Energy News Digest for Setpember 10, 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)

- Seattle Times Editorial –PSE's labyrinth ownership deal
- Randy Hardy: Expert Analysis Shows Proposed New PUDs Competing for BPA Power Will Significantly Increase Electric Rates
- Puget Sound Energy Busy Cutting Contractor Checks
- Post-Intelligencery Columnist – Chasing nuclear energy windmills
- Chelan County PUD Energy Resources manager to receive year’s pay as severance
- Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- Wyden Wants Alaskan Gas Exports Revoked
- Pa. governor may seek to extend electric rate caps
- Public Utilities Say States Such as Pennsylvania Must Begin Protecting Consumers
- To win the presidential race, it takes energy
- Legal Fees Set in Enron Case
- Kickapoo Nation Sets Sights On Energy Independence
- Washington tribes netting clues on salmon
- Cold water rings dinner bell for West Coast salmon
- Idaho Fish Tales – Salmon migration numbers raise hopes
- IDAHO – Is this salmon recovery?
- Supervisors briefed on Klamath River salmon plague
- 700 North American freshwater fish species at risk, survey says
- Project restores fish habitat on Entiat River
- OREGON – New fish intake is taking shape
- Salmon fish success centered at Bridgeport
- Willapa Bay oyster grower sues state over herbicides
- Creation Of Lake Management District Sent To Mason Lake Property Owners
- Portland Will Use More Well Water In The Future
- Eco-Friendly Burials Take ‘Green’ to the Grave
- Department of Energy installs solar system on DC headquarters
- The Clean Energy Act could mean lower carbon emissions – and lower electric bills
- PENNSYLVANIA – Energy conservation pushed
- Inflate This: Conservation and Efficiency Are Key to Our Energy Future
- To slow global warming, install white roofs
- Listen: The Methane Time Bomb is Ticking Very Loudly! Delaware Is A Broadband Beast – Washington State is Dead Last
- Earthlink Expands Presence In California
- Google-backed project aims to give 3 billion more people Net access
- Massachusetts – New Ashford could be wired this month
- Congress questions high cost of texting
- Pentagon's delay of Air Force tanker decision is victory for Boeing
- Kitsap and Mason Home Prices Rise
- Olympia’s Nuclear-free law loses 5-2 vote
- 120 Foot Wireless Tower Stolen
- Petition to Move Benton County Seat to Kennewick
- Massive particle collider passes first key tests
- Berkeley Tree Protesters Climb Down

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Gestalt • \guh-STALT\ • noun: a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts (think of the statement that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts).

A football team is a perfect example of gestalt; a quarterback, lineman, or running back alone cannot win a game. But as a unit, their varied talents enable the individual talents to overcome defenders and score.

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

Seattle Times Editorial –PSE's labyrinth ownership deal
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008170013_pugeted10.html

Randy Hardy: Expert Analysis Shows Proposed New PUDs Competing for BPA Power Will Significantly Increase Electric Rates (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/expert-analysis-shows-proposed-new/story.aspx?guid=%7B88F779FB-4ED8-4E45-A5E3-19B98DA4E2F3%7D&dist=hppr

Puget Sound Energy Busy Cutting Contractor Checks (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)
http://www.kelaam.com/pages/localnews/?PSE-Busy-Cutting-Contractor-Checks=1&blockID=13598&feedID=410

Post-Intelligencery Columnist – Chasing nuclear energy windmills (Seattle, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/378384_jacksononline10.html?source=rss

Chelan County PUD Energy Resources manager to receive year’s pay as severance – Lowe agrees to resign after receiving $178,000 deal (Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/article/20080909/NEWS04/709099929

Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “…license to construct, operate, and maintain a new hydroelectric power generating facility at Hebgen Dam on the Madison River in Gallatin County, Montana. (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – Links to PDF File)
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/DC442E6BCB77C45C882574BF008063BC/$file/0671944.pdf?openelement

Wyden Wants Alaskan Gas Exports Revoked (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/3015-wyden-wants-alaskan-gas-exports-revoked/

Pa. governor may seek to extend electric rate caps – Pennsylvania governor says he would seek to extend electric rate caps if lawmakers don't act (CNN Money)
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/2a3ae451ff9c9b6c574c6275413a2bfc.htm

Public Utilities Say States Such as Pennsylvania Must Begin Protecting Consumers from Big Jumps in Their Electricity Bills by Getting Congress to Fix the System (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/states-such-pennsylvania-say-public/story.aspx?guid=%7BCABC5B59-6C55-4065-98DF-B7B5E0DD8C85%7D&dist=hppr

To win the presidential race, it takes energy (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-09-10-candidates-energy-policy_N.htm

Legal Fees Set in Enron Case – Lawyers for investors in Enron will get $688 million in fees (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/business/10enron.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Kickapoo Nation Sets Sights On Energy Independence (Renewable Energy World)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=53533&src=rss

FISH & WILDLIFE

Washington tribes netting clues on salmon – Fish are being caught and tagged for a study, so expect to see fishing equipment out early (The Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080910/NEWS01/709109836/-1/rss02

Cold water rings dinner bell for West Coast salmon (The Associated Press)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ibLVYcDJgJZFW5xdPsBEqYrhnSugD933IR800

Idaho Fish Tales – Salmon migration numbers raise hopes (Boise Weekly, ID)
http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A317252

IDAHO – Is this salmon recovery? Officials hope thousands of Redfish Lake sockeye will return someday (Mountain Express, Sun Valley, ID)
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005122538

Supervisors briefed on Klamath River salmon plague (Eureka Times-Standard, CA)
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_10425955?source=rss

700 North American freshwater fish species at risk, survey says (Miami Herald, FL)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/679698.html

Project restores fish habitat on Entiat River (Wenatchee World, WA)http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/NEWS04/709099975

OREGON – New fish intake is taking shape – Goal is to be moving fish, improving water quality by April (The Bend Bulletin, OR)
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/NEWS0107/809090423/-1/rss

Salmon fish success centered at Bridgeport (Omak Chronicle, WA)
http://www.omakchronicle.com/spt/s080909k.shtml

Willapa Bay oyster grower sues state over herbicides (The Daily News, Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/09/10//area_news/doc48c764a757828519351721.txt

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Mason County Commission To Send Creation Of Lake Management District To Mason Lake Property Owners (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/selectmoduleid/3468/ArticleID/4991/reftab/1896/Default.aspx

Portland Will Use More Well Water In The Future (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/3007-portland-will-use-more-well-water-future/

Eco-Friendly Burials Take ‘Green’ to the Grave (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/environment/Sept-Octo/Eco-Friendly-Burials-Take--Green--to-the-Grave.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Department of Energy installs solar system on DC headquarters (Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/09/08/daily37.html?ana=from_rss

Cleaner and cheaper – The Clean Energy Act could mean lower carbon emissions – and lower electric bills (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=7067&volume_id=317&issue_id=395&volume_num=42&issue_num=50&l=1

CONSERVATION

PENNSYLVANIA – Energy conservation pushed (Delco Times, Primus, PA)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20113489&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18177&rfi=6

Inflate This: Conservation and Efficiency Are Key to Our Energy Future (Renewable Energy World)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/recolumnists/story?id=53526

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

To slow global warming, install white roofs (Los Angeles Times, CA)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-roofs10-2008sep10,0,2976609.story

Listen: The Methane Time Bomb is Ticking Very Loudly! (Renewable Energy World)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/partner/story?id=53529&src=rss

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Delaware Is A Broadband Beast – New Akamai study ranks fastest countries, States “…Slowest in the Nation: Washington State once again topped the list of U.S. states with the largest percentage of connections observed at
256 Kbps or below…” (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Delaware-Is-A-Broadband-Beast-97602

Earthlink Expands Presence In California – Will offer cable broadband via Time Warner Cable (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Earthlink-Expands-Presence-In-California-97611

Google-backed project aims to give 3 billion more people Net access (C/NET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10037036-94.html?tag=nl.e703

Massachusetts – New Ashford could be wired this month (North Adams Transcript, MA)
http://www.thetranscript.com/ci_10426823

Congress questions high cost of texting – The price of text messaging has doubled industry-wide in the last three years, and Congress wants to know why (C/NET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10037221-38.html?tag=nl.e703

GENERAL NEWS

Pentagon's delay of Air Force tanker decision is victory for Boeing (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008170299_webtanker10.html?syndication=rss

Kitsap and Mason Home Prices Rise (Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/sep/09/kitsap-and-mason-home-prices-rise/?partner=RSS

Olympia’s Nuclear-free law loses 5-2 vote – Supporters of ordinance fail to sway council (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/579694.html

120 Foot Wireless Tower Stolen – Risk-Taking Thieves Steal Scrap Metal (WJAC-TV, Johnstown, PA)
http://www.wjactv.com/news/17432092/detail.html

Fred Staples Gets Ready to File Petition to Move Benton County Seat to Kennewick (KNDO-TV, Tri Cities)
http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=8981341

Massive particle collider passes first key tests (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008168681_apbigbang.html?syndication=rss

Berkeley Tree Protesters Climb Down (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/us/10tree.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

DIVERSIONS

Airline 'Loses' Corpse – Horrified Hubby Sues
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09092008/news/regionalnews/airline_loses_corpse_128154.htm?CMP=EMC-email_edition&DATE=09092008

Dublin High School lockers stuffed with dead animals
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_10420735?source=rss

Man Says He's Eaten 23K Big Macs Since 1972
http://www.kirotv.com/health/17438058/detail.html?treets=sea&tid=2653595907813&tml=sea_12pm&tmi=sea_12pm_1_02000209102008&ts=H

Postman hoards 20,000 letters in Germany
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL946086520080909?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest