Energy News Digest for June 2, 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.

To subscribe, email jmyer@masonpud3.org

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

- Woman's Body Found at Hydroelectric Facility near Yelm
- State Seeks Tighter Emissions Controls at PGE Plant
- Boardman Power Plant Would Have to Reduce Pollution under New Oregon Plan
- Idaho Power’s Langley Gulch Power Plant Challenged
- Duke Ordered To Shut Indiana Coal Fired Generating Units
- The Heat Is On When It Comes to Building Coal-Fired Power Plants
- Fitch Confirms Chelan County PUD Series 2008B Ratings at 'AA+/F1+'
- Oregon Governor Takes Issue with LNG Review
- Puget Sound Energy’s Updated Long-Range Energy Strategy
- PUD 3 Wins Award for 2009 Forest Festival Parade Entry
- Wenatchee - Lineman Rodeo Coming June 20
- Grand Coulee Dam Laser Show Resumes
- Ex-Enron Official Enters Guilty Plea
- Warren Buffett Sells Remaining Constellation Shares
- News Whiz - Rates Continue to Decrease in Competitive Markets
- Idaho’s Senators Seek Talks on Dams
- American Rivers Position Paper on the Role of Hydropower Dams
- Federal Judge Rules San Diego Seals Should Stay
- Seattle Sewage Flowing Through Wooden Pipelines
- 140,000 Gallons Later - Crews Repair Bainbridge Sewage Pipe
- Castle Rock, Toutle Residents Asked To Conserve Water
- Spokane River Dangerous For Users Now
- Columbian Op/Ed - Washingtonians Send Mixed Signals on Clean Energy
- News Tribune Editorial - Ocean Power Deserves Better Budget Play
- Wind Farms? Numbers of sage grouse in Oregon dropping
- Wood Is New Coal as Polluters Use Carbon-Eating Trees
- State of Oregon Awards $17 Million Loan to New Hydroelectric Plant
- Earmarks: Utah Senators Say Alternative Energy Requests More Than Doubled
- Texas - Electricity Transmission Limits Wind Boom in the Panhandle
- Texas - Showing Just What ‘Green' Means
- Wall Street Journal Editorial - Ethanol's Grocery Bill
- Oregon's Pro-Clothesline Bill Stalls in Senate
- United Kingdom - Electricity Figures Show Energy Efficiency Isn't Working
- Baltimore Sun Op/Ed - We're In For A Shock
- Colorado - Silverton's Digital-Divide Battle to Get PUC Hearing
- Stuck In Broadband No Man's Land
- Cable Operators Mull IPTV As They Roll Out Faster Broadband
- Group Says Time Warner Cable Terms May Hamper Use of Internet
- Mason County’s First Day of Candidate Filing Draws 19
- News from Danger Jim! - Dry Spell Means Early Fire Season
- Clallam County Treasurer's Office Investigated For Suspected Theft by Employee
- Hood Canal Bridge Reopening Ceremonies Saturday
- City of Shelton’s Urban Growth Area Agreement Draws Opposition
- Chinese Company Said to Be Buyer of Hummer

WORD OF THE DAY

Melee • \MAY-lay\ • noun - A confused struggle; especially: a hand-to-hand fight among several people

Alfred’s eyes narrowed at the aggressive approach of his nemesis, Joey “The Thumb” Chiclet. The last time they met in a tiddlywinks blood feud the event had descended into a melee of flying plastic disks and howling, rabid fans. Only when the last tiddlywink had dropped into the cup did the carnage end. For now, they would have to put that all aside as they teamed up with their “Sharpie” pens to sign pictures and souvenirs for the American Cancer Society’s “Walk for the Cure”.

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

Woman's Body Found at Hydroelectric Facility near Yelm (The Olympian, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/localnewsfeed/story/868487.html

State Seeks Tighter Emissions Controls at PGE Plant (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2009/06/01/daily14.html?ana=from_rss

Boardman Power Plant Would Have to Reduce Pollution under New Oregon Plan (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/5109-boardman-power-plant-would-have-reduce-pollution-under-new-oregon-plan/

Idaho Power’s Langley Gulch Power Plant Challenged - “Unprecedented” Coalition Calls for Delay in Rate Recovery Proceeding (Electric Energy Online)
http://www.electricenergyonline.com/?page=show_news&id=112825

Duke Ordered To Shut Indiana Coal Fired Generating Units (Charlotte Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2009/06/01/daily13.html?ana=from_rss

The Heat Is On When It Comes to Building Coal-Fired Power Plants (Scientific American)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=building-coal-power-plants

Fitch Confirms Chelan County PUD Series 2008B Ratings at 'AA+/F1+' (Yahoo! Finance)
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fitch-Confirms-Chelan-County-bw-15401784.html?.v=1

Oregon Governor Takes Issue with LNG Review (Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-2046885~Oregon_governor_takes_issue_with_LNG_review.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines

Puget Sound Energy’s Updated Long-Range Energy Strategy Stays Focused on Energy Efficiency, Wind Power, and Natural Gas (Electric Energy Online)
http://www.electricenergyonline.com/?page=show_news&id=112828

PUD 3 Wins Award for 2009 Forest Festival Parade Entry
http://www.masonpud3.org/newsdisplay.aspx?newsid=556

Wenatchee - Lineman Rodeo Coming June 20 (Wenatchee World)
http://wenatcheeworld.com/article/20090601/NEWS04/706029998/-1/PRINTINDEX?Lineman-rodeo-coming-June-20

Grand Coulee Dam Laser Show Resumes (Tri-City Herald, WA)
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/945/story/598382.html

Ex-Enron Official Enters Guilty Plea (Associated Press)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/business/02enron.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Warren Buffett Sells Remaining Constellation Shares (Baltimore Business Journal – Throws in used set of ukulele strings…)
http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2009/06/01/daily13.html?ana=from_rss

News Whiz - Rates Continue to Decrease in Competitive Markets, Including Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois and Maryland (Electric Energy Online)
http://www.electricenergyonline.com/?page=show_news&id=112731

FISH & WILDLIFE

Idaho’s Senators Seek Talks on Dams (The Columbian, Vancouver, WA – Terry Flores Steps to the plate, uses a prior “word of the day”…)
http://www.columbian.com/article/20090602/NEWS02/706029970/Idaho%E2%80%99+s+senators+seek+talks+on+dams

American Rivers Position Paper on the Role of Hydropower Dams in an Era of Climate Change (American Rivers)
http://www.flyrodreel.com/node/12336

Federal Judge Rules San Diego Seals Should Stay (Examiner.com)
http://www.examiner.com/a-2046368~Federal_judge_rules_San_Diego_seals_should_stay.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Seattle Sewage Flowing Through Wooden Pipelines - Two pipelines that carry up to 60 million gallons of sewage a day under Seattle's Salmon Bay are made out of wood (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009287111_apwawoodenpipeline.html?syndication=rss

140,000 Gallons Later - Crews Repair Bainbridge Sewage Pipe (KING-TV, Seattle)
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_060209WAB-sewage-puget-sound-LJ.3f0d7a2b.html?rss

Castle Rock, Toutle Residents Asked To Conserve Water (The Daily News, Longview, WA)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2009/06/02//area_news/doc4a2485d1e93f0937794113.txt

Spokane River Dangerous For Users Now - The fast waters of the Spokane River are keeping rescue crews busy (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009290181_apwaragingriver.html?syndication=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Columbian Op/Ed - Washingtonians Send Mixed Signals on Clean Energy
http://columbian.com/article/20090602/BIZ01/706029986/-1/BIZ

News Tribune Editorial - Ocean Power Deserves Better Budget Play (Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/editorials/story/763981.html

Wind Farms? Numbers of sage grouse in Oregon dropping: The feds are using some stimulus money to study the effect of wind farms on a dwindling sage grouse population in Central Oregon (The World, Coos Bay, OR)
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/06/01/news/doc4a241b4f804f0329659383.txt

Wood Is New Coal as Polluters Use Carbon-Eating Trees “…the renewable fuel can be cheaper than coal and ignited without needing permits to release carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming…” (Bloomberg News)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aYIHK.YDKafc&refer=latin_america

State of Oregon Awards $17 Million Loan to New Hydroelectric Plant (Portland Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2009/06/01/daily10.html?ana=from_rss

Earmarks: Utah Senators Say Alternative Energy Requests More Than Doubled (Salt Lake Tribune)
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_12486867

Texas - Electricity Transmission Limits Wind Boom in the Panhandle (KFDA, Amarillo, TX)
http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?S=10456667

Texas - Showing Just What ‘Green' Means (San Antonio Express News)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/livinggreensa/46667482.html

Wall Street Journal Editorial - Ethanol's Grocery Bill: Two federal studies add up the corn fuel's exorbitant cost
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124389966385274413.html

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

Oregon's Pro-Clothesline Bill Stalls in Senate (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://news.opb.org/article/5110-oregons-pro-clothesline-bill-stalls-senate/

United Kingdom - Electricity Figures Show Energy Efficiency Isn't Working: Electricity demand has fallen substantially in the last couple of years, but is that because of the recession, energy efficiency or something else entirely? (The Guardian, UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/01/electricity-energy-efficiency-working

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Baltimore Sun Op/Ed - We're In For A Shock - Vaunted cap-and-trade bill does nothing about oil dependence
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.oil02jun02,0,5034936.story

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Colorado - Silverton's Digital-Divide Battle to Get PUC Hearing (Denver Post)
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12498621

Stuck In Broadband No Man's Land - Many sold Verizon markets may have a long wait (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Stuck-In-Broadband-No-Mans-Land-102710

Cable Operators Mull IPTV As They Roll Out Faster Broadband (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2009/06/01/cable-operators-mull-iptv-as-they-roll-out-faster-broadband/

Group Says Time Warner Cable Terms May Hamper Use of Internet (Bloomberg News)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12497966

GENERAL NEWS

Mason County’s First Day of Candidate Filing Draws 19 (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/smid/3468/ArticleID/7424/reftab/1632/t/FIRST-DAY-OF-CANDIDATE-FILING-DRAWS-19/Default.aspx

News from Danger Jim! - Dry Spell Means Early Fire Season (KING-TV, Seattle)
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_060109WAB-fireseason-KC.3d006ecf.html?rss

Clallam County Treasurer's Office Investigated For Suspected Theft by Employee (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009290187_apwaclallamtheft.html?syndication=rss

Hood Canal Bridge Reopening Ceremonies Saturday (Associated Press)
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/868826.html

City of Shelton’s Urban Growth Area Agreement Draws Opposition (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)
http://www.masoncountydailynews.com/News/NewsArticle/tabid/1897/smid/3468/ArticleID/7423/reftab/1632/t/U-G-A-AGREEMENT-DRAWS-OPPOSITION/Default.aspx

Chinese Company Said to Be Buyer of Hummer (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/business/03auto.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

DIVERSIONS

Ukulele Helps Ease the Pain (Michigan Public Radio)
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain/article/8/0/1511910/Arts..and..Culture/Ukulele.Helps.Ease.the.Pain

Enemies to Electrical Utilities Get another Black Mark - Cemetery squirrels nuts about US flags: Rogue rodent discovered robbing graves of Old Glory
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009905300301

Jogger Injured After Using Twitter As He Ran
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5421097/Jogger-injured-after-using-Twitter-as-he-ran.html

Lard - After Decades Of Trying, Its Moment Is Finally Here
http://www.slate.com/id/2219314/?from=rss

SONG OF THE DAY

The Flying Lizards – Cover: Money (That's What I Want)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-P2qL3qkzk

Barrett Strong – Original Version: Money (That's What I Want)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6xkT7FMyTc