Energy News Digest for October 31, 2008

NOTE: The news digest will be taking a break on Monday, November 3. It will return with its “I Think I Voted” sticker on November 4.

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)

- Voters in 3 counties to decide on municipal authority over Puget Sound Energy
- Voters might pull the plug on Puget Sound Energy
- Drive against Jefferson PUD power approaches a cool quarter-million
- Wenatchee Alcoa layoffs coming amid soft metal prices and demand
- Intalco trims jobs as metal price falls
- Portland General Electric reports net income of zero for third quarter
- Fowler retiring from Portland General Electric
- Tri-City Herald Editorial – Nuclear fuel recycling shouldn't be shelved again
- California nuke plant back online after jellyfish block cooling water intake pipes
- T. Boone Pickens not bullish on energy smarts of Obama, McCain
- Budget Cuts Could Threaten Salmon Recovery
- Salmon egg nests destroyed on Elwha River
- Many Grays River residents say fish habitat plan could do more harm than good
- Biodiversity: Unraveling the Mysteries of Salmon Migration
- Group suggests gillnetting changes on Columbia
- South Dakota – Spawning next wave of salmon
- Canada – Pink salmon in sharp decline near Broughton fish farms
- Project aims to keep bats under Oregon bridges
- Thurston Country recycling options shrink
- Recycled Goods On Ferry Thrown In Trash
- California cuts water deliveries to cities, farms
- Wind Companies Compelled to Play Nice in New York
- Tumwater district joins energy-saving program
- Do You Know You Have Phantoms in Your House?
- New York – United Way to host free energy workshops
- Tennessean Op/Ed – Energy progress needs broad plan
- Canada – Adjust carbon tax to lift burden on poor, think-tank says
- The Unintended Consequences of Climate Change Solutions
- Qwest FTTN: Available to 5 Million By 2010
- JD Power Ranks Broadband ISP Satisfaction
- Chip makers tighten belt
- DOT warns of death after daylight savings
- Earnings: Exxon profit a record: $14.83 billion in quarter

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

WORD OF THE DAY

Parley • \PARR-lee \ • verb – To speak with another: confer; specifically: to discuss terms with an enemy.

“ARRRRRRRR,” growled the lady pirate to her opponents. “I won’t let ye onto me ship for a parley unless ye all wear dresses before ye come aboard.” Her quaking opponents, facing the grinning guns of the pirate ship were only too happy to don hoop skirts for their trip to discuss terms of surrender.

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

Voters in 3 counties to decide on municipal authority over Puget Sound Energy – Utility spends more than $900,000 to fight the measures (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/385776_pse31.html

Voters might pull the plug on Puget Sound Energy (Crosscut)
http://crosscut.com/2008/10/30/energy-utilities/18604/

Drive against Jefferson PUD power approaches a cool quarter-million (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20081031/news/310319991

Wenatchee Alcoa layoffs coming amid soft metal prices and demand (Wenatchee World, WA)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081030/NEWS04/710319992

Intalco trims jobs as metal price falls (The Bellingham Herald, WA)
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/255/story/640477.html

Portland General Electric reports net income of zero for third quarter – The company faults a customer refund from the closure of the Trojan plant (The Oregonian, Portland, OR)
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1225423519154860.xml&coll=7

Fowler retiring from Portland General Electric (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/10/27/daily33.html?ana=from_rss

Tri-City Herald Editorial – Nuclear fuel recycling shouldn't be shelved again
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/962/story/368514.html

Suicidal Jellyfish – PG&E Calif. Diablo Canyon reactors start back after jellyfish block cooling water intake pipes (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2450595320081024

T. Boone Pickens not bullish on energy smarts of Obama, McCain (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/10/27/daily39.html?ana=from_rss

FISH & WILDLIFE

Budget Cuts Could Threaten Salmon Recovery – between 20-30 percent of BPA customer bills go towards fish & wildlife (Audio from KPLU-Radio, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1403151

Salmon egg nests destroyed on Elwha River (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20081031/NEWS/310319993

Many Grays River residents say fish habitat plan could do more harm than good (The Daily News, Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/10/31/area_news/doc4909470fa33b8928710444.txt

Biodiversity: Unraveling the Mysteries of Salmon Migration (IPS, Italy)
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44532

Group suggests gillnetting changes on Columbia – Proposal would move commercial users to side channels on lower river (The Statesman-Journal, Salem, OR)
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081031/OUTDOORS/810310356/1034/SPORTS

South Dakota – Spawning next wave of salmon: 1.5M fertilized fish eggs to boost S.D. economy (The Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, SD)
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20081031/NEWS/810310319/1001/rss01

Canada – Pink salmon in sharp decline near Broughton fish farms – Numbers spawning in five key indicator streams down 90 per cent (The Vancouver Sun, BC)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=6d3af277-d143-4115-adf9-25a2825e342a

Project aims to keep bats under Oregon bridges (Associated Press)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/33368179.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Thurston Country recycling options shrink – Five blue box locations in county to close Jan. 1 (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/localnewsfeed/story/643361.html

Recycled Goods On Ferry Thrown In Trash (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17815454/detail.html?rss=sea&psp=news

California cuts water deliveries to cities, farms to second lowest level ever (Associated Press)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10861484?source=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Wind Companies Compelled to Play Nice in New York (NY Times)
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/wind-companies-compelled-to-play-nice-in-new-york/?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

CONSERVATION

Tumwater district joins energy-saving program (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/643348.html

Do You Know You Have Phantoms in Your House? How to Combat Phantom Power Pilferage (MarketWatch)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Do-You-Know-You-Have/story.aspx?guid=%7B2EAACF7E-D27F-4255-BE0F-DFF15C60B5FC%7D

New York – United Way to host free energy workshops (The Chronicle, Goshen, NY)
http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2008/10/30/the_chronicle/news/30.txt

Tennessean Op/Ed – Energy progress needs broad plan
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081029/OPINION01/810290418/1007/OPINION

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Canada – Adjust carbon tax to lift burden on poor, think-tank says (Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081031.BCCARBON31/TPStory/TPNational/BritishColumbia/

The Unintended Consequences of Climate Change Solutions (NY Times)
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/the-unintended-consequences-of-climate-change-solutions/?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Qwest FTTN: Available to 5 Million By 2010 – Should be available to 1.8 million users by year's end (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Qwest-FTTN-Available-To-5-Million-By-2010-98787

JD Power Ranks Broadband ISP Satisfaction – Cablevision, Cox, WOW and Roadrunner take top honors (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/JD-Power-Ranks-Broadband-ISP-Satisfaction-98786

Chip makers tighten belt – Local companies cut costs as global sales sag (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://columbian.com/article/20081031/BIZ01/710319984/-1/biz

GENERAL NEWS

DOT warns of death after daylight savings – I am Darkness, the bringer of death… (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/33640039.html

Earnings: Exxon profit a record: $14.83 billion in quarter – Insert Cynical Comment Here (Associated Press)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/385805_earnsoil31.html?source=rss

DIVERSIONS

Would-be florist robbers get only rose as loot
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008334669_webroserobbery31.html?syndication=rss

Hover chair hopes to rise above economic woes
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE49T64U20081030?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Theft averted – Boy shocked after man powers up campaign sign
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081031/ap_on_fe_st/odd_shocking_sign;_ylt=AsoEEApopkcGPx1gdsPkWivtiBIF

Man allegedly helps renovate with 'hot' property
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081031/ap_on_fe_st/odd_stolen_renovation;_ylt=Avq7VxvFErX1UZv46LwHpv3tiBIF

Teen Volunteer Finds Ancient Hebrew Writing – Archaeologist Says Find Holds Oldest Hebrew Writing
http://www.kirotv.com/irresistible/17853985/detail.html