – Scientists say a partial solution to global warming may lie beneath the seafloor off the coasts of Washington and Oregon (The Seattle Times, WA)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008051806_carbonstorage15m.html?syndication=rss

Unusual Litmus Test – Green Speed Dating: Finding Carbon-Neutral Love (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92537810&ft=1&f=3

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Grant County PUD – Titan Building voices concern over dark fiber – Company owning a commercial building wants dark fiber from the PUD to lure new businesses there to complete a multi-tenant data center (The Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/07/14/news/news02.txt

NORTH CAROLINA – Isolated N.C. County Gets Wired (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92529396

VERMONT – Fairpoint insists DSL Expansion On Track – Sats 75% of Vermont lines DSL ready by year end (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Fairpoint-insists-DSL-Expansion-On-Track-96100

Pensioners battle Qwest over insurance benefit – Seven retirees say a death benefit cut violates federal law and want to make their case a class action (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1215840312294140.xml&coll=7

Microsoft deal spurned, outraged Icahn refocuses on ousting Yahoo board (The Associated Press, via the San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/07/12/financial/f235136D15.DTL&feed=rss.business

GENERAL NEWS

Allyn Man Injured in Skagit Construction Accident Dies (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jul/14/allyn-man-injured-construction-accident-dies/

Permit Reality Check Puts a Halt to Belfair Fantasy Faire (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jul/14/permitting-reality-check-puts-a-halt-to-fantasy/

Wildfire near Mount Adams unfurls eruption like smoke plume (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/07/07142008_Wildfire-near-Mount-Adams-unfurls-eruptionlike-smoke-plume.cfm/

Starbucks announces first wave of closings; none in Washington (Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle, WA)
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/07/14/daily3.html?ana=from_rss

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Top 10 hells on earth – Ten worst places to live (or die) – Includes the Seattle Sonics new home, Oklahoma City
http://features.us.reuters.com/destinations/news/03A79076-21FD-11DD-802F-79120433.html

Climate change Karma – 2 tourists drown as chunk of Greenland glacier breaks off
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=9038a438-1016-40e6-8687-2e80e57c5fb8

Amtrak Mooners Forced To Pull Up Pants – 8,000 Revelers Moon Amtrak Trains
http://www.kirotv.com/travelgetaways/16877115/detail.html

Man spent $1,000 a week on beer?
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSSYD22265820080715?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews