Energy News Digest for July 9, 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)

- VIEWPOINT: Watch out for ‘experts’ in Whidbey PUD debate
- Ex-Grays Harbor County PUD employee ordered to pay restitution for theft
- MONTANA – High power prices lead to layoffs at Columbia Falls Aluminum
- Alcoa’s Profit Falls on Higher Costs
- Alcoa Profit Tops Estimates After Price Rise
- CALIFORNIA – Heat could push state's power use to record
- OREGON – Foes of liquefied natural gas call for the courage to say no
- OREGON – Park service warns f liquefied natural gas may hurt river
- HAWAII – Office tenants feeling effects of energy crisis
- Report: Energy industry's ageing workforce threatens competitiveness
- Wenatchee World Opinion – The sockeye and good news
- Congressman Hastings adds funds for Columbia Basin water
- Conservation groups sue WSU over water rights
- Clallam County Commissioners Sign Sewer Agreement with Clallam PUD
- State park's system possible septic solution for Brinnon
- Port of Bremerton Closer to Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Commitment
- Port of Benton biomass pellet project may get federal funding
- British Columbia's Blind Eye to Sun, Wind Power
- Solar Firms Eye Bright Future in U.S.
- Gatorade Co. to operate largest customer-owned solar unit in Salt River Project territory
- GEORGIA – Wind turbines considered for Georgia coast
- Two megawatts of batteries connected to power grid
- It’s Easy Being Green: A Bright Idea
- NEW HAMPSHIRE – The Citizen of Laconia Opinion – Conserving energy means hard decisions
- State-of-the-art sustainable neighborhood
- Glaciers on California's Mt Shasta keep growing
- MONTANA – Missoula considers hiring energy-conscious official
- San Jose Mercury News Op/Ed – Carbon offsets issue hits a nerve
- Energy Pulse Commentary – The Emerging Carbon Market
- Grant PUD increases fiber rates – Increases begin in October
- British Regulators Prescribe More Fiber for ISPs
- Pentagon to reopen $35 billion tanker bid
- Parties dig in heels on primary
- Teen Climber Saved In Remote Olympic Mountains Rescue in Jefferson County
- Wire thieves hit State Patrol facility near Spanaway
- Seattle grocery bag fee proposal gets warm reception
- SuperSonics' name already wiped from Web

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Kvetch • \kuh-VETCH\ • verb – To complain habitually

Angus, the company’s designated Eyore could be counted on to complain about almost everything. The only time that his muttered kvetching could not be heard was when he was asleep at this desk: his face firmly planted on his keyboard. Then, upon his awakening, he would start complaining about the drool that had gotten between the keys during his short nap.

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

VIEWPOINT: Watch out for ‘experts’ in Whidbey PUD debate (PNW Local News, WA)
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/opinion/24088199.html

Ex-Grays Harbor County PUD employee ordered to pay restitution for theft (The Daily World, Aberdeen, WA)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/07/09/local_news/08news.txt

MONTANA – High power prices lead to layoffs at Columbia Falls Aluminum (The Daily Inter Lake, Kalispell, MT)
http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2008/07/08/news/news02.txt

Alcoa’s Profit Falls on Higher Costs (Reuters, via the NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-alcoa.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Alcoa Profit Tops Estimates After Price Rise – Alcoa, the aluminum producer, reported second-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates as the company raised prices. The shares gained in after-hours trading. (Bloomberg News, via the NY Times – spin baby, spin!)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/business/09alcoa.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

CALIFORNIA – Heat could push state's power use to record (The San Francisco Chronicle, CA)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/09/BUT311LPDJ.DTL

OREGON – Foes of liquefied natural gas call for the courage to say no (The Corvallis Gazette-Times, OR)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1479200~Ore__foes_of_LNG_call_for_the_courage_to_say_no.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines

OREGON – Park service warns f liquefied natural gas may hurt river – National Park Service criticizes FERC for faulty environmental review, seeks new report (The Daily Astorian, OR)
http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=52676

HAWAII – Office tenants feeling effects of energy crisis (The Honolulu Advertiser, HI)
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/BUSINESS04/807090383

Report: Energy industry's ageing workforce threatens competitiveness (Utility Automation & Engineering)
http://uaelp.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ONART&PUBLICATION_ID=22&ARTICLE_ID=333804&C=INDUS&dcmp=rss

FISH & WILDLIFE

Wenatchee World Opinion – The sockeye and good news (Wenatchee, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080708/OP03/750102818/-1/OP

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Congressman Hastings adds funds for Columbia Basin water – Money to help solutions 'move forward' (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/07/08/news/news06.txt

Conservation groups sue WSU over water rights (The Associated Press, via The Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080708/NEWS03/242699712/1025/rss1025

Clallam County Commissioners Sign Sewer Agreement with Clallam PUD – Project could bring Carlsborg into compliance in a year (The Sequim Gazette, WA)
http://www.sequimgazette.com/Article/articleDetail.exm/Index/article/2008-07-09_COUNTY_COMMISSIONERS_SIGN_SEWER_AGREEMENT/

State park's system possible septic solution for Brinnon – A new on-site septic system scheduled for completion in 2010 at Dosewallips State Park ultimately could hook up to Brinnon's commercial core (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080709/NEWS/807090307

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Port of Bremerton Closer to Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Commitment With Pursuit of $2.5 Million Grant (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jul/08/port-steps-toward-seed-commitment-with-pursuit/

Port of Benton biomass pellet project may get federal funding (The Tri-City Herald, WA)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/234442.html

British Columbia's Blind Eye to Sun, Wind Power – Why is Germany's solar future more sunny? Province lags as other places pay top dollar to promote range of renewable power (The Tyee, Canada)
http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/07/08/SunWind/

Solar Firms Eye Bright Future in U.S. (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92342742&ft=1&f=2

Gatorade Co. to operate largest customer-owned solar unit in Salt River Project territory (Phoenix Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/07/07/daily26.html?ana=from_rss

GEORGIA – Wind turbines considered for Georgia coast (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA)
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/business/stories/2008/07/09/wind_turbine_georgia_coast.html

Two megawatts of batteries connected to power grid (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9985393-54.html?hhTest

CONSERVATION

It’s Easy Being Green: A Bright Idea (Center for American Progress)
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/07/bright_idea.html

NEW HAMPSHIRE – The Citizen of Laconia Opinion – Conserving energy means hard decisions (Laconia, NH)
http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/GJOPINION02/723893213/-1/CITNEWS

State-of-the-art sustainable neighborhood (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/07/07092008_Stateoftheart-sustainable-neighborhood.cfm

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Glaciers on California's Mt Shasta keep growing (The Associated Press, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1478010~Glaciers_on_California_s_Mt_Shasta_keep_growing.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines

MONTANA – Missoula considers hiring energy-conscious official – City being urged to hire a sustainability coordinator to help take on global warming (The Missoulian, Missoula, MT)
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/09/news/local/news05.txt

San Jose Mercury News Op/Ed – Carbon offsets issue hits a nerve: Readers Weigh In On Program That Pays To Not Harvest Trees
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9825595?source=rss

Energy Pulse Commentary – The Emerging Carbon Market
http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1779

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Grant PUD increases fiber rates – Increases begin in October (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/07/08/news/news01.txt

British Regulators Prescribe More Fiber for ISPs (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/07/08/british-regulators-prescribe-more-fiber-for-isps/

GENERAL NEWS

Pentagon to reopen $35 billion tanker bid (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Post Intelligencer, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/370114_tanker10.html

Parties dig in heels on primary – The Democratic and Republican parties say the fight over the state primary isn't over yet and that if the election goes ahead as planned next month the results could be thrown out (The Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008040496_primary09m0.html?syndication=rss

Teen Climber Saved In Remote Olympic Mountains Rescue in Jefferson County (KIRO-TV, Seattle, WA)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/16825702/detail.html?treets=sea&tid=2653595907813&tml=sea_7am&tmi=sea_7am_1_09000707092008&ts=H

Wire thieves hit State Patrol facility near Spanaway (The Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008041139_webwirethreft09m.html?syndication=rss

Seattle grocery bag fee proposal gets warm reception – A proposal to ban foam containers and charge for disposable grocery bags got a warmly uproarious -- and, at times, absurd -- reception during its first public hearing (The Seattle Post Intelligencer, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/370107_bags09.html

SuperSonics' name already wiped from Web (KOMO-TV, Seattle, WA)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/24195654.html

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Washington couple wins lawsuit over neighbor's signs
http://www.examiner.com/a-1477719~Wash__couple_wins_lawsuit_over_neighbor_s_signs.html?cid=rss-Montana_Headlines

Cable system fails to deliver promised prize to local winner – or, the “Case of the Incredible Shrinking Big-Screen TV”
http://www.enewscourier.com/local/local_story_183220754.html

Which Breed Of Dog Is Most Aggressive? Study Finds Dachshund To Be Most Aggressive Breed
http://www.kirotv.com/family/16819735/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=irresistible