Energy news Digest for October 8, 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)

- Tribe loses legal bid to oust power plant from Snoqualmie Falls
- Washington State threatens to sue FERC over Bradwood Landing decision
- Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative trims rates slightly
- TransAlta Upbeat About Company’s Future
- Canada – Labor Disputes Ongoing at TransAlta Alberta Power Plants
- Maryland State Agency Greenlights Power Line in Rural North Virginia
- Maine PUC fines utility for violating safety regulations
- Wall Street Could Jolt Utilities
- Killer whales threatened by salmon shortage
- Oregon State employees come to aid of salmon in Sandy River
- Douglas PUD wins award from Canada for fish computer program
- Birdwatchers flock to Oregon to see rare bird
- New York – Beavers: Dam good for songbirds
- Port Angeles gains title to water plant linked to Elwha River dam removal
- Cosmopolis pulp mill picture gets muddier
- Oregon – Klondike III and IIIa wind turbines spin up
- Whatcom County considers allowing wind turbine towers without notice
- Waste wood to heat downtown Seattle buildings
- South Carolina – New plant in Newberry to make electricity from wood
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company Interconnects 25,000th Net Metered Solar Customer
- Army plans 500-megawatt solar thermal farm
- Winter heating: how to stay safe
- Homeowners can pocket more cash on energy-saving improvements
- Massachusetts – Peabody energy conservation event cancelled due to lack of interest
- Map reveals species most at risk from climate change
- Consumers 'must think about carbon'
- Microsoft: U.S. Broadband Policy 'Total Failure'
- No reports of problems, but American Airlines will filter Internet service
- Washington State worker jobs at risk with 1% cut
- Mason County Commission Asks Departments To Not Look To Reduce Staff (sic)
- Man jumps to death from Capitol Boulevard Bridge
- Alcoa Profit Falls 52%; Buyback Plan Ends

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Glom • \GLAHM\ • verb – *1: take, steal 2: seize, catch

Frances sighed and rolled her eyes as the large party of customers sauntered out of the “Keg Restaurant.” After double helpings each of “Keg Classic” dinners, along with large desserts, their glomming onto handfuls of chocolate mints from the jar near the exit nearly pushed her exasperation over the edge. “What, no toothpicks,” she shouted at their retreating figures.

WORD ORGIN FROM MIRRIAM-WEBSTER – It's a classic case of glomming: Americans seized on "glaum" (a term from Scots dialect that basically means "grab") and appropriated it as our own, changing it to "glom" in the process. "Glom" first meant "steal" (as in the purse-snatching, robber kind of stealing), but over time that meaning got stretched. Today, "glom" often figuratively extends that original "steal" sense. A busy professional might glom a weekend getaway, for example. "Glom" also appears frequently in the phrase "glom on to," which can mean "to appropriate for one's own use" ("glom on to another's idea"); "to grab hold of" ("glom on to the last cookie"); or "to latch on to" ("glom on to an opinion" or "glom on to an influential friend").

WEATHER
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

Tribe loses bid to oust power plant from Snoqualmie Falls (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/382206_snoqualmiefalls08.html?source=rss

Here’s a link to the tribe vs. FERC/PSE/Dept. of Ecology ruling (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/0EEDA5BD9FF3798E882574DB0058A488/$file/0572739.pdf?openelement

Washington State threatens to sue FERC over Bradwood Landing Liquefied Natural Gas decision (The Daily News, Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/10/08//area_news/doc48ec1e306ebb4460640059.txt

Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative trims rates slightly – Customers will enjoy a small break starting with their October electric bill (Baker City Herald)
http://www.bakercityherald.com/2008100177757/News/Business/OTEC-trims-rates-slightly

TransAlta Upbeat About Company’s Future (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/rss/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1223401022&archive=

Canada – Labor Disputes Ongoing at TransAlta Alberta Power Plants (Electric Energy Online)
http://www.electricenergyonline.com/IndustryNews.asp?m=1&id=98435

Maryland State Agency Greenlights Power Line in Rural North Virginia (Washington Post)
http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2008/oct/07/regulators-approve-power-line-proposal/

Maine PUC fines utility – Northern Utilities must pay a $2 million fine for violating safety regulations (Portland Press-Herald, ME)
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=214460&ac=PHnws

Wall Street Could Jolt Utilities (Power Marketing Association Online)
http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5D%5CmjmopwwZSki%23%3A%40%24bfen%5Fv

FISH & WILDLIFE

Killer whales threatened by salmon shortage – Lack food may be reason for changes in behaviour (Victoria Times-Colonist, BC)
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=82ffec21-a2ef-488a-b16b-385da014c34f&k=15724

Oregon State employees come to aid of salmon in Sandy River – Persistence pays off for Sandy River Chinook program (Gresham Outlook, OR)
http://www.theoutlookonline.com/news/story.php?story_id=122343048632165500

Douglas PUD wins award from Canada – PUD funded a computer program that helps save fish by calculating the best time to release water from a dam (Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/NEWS04/810070280

Birdwatchers flock to Oregon to see rare bird – Wood Sandpiper is rarely seen in U.S.; hundreds of birders rush to lake near Eugene to see it (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2008239841_webbirdwatch08.html?syndication=rss

New York – Beavers: Dam good for songbirds (EurekAlert)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/wcs-bdg100808.php

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Port Angeles gains title to water plant linked to Elwha River dam removal (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20081008/NEWS/810080311

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Cosmopolis pulp mill picture gets muddier – Grays Harbor PUD seeks output from cogeneration (The Daily World)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/10/07/local_news/02news.txt

Oregon – Klondike III and IIIa wind turbines spin up (Dalles Chronicle, OR)
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2008/10/news10-07-08-01.shtml

Whatcom County considers allowing wind turbine towers without notice (Bellingham Herald, WA)
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/591963.html

Waste wood to heat downtown Seattle buildings (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008238613_biomass08m.html

South Carolina – New plant in Newberry to make electricity from wood: “Burn, baby, burn” might be the new energy chant in Newberry County as plans were announced Tuesday for a biomass energy plant that generates electricity by burning wood waste (The State, Columbia, SC)
http://www.thestate.com/business/story/547952.html?RSS=business

News Release – Pacific Gas and Electric Company Interconnects 25,000th Net Metered Solar Customer in Northern and Central California (PR NewsWire)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081008/aqw084.html?.v=66

Army plans 500-megawatt solar thermal farm (C/NET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10060244-54.html?tag=nl.e703

CONSERVATION

Winter heating: how to stay safe – As the weather turns cooler, fireplaces, wood stoves and other home heaters should be cleaned and inspected before use (Everett Herald, WA)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081008/NEWS01/710089816/-1/RSS02

Homeowners can pocket more cash on energy-saving improvements (Lebanon Express, OR)
http://www.lebanon-express.com/articles/2008/10/08/news/regional/region01energy.txt

Massachusetts – Peabody energy conservation event cancelled due to lack of interest (The Daily Item, Lynn, MA)
http://www.thedailyitemoflynn.com/articles/2008/10/07/news/news11.txt

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Map reveals species most at risk from climate change (New Scientist)
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14899-map-reveals-species-most-at-risk-from-climate-change.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news2_head_dn14899

Consumers 'must think about carbon' (Low Carbon Economy)
http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/community_content/_low_carbon_news/2452/consumers_'must_think_about_carbon'

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Microsoft: U.S. Broadband Policy 'Total Failure' – As country sinks in global penetration, price broadband rankings (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Microsoft-US-Broadband-Policy-Total-Failure-98275

No reports of problems, but American Airlines will filter Internet service (The News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/502483.html

GENERAL NEWS

Washington State worker jobs at risk with 1% cut – Gregoire orders across-the-board spending reduction from agencies (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/611448.html

Mason County Commission Asks Departments To Not Look To Reduce Staff (sic) (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/selectmoduleid/3468/ArticleID/5236/reftab/1896/Default.aspx

Man jumps to death from Capitol Boulevard Bridge – Death from span is fourth in 10 years; state has no plans to add safety measures (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/611429.html

Alcoa Profit Falls 52%; Buyback Plan Ends (Associated Press)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/business/08alcoa.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

DIVERSIONS

10-Year-Old Driving Van Crashes Going 90 MPH – 2 Other Children, 2 Adults In Van
http://www.kirotv.com/automotive/17654951/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=irresistible

Woof and Worship: Church Welcomes Pious Pets
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17643108/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=irresistible

Crackdown on tight trousers cancelled
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE4978DS20081008?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Mom brings rabid bat to school, lets kids touch it
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/ap_on_re_us/rabid_bat_school;_ylt=AoJwZii7h_Fwz3Xlcsm8jHbtiBIF