Energy News Digest for August 12, 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)

- Statewide PUD study touts tax payments by those which provide electricity
- Chelan County PUD Power Future
- IDAHO – Nuclear developer says it’s moving forward in Idaho despite losses
- OHIO – State says lessons didn't stick for utilities after outages in 2003
- TEXAS – Houston wins a dubious honor: Its power prices are higher than those in Dallas
- MISSOURI – Cass County prepares final OK of Aquila plant
- Copper thefts rising across nation
- Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say
- For a Recently Plumbed Neighborhood, Validation in a Verdict
- Oregon runs faster to catch the wind
- Kennewick Company Working On A New Way To Capture The Sun’s Energy
- 3 million bulbs distributed; now, how to get rid of them
- The good news: we’re meeting our conservation goals! The bad news: it’s because the factories are shuttered!
- Juneau continues applying conservation lessons learned in power emergency
- Tree climbing: climate change causes move up the mountain
- Study: Climate change to produce extreme rains
- Broadband Growth Rate Plummets
- Cable takes bigger bite of Internet business
- It’s Showtime for Tiered Broadband
- States may tax iTunes, other digital downloads
- Newsflash: Congress Discovers that Web Firms Track Data
- Mice that roared: Logitech’s computer peripherals drive booming growth
- Off Beat: Effort to earn cell tower revenue never flags
- City Of Shelton’s 2009 Budget Looks “Dismal”
- Highway Three Study between Shelton and Bremerton
- Teenage bear hunter to face manslaughter charge
- Woman Chases Neighbors With Machete, Dies In Bizarre Fire
- State's high business ranking by Forbes touted, then disputed
- Food industry seeks signatures to toss city's bag fee

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Homily • \HAH-muh-lee\ • noun – 1: a usually short sermon *2: a lecture or discourse on or of a moral theme 3: an inspirational catchphrase; also: platitude

The $12,000 a show lecturer droned on and on. His homily on the virtues of living in a hut made of sticks and wearing bark clothing to reduce his “carbon footprint” began to wear on the money-paying attendees. “I think his best contribution to reducing CO2 emissions would be for him to shut up,” muttered Al to his seatmate in the climate-controlled auditorium.

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

Statewide PUD study touts tax payments by those which provide electricity (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080812/NEWS/808120307

CHELAN COUNTY PUD POWER FUTURE – Chelan County PUD commissioners this afternoon adopted the utility's Integrated Resource Plan. PUD officials say the plan shows that Chelan County PUD will have plenty of resources to meet expected power load for the next 10 years, thanks to its three hydroelectric projects and its share of the Nine-Canyon wind farm project operated by Energy Northwest near Kennewick. The plan is required by the state and can be updated at any time new information becomes available. (KPQ Radio, Wenatchee, WA)

IDAHO – Nuclear developer says it’s moving forward in Idaho despite losses (The Idaho Statesman, Boise, ID)
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/466714.html

OHIO – State says lessons didn't stick for utilities after outages in 2003 (McClatchy Tribune Business News, via the Power Marketing Association)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5CkqpljgjTTfct%3EEvbfen%5Fv

TEXAS – Houston wins a dubious honor: Its power prices are higher than those in Dallas; figures indicate (McClatchy Tribune Business News, via the Power Marketing Association)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5CkqphkqpUTfct%3EEvbfen%5Fv

MISSOURI – Cass County prepares final OK of Aquila plant (Kansas City Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2008/08/11/daily7.html?ana=from_rss

Copper thefts rising across nation, Wabash Valley: Thieves targeting metal? Even utility pole ground wires (McClatchy Tribune Business News, via the Power Marketing Association)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5CkqphoxuWTfct%3EEvbfen%5Fv

FISH & WILDLIFE

Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/11/AR2008081102299.html?nav=rss_email/components

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

For a Recently Plumbed Neighborhood, Validation in a Verdict (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/us/12ohio.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Oregon runs faster to catch the wind – The amount of wind power produced along the blustery Columbia Gorge is expected to more than triple in coming years (The Bend Bulletin, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008106953_windpower12.html?syndication=rss

Kennewick Company Working On A New Way To Capture The Sun’s Energy (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/2796-kennewick-company-working-new-way-capture-suns-energy/

CONSERVATION

3 million bulbs distributed; now, how to get rid of them (The Seattle Times, WA)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008106909_lightbulbs12m.html?syndication=rss

The good news: we’re meeting our conservation goals! The bad news: it’s because the factories are shuttered! Factory closures help cut Windsor power consumption (The Windsor Star, Canada)
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=0beb5c17-7730-4259-9017-0a7bbff5b3a9

Juneau continues applying conservation lessons learned in power emergency (Alaska Public Radio)
http://aprn.org/2008/08/11/juneau-continues-applying-conservation-lessons-learned-in-power-emergency/

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Tree climbing: climate change causes move up the mountain (Scientific American)
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=tree-climbing-climate-change-causes-2008-08-11

Study: Climate change to produce extreme rains (Christian Science Monitor)
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/08/12/study-climate-change-to-produce-extreme-rains/

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Broadband Growth Rate Plummets – Second quarter additions worst yet (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Broadband-Growth-Rate-Plummets-96925

Cable takes bigger bite of Internet business – Comcast signs more customers than AT&T, Verizon combined The Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080812/BIZ/657279730/-1/rss03

It’s Showtime for Tiered Broadband (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/08/11/its-showtime-for-tiered-broadband/

States may tax iTunes, other digital downloads (C/NET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10013327-38.html?tag=nl.e703

Newsflash: Congress Discovers that Web Firms Track Data (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/08/12/newsflash-congress-discovers-that-web-firms-track-data/

Mice that roared: Logitech’s computer peripherals drive booming growth (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/business/businessNews/2008/08/08112008_Mice-that-roared-Logitechs-computer-peripherals-drive-booming-growth.cfm?newsletter=1

Off Beat: Effort to earn cell tower revenue never flags (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/08/08112008_Off-Beat-Effort-to-earn-cell-tower-revenue-never-flags.cfm?newsletter=2

GENERAL NEWS

City Of Shelton’s 2009 Budget Looks “Dismal”; $600,000 Hole (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/selectmoduleid/3468/ArticleID/780/reftab/1896/Default.aspx

Highway Three Study between Shelton and Bremerton – DOT Wants to Ready Local Highways for Heavier Traffic (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/aug/11/dot-wants-ready-local-highways-heavier-traffic/

Teenage bear hunter to face manslaughter charge (Skagit Valley Herald, via Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1532951~Teenage_bear_hunter_to_face_manslaughter_charge.html?cid=rss-Washington_Headlines

Woman Chases Neighbors With Machete, Dies In Bizarre Fire (KIRO-TV, Seattle, WA)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17165378/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=news

State's high business ranking by Forbes touted, then disputed (The Tri-City Herald, WA)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/915/story/272991.html

Food industry seeks signatures to toss city's bag fee (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/374525_bags12.html

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Spilled Cash Starts Free-For-All on California Freeway
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17159128/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=irresistible

Trail Of Cheetohs Leads To Snack Thieves In Minnesota
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17159210/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=irresistible

Winnie-the-Pooh held for robbery?
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUST27183520080812?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Those Four Irresistible Strings – Suddenly there’s something irresistible again about ukuleles
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/fashion/10ukulele.html?_r=1&oref=slogin#