The Energy News Digest: Energy News Digest for May 27, 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

Energy News Digest for May 27, 2011

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.

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HOT SHOTS – TODAY’S TOP FIVE STORIES

Commercial Fishery Near Grand Coulee Dam Says Trout Being Killed by Spill Effects (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/27/commercial-fishery-says-trout-being-killed/

Grays Harbor Paper Shuts Plant; 240 Jobs Lost (Seattle Times, WA)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2015159995_papermill27.html

Iberdrola Renewables Contract Will Help Puget Sound Energy Meet Customers’ Peak Power Needs (News Blaze)

http://newsblaze.com/story/2011052611403300002.bw/topstory.html

WA Lawmakers Kill Film, Newspaper Tax Breaks in Waning Hours – Data Center Incentives to Expire “…Tech companies planning to build new data centers will have to break ground by June 30 to avoid sales tax on the equipment…” (News Tribune, Tacoma, WA)

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/27/1682224/lawmakers-kill-3-industries-tax.html

California - Plan for Giant Turbines near I-10 Exit in Palm Springs Generating Controversy (Palm Springs Desert Sun, CA)

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110527/BUSINESS/105270306/Windmills-Iconic-eyesore-

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

Iberdrola Renewables Contract Will Help Puget Sound Energy Meet Customers’ Peak Power Needs
California - Pacific Gas & Electric Rates to Drop for Heaviest Utility Users
California - Oakley Natural Gas Power Plant Clears Final Regulatory Hurdle
Constellation Energy to Buy Electricity Seller StarTex for $142.5 Million
Maryland - Shattuck’s $15 Million Pay Riles Constellation Shareholders
Kansas to Delay $2.3 Million Disaster Payments to Electric Cooperatives That Suffered Disaster Damage
Puget Sound Energy Finds Family of Flying Squirrels in Power Pole
Group Proposes Solar Panels for Backup Power at Nuclear Power Plants
Canada - Hydro Quebec Chