Energy News Digest for March 20, 2009

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.

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TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

- TransAlta Tax Bill Appears to Be Dead
- New York Cautionary Tale: Power Authority Pushes Plan to Hike Electric Rates
- California woman can't sue PG&E for power line injury
- Maryland Electricity - Outrage fires up regulation sentiment
- Michigan - 16 Accused of Stealing Gas, Electricity
- Feds join Oregon lawsuit against LNG location
- President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts
- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Closes Chehalis River to Fishing
- Salmon Season Options a Good Omen for Westport Anglers
- Stranded Sturgeon Die near Stanwood
- New head of NOAA says science will guide policy
- Lewis County Dam Study Moves Forward
- Engineer: No band-aid for sinkhole at Howard Hansen Dam
- 90 water permits granted by state in Grant County
- Data shows drop in toxic pollution in Washington
- Reclaimed water adds life to Carnation wetland
- Lawmakers vow to fund North Idaho lake plan
- Editorial - Time to Reshape Washington State’s Green-Energy Requirements
- Alternative Energy Quest Endangering Birds
- Company eyes wind farms on Horse Heaven Hills
- Oregon Counties share wind expertise
- New wind farms take Kansas’ wind capacity past 1,000 megawatts
- When ‘clean’ cars charge up on ‘dirty’ electricity
- Manmade biomass coal offers storage and fuel
- SMUD to Buy 1.5-MW of Landfill Gas Power
- Energy Department Issues First Renewable-Energy Loan Guarantee
- State Of Indiana Pouring $132M into Energy Conservation
- Carbon-Market Backers Split Over Obama Climate Plan
- Q&A: Tom Brokaw's New Global Warming Documentary
- FCC Commissioner Adelstein to Move to USDA Internet grant program
- Two Men Rob Shelton KFC, Duct Tape Employees, Customer
- North Mason Medical Clinic Ribbon Cutting Set; Clinic Opens Next Month
- Seattle Times Columnist - Defining success for Gary Locke as commerce secretary

WORD OF THE DAY

Vatic • \VAT-ik\ • adjective - Prophetic, oracular

“Why you’re a reg’lar Nostradamus,” howled Abner’s slack-jawed friend. Abner’s vatic talent was nothing more than a cruel trick. He knew that nine out of ten times he could guess that women would come out of the women’s bathroom and men from the other. His unsophisticated friend was unaware of the meaning of the iconic men and women’s signs on the new-fangled bathrooms in the shopping mall.

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

TransAlta Bill Appears to Be Dead - Legislation Would Have Revoked Company's Tax Incentives Dating Back to Deal in 1997 (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.outdoorslc.com/story.php?subaction=showfull&id=1237483265&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5&

New York Cautionary Tale: Power Authority Pushes Plan to Hike Electric Rates “…plan to "sweep" nearly $500 million from the agency to help balance the state budget – promised rates would not be affected and that the authority could afford the financial bailout…” (Buffalo News, NY)
http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/613098.html

California Supreme Court: Santa Clara County woman can't sue PG&E for power line injury “…boy touched a power line on her property with a metal pole while trying to retrieve a kite…” (San Jose Mercury News, CA)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11951364?nclick_check=1

Maryland Electricity - Outrage fires up regulation sentiment: Constellation executives call millions in payouts necessary (Baltimore Sun)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.bz.constellation20mar20,0,670696.story

Michigan - 16 Accused of Stealing Gas, Electricity (WWJ, Detroit, MI)
http://www.wwj.com/16-Accused-Of-Stealing-Gas--Electricity/4051547

Feds join Oregon lawsuit against LNG location (Associated Press)
http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=10039243

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts - Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Suedeen G. Kelly, Nominee for Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-More-Key-Administration-Posts-3/19/09/

FISH & WILDLIFE

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Closes Chehalis River to Fishing (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.outdoorslc.com/story.php?subaction=showfull&id=1237565932&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5&

Salmon Season Options a Good Omen for Westport Anglers (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/outdoors/letstalkfishing/story/786780.html

Stranded Sturgeon Die near Stanwood (Associated Press)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090320/NEWS01/703209754

New head of NOAA says science will guide policy (Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-1915145~New_head_of_NOAA_says_science_will_guide_policy.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Lewis County Dam Study Moves Forward - Flood Authority Members Hammer Out Last-Minute Compromise with Tribe for $250,000 in Funding (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.outdoorslc.com/story.php?subaction=showfull&id=1237569683&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5&

Engineer: No band-aid for sinkhole at Howard Hansen Dam (KOMO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/41539562.html

90 water permits granted by state in Grant County – Users will receive roughly 9.8 billion gallons of water as a result of new permits (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2009/03/19/news/doc49c29ff63813f517976100.txt

Data shows drop in toxic pollution in Washington (KIRO-TV, Seattle)
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=147129

Reclaimed water adds life to Carnation wetland (KING-TV, Seattle)
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_031909ENB-wetland-from-sewage-SW.4ee47c12.html?rss

Lawmakers vow to fund North Idaho lake plan (Associated Press)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/792889.html

RENEWABLE & ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

The Daily News Editorial - Time to Reshape Washington State’s Green-Energy Requirements “The heavy-handed mandates this law imposes are costly, illogical and unnecessary…”
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2009/03/19/editorial/doc49bc589e85575070445668.txt

Alternative Energy Quest Endangering Birds (Associated Press)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVUQIuHIGT3qVaTvUFWL7bPaf9WwD9719J481

Company eyes wind farms on Horse Heaven Hills (Yakima Herald-Republic, WA)
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/03/19/company-eyes-wind-farms-on-horse-heaven-hills

Oregon Counties share wind expertise (Baker City Herald, OR)
http://www.bakercityherald.com/Local-News/Counties-share-wind-expertise

Kansas - New wind farms take state's wind capacity past 1,000 megawatts a year (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008887249_apkansaswindpower.html

When ‘clean’ cars charge up on ‘dirty’ electricity - EarthTalk: Coal-generated power is still cleaner, cheaper than gasoline, experts say (Christian Science Monitor)
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/03/20/when-‘clean’-cars-charge-up-on-‘dirty’-electricity/

Manmade biomass coal offers storage and fuel (C/NET News)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-10200246-72.html?tag=nl.e433

SMUD to Buy 1.5-MW of Landfill Gas Power - California, United States (Renewable Energy World)
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/03/smud-to-buy-1-5-mw-of-landfill-gas-power?src=rss

Energy Department Issues First Renewable-Energy Loan Guarantee (NY Times)
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/energy-department-issues-first-renewable-energy-loan-guarantee/?partner=rss&emc=rss

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

State Of Indiana Pouring $132M into Energy Conservation (Indianapolis Star, IN)
http://www.indystar.com/article/20090320/NEWS05/903200403

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Carbon-Market Backers Split Over Obama Climate Plan (Bloomberg News)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aWtk7Zcr.FUE&refer=news

Q&A: Tom Brokaw's New Global Warming Documentary (Time Magazine)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090317/hl_time/08599188566000

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

FCC Commissioner Adelstein To Move To USDA Internet grant program (NASDAQ)
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20090320\ACQDJON200903201855DOWJONESDJONLINE000843.htm&&mypage=newsheadlines&title=FCC%20Commissioner%20Adelstein%20To%20Move%20To%20USDA

GENERAL NEWS

Two Men Rob Shelton KFC, Duct Tape Employees, Customer (The Olympian, Olympia, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/793718.html

North Mason Medical Clinic Ribbon Cutting Set; Clinic Opens Next Month (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/smid/3468/ArticleID/6744/reftab/1632/Default.aspx

Seattle Times Columnist - Defining success for Gary Locke as commerce secretary
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jontalton/2008890273_biztaltoncol20.html?syndication=rss

DIVERSIONS

Arlington Woman Blames Devil For Church Theft –“Satan had a big part in the theft”
http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=10036295

Baggy-Trousered Teen Fined For Cheeky Flash
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE52I6XG20090319?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest

Flammable Water Pours from Faucets in Colorado Home
http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/03/20/flammable-water-pours-from-faucets-in-colorado-home/

Monty Python's “Holy Hand Grenade” Sparks Bomb Scare in London
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Europe/2009/march/Monty-Python-Holy-Hand-Grenade-Sparks-Bomb-Scare.html

SONG OF THE DAY

Patti Smith – Because the Night (1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px__SsVXX_0

Natalie Merchant – Because the Night (1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go74JqAbXWo