Energy News Digest for July 21, 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)

- Whidbey Island PUD boundary hearing set
- Donations few and far between for Whidbey PUD campaign
- Skagit considers seizing power
- Whidbey Examiner Op/Ed - State agencies: Just say no to PSE sale
- Chelan and Douglas PUDs dispute Browns Canyon Fire was caused by power line
- Public Utility Districts need funds to meet security standards
- Evergreen nears deal on Washington mill
- First Public Tours of McNary Dam Since 9/11
- TEXAS – Beaumont to Houston – Getting power to where it's needed
- NEW YORK – Nuclear Operator Seeks to End Revenue Deal With State
- Electricity Loses Power and Gains Steam
- Oregon salmon restoration supported Idaho Statesman Editorial – Sockeye deserve our best fight
- West Hayden Island: An island of colliding visions
- Gregoire announces Mid-Columbia water project funds
- New life for a thirsty gorge – The Chelan River Gorge
- Battleground planning sewage plant
- Northwest's wind power could quadruple
- Umatilla Indian Tribe earns return on wind investment
- San Francisco Mayor signs wind power executive order
- The Answer's in the Wind -- and Sun
- Too much too soon? Patience Key To Success With Renewable Energy
- CANADA – British Columbia sets goal for solar panels: 100,000 roofs by 2020
- Let the Sunshine In – Sick of high energy bills, our columnist investigates solar options
- You have the power to reduce energy costs at home
- NEW YORK – Rewarding Those Who Wait to Flip the Switch
- CANADA – Film dared to deny climate change: 'misleading' rubbish, watchdog says
- Scientists Predict Global Warming Will Reduce Number of Hurricanes
- Amazon powers Atlantic Ocean's carbon sink: study
- Amazon’s S3 Outage Highlights Fragility of Web Services
- Cities Gone Wireless: Safety Or Surveillance?
- Yahoo and Icahn settle, Microsoft deal seen adrift
- The Battle Over Your TV
- Costs and Content Driving Educators Online for Classroom Resources
- Theft of old-growth cedars near Lake Wenatchee gets man 1 year in prison

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

Whidbey Island PUD boundary hearing set (The Whidbey Examiner, Coupeville, WA)
http://www.whidbeyexaminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=1569&TM=57694.17

Donations few and far between for Whidbey PUD campaign (PNW Local News)
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/news/25635199.html

Skagit considers seizing power (Washington CEO)
http://www.washingtonceo.com/home/story-display/article/312/skagit-consi.html

Whidbey Examiner Op/Ed - State agencies: Just say no to PSE sale (Coupeville, WA)
http://www.whidbeyexaminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=1567&TM=56892.98

Chelan and Douglas PUDs dispute Browns Canyon Fire was caused by power line (Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080719/NEWS04/559772612/1001

Public Utility Districts need funds to meet security standards (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/07/18/news/news02.txt

Evergreen nears deal on Washington mill – Evergreen Pulp's bid to acquire a second North American pulp mill in Aberdeen, Wash. appears to be a matter of buttoning up details (The Times-Standard, Eureka, CA)
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_9931931

First Public Tours of McNary Dam Since 9/11 (KNDO-TV, Tri-Cities, WA)
http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=8703307

TEXAS – Beaumont to Houston – Getting power to where it's needed: Company wants to build 95-mile line to feed city's electricity market (Houston Chronicle, TX)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5896244.html

NEW YORK – Nuclear Operator Seeks to End Revenue Deal With State (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/nyregion/21indian.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Electricity Loses Power and Gains Steam – Issues on Electricity and Oil Crisis Covered at Electricity Forum (Market Watch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/electricity-loses-power-gains-steam/story.aspx?guid=%7B46035D57-377F-4FC2-ACD5-D34291013770%7D&dist=hppr

FISH & WILDLIFE

Oregon salmon restoration supported – The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has approved restoration of Chinook salmon to the area now blocked by dams on the Klamath River
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008060712_salmon19m.html?syndication=rss

Idaho Statesman Editorial – Sockeye deserve our best fight: This summer, Idaho's most endangered species of salmon is also its most mysterious species. And its most inspiring specie (Boise, ID)
http://www.idahostatesman.com/106/story/446876.html

West Hayden Island: An island of colliding visions – Blue herons, bald eagles and ospreys nest above impenetrable blackberry thickets, punctuated by rusting beer cans, plastic bottles, cast-off grocery carts (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/07/07212008_An-island-of-colliding-visions.cfm

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Gregoire announces Mid-Columbia water project funds (The Tri-City Herald, WA)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/244550.html

New life for a thirsty gorge – The Chelan River Gorge hasn't had a good, long, cool drink of water in more than 80 years. At least not the way nature intended (The Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080718/NEWS04/992028410/1002

Battleground planning sewage plant (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/07/07192008_BG-planning-sewage-plant.cfm/

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Northwest's wind power could quadruple – A BPA assessment shows developers are ready to build wind farms, but power lines can't handle much more (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1216529717321800.xml&coll=7

Umatilla Indian Tribe earns return on wind investment (Sustainable Industries Magazine)
http://www.sustainableindustries.com/breakingnews/25598799.html

San Francisco Mayor signs wind power executive order (San Francisco Business Times, CA)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/07/14/daily94.html?ana=from_rss

The Answer's in the Wind -- and Sun (The Washington Post – And another quarter for Bob Zimmerman)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/18/AR2008071802614.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

Too much too soon? Patience Key To Success With Renewable Energy In The West (New West, Bend, OR)
http://www.newwest.net/city/article/patience_is_the_key_to_success_with_renewable_energy_in_the_west/C509/L509/

CANADA – British Columbia sets goal for solar panels: 100,000 roofs by 2020 (The Vancouver Sun. BC)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4a85dc0f-327f-4eaa-87e1-d5825711eebe

Let the Sunshine In – Sick of high energy bills, our columnist investigates solar options (The Wall Street Journal)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642755234266961.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

CONSERVATION

You have the power to reduce energy costs at home (The Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX)
http://www.star-telegram.com/home/story/765807.html

NEW YORK – Rewarding Those Who Wait to Flip the Switch – For people who can keep their air-conditioners off until 10 p.m., Con Ed has an incentive plan (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/nyregion/21peak.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

CANADA – Film dared to deny climate change: 'misleading' rubbish, watchdog says (The National Post)
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/07/21/film-dared-to-deny-climate-change-misleading-rubbish-watchdog-says.aspx

Scientists Predict Global Warming Will Reduce Number of Hurricanes (The Heartland Institute – Loved by telecom competition apologists everywhere)
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23558

Amazon powers Atlantic Ocean's carbon sink: study (AFP)
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6iouPXXHhRNPU1U3gL8SaUCYs-w

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Amazon’s S3 Outage Highlights Fragility of Web Services – Amazon’s S3 cloud storage service went offline Sunday for an extended period of time — the second big outage at the service this year. (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/07/20/amazon-s3-outage-july-2008/

Cities Gone Wireless: Safety Or Surveillance? (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92613801&ft=1&f=1001

Yahoo and Icahn settle, Microsoft deal seen adrift (Reuters)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080721/bs_nm/yahoo_icahn_dc_4

The Battle Over Your TV – If you were thinking of starting a set-top box company that delivers video content to the TV, let me stop you right there (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/07/21/the-battle-over-your-tv/

Costs and Content Driving Educators Online for Classroom Resources (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Americas/July-08/Costs-and-Content-are-Driving-Educators-Online-for-Classroom-Resources.html

GENERAL NEWS

Theft of old-growth cedars near Lake Wenatchee gets man 1 year in prison, plus fine (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/371373_cedars19.html?source=rss

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Loud Music May Encourage Drinking – Men Drink Faster With Louder Tunes
http://www.kirotv.com/health/16942530/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=irresistible

Curious Cat Gets Stuck In Mason Jar
http://www.kirotv.com/family/16941665/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=irresistible

Scaly feet? Fish slough rough stuff in pedicures – Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away. Fish pedicures are creating
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008063610_webfishpedicure22.html?syndication=rss