Energy News Digest for October 20, 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)

- Port Townsend Leader Editorial –Form Jefferson County Electricity Utility: Vote yes
- Candidates seek Whidbey Island PUD commissioner seats
- Grays Harbor PUD Election – Sound investment or irresponsible debt?
- Lewis County Power Line Theft Ring Sentencing
- Bonneville Power Administration offers $25,000 reward in wire thefts
- Montana – Funding questions linger as Great Falls area power plant breaks ground
- Vancouver Island – Massive blackout traced to city line
- Utilities consolidation goes on: Exelon for NRG
- FERC issues its final rules on electric competition
- PJM Board Authorizes $1.8 Billion in Transmission Additions, Upgrades
- Grant PUD forklift team wins rodeo
- Fresh Coho Swarming into Columbia System
- Yakama tribe restoring Coho salmon habitat
- Conservationists nudge Feds to help save Willamette River salmon
- Oregon – Detroit Lake could get drained temporarily under new salmon plan
- Congressman Baird: Indiscriminate harvest hurts salmon
- International group puts Pacific Sockeye on endangered list
- NOAA Fisheries says FERC violates species act in liquefied natural gas terminal approval
- One Olympia agency that's not strapped for cash: LOTT Wastewater
- The secret's out: Tons of water in Oregon's Cascades
- Flathead Electric Cooperative Harnesses Methane Gas to Create Energy
- Company floats idea of Pacific Ocean wind power
- Wave energy regulatory war brews
- Senator Touts Proposed Centralia Area Energy Education Complex
- As Fuel Prices Fall, Will Push For Alternatives Lose Steam?
- Report: California saves money by saving energy
- Green Policies in California Generated Jobs, Study Finds
- Sparse plug-ins for electric cars sparks creativity
- Seattle Times Editorial – States, cities step up climate-change responses
- Canada – Is Carbon Tax Political Poison?
- Intel Commits to Wireless Broadband in Any Flavor
- Businesses prepare for Hood Canal Bridge closure next year
- Oops! Brinnon election packets lacking ballots
- Metal thieves hitting farms and ranches

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

WORD OF THE DAY

conglobate • \conn-GLOW-bayt\ • verb – To form into a round compact mass

On the surface the CEO at the annual meeting of Bouncy-Bouncy Super Ball Inc. seemed cool as a cucumber. His calm demeanor was betrayed by his white knuckles that were conglobating the annual report into a dense, tight ball that no light or logic could penetrate.

WEATHER

Shelton Forecast and Weather Alerts
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?textField1=47.213805&textField2=-123.113412&site=all&smap=1&searchresult=Shelton%2C%20WA%2C%20USA

ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES

Port Townsend Leader Editorial –Form Jefferson County Electricity Utility: Vote yes on Prop. 1
http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=5&SubSectionID=5&ArticleID=22137&TM=67720.8

Candidates seek Whidbey Island PUD commissioner seats (Whidbey Examiner, Coupeville, WA)
http://www.whidbeyexaminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=1823&TM=56067

Grays Harbor PUD Election – Sound investment or irresponsible debt? (The Daily World, Aberdeen, WA)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/10/19/local_news/03news.txt

Lewis County Power Line Theft Ring Sentencing – PUD cable was targeted (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)
http://www.kelaam.com/pages/localnews/?Power-Line-Theft-Ring-Sentencing=1&blockID=15791&feedID=410

Bonneville Power Administration offers $25,000 reward in wire thefts (KVAL-TV, Eugene, OR)
http://www.kval.com/news/local/31183889.html

Montana – Funding questions linger as Great Falls area power plant breaks ground (Great Falls Tribune, MT)
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/NEWS01/810190302

Vancouver Island – Massive blackout traced to city line (Victoria Times-Colonist, BC)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=7bcd67a1-2b49-4157-a28e-9cf5f0115b42

Utilities consolidation goes on: Exelon for NRG – Nuclear power giant and utility operator Exelon made an unsolicited $6.2 billion all-stock bid (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008287590_apexelonnrgenergy.html?syndication=rss

FERC issues its final rules on electric competition – Links to PDF File (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
http://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/comm-meet/2008/101608/E-1.pdf

PJM Board Authorizes $1.8 Billion in Transmission Additions, Upgrades – Upgrades to Address Reliability, Vulnerability through 2023 (PR Newswire)
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/10-17-2008/0004906219&EDATE=

Grant PUD forklift team wins rodeo (Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/NEWS04/810189987

FISH & WILDLIFE

Fresh Coho Swarming into Columbia System (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/storyoutdoors.php?subaction=showfull&id=1224264461&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6

Yakama tribe restoring Coho salmon habitat (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008287842_apwayakamacoho.html?syndication=rss

Conservationists nudge Feds to help save Willamette River salmon (Associated Press)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/19/MN2813G7KN.DTL

Oregon – Detroit Lake could get drained temporarily under new salmon plan (Associated Press)
http://www.kval.com/news/local/31256504.html

Congressman Baird: Indiscriminate harvest hurts salmon – Sport fishers hear words as support in competition with commercial fishery (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://columbian.com/article/20081019/NEWS02/710199968/-1/news

International group puts Pacific Sockeye on endangered list (Alaska Journal of Commerce)
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/101908/hom_20081019041.shtml

NOAA Fisheries says FERC violates species act in liquefied natural gas terminal approval (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/10/noaa_fisheries_says_ferc_viola.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

One Olympia agency that's not strapped for cash: LOTT – Sewer utility plans $29 million in improvements, 3 new hires (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/625497.html

The secret's out: Tons of water in Oregon's Cascades (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/10/the_secrets_out_tons_of_water.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Flathead Electric Cooperative Harnesses Methane Gas to Create Energy (Flathead Beacon, Kalispell, MT)
http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/fec_harnesses_methan_gas_to_create_energy/6051/

Company floats idea of Pacific Ocean wind power (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/10/unknowns_buffet_ocean_wind.html

Wave energy regulatory war brews (The World, Coos Bay, OR)
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2008/10/19/news/doc48f98e6e3d61c180401084.txt

Senator Touts Proposed Centralia Area Energy Education Complex (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/rss/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1224266717&archive=

As Fuel Prices Fall, Will Push For Alternatives Lose Steam? (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/19/AR2008101902073.html?nav=rss_email/components

CONSERVATION

Report: California saves money by saving energy (Associated Press)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRBGylRzLEJHTCdE-glGnA20M7cgD93U4V481

Green Policies in California Generated Jobs, Study Finds (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/business/20green.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Sparse plug-ins for electric cars sparks creativity (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008285440_apelectriccarcharging.html?syndication=rss

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Seattle Times Editorial – States, cities step up climate-change responses
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008286950_opin20peirce.html

Canada – Is Carbon Tax Political Poison? (The Tyee)
http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/10/20/CarbonTax/

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Intel Commits to Wireless Broadband in Any Flavor (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2008/10/20/intel-commits-to-wireless-broadband-in-any-flavor/

GENERAL NEWS

Businesses prepare for Hood Canal Bridge closure next year (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20081019/news/310199990

Oops! Brinnon election packets lacking ballots (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20081019/news/310199992

Metal thieves hitting farms and ranches (Associated Press)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1646492~Metal_thieves_hitting_farms_and_ranches.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines

DIVERSIONS

And the colon groans: Pa. Man Chews Through Belly-Busting, 15-lb. Burger
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17739608/detail.html

California Town Gets Its Groove Back – Rumble Strips Give Town Musical Road
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/17749169/detail.html

World record sandwich? Iranians eat evidence
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE49G43Y20081020?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Analyst fired for saying greed is bad
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE49G43E20081017