Energy News Digest for July 2, 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)

- Nuclear Agency Weighs Attack Threat at Plants
- Gas prices shift energy opinions – Poll says drilling, new power plants growing in favor
- Grays Harbor County PUD cogeneration deal at Cosmopolis pulp mill down to fine points
- Chelan County PUD board blasts fellow commissioner for organizing meeting
- OREGON – Feds to stay out of liquefied natural gas firms' squabble
- MONTANA – Public Service Commission OKs rate hike for gas, electricity
- PENNSYLVANIA – State Senate Democrats call electricity deregulation a 'failure'
- TEXAS – Oncor to refund $72M to electricity customers
- Missouri regulators say yes to purchase of Aquila by Great Plains Energy
- CONNECTICUT – Regulators give Connecticut Light & Power OK to boost electricity rates
- Economist questions Duke Energy's projections on power use
- NEW YORK – Con Ed Agrees to Tentative Contract
- Salmon on the Fourth: When a holiday tradition collides with threatened stocks
- California wildfires play part in local haze
- Pacific Gas & Electric inks Oregon wind power deal with Horizon Wind Energy
- The Columbian Opinion – In Our View: Go with the wind
- The War Over Offshore Wind Is Almost Over
- Cantwell at odds with Democrats over energy plan
- No rubber stamps, even for renewable energy
- AUSTRALIA – Electricity plan on the table
- Drivers Of Vegetable-Oil Vehicles In A Legal Pickle
- American Public Power Association and environmental group launch joint initiative for energy efficiency
- Clean energy a key issue for new Pacific initiative
- CANADA – New 2.3¢ per liter carbon tax sends gas price up a dime in places
- Curbing Emissions Won't Be Enough
- Bank Takes Environmental Step Into Rural Town
- Accused hackers steal PINs from Citibank ATMs
- Data Breaches Are Up 69% This Year, Nonprofit Says
- IOWA – State confirms Microsoft has chosen Iowa as the site of its next data center
- Justice Department to review Google-Yahoo deal
- PENNSYLVANIA – High-speed Web access planned with state bil
- WISCONSIN – Fiber optics being extended to rural area
- Internet Users Continue to Engage in Unprotected Text
- Mason County Action On Renaissance Faire Expected July 16th
- List still secret – Starbucks plans to close 600 stores across U.S.
- Stealing From the Dead – Metal Thieves Desecrate Cemetery by Stealing Bronze Plaques
- Grapeview Community Association Celebrates 20th Birthday
- Utah State Employees Moving to a Four-Day Workweek
- TEXAS - Foreclosure Tragedy – Cedar Park couple sues Austin company
- Newspapers Make Cuts At Home, Hire Abroad

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Trichotillomania • \trick-uh-till-uh-MAY-nee-uh\ • noun – An abnormal desire to pull out one's hair

“Electricity deregulation is good, regulation is bad,” the announcer intoned over and over as a video of the vapid, smiling faces of Enron energy traders cross-faded on a huge television screen placed at the dinner table by Alberto’s troubled son. The boy’s obsession with hocus-pocus market solutions and occasional bouts of trichotillomania when they did not work out made him look like Mini-Me.

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

Nuclear Agency Weighs Attack Threat at Plants (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/us/02nuke.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Gas prices shift energy opinions – Poll says drilling, new power plants growing in favor (The Associated Press, via the San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/02/BUNB11I78E.DTL&feed=rss.business

Grays Harbor County PUD cogeneration deal at Cosmopolis pulp mill down to fine points (The Daily World, Aberdeen, WA)
http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2008/07/01/local_news/02news.txt

Chelan County PUD board blasts fellow commissioner for organizing meeting between several PUD customers and PUD staff. Rest of board says not notified (Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/NEWS04/809738903

OREGON – Feds to stay out of liquefied natural gas firms' squabble – FERC says review of Oregon LNG in Warrenton can proceed (The Daily Astorian)
http://www.dailyastorian.com/Main.asp?SectionID=2&ArticleID=52488

MONTANA – Public Service Commission OKs rate hike for gas, electricity – On a 3-2 vote, the state on Tuesday gave final approval to a $15 million annual rate increase for NorthWestern Energy (The Billings Gazette)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/07/02/news/state/50-ratehike.txt

PENNSYLVANIA – State Senate Democrats call electricity deregulation a 'failure' (Pittsburgh Business Times)
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/06/30/daily18.html?ana=from_rss

TEXAS – Oncor to refund $72M to electricity customers – Makes good on a promise designed to ease opposition to the buyout of the company last year. The refund amounts to $12.58 for each residential customer (The Dallas Morning News, TX)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/industries/energy/stories/070208dnbusoncorrefund.1333967d.html

Missouri regulators say yes to purchase of Aquila by Great Plains Energy Inc (The Kansas City Star, MO)
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/688011.html

CONNECTICUT – Regulators give Connecticut Light & Power OK to boost electricity rates – Increased demand for power, electricity deregulation that critics say has failed and rapidly escalating energy prices are blamed for the higher electric rates (The Associated Press, via Newsday)
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--electricityrates0702jul02,0,5907612.story

Economist questions Duke Energy's projections on power use – Houses are growing larger and filled with more electronic gadgets, but the people living in them are using less energy (Charlotte Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/06/30/daily27.html?ana=from_rss

NEW YORK – Con Ed Agrees to Tentative Contract (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/nyregion/03coned.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

FISH & WILDLIFE

Salmon on the Fourth: When a holiday tradition collides with threatened stocks (The Boston Globe, MA)
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2008/07/salmon_on_the_fourth_when_a_ho.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

California wildfires play part in local haze (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/495130.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Pacific Gas & Electric inks Oregon wind power deal with Horizon Wind Energy (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/06/30/daily15.html?ana=from_rss

The Columbian Opinion – In Our View: Go with the wind – Vancouver’s role in wind-power generation is blowing harder all the time (Vancouver, WA)
http://www.columbian.com/opinion/news/2008/07/07022008_In-Our-View-Go-with-the-wind.cfm/

The War Over Offshore Wind Is Almost Over – It's no longer if, but when, where, and how many wind farms will go up along the U.S. coast (BusinessWeek Magazine)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_27/b4091052403644.htm

Cantwell at odds with Democrats over energy plan (The Associated Press, via the Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://news.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP07012008news335668.cfm

No rubber stamps, even for renewable energy (The Economist Magazine, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/369155_solarenergyonline02.html?source=rss

AUSTRALIA – Electricity plan on the table – The federal Government is pressing ahead with plans to source 20per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 (The Australian)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23960553-5013871,00.html

Drivers Of Vegetable-Oil Vehicles In A Legal Pickle – Effort To Go Green Violates Federal Environment Laws (The Baltimore Sun, via the San Jose Mercury News, CA)http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9762225?source=rss

CONSERVATION

News Release – American Public Power Association and Natural Resources Defense Council launch joint initiative for energy efficiency (ThomasNet)
http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/546045

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Clean energy a key issue for new Pacific initiative – B.C. teams with four U.S. states, including Washington, to manage environmental concerns, other areas (The Globe and Mail, Canada)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080702.BCPACIFIC02/TPStory/TPNational/BritishColumbia/

CANADA – New 2.3¢ per liter carbon tax sends gas price up a dime in places – Many stations charge several times new levy (The Vancouver Sun, BC – That tax would equate to about 9-cents a gallon)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=65171e4c-4027-4ffb-ab69-37cbd7efe460

Curbing Emissions Won't Be Enough – We're great at spewing CO2 into the air. Visionaries are now devising ways to suck it out (Newsweek Magazine)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/35570

Bank Takes Environmental Step Into Rural Town – Moves its North American headquarters to a sprawling facility that it bills as carbon neutral in this hamlet about 30 miles north of Chicago (The NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/business/02hsbc.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

TELECOMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Accused hackers steal PINs from Citibank ATMs – Hackers broke into Citibank's network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores and stole customers' PIN codes (The Associated Press, via the Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008028857_atm02.html?syndication=rss

Data Breaches Are Up 69% This Year, Nonprofit Says – New Laws May Have Increased Reporting (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063002123.html?nav=rss_technology

IOWA – State confirms Microsoft has chosen Iowa as the site of its next data center (The Des Moines Register, IA)
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/BUSINESS/80701036

Justice Department to review Google-Yahoo deal (CNET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9982577-7.html

PENNSYLVANIA – High-speed Web access planned with state bill – Public-private partnership would help improve service to rural and inner-city areas (The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA)
http://www.timesleader.com/news/High-speed_Web_access_planned_with_state_bill_06-30-2008.html

WISCONSIN – Fiber optics being extended to rural area (The Baldwin Bulletin, WI)
http://baldwinbulletin.blogspot.com/2008/07/fiber-optics-being-extended-to-rural.html

Internet Users Continue to Engage in Unprotected Text (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/technology/May-June-08/Internet-Users-Continue-to-Engage-in-Unprotected-Text.html

GENERAL NEWS

Mason County Action On Renaissance Faire Expected July 16th However, State DNR Moratorium In Effect (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/selectmoduleid/3468/ArticleID/395/reftab/1896/Default.aspx

List still secret – Starbucks plans to close 600 stores across U.S. – 12,000 employees affected, but company hopes to absorb some (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/369152_starbucks02.html?source=rss

Stealing From the Dead – Metal Thieves Desecrate Cemetery by Stealing Bronze Plaques from Headstones (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/rss/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1214935971&archive=

Grapeview Community Association Celebrates 20th Birthday (The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jul/01/grapeview-community-association-celebrates-20th-bi/

Utah State Employees Moving to a Four-Day Workweek (Finding Dulcinea)
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Americas/July-08/Utah-State-Employees-Moving-to-a-Four-Day-Workweek.html

TEXAS - Foreclosure Tragedy – Cedar Park couple sues Austin company in foreclosure mix-up (Austin American-Statesman, TX)http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/07/01/0701dickson.html

Newspapers Make Cuts At Home, Hire Abroad – Outsourced employees are doing everything from writing ad copy to copy editing to writing weekend supplements for U.S. and British newspapers (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92126544&ft=1&f=3

ELEPHANTS ON ACID - DIVERSIONS

Today Is International Corinthian Leather Day (Video from Jalopnik)
http://jalopnik.com/cars/classic-ad-watch/today-is-international-corinthian-leather-day-295962.php

Experts say tourists harming Machu Picchu
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008027604_apmachupicchuendangered.html?syndication=rss

Couple Holds Blood Drive In Lieu Of Shower
http://www.kirotv.com/health/16768419/detail.html

DOG DAYS BEGIN (JULY 3) – The Dog Days (a period of 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11) are named for the Dog Star, Sirius, which is visible with the rising Sun at this time of year. Ancients associated this sky picture with the hot days that coincided with it. Sirius is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Greater Dog). (From the Old Farmer’s Almanac)