Energy News Digest for September 15, 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)

- Jefferson PUD to formally receive consultant's report on feasibility of providing electrical power
- Anti-PUD group well-funded front for utility
- How will power play? A Q&A with Pacific Power president Pat Reiten
- FERC expected to OK Oregon liquefied natural gas site
- MONTANA – Debate continues over NorthWestern Energy’s Colstrip power proposal
- Energy key issue in Montana governor's election bid
- MINNESOTA – 'Decoupling' plan is splitting fans and foes of the strategy
- Nuclear industry looking for a wave of new hires
- Utilities a good alternative in tough times
- “Salmon Stronghold” – New strategy targets abundant salmon runs
- They're not pretty or good swimmers, but we need lamprey
- Coho fair game on Tuesday
- Otters making comeback in Vancouver Island waters
- Seattle chef inducted into the Pacific Northwest Wild Salmon Hall of Fame
- AP Enterprise: Drugs affect more drinking water
- World's oceans could become "soupy swill" of algae
- Discovery Bay getting back to its old self
- Alcoa to remove PCB pollution in Vancouver
- Wind-Power Politics
- In our view: Gone with the wind? Congress must renew tax credit if it is serious about energy independence
- Critics claim deception in Calif. energy measures
- Energy Independence a Real Possibility for Bainbridge Island
- Lyman Glacier: Frozen reservoir above Lake Chelan is dying
- Idaho Awarded $15M to Study Impact of Climate Change on Snake, Salmon Rivers
- PUDs back fiber-improvement funding to create a new backup circuit within the region’s fiber-optic network
- Call center to expand in Spokane Valley and add 370 jobs
- TEXAS – Best practices for locating data centers makes San Antonio a hot spot
- Business Spotlight: Can Telecommuting Take Root in Kitsap?
- Comcast Emails Subscribers about Bandwidth Caps
- Cable Group Doesn’t Want to Free the Airwaves
- AOL’s Luddites Love Their E-Mail More than Google’s Geeks
- OREGON – Rim Semiconductor locked out of office
- Markets in turmoil by Lehman failure and Merrill sale
- Fires at Evergreen State College likely intentionally set
- Conservation groups sue over lumber pact dollars
- Engineer in fatal California train collision may have been texting
- Liquid asphalt flowing again in Western Washington
- Seattle Seahawks worth $1 billion, says Forbes
- Thieves 'mine' precious metals from Port Angeles vehicles

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Replete • \rih-PLEET\ • adjective – 1: fully or abundantly provided or filled 2a: abundantly fed b fat, stout 3: complete

Albert had been waiting for his traditional birthday feast for weeks: haggis and Yorkshire pudding, replete with treacle tarts and lard sandwiches. Unfortunately for him, in an effort to reign in his weight, his entire family had decided to make his birthday dinner a culinary intervention. The menu included watercress salad, cucumber sandwiches, and celery soup.

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

Jefferson PUD to formally receive consultant's report on feasibility of providing electrical power (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080914/NEWS/809140308

Anti-PUD group well-funded front for utility (The Whidbey Examiner, Coupeville, WA)
http://www.whidbeyexaminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=1724&TM=63987.22

How will power play? A Q&A with Pacific Power president Pat Reiten (Yakima Herald-Republic)
http://www.yakimaherald.com/stories/7608

FERC expected to OK Oregon liquefied natural gas site (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1221272717110830.xml&coll=7

MONTANA – Debate continues over NorthWestern Energy’s Colstrip power proposal (The Helena Independent-Record, MT)
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/09/13/state/70st_080913_psc.txt

Energy key issue in Montana governor's election bid (Associated Press)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1580384~Energy_key_issue_in_Mont__governor_s_election_bid.html?cid=rss-Montana_Headlines

MINNESOTA – 'Decoupling' plan is splitting fans and foes of the strategy – Minnesota set up revenue guarantees for utilities that promote energy efficiency, but some are questioning the rewards (The Star-Tribune, Minneapolis, St. Paul, MN)
http://www.startribune.com/business/28314854.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUJ

Nuclear industry looking for a wave of new hires (The Associated Press)
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080912/il_nuclear_power_colleges.html?.v=1

Utilities a good alternative in tough times (San Francisco Chronicle, CA)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/14/BULA12SN7O.DTL&feed=rss.business

FISH & WILDLIFE

“Salmon Stronghold” – New strategy targets abundant salmon runs “…The Bonneville Power Administration…spent $165 million on habitat improvements and fish-related dam operations…” (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/28372469.html

They're not pretty or good swimmers, but we need lamprey (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/theyre_not_pretty_or_very_good.html

