Energy News Digest for July 3, 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)

- Utility, investors seek to sweeten Puget Sound Energy deal
- News Whiz – Puget Sound Energy and Puget Holdings Investors Outline Merger Benefits
- Idaho Statesman Opinion –Proposed Idaho Power Company’s power rate hikes need to be scrutinized
- Avista warns of natural gas increase
- Workplace heat rule takes effect Saturday in Washington
- FERC approves two California settlements
- Douglas County PUD commissioners approve pay increase
- OREGON – Survey shows customers happy with Oregon Trail Electric Consumers Cooperative
- Old King Coal – Don Hodel
- NEW YORK – 2 Sides in Con Ed Talks Each Held a Strong Hand
- Columbia River is thick with sockeye salmon
- Salmon fishing is hot around the state
- Chinook salmon fishing starts in several areas of the upper Columbia River
- No one's happy with Columbia salmon sharing
- ALASKA – Copper River reds continue weak run
- CANADA – 30,000 salmon escape farm pen
- San Francisco Chronicle Op/Ed – On Wildlife Conservation: A recipe for wild salmon
- IDAHO – Unwanted species found in E. Idaho reservoir
- OKLAHOMA – Oklahomans for Responsible Government criticizes dam bond issue
- AUSTRALIA – Floodwater harvest halted
- The Clock is Ticking: States Rush to Meet Renewable Portfolio Standard Deadlines
- U.S. lifts block on solar applications for public land
- MASSACHUSETTS – Patrick signs landmark energy bill
- Houston Turns to Wind for Power, Savings
- NEW YORK – US Senator Chuck Schumer celebrates wind power project in Wyoming County
- CALIFORNIA – The dirty fight over clean power
- SCOTLAND, UK – Hydropower scheme 'planned for Scotland'
- North Carolina regulatory staff opposes Duke Energy's Save-A-Watt
- Wenatchee World Opinion – Our money for speeches
- A little guilt with those hot dogs? How to Have a Green Fourth of July
- State of U.S. Broadband: Demand Hits Speed Bumps
- Many dial-up users prefer the slow lane
- Portland, OR – Going cheap on eBay: MetroFi's Wi-Fi gear
- New Jersey man admits to defrauding Cisco of millions of dollars
- US contradicts itself over its own ID theft advice

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Peregrine • \PAIR-uh-grin\ • adjective – Having a tendency to wander

Walter Mitty sat immobile at his desk, his unfocused eyes betraying his peregrine mind, as it took a flight of fancy to a Renaissance Festival in Belfair, Washington…

WORD HISTORY FROM MERRIAM WEBSTER DICTIONARY – The current meaning of "peregrine" has wandered a bit from its earlier meanings. The word originally meant "foreign," as did its Latin predecessor "peregrinus." But even before "peregrine" appeared on its own in English, it was part of the name of that well-known bird of prey, the peregrine falcon. The bird's appellation derives from "falco peregrinus" -- literally, "pilgrim falcon" in Medieval Latin. Peregrine falcons typically nest in high places, such as on cliff ledges or, in modern times, city skyscrapers. Because of the nests' inaccessibility, medieval falconers who wanted young peregrine falcons to train had captured them on their first flights or migratory "pilgrimages." That practice led to a new sense of "peregrine" ("engaged in or traveling on a pilgrimage"), which was later broadened to "wandering."

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

Utility, investors seek to sweeten the deal – Puget Energy and the investors seeking to buy it offer additional incentives in order to answer criticisms and win regulatory approval of the deal (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/369407_pse03.html

News Whiz – Puget Sound Energy and Puget Holdings Investors Outline Merger Benefits to Customers and Affirm Local Control and Regulatory Oversight (Electric Energy Online)
http://www.electricenergyonline.com/IndustryNews.asp?m=1&id=93794

Idaho Statesman Opinion –Proposed Idaho Power Company’s power rate hikes need to be scrutinized (Boise, ID)
http://www.idahostatesman.com/106/story/432197.html

Avista warns of natural gas increase – Normally, natural gas prices are low in the summer months and utilities stock up for sale in the winter (The Seattle Times, WA)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008030301_apwaavistanaturalgas.html?syndication=rss

Workplace heat rule takes effect Saturday in Washington (The Seattle Times, WA)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008029826_apwaworkplaceheat.html?syndication=rss

FERC approves two California settlements –Resolves all claims related to the FERC proceedings, the Lockyer v. FERC remand, the Bonneville Power Administration v. FERC remand and the California Public Utilities Commission v. FERC remand (Utility Automation & Engineering)
http://uaelp.pennnet.com/display_article/333386/22/ARTCL/none/none/1/FERC-approves-two-California-settlements/

Douglas County PUD commissioners approve pay increase (The Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/NEWS04/544941898

OREGON – Survey shows customers happy with Oregon Trail Electric Consumers Cooperative (Baker City Herald, OR)
http://www.bakercityherald.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=6831

Old King Coal – Don Hodel (Forbes Magazine)
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0721/034.html

NEW YORK – 2 Sides in Con Ed Talks Each Held a Strong Hand (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/nyregion/03coned.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

FISH & WILDLIFE

Columbia River is thick with sockeye salmon (Yakima Herald-Republic, WA)
http://www.yakimaherald.com/stories/5451

Salmon fishing is hot around the state (The Seattle Times, WA)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2008031164_fish03.html?syndication=rss

Chinook salmon fishing starts in several areas of the upper Columbia River and the lower stretch of the Okanogan River (The Omak Chronicle, WA)
http://www.omakchronicle.com/spt/s080702i.shtml

No one's happy with Columbia salmon sharing (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/sports/localNews/2008/07/07032008_No-ones-happy-with-Columbia-salmon-sharing.cfm/

ALASKA – Copper River reds continue weak run (Alaska Public Radio)
http://aprn.org/2008/07/02/copper-river-reds-continue-weak-run/

CANADA – 30,000 salmon escape farm pen – Incident near Campbell River sparks renewed calls for closed containers (Victoria Times-Colonist, BC)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=e8e01e0c-c2ac-441a-ba8b-e05347585422

San Francisco Chronicle Op/Ed – On Wildlife Conservation: A recipe for wild salmon (San Francisco, CA)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/03/ED4U11IRVS.DTL&feed=rss.opinion

IDAHO – Unwanted species found in E. Idaho reservoir (The Associated Press, via the Olympian)
http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/496700.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

OKLAHOMA – Oklahomans for Responsible Government criticizes dam bond issue for developing low-water dams along the Arkansas River (The Tulsa Beacon)
http://www.tulsabeacon.com/?p=569

AUSTRALIA – Floodwater harvest halted – A NEW policy on floodwater harvesting amounts to the retrospective legalization of Murray-Darling Basin environmental theft, critics say (The Sydney Morning Herald)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/floodwater-harvest-halted/2008/07/03/1214950951545.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

The Clock is Ticking: States Rush to Meet Renewable Portfolio Standard Deadlines (Energy Pulse Commentary)
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1770

U.S. lifts block on solar applications for public land (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9983480-54.html

MASSACHUSETTS – Patrick signs landmark energy bill (well, landmark for Massachusetts – The Boston Globe, MA)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/07/patrick_signs_l.html

Houston Turns to Wind for Power, Savings – In a city dominated by oil, wind power looks to be more economical (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/business/July-08/Houston-Turns-to-Wind-for-Power--Savings.html

NEW YORK – US Senator Chuck Schumer celebrates wind power project in Wyoming County – Urges expansion as boon to region (The Buffalo News, NY)
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/383134.html

CALIFORNIA – The dirty fight over clean power – Pacific Gas & Electric (San Francisco Bay Guardian, CA)
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=6654&catid=4

SCOTLAND, UK – Hydropower scheme 'planned for Scotland' – A proposed hydropower scheme may help Scotland to meet its renewable energy generation target by the year 2020 (Voltimum)
http://www.voltimum.co.uk/news/10631/infopro.profnews.voltimum/Hydropower-scheme--planned-for-Scotland-.html

CONSERVATION

North Carolina regulatory staff opposes Duke Energy's Save-A-Watt (Charlotte Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/06/30/daily36.html?ana=from_rss

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Wenatchee World Opinion – Our money for speeches – When Patrick Moore came to down – “…many of his views appeal to me — pro-nuclear, pro-managed forestry, a very strong defender of hydroelectricity as an important renewable resource...” (Wenatchee, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/OP03/112053710/-1/OP

A little guilt with those hot dogs? How to Have a Green Fourth of July (US News & World Report)
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/fresh-greens/2008/7/3/how-to-have-a-green-fourth-of-july.html

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

State of U.S. Broadband: Demand Hits Speed Bumps (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/07/02/pews-state-of-us-broadband-200/

Many dial-up users prefer the slow lane – Study suggests that attitude rather than availability may be the key reason why more Americans don't have high-speed Internet access (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/369400_broadband03.html?source=rss

Portland, OR – Going cheap on eBay: MetroFi's Wi-Fi gear (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/06/30/daily26.html?ana=from_rss

New Jersey man admits to defrauding Cisco of millions of dollars (The Associated Press, via the San Jose Mercury News, CA)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9768986?source=rss

GENERAL NEWS

US contradicts itself over its own ID theft advice – The government doesn't have to look very far to see who's ignoring its advice on preventing identity theft (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008029071_apriskingidtheft.html?syndication=rss

ELEPHANTS ON ACID - DIVERSIONS

Oregon lawn-chair pilot plans 300-mile flight
http://www.examiner.com/a-1470821~Oregon_lawn_chair_pilot_plans_300_mile_flight.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines

"Spiritual" effects of psychedelic mushrooms last a year?
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0127105120080702?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

From a U.S. hostage in the Colombian jungle, a marriage proposal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080703/ts_csm/ohostages

Alleged Sausage Assault Brings Battery Charge
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16770572/detail.html

What Does Your Car Say About You? Vehicles Can Show Need For Control Of Image
http://www.kirotv.com/2009-cars/16709812/detail.html