Energy News Digest for August 13, 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)

• NW Power Council Deadlocks over Proposal
• Pacific Northwest Heat Sparks Energy Debate
• Avista Sets 21-Cent Quarterly Dividend
• City of Centralia Looks to Future of City Light
• Editorial - Private Power Comes with a Huge Cost
• Nuclear Power’s New Debate: Cost
• New York - Indian Point Nuclear Reactors Pass U.S. Safety Test for License Renewals
• Coalition Wants To Lift Minnesota’s Nuclear Ban
• Report: California Likely Needs More Power Lines
• Want to Join Cooperative - Florida Residents Aim To Secede From Utility Provider
• Natural Gas Stocks Grow Less than Expected
• British Columbia - Millions of Missing Fish Signal Crisis on the Fraser River
• Lamprey on the Brink
• California - Stimulus Funds Bring Caspian Tern Project to Siskiyou County
• Coastal Fishing Remains Strong, But Fishing in Puget Sound Has Been Rough
• Birds vs. Environmentalists?
• Dams Go Down, Uncorking Rivers for Kayakers
• Cleanup Eradicates Invasive Grass from Willapa Bay
• Interior Dept: Calif. Water a National Priority
• Bottled Water Boom Appears Tapped Out
• California - Monterey Aquarium overwhelmed by jellyfish swarm
• Wind Power Reaches Milestone on BPA System
• BPA: Wind Farm System Sets Output Milestone
• NW Utilities Get Wind Of Integration Charge
• Editorial - Wyoming Wasn't Ready For Wind Energy Boom
• Revival or Dam-Nation? The push for green power could spawn a rush for small hydropower projects in the Pacific Northwest
• United Kingdom - 425 Jobs Lost As Wind Turbine Sites Close
• Florida - Utilities, Activists Clash on Conservation
• A Little Competition May Be Good To Encourage Energy Conservation
• Two Studies Challenge Notion of Rise in Atlantic Storms
• Australian Parliament Rejects Carbon Trade Plan
• The Green Movement Rethinks the Way We Cook
• Irony - Slow Servers Extend Deadline for Broadband Stimulus Bucks
• Qwest Says No Thanks To Stimulus Funds
• Missouri - Stimulus Could Fund Broadband Upgrades
• Do Consumers Really Want Their Media in a Bundle?
• Court Bars Sales of Microsoft Word in U.S.
• Getting Your Wireless Network Up to Speed
• Belfair Water District Candidate Lives outside Boundaries, County Says
• Congressman Baird Reverses Course on Town Hall Meetings
• Trust Purchases 530 Acres of Forest in Mason County

WORD OF THE DAY

Expatiate • \ek-SPAY-shee-ayt\ • verb - 1: to move about freely or at will: wander 2: to speak or write at length or in detail

“What time is it,” the eager intern asked the Chief Executive Officer at the interminable staff meeting. All the other attendees groaned as the leader expatiated on the history of timepieces and the construction thereof, as a prelude to telling the actual time…in each of the world’s time zones.

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

NW Power Council Deadlocks over Proposal (Associated Press)
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_northwest_power.html?source=pimail

Pacific Northwest Heat Sparks Energy Debate - Coal and wind power not available to Portland General Electric when it needed them the most (Portland Tribune)
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=125010615491765600

Avista Sets 21-Cent Quarterly Dividend (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2009656154_apusavistadividend.html?syndication=rss

City of Centralia Looks to Future of City Light - Expensive Upgrades Ahead: Tough Choices and $15 Million in Projects Await for Power Utility’s Transmission Grid (The Chronicle, Centralia, WA)
http://www.chronline.com/articles/2009/08/13/news//doc4a8307dfcc8ec559610587.txt

Victoria Times-Colonist Editorial - Private Power Comes with a Huge Cost: The B.C. Utilities Commission deserves a slap upside the head for its ruling on B.C. Hydro's plans to sign deals with private power companies that will cost consumers billions of dollars.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=86024ef5-481d-4796-8c18-ff71dac37692&k=67301

Nuclear Power’s New Debate: Cost - Issues of safety and waste make way for a focus on funding (Christian Science Monitor)
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/08/13/nuclear-power%E2%80%99s-new-debate-cost/

New York - Indian Point Nuclear Reactors Pass U.S. Safety Test for License Renewals (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/nyregion/13indian.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Coalition Wants To Lift Minnesota’s Nuclear Ban (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/08/10/daily25.html?ana=from_rss

Report: California Likely Needs More Power Lines (Associated Press)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/12/state/n184424D88.DTL&feed=rss.business

Want to Join Cooperative - Florida Residents Aim To Secede From Utility Provider (The Ledger, Lakeland, FL)
http://www.theledger.com/article/20090812/NEWS/908125073/1035/BUSINESS?Title=Fort-Meade-Residents-Aim-To-Secede-From-Utility-Provider

Natural Gas Stocks Grow Less than Expected (Associated Press)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/13/financial/f073710D28.DTL&feed=rss.business

FISH & WILDLIFE

British Columbia - Millions of Missing Fish Signal Crisis on the Fraser River (Globe and Mail – And look: No Dams…)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/millions-of-missing-fish-signal-crisis-onthefraserriver/article1249976/

Lamprey on the Brink - Larvae studied for clues to decline in numbers of 350 million-year-old, eel-like fish (Columbian, Vancouver, WA)
http://columbian.com/article/20090813/NEWS02/708139947/

California - Stimulus Funds Bring Caspian Tern Project to Siskiyou County (Siskiyou Daily News, Yreka, CA)
http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/news/x1528791531/Stimulus-funds-bring-Caspian-tern-project-to-Siskiyou-County

Coastal Fishing Remains Strong, But Fishing In Puget Sound Has Been Rough (Seattle Times)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2009649692_fish13.html?syndication=rss

Birds vs. Environmentalists? The wind industry may be green, but it's proving deadly to wildlife (Newsweek Magazine)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/211734

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Dams Go Down, Uncorking Rivers for Kayakers (NY Times)
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/travel/09explorer.html

Cleanup Eradicates Invasive Grass from Willapa Bay (Associated Press)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009648232_apwawillapabayspartina.html?syndication=rss

Interior Dept: Calif. Water a National Priority (Associated Press)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/12/national/a112327D00.DTL&feed=rss.business

Bottled Water Boom Appears Tapped Out - Environmental Concerns, Recession Put Crimp in Sales (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203074.html?nav=rss_email/components

California - Monterey Aquarium overwhelmed by jellyfish swarm (San Jose Mercury News, CA)
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13045821

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Wind Power Reaches Milestone on BPA System (Bonneville Power Administration)
http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/1582/310243/

BPA: Wind Farm System Sets Output Milestone (Oregonian)
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/08/bpa_wind_farm_system_sets_outp.html

NW Utilities Get Wind Of Integration Charge (Sustainable Industries)
http://www.sustainableindustries.com/energy/52554547.html

Caspar Star-Tribune Editorial - Wyoming Wasn't Ready For Wind Energy Boom
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2009/08/13/editorial/editorial/4c99f01597562e1c872576100079ee4f.txt

Revival or Dam-Nation? The push for green power could spawn a rush for small hydropower projects in the Pacific Northwest (High Country News)
http://www.hcn.org/issues/41.13/revival-or-dam-nation

United Kingdom - 425 Jobs Lost As Wind Turbine Sites Close: Vestas Wind Systems, whose factory which sparked an 18-day occupation, has announced it is closing sites on the Isle of Wight and in Southampton with the loss of 425 jobs (The Telegraph, UK)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/6016313/425-jobs-lost-as-turbine-sites-close.html

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

Florida - Utilities, Activists Clash on Conservation (Associated Press)
http://www.wftv.com/news/20346684/detail.html

A Little Competition May Be Good To Encourage Energy Conservation (Associated Press)
http://www.thekansan.com/opinions/x1373181808/A-little-competition-may-be-good-to-encourage-energy-conservation

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Two Studies Challenge Notion of Rise in Atlantic Storms (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/science/earth/13atlantic.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Australian Parliament Rejects Carbon Trade Plan (Reuters)
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/13/news/news-us-australia-carbon.html

BARREL O’ GREEN POTPOURRI

The Green Movement Rethinks the Way We Cook - Climate-conscious cookbook stirs up tips to step gently on the Earth (Chicago Tribune, IL)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/chi-0812-green-bookaug12,0,6436488.story

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Irony - Slow Servers Extend Deadline for Broadband Stimulus Bucks (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2009/08/13/slow-servers-extend-deadline-for-broadband-stimulus-bucks/

Qwest Says No Thanks To Stimulus Funds - Only wants money for more developed areas (Broadband Reports)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Qwest-Says-No-Thanks-To-Stimulus-Funds-103923

Missouri - Stimulus Could Fund Broadband Upgrades: Partnership will bring access to 91.5 percent of residents (News Leader, Springfield, MO)
http://www.news-leader.com/article/2009908130370

Do Consumers Really Want Their Media in a Bundle? (GigaOM)
http://gigaom.com/2009/08/12/do-consumers-really-want-their-media-in-a-bundle/

Court Bars Sales of Microsoft Word in U.S. (KING-TV, Seattle)
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_081209BUB-microsoft-word-sales-barrred-LJ.d3423be1.html?rss

Getting Your Wireless Network Up to Speed (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/technology/personaltech/13basics.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

GENERAL NEWS

Belfair Water District Candidate Lives outside Boundaries, County Says (Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/aug/12/belfair-water-district-candidate-lives-outside/?partner=RSS

Congressman Baird Reverses Course on Town Hall Meetings (News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/843419.html

Trust Purchases 530 Acres of Forest in Mason County (Olympian, WA)
http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/938312.html

ALLIGATORS IN THE SEWER - DIVERSIONS

Employee Complaints: Smelly Colleagues, Lack of Cookies (Puget Sound Business Journal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2009/08/10/daily32.html?ana=from_rss

FBI: Man Gave Teller ID Before Robbing Bank
http://www.kirotv.com/news/20379717/detail.html

Eagle Dive Bombers - Falling Fish Shatters Ohio Driver's Windshield
http://www.kirotv.com/news/20369278/detail.html

TV Judge to Hear 5-Legged Puppy Case - Animal Show Owner Sues Puppy's Original Owner
http://www.kirotv.com/news/20371706/detail.html

SONG OF THE DAY

Chet Atkins & Les Paul - Birth of the Blues (R.I.P. Mr. Paul)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByGsHTlKmWk