The Energy News Digest: 05/20/10

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Energy News Digest for May 20, 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

HOT SHOTS – TODAY’S TOP FIVE STORIES

New Plan Due to Make Dams Less Lethal to Salmon (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011911723_aporsalmondams.html?syndication=rss

Radar Ridge Wind Power Project in Doubt after Grays Harbor PUD Pullout (Aberdeen Daily World, WA)

http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2010/05/19/local_news/doc4bf429441b329545969415.txt

Contaminated Soil Changes Closure Plans for Belfair Sewer Project (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)

http://masoncountydailynews.net/news/2186-contaminated-soil-changes-closure-plans-for-belfair-sewer-project-

Hard Times Lead to Customer’s Threat against Avista - Employees threatened when a serviceman delivered a power shut-off notice (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/may/19/hard-times-lead-avista-threat/

Arizona Threatens to Turn Lights off in L.A. - Official Says Los Angeles Can Go Without Arizona Electricity if City Goes Through with Boycott (CBS News)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/19/national/main6498572.shtml

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

· Hard Times Lead to Customer’s Threat against Avista

· Arizona Threatens to Turn Lights off in L.A.

· City Light’s Skagit Dam Tour, Chicken Dinner Gets the Ax

· Los Angeles Utility Workers Being Fired for Boozing on Job

· Colstrip’s Coal Power

· California - Prop. 16 Would Require Two-Thirds Vote to Create Municipal Utilities

· San Jose Mercury News Columnist - Prop. 16 is Pacific Gas & Electric’s Attempt to Prevent Other Cities from Following Palo Alto’s Energy Lead

· Duke Adds Smart Grid Charges to Rates

· Electricity: The New Math

· California Takes Steps to Make Renewable Energy More Reliable

· Texas Power Customers Will Save Money with New Transmission Lines, Study Says

· New Plan Due to Make Dams Less Lethal to Salmon

· Don’t Dam Salmon to Extinction

· Local Oyster Farmers: Gulf Oil Spill No Boon for Us

· Contaminated Soil Changes Closure Plans for Belfair Sewer Project

· Dioxin Questions Rise along the Duwamish River

· California - Talks over Easing Farmers’ Limits on Water Use

· Radar Ridge Wind Power Project in Doubt after Grays Harbor PUD Pullout

· Radar Ridge Wind Project Suffers Investment Setback

· Grays Harbor PUD Won’t Move Forward With Wind Farm

· Clallam PUD Loses Wind Farm Partner

· Iowa - Wind Company TPI Cuts Jobs in Newton as It Weighs New Plant

· Wind Could be Next Great Farming Subsidy

· Kentucky - Wood Burning Power Plant Gets the Green Light

· Disputed Wisconsin Renewable Power Bill Signed

· Biomass Energy Juggernaut Threatens Human & Forest Health

· New Energy Focus Opinion - Wood Pellets: A Hot Bioenergy Source

· Co-Firing Biomass with Coal

· Arizona - Construction Begins on New Geothermal Power Plant

United Kingdom

on Course to Reap Massive Renewable Energy Harvest

United Kingdom

Government Plans to Build Offshore Energy Grid for Wind

· For Whom the Wind Blows (The Danish Paradox)

· Oregon Scientists Help Draw Up New Climate Change Report

· National Academy of Sciences Urges Strong Action to Cut Greenhouse Gases

· As Oceans Get Warmer, Congress Is Facing Heat

· Kerry, Pickens: Odd Couple of Climate Legislation

· Outcomes, Not Mechanisms: The Effects of the American Power Act

· Burning Coal, Burning Cash: States That Import the Most Coal

· Oregon Wineries Take Carbon Neutral Pledge

· The Best Green Homes? They’re Low-Cost to Luxury

· Bio-Cremation Offers Third Option for Body Disposal

· Seattle - Why We’re Rolling out the Red Carpet for FaceBook

· Verizon Buries Bags of Rocks in Woman’s Yard

· City of Olympia Cleans out Homeless Camps

· Camas Fire Captain Charged With Stealing Drugs

· Missing Money Divides Carlyon Beach Homeowners’ Association

· Mouse Droppings Pose Hanta Virus Threat

· Inventor of Cash Machine Dies at 84 in

Scotland

· Seattleite’s ‘Draw Mohammed’ Cartoon Draws Heat

WORD OF THE DAY

Bully Pulpit • \BULL-ee-PULL-pit\ • noun - A prominent public position (as a political office) that provides an opportunity for expounding one’s views

From Merriam-Webster Online - Did you know?

“Bully pulpit” comes from the 26th U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, who observed that the White House was a bully pulpit. For Roosevelt, “bully” was an adjective meaning “excellent” or “first-rate” -- not the noun “bully” (“a blustering browbeating person”) that’s so common today. Since the 1970s, “bully pulpit” has been used as a term for an office -- especially a political office -- that provides one with the opportunity to share one’s views.

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

Hard Times Lead to Customer’s Threat against Avista - Employees threatened when a serviceman delivered a power shut-off notice (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/may/19/hard-times-lead-avista-threat/

Arizona Threatens to Turn Lights off in L.A. - Official Says Los Angeles Can Go Without Arizona Electricity if City Goes Through with Boycott (CBS News)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/19/national/main6498572.shtml

City Light’s Skagit Dam Tour, Chicken Dinner Gets the Ax (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011902523_skagit20m.html?syndication=rss

Los Angeles Utility Workers Being Fired for Boozing on Job (San Jose Mercury News, CA)

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15118198?nclick_check=1

Colstrip’s Coal Power (Sightline Daily)

http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2010/05/19/colstrips-coal-power

California - Prop. 16 Would Require Two-Thirds Vote to Create Municipal Utilities (Ventura County Star, CA)

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/may/19/prop-16-would-require-two-thirds-vote-to-create/

San Jose Mercury News Columnist - Prop. 16 is Pacific Gas & Electric’s Attempt to Prevent Other Cities from Following Palo Alto’s Energy Lead

http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_15123694

Duke Adds Smart Grid Charges to Rates (Business Courier of Cincinnati)

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2010/05/17/daily32.html

Electricity: The New Math - ‘Smart’ Meters Know When You’re Cooking, Cleaning; How About Dinner at 4? (Wall Street Journal)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303395904575158161243002230.html

California Independent System Operator Takes Steps to Make Renewable Energy More Reliable (Sacramento Business Journal)

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2010/05/17/daily41.html

Texas Power Customers Will Save Money with New Transmission Lines, Study Says (Fort Worth Star Telegraph, TX – Better dancer, taller, and ten pound lighter also included as benefits)

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/20/2204004/texas-power-customers-will-save.html

FISH & WILDLIFE

New Plan Due to Make Dams Less Lethal to Salmon (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011911723_aporsalmondams.html?syndication=rss

Don’t Dam Salmon to Extinction - Tomorrow, federal officials will release their salmon plan for the Columbia & Snake rivers (American Rivers)

http://www.americanrivers.org/newsroom/dont-dam-salmon051910.html

Local Oyster Farmers: Gulf Oil Spill No Boon for Us (KOMO-TV, Seattle)

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/94383814.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Contaminated Soil Changes Closure Plans for Belfair Sewer Project (KMAS Radio, Shelton, WA)

http://masoncountydailynews.net/news/2186-contaminated-soil-changes-closure-plans-for-belfair-sewer-project-

Dioxin Questions Rise along the Duwamish River (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011907161_duwamish20m.html?syndication=rss

California - Talks over Easing Farmers’ Limits on Water Use (SF Chronicle)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/20/BAPD1DHD6R.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Radar Ridge Wind Power Project in Doubt after Grays Harbor PUD Pullout (Aberdeen Daily World, WA)

http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2010/05/19/local_news/doc4bf429441b329545969415.txt

Radar Ridge Wind Project Suffers Investment Setback (Longview Daily News, WA)

http://tdn.com/news/local/article_a7944854-63b0-11df-af7e-001cc4c03286.html

Grays Harbor PUD Won’t Move Forward With Wind Farm (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011906737_apwawindfarmnaselle1stldwritethru.html?syndication=rss

Clallam PUD Loses Wind Farm Partner (KONP Radio, Port Angeles, WA)

http://www.konp.com/local/5789

Iowa - Wind Company TPI Cuts Jobs in Newton as It Weighs New Plant “…TPI is required to create 504 jobs…by July to meet…promises made when the state provided $2 million in incentives for the factory…” (Des Moines Register, IA)

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100519/BUSINESS/100519016/1029/

Wind Could be Next Great Farming Subsidy (CNET News – COULD be?)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20005393-54.html

Kentucky - Wood Burning Power Plant Gets the Green Light (WKYT-TV, Lexington, KY)

http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/94309389.html

Disputed Wisconsin Renewable Power Bill Signed (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI)

http://www.jsonline.com/business/94344129.html

Biomass Energy Juggernaut Threatens Human & Forest Health (New West)

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/biomass_energy_juggernaut_threatens_human_and_forest_health/C564/L564/

New Energy Focus Opinion - Wood Pellets: A Hot Bioenergy Source

http://newenergyfocus.com/do/ecco/view_item?listid=1&listcatid=32&listitemid=3940&section=Bioenergy%20%26%20Waste

Co-Firing Biomass with Coal - Co-firing makes use of existing power generation assets & infrastructure with the lowest cost of generation for renewable energy (Renewable Energy World – Wow! This will make someone’s head explode!)

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/05/co-firing-biomass-with-coal

Arizona - Construction Begins on New Geothermal Power Plant (Associated Press)

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=12512717

United Kingdom

on Course to Reap Massive Renewable Energy Harvest - Independent study says North Sea wind & wave power could make Britain the ‘Saudi Arabia of renewable energy’ (The Guardian,

)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/19/wind-wave-power-north-sea

United Kingdom

Government Plans to Build Offshore Energy Grid for Wind (Bloomberg News)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/05/20/bloomberg1376-L2PTTW0YHQ0X-2.DTL

For Whom the Wind Blows “…while Denmark is indeed off the oil-import habit, it now imports all its coal, & as wind power increases these coal imports “show little sign of declining…” (NY Times)

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/for-whom-the-wind-blows/

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

Oregon Scientists Help Draw Up New Climate Change Report (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

http://news.opb.org/article/7381-oregon-scientists-help-draw-new-climate-change-report/

National Academy of Sciences Urges Strong Action to Cut Greenhouse Gases (Los Angeles Times, CA)

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-sci-climate-change-20100520,0,892075.story?track=rss

As Oceans Get Warmer, Congress Is Facing Heat (SF Chronicle)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/20/MNPS1DGRNN.DTL&feed=rss.news

Kerry, Pickens: Odd Couple of Climate Legislation (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011906413_apusclimatebillpickens.html?syndication=rss

Outcomes, Not Mechanisms: The Effects of the American Power Act (Grist Online)

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-19-outcomes-not-mechanisms-the-effects-of-the-american-power-act/