Coho fair game on Tuesday (The Daily World, Aberdeen, WA)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/09/14/local_news/02news.txt

Otters making comeback in Vancouver Island waters – Fur trade nearly wiped out species on the West Coast (The Victoria Times-Colonist, BC)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=3d7d8c3b-bc3c-4e6d-817e-a4e907de023f

Seattle chef inducted into the Pacific Northwest Wild Salmon Hall of Fame (KIRO-Radio, Seattle)
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=87985

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

AP Enterprise: Drugs affect more drinking water (The Associated Press)
http://news.yahoo.com/s//ap/20080911/ap_on_re_us/pharmawater_testing_update

World's oceans could become "soupy swill" of algae: expert – BC not immune to algae bloom outbreaks (The Victoria Times-Colonist, BC)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=4afe0ae4-f3aa-430e-93b3-3d07594802b3

Discovery Bay getting back to its old self -- shellfish growing to be reopened soon (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080915/NEWS/809150306

Alcoa to remove PCB pollution in Vancouver (The Associated Press)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/584016.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Wind-Power Politics (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/magazine/14wind-t.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Columbian Editorial – In our view: Gone with the wind? Congress must renew tax credit if it is serious about energy independence (Vancouver, WA)
http://columbian.com/article/20080914/OPINION02/809129949/-1/opinion

Critics claim deception in Calif. energy measures – An increased renewable energy mandate, and a measure to provide alternative fuel vehicle subsidies (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008179982_apapfncaliforniaalternativeenergy.html?syndication=rss

CONSERVATION

Energy Independence a Real Possibility for Bainbridge Island (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/sep/13/energy-independence-a-real-possibility-for/?partner=RSS

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Lyman Glacier: Frozen reservoir above Lake Chelan is dying (Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080913/NEWS04/709139998/1025/rss1025

Idaho Awarded $15M to Study Impact of Climate Change on Snake, Salmon Rivers (Northwest Public Radio)
http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=4308

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

PUDs back fiber-improvement funding to create a new backup circuit within the region’s fiber-optic network (Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080915/BIZ/709159992/1001

Call center to expand in Spokane Valley and add 370 jobs (Puget Sound Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/09/08/daily31.html?ana=from_rss

TEXAS – Best practices for locating data centers makes San Antonio a hot spot (San Antonio Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/09/15/focus4.html?ana=from_rss

Business Spotlight: Can Telecommuting Take Root in Kitsap? (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/sep/14/how-to-make-telecommuting-work/?partner=RSS

Comcast Emails Subscribers about Bandwidth Caps (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/09/14/comcast-emails-subscribers-about-bandwidth-caps/

Cable Group Doesn’t Want to Free the Airwaves – Discounts Google’s hope of using the white spaces between digital television stations for wireless broadband (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/09/12/cable-group-doesnt-want-to-free-the-airwaves/

AOL’s Luddites Love Their E-Mail More than Google’s Geeks (NY Times)
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/aols-luddites-love-their-e-mail-more-than-googles-geeks/?th&emc=th

OREGON – Rim Semiconductor locked out of office (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/09/08/daily52.html?ana=from_rss

GENERAL NEWS

Markets in turmoil by Lehman failure and Merrill sale (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0927996520080915?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest

Fires at Evergreen State College likely intentionally set (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/28390129.html

Conservation groups sue over lumber pact dollars – Suing over a decision to give millions of dollars to forestry foundations, saying the money illegally bypassed the U.S. Treasury and Congress (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008176350_apwaforestlawsuit2ndldwritethru.html?syndication=rss

Engineer in fatal California train collision may have been texting (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008180087_traincollision15.html

Liquid asphalt flowing again in Western Washington (Associated Press)
http://columbian.com/article/20080915/NEWS06/309159996/-1/news

Seattle Seahawks worth $1 billion, says Forbes (Puget Sound Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2008/09/08/daily30.html?ana=from_rss

Thieves 'mine' precious metals from Port Angeles vehicles (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080914/NEWS/809140306

DIVERSIONS

Mom allegedly uses daughter's ID to be cheerleader
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080913/ap_on_fe_st/odd_cheerleading_mom;_ylt=AstbZW47Oi.NJPcJD18cPBrtiBIF

NY charity turns down share of $3M lottery jackpot
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_fe_st/odd_donation_declined;_ylt=AmubWH05qV73raJ5lMsFj.btiBIF

Dutch on edge as 'horror dentists' go on trial
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_fe_st/odd_bad_dentists;_ylt=Aue3gmLamSLZbqcU6kxIwI3tiBIF

Teacher OK after crashing into bear on a bicycle
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_bicyclist_vs_bear;_ylt=AnHAbtNV7PCFlwEUuk.y4GDtiBIF