Energy News Digest for March 25, 2010

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)

·         Washington Governor Approves Aluminum Smelter, Server Farm Tax Breaks

·         Areva Snub of Tri-Cities - Idaho Won One Company Gov. Gregoire Let Get Awa

·         Fitch Rates Grant County PUD’s Priest Rapids Revenue Bonds ‘AA’; Outlook Stable

·         Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative will Severe Ties with Southern Montana Electric

·         California Public Power Measure - Prop 16 Is June’s Priciest Ballot Initiative

·         Alaska - Anti-Coal Groups Target Healy Plant’s Debt as Reason to Keep it Offline

·         North Dakota’s Public Service Commission protests federal coal regulatory moves

·         Minnesota - City of Red Wing, Xcel Energy Remain at Odds over Long-Term Nuclear Storage

·         Energy Future Holdings CEO Says Cheap Natural Gas Makes it Hard to Build Nukes

·         Goldman Sachs Analyst Cuts Outlook on Power Generators

·         Oregon - Heyburn Man Receives Award from Bonneville Power Administration

·         Montana - Review Set for Flathead Lake Trout Netting Plan

·         Bering Sea Pollock - Rule Would Limit Accidental Salmon Catch

·         California - San Joaquin River Flowing Again to Pacific Ocean

·         Tri-Cities Irrigation Water Levels Low

·         Head of Taylor Shellfish honored for Contributions to Aquaculture

·         Weyerhaeuser to Review Logging Practices

·         Oregon - The Sludge Battle Thickens

·         Washington State Gas Station Owners Sue over Pollution Tax

·         Wisconsin Wind-Farm Project Means Work for Vestas’ Colorado Plants

·         Wisconsin - Rothschild Biomass Plant Opponents Fear ‘Monster’ Pollution Source

·         Geothermal Power Projects Pick Up Steam

·         Audit Finds Vulnerability of EnergyStar Program

·         Texas - Smart Meter Power Usage Data Isn’t So Current

·         ‘Cap & Trade’ Loses Its Standing as Energy Policy of Choice

·         Heat-Toting Ocean Currents Chugging Along

·         CO2 Capture Likely to Increase Price of Coal-Fueled Electricity Generation

·         Will You Turn Off the Lights for Earth Hour?

·         Can Climate Change be Funny? Ian McEwan tackles global warming - in a comic novel

·         Scientists Look to Tobacco as a Potential Biofuel

·         Verizon Winds Down Expensive FiOS Expansion

·         Verizon’s Leaving Trail of Bankrupt Wreckage Behind Them

·         Microsoft’s Data Centers Take a Page from Henry Ford

·         Grant to Fund High-Speed Internet on Navajo Nation

·         Feds Award $4.7M Stimulus Grant for Rural Minnesota Broadband

·         Wireless Entrepreneur Sees Opportunity in Haiti

·         Komando’s Q&A: Switch TV to Fiber Optics?

·         A Tale of Two Digital Cities: Portland, Pendleton & Google Fiber

·         Bay Area Communities Make Last-Minute Pitch for Google Broadband

·         Olympia: State Attorney General Orders Security Tightened for Health Care Lawsuit Protests

·         Congressman Reichert Hospitalized; Full Recovery Expected

·         Accused Forger Pleads Not Guilty to Forging County Treasurer’s Personal Checks

·         Accused Identity Thief: I Had to Buy Groceries

·         Pot-Growing Operation Suspected in Arlington Fire

·         Dino Rossi in DC to Talk About Challenging Sen. Patty Murray

·         Washington State School Funding Ruling Appealed to High Court

·         Lake Tahuyeh Dispute over State Boat Launch Plan Headed for Trial

WORD OF THE DAY

Shibboleth • \SHIB-uh-luth\ • noun - 1: catchword, slogan 2: a widely held belief or truism 3: a custom or usage regarded as distinctive of a particular group

“Golly Fred, I don’t know about this shibboleth that we’re trying to sell to the executive board,” whined the disheveled assistant, who was juggling hastily collated copies of a PowerPoint presentation up a narrow staircase to the boardroom. “Well Stanley, with all the paranoia about BPA in pop cans & plastic water bottles; ‘Drink From Glass Bottles: They Won’t Kill You’ is truthful…and reaches our customers on a ‘gut’ level”

WEATHER

Shelton Forecast & 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

Washington Governor Approves Aluminum Smelter, Server Farm Tax Breaks (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011444551_apwaxgrtaxbreaks.html?syndication=rss

Areva Snub of Tri-Cities - Idaho Won One Company Gov. Gregoire Let Get Away (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011444209_kate26.html?syndication=rss

Fitch Rates Grant County PUD’s Priest Rapids Revenue Bonds ‘AA’; Outlook Stable (Market Wire)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fitch-Rts-Grant-County-PUDs-bw-3750253903.html?x=0&.v=1

Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative will Severe Ties with Southern Montana Electric (Big Sky Business Journal, MT)

http://www.bigskybusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1136:yellowstone-valley-electric-will-severe-ties&catid=18:citycounty&Itemid=118

California Public Power Measure - Prop 16 Is June’s Priciest Ballot Initiative, With Pacific Gas & Electric Coughing Up Big Money (San Jose Mercury News, CA)

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14759178

Alaska - Anti-Coal Groups Target Healy Plant’s Debt as Reason to Keep it Offline (Fairbanks News Miner, AK)

http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/6846993/article-Anti-coal-groups-target-Healy-plant-s-debt-as-reason-to-keep-it-offline?instance=home_news_window_left_top_4

North Dakota’s Public Service Commission protests federal coal regulatory moves (Associated Press)

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/273377/

Minnesota - City of Red Wing, Xcel Energy Remain at Odds over Long-Term Nuclear Storage (Rochester Post-Bulletin, MN)

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=444790

Energy Future Holdings CEO Says Cheap Natural Gas Makes it Hard to Build Nukes (Dallas Morning News, TX)

http://energyandenvironmentblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/03/efh-ceo-cheap-natural-gas-make.html

Goldman Sachs Analyst Cuts Outlook on Power Generators (Associated Press)

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36021305?__source=RSS*tag*&par=RSS

Oregon - Heyburn Man Receives Award from Bonneville Power Administration (iStockAnalyst)

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3976010

FISH & WATER

Montana - Review Set for Flathead Lake Trout Netting Plan (Daily Interlake, Kalispell, MT)

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/local_montana/article_a8aeeaf6-387b-11df-be58-001cc4c03286.html

Bering Sea Pollock - Rule Would Limit Accidental Salmon Catch (Anchorage Daily News, AK)

http://www.adn.com/2010/03/25/1199760/rule-would-limit-accidental-salmon.html

California - San Joaquin River Flowing Again to Pacific Ocean (Associated Press)

http://www.examiner.com/a-2547038~San_Joaquin_River_flowing_again_to_Pacific_Ocean.html?cid=rss-California_Headlines

Tri-Cities Irrigation Water Levels Low (KNDU-TV, Tri-Cities, WA)

http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=12207182

Head of Taylor Shellfish honored for Contributions to Aquaculture (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)

http://masoncountydailynews.net/news/1710-head-of-taylor-shellfish-honored-for-contributions-to-aquaculture

ECOLOGY & THE ENVIRONMENT

Weyerhaeuser to Review Logging Practices (KING-TV, Seattle)

http://www.nwcn.com/news/Weyerhaeuser-to-change-logging-practices-89244662.html

Oregon - The Sludge Battle Thickens: Lewis & Clark valley residents vow to fight Seaside’s plan to spray biosolids on farmland (Daily Astorian, OR)

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Main.asp?SectionID=2&ArticleID=68969&utm_source=AllTodaysNewsRSS&utm_medium=feed

Washington State Gas Station Owners Sue over Pollution Tax (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011443594_apwapollutiontax.html?syndication=rss

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Wisconsin Wind-Farm Project Means Work for Vestas’ Colorado Plants (Portland Business Journal)

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/03/22/daily30.html

Wisconsin - Rothschild Biomass Plant Opponents Fear ‘Monster’ Pollution Source (Wausau Daily Herald, WI)

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20100326/WDH0101/3260629/1581&located=rss

Geothermal Power Projects Pick Up Steam (Government Technology)

http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/749891?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=link

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

Audit Finds Vulnerability of EnergyStar Program (NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/science/earth/26star.html

Texas - Smart Meter Power Usage Data Isn’t So Current (Houston Chronicle, TX)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6930625.html

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

‘Cap & Trade’ Loses Its Standing as Energy Policy of Choice “…Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, & Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, have proposed an alternative that they call cap & dividend…” (NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/science/earth/26climate.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Heat-Toting Ocean Currents Chugging Along (NY Times)

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/heat-toting-ocean-currents-chugging-along/?partner=rss&emc=rss

CO2 Capture Likely to Increase Price of Coal-Fueled Electricity Generation (Vancouver Sun, BC)

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/capture+likely+increase+price+coal+fuelled+electricity+generation/2726921/story.html

BARREL O’ GREEN POTPOURRI

Will You Turn Off the Lights for Earth Hour? Millions Plan to Flip Switch Saturday (USA Today)

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/03/millions-of-homes-stores-buildings-go-dark-for-earth-hour/1

Can Climate Change be Funny? Ian McEwan tackles global warming - in a comic novel (Wall Street Journal)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704117304575137993028761062.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Scientists Look to Tobacco as a Potential Biofuel (Washington Post)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032602335.html

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Verizon Winds Down Expensive FiOS Expansion (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011449152_apustecverizonfios.html?syndication=rss

Verizon’s Leaving Trail of Bankrupt Wreckage Behind Them - After being slammed for Fairpoint deal, Idearc shareholders sue telco (Broadband Reports)

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizons-Leaving-A-Trail-Of-Bankrupt-Wreckage-Behind-Them-107582

Microsoft’s Data Centers Take a Page from Henry Ford (GigaOM)

http://gigaom.com/2010/03/25/microsofts-data-centers-take-a-page-from-henry-ford/

Grant to Fund High-Speed Internet on Navajo Nation (Associated Press)

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14757301?nclick_check=1

Feds Award $4.7M Stimulus Grant for Rural Minnesota Broadband (Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal)

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2010/03/22/daily41.html

Wireless Entrepreneur Sees Opportunity in Haiti (Nat’l Public Radio)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125184612&ft=1&f=2

Komando’s Q&A: Switch TV to Fiber Optics? (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2010-03-18-ask-kim_N.htm

GA-GA FOR GOOGLE

A Tale of Two Digital Cities: Portland, Pendleton & Google Fiber (Oregon Public Radio)

http://news.opb.org/article/6989-tale-two-digital-cities-portland-pendleton-and-google-fiber/

Bay Area Communities Make Last-Minute Pitch for Google Broadband (San Jose Mercury News, CA)

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14759038

GENERAL NEWS

Olympia: State Attorney General Orders Security Tightened for Health Care Lawsuit Protests (News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/03/26/1123928/olympia-mckenna-orders-security.html

Congressman Reichert Hospitalized; Full Recovery Expected (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

http://www.seattlepi.com/sound/417423_sound89202772.html?source=rss

Accused Forger Pleads Not Guilty to Forging County Treasurer’s Personal Checks (Olympian, WA)

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/03/26/1185188/accused-forger-pleads-not-guilty.html

Accused Identity Thief: I Had to Buy Groceries (KOMO-TV, Seattle)

http://www.komonews.com/news/89249552.html

Pot-Growing Operation Suspected in Arlington Fire (Everett Herald, WA)

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100325/NEWS01/703259874/0/rss07

Dino Rossi in DC to Talk About Challenging Sen. Patty Murray (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2011440048_dinorossiindctotalkaboutchallengingsenpattymurray.html?syndication=rss

Washington State School Funding Ruling Appealed to High Court (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011444966_apwaschooldollars1stldwritethru.html?syndication=rss

Lake Tahuyeh Dispute over State Boat Launch Plan Headed for Trial (Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/mar/25/lake-tahuyeh-dispute-headed-for-trial/?partner=RSS

DIVERSIONS

Instant Karma? Armrest Bonks Cellphone User on Head during Movie: Lawsuit Pending

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2121672,showers-suit-cell-movie-armrest-hit-head-032410.article

$100,000 Missing After Ohio Armored Car Spills Bag

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011439868_apusarmoredcarspill.html?syndication=rss

Toilet Pipes, Bathroom Fixtures Latest Target of Thieves

http://www.kirotv.com/news/22958340/detail.html

California Bill Would Ban Metal Bats in High School Baseball

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/26/2634717/bill-would-ban-metal-bats-in-high.html

Double-Standards Are Us - Beefcake with Your Tall, Skinny Decaf Latte

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2011444826_nicole26m.html?syndication=rss

SONG OF THE DAY

The Beatles- Fixing a Hole

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEnZg_xePPs