Energy News Digest for March 18, 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)

·         Seattle City Light Audit - Are Rate Games Being Played?

·         Seattle City Council to Vote on Electric Hike

·         Montana - Flathead Electric Looks for Future Power

·         Montana - Plan to Pool BPA Power Sounds Alarm Bells

·         Columbia River – Feds Say Crescent Bar RVs Have to Go

·         FERC Opposes Crescent Bar Residents - Public Comment Period Starts March 29

·         Baker City Herald Editorial – Electrical Transmission: Ante up, Idaho Power

·         Southern Montana Electric Cooperative to Keep Its Meeting Closed

·         California Regulators Hear Public Power Bill Testimony

·         California Plumas Sierra Rural Electric Coop Announces Layoffs

·         Power Suppliers Oppose Connecticut Rate Relief Bills

·         Australia – 64% Rate Hike: State Faces Big Electricity Bill Hike

·         Troutman Sanders Grows to Portland

·         If You Modernize the Electricity Grid, Will Consumers Care?

·         Scientists Probe Missing Fraser River Salmon Stock Mystery: It’s the Orcas

·         Low Pesticide Levels Found Near Salmon

·         Saving the Oyster in Willapa Bay

·         Clallam PUD Sets Up Sewer District for Carlsborg

·         Meetings Set to Discuss Chehalis River Flood Plan

·         Oregon Governor Declares Drought in Klamath Basin

·         Capitol Lake Mud Snails Withstand Salt Water Bath

·         Nebraska - Bill Will Open Door to Out-of-State Wind Farmers

·         First Ted Turner Backed Solar Project Slated for New Mexico

·         Olympian Editorial - Legislation Is a Boost to Fluorescent Light Recycling

·         Australia - Insulation Inspector Survives Electric Shock

·         Biomass Bric-A-Brac - Wood Stove Owner Fighting Burn Fine

·         Michigan - Convicted Embezzler Given Green Jobs Tax Break, Then Arrested

·         Washington State Legislature OKs Server Farm Tax Exemption

·         How the FCC’s Exciting New Broadband Plan Is a Fraud

·         Bellevue Makes Its Bid for Google Broadband

·         Cities Vie to be Test Community for Super-High-Speed Internet

·         Sacramento-Area Towns Get Creative to Win Google Network

·         Flint Journal Columnist - Making Googly Eyes at Google

·         Pennsylvania - Businessman Wants Wilkes-Barre to be Google Test City

·         North Mason Residents Voice Frustration with Lack of Progress on Belfair Bypass

·         Bathroom Blaze in North Mason Home Causes $10,000 in Damage

·         Union Builder Helping in Haiti

WORD OF THE DAY

Glower • \GLOW-er (sounds like SHOWER)\ • verb - To look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger

Fred’s gaze was all encompassing. His glower seemed to dare anyone to mention his just realized “open barn door” moment during his speech at the annual shareholder’s meeting of the “Always Zipped Silent Zipper Company”.

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

Seattle City Light Audit - Are Rate Games Being Played? (Crosscut Seattle)

http://crosscut.com/2010/03/18/energy-utilities/19680/

Seattle City Council to Vote on Electric Hike (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2011373314_citycouncil18.html?syndication=rss

Montana - Flathead Electric Looks for Future Power: Portland-based Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative is top option (Daily Interlake, Kalispell, MT)

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/local_montana/article_3c4e3da4-3230-11df-accb-001cc4c002e0.html

Montana - Plan to Pool BPA Power Sounds Alarm Bells (Whitefish Pilot, MT)

http://www.flatheadnewsgroup.com/articles/2010/03/18/whitefishpilot/news/news_8731153321_01.txt

Columbia River – Feds Say Crescent Bar RVs Have to Go (Wenatchee World, WA)

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/mar/17/crescent-bar-rvs-have-to-go-feds-say/

FERC Opposes Crescent Bar Residents - Public Comment Period Starts March 29 (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)

http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2010/03/17/news/doc4ba1623ea504d326872380.txt

Baker City Herald Editorial – Electrical Transmission: Ante up, Idaho Power

http://www.bakercityherald.com/Editorials/Ante-up-Idaho-Power

Southern Montana Electric Cooperative to Keep Its Meeting Closed (Billings Gazette, MT)

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_468db6d0-3250-11df-9850-001cc4c002e0.html

California Regulators Hear Public Power Bill Testimony (Business Week)

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EH3LEG4.htm

California Plumas Sierra Rural Electric Coop Announces Layoffs (Plumas County News, CA)

http://www.plumasnews.com/index.php/home/6747--plumas-sierra-rural-electric-coop-announces-layoffs

Power Suppliers Oppose Connecticut Rate Relief Bills (Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1713609520100317?type=marketsNews

Australia – 64% Rate Hike: State Faces Big Electricity Bill Hike (News Limited, Australia)

http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/state-faces-big-electricity-bill-hike/story-e6frfkur-1225842308763

Troutman Sanders Grows to Portland - office will at first focus on helping electric & natural gas utilities (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2010/03/15/daily52.html

If You Modernize the Electricity Grid, Will Consumers Care? (CNET News)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20000671-54.html

FISH & WILDLIFE

Scientists Probe Missing Fraser River Salmon Stock Mystery: It’s the Orcas (Victoria Times Colonist, BC)

http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Scientists+probe+missing+salmon+stock+mystery+orcas/2693528/story.html

Low Pesticide Levels Found Near Salmon (Associated Press)

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/03/18/943874/fish-low-pesticide-levels-found.html

Saving the Oyster in Willapa Bay (The Daily News, Longview, WA)

http://tdn.com/news/local/article_96f72b60-3232-11df-943b-001cc4c03286.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Clallam PUD Sets Up Sewer District for Carlsborg (KONP Radio, Port Angeles, WA)

http://www.konp.com/local/5600

Meetings Set to Discuss Chehalis River Flood Plan (The Daily World, Aberdeen, WA)

http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2010/03/17/local_news/doc4ba117524d392059742398.txt

Oregon Governor Declares Drought in Klamath Basin (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

http://news.opb.org/article/6937-kulongoski-declares-drought-klamath-basin/

Capitol Lake Mud Snails Withstand Salt Water Bath - Only 12 percent of creatures die in experiment (Olympian, WA)

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/03/18/1176113/mud-snails-withstand-salt-water.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Nebraska - Bill Will Open Door to Out-of-State Wind Farmers (Lincoln Journal Star, NE)

http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/article_800a3806-3206-11df-b1f8-001cc4c03286.html

First Ted Turner Backed Solar Project Slated for New Mexico (Earth Techling)

http://www.earthtechling.com/2010/03/first-ted-turner-backed-solar-project-slated-for-new-mexico/

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

Olympian Editorial - Legislation Is a Boost to Fluorescent Light Recycling

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/03/18/1176155/legislation-is-a-boost-to-fluorescent.html

Australia - Insulation Inspector Survives Electric Shock (Canberra Times, Australia)

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/insulation-inspector-survives-shock/1779750.aspx

BARREL O’ GREEN POTPOURRI

Biomass Bric-A-Brac - Wood Stove Owner Fighting Burn Fine (KING-TV, Seattle)

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Wood-stove-owner-fighting-burn-ban-fine-88245217.html

Michigan - Convicted Embezzler Given Green Jobs Tax Break, Then Arrested (Associated Press)

http://www.kcautv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12161431

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Washington State Legislature OKs Server Farm Tax Exemption (Associated Press)

http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/88332417.html

How the FCC’s Exciting New Broadband Plan Is a Fraud (Nieman Watchdog)

http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00439

GA-GA OVER GOOGLE

Bellevue Makes Its Bid for Google Broadband (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/198455.asp?source=pimail

Cities Vie to be Test Community for Super-High-Speed Internet (NW Public Radio)

http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=7010

Sacramento-Area Towns Get Creative to Win Google Network (Sacramento Bee, CA)

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/18/2615269/sacramento-area-towns-get-creative.html

Flint Journal Columnist - Making Googly Eyes at Google

http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/aheller/2010/03/making_googly_eyes_at_google.html

Pennsylvania - Businessman Wants Wilkes-Barre to be Google Test City (Scranton Times-Tribune, PA)

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/businessman-wants-wilkes-barre-to-be-google-test-city-1.687861

GENERAL NEWS

North Mason Residents Voice Frustration with Lack of Progress on Belfair Bypass (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)

http://masoncountydailynews.net/news/1639-residents-voice-frustration-with-lack-of-progress-on-belfair-bypass

Bathroom Blaze in North Mason Home Causes $10,000 in Damage (Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/mar/17/bathroom-blaze-in-north-mason-home-causes-10000/?partner=RSS

Union Builder Helping in Haiti (Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA)

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/mar/17/union-builder-helping-haiti/?partner=RSS

DIVERSIONS

Burglar Caught After Using Store Computer to Update MySpace

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Burglar-caught-after-using-store-computer-to-update-MySpace-88434732.html

Ellensburg Couple Buys Their Dream Home & Unearths Dumpsite

http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=12158544

Celebrate the iPad’s Launch by Sculpting Steve Jobs’ Head in Cheese

http://consumerist.com/2010/03/celebrate-the-ipads-launch-by-sculpting-steve-jobs-head-in-cheese-1.html

Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/

SONG OF THE DAY

Clint Black - The Galaxy Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT7bAuOz8ao