Energy News Digest for August 5, 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)

- U.S. regulators approve Puget Energy buyout
- Puget Energy's profit declines in second quarter
- Cosmopolis mill deal hasn’t “blown up”
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Op/Ed – Heat vs. eat is untenable choice
- Three in the running for Grant County PUD commission seat
- Public gets rare chance to view sockeye salmon's return to Idaho
- Orca calf's carcass raises more pollution questions
- Teens' 'clean' carwash raises money
- Sea lion lays claim to sailboat
- OREGON – Selling Water to Fund State Programs
- City of Shelton Asks For State Funding For Sewer Plant Improvements
- Yakima hydrant vandal suspects held
- Solar power proponents call for Chelan PUD leadership
- Report: Power giants likely to miss California renewable energy goal
- Utilities And Solar Marketing Programs
- Effects Of The Ethanol Mandate On The Price Of Corn
- Longview Councilwoman files complaint over window company's sales pitch
- Living Green: Energy-Saving Roofs
- Coal's future is safe - but what about the climate?
- Virgin forests more efficient at storing carbon
- The Daily News Editorial – Government too quick to seek lean, green fix
- You Say You Want a Green Revolution?
- Is your Netflix queue destroying the environment?
- NEWS RELEASE – Mason General Hospital Named 2008 “Most Wired” Hospital
- AOL Is Moving Closer To Jettisoning Dial-Up
- Will Frontier Enforce New 5GB Cap?
- Delta Plans to Offer Wi-Fi on Its Jets
- 'Spam King' once felt 'invincible'
- Washington State smog alert as local temperatures climb toward 90
- Missing Union Bicyclist Found Safe in Lynden
- Weyerhaeuser cutting 1,500 jobs in Federal Way, posts third consecutive quarterly loss
- Economic chill: Washington Governor orders hiring freeze
- WA investigator accused of stealing drugs from the dead
- Mason County Rules Belfair Espresso Stand to Be ‘Erotic' Entertainment
- Clallam County Fair manager quits days before annual event

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Witting • \WITT-ting\ • noun – Knowledge or awareness of something: cognizance

Abernathy was the witting accomplice of the renegade mortgage broker. “Sure that fry cook at the local greasy spoon makes 100 grand a year,” he chortled as he notarized the verification of income over his signature.

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

U.S. regulators approve Puget Energy buyout (Puget Sound Business Journal, WA)
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/08/04/daily5.html?ana=from_rss

Puget Energy's profit declines in second quarter (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/373528_localearns05.html?source=rss

Cosmopolis mill deal hasn’t “blown up” – Evergreen Pulp’s local team has taken a “hiatus” from participating in the negotiating effort with Weyerhaeuser (The Daily World, Aberdeen, WA)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/08/04/local_news/01news.txt

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Op/Ed – Heat vs. eat is untenable choice
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/373495_energy05.html?source=rss

Three in the running for Grant County PUD commission seat (The Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080804/NEWS04/532867564/1001/rss1001

FISH & WILDLIFE

Public gets rare chance to view sockeye salmon's return to Idaho (The Idaho Statesman)
http://www.idahostatesman.com/102/story/460373.html

Orca calf's carcass raises more pollution questions – Researchers study animal found dead in San Juan Islands (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373519_orca05.html?source=rss

Teens' 'clean' carwash raises money – Their salmon-friendly kit keeps soap out of waterways (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373581_carwash05.html?source=rss

Sea lion lays claim to sailboat (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008092036_sealion05m.html?syndication=rss

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

OREGON – Selling Water to Fund State Programs (The Oregon Commentator)
http://www.oregoncommentator.com/2008/08/04/selling-water-to-fund-state-programs/

City of Shelton Sends Letter Asking For State Funding For Improvements to Sewer Plant (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/selectmoduleid/3468/ArticleID/727/reftab/1896/Default.aspx

Yakima hydrant vandal suspects held (Yakima Herald Republic, WA)
http://www.yakimaherald.com/stories/6464

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Solar power proponents call for Chelan PUD leadership (The Wenatchee World – Ed. Note: Although I-937 doesn’t give it credit, the Chelan SNAP program should get kudos for it’s progressive efforts!)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/NEWS04/352832816

Report: Power giants likely to miss California renewable energy goal (Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal, CA)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/08/04/daily30.html?ana=from_rss

Utilities And Solar Marketing Programs (Renewable Energy World)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/ate/story?id=53203&src=rss

Effects Of The Ethanol Mandate On The Price Of Corn (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93293391&ft=1&f=3

CONSERVATION

Longview Councilwoman files complaint over window company's sales pitch – Company claimed it had a deal with the city to promote energy conservation (The Daily News, Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/08/05/area_news/doc4897e3c4813a5723773171.txt

Living Green: Energy-Saving Roofs (WCPO-TV, Cincinnati, OH)
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f38f7b4d-d4c1-4167-9606-eccd619e0260&rss=703

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Coal's future is safe - but what about the climate? (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL2125126320080805

Virgin forests more efficient at storing carbon (Reuters)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080804.wforests0804/BNStory/Science/home

The Daily News Editorial – Government too quick to seek lean, green fix (Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/08/05/editorial/doc4897f5bc35971786901558.txt

You Say You Want a Revolution – If America's serious about going green, some tradeoffs will have to be made (Newsweek Magazine)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/150770?from=rss

Video Stores vs. Online Rentals – Is your Netflix queue destroying the environment? (Slate Magazine)
http://www.slate.com/id/2196651/?from=rss

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

NEWS RELEASE – Mason General Hospital Named 2008 “Most Wired” Hospital – Mason General Hospital was recently named to the nation’s “Most Wired – Rural” hospitals, according to the results of the 2008 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine. (From Mason General Hospital – Ed. Note: The Hospital is a big user on the PUD 3 fiber optic network)

AOL Is Moving Closer To Jettisoning Dial-Up (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080402116.html?nav=rss_technology

Will Frontier Enforce New 5GB Cap? Opposition grows to telco's definition of 'unreasonable' (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Will-Frontier-Enforce-New-5GB-Cap-96723

Delta Plans to Offer Wi-Fi on Its Jets (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/business/06wifi.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1217956740-lw+OcB5qWYmF7db+FTWnZQ

'Spam King' once felt 'invincible' – Desire for 'notoriety' part of e-mail crimes (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373497_spamking05.html?source=rss

GENERAL NEWS

Washington State smog alert as local temperatures climb toward 90 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373614_weather06.html?source=rss

Missing Union Bicyclist Found Safe in Lynden (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/aug/04/missing-union-bicyclist-found-safe-in-lynden/

Weyerhaeuser cutting 1,500 jobs in Federal Way, posts third consecutive quarterly loss (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008092515_webweyco05.html

Economic chill: Washington Governor orders hiring freeze (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008090804_apwagregoirehiringfreeze.html?syndication=rss

WA investigator accused of stealing drugs from the dead (The Associated Press, via the Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/531484.html

Mason County Rules Belfair Espresso Stand to Be ‘Erotic' Entertainment (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/aug/04/belfair-espresso-stand-ruled-to-be-145erotic/

Clallam County Fair manager quits days before annual event (KONP Radio, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.konp.com/local/3876

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Woman Stuck In Traffic, Bills Michigan for Gas Used While Waiting in Construction Zone
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/17097104/detail.html

'Local Idiot' Learns Road Closed Hard Way – Man Ignores 'Road Closed' Sign, Sees Train Destroy Truck
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/17097713/detail.html

CRIME: Pasco palm reader doesn’t foresee jail time
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/945/story/263840.html

Man Gobbles Pot After Crash, Police Say
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/17097191/detail.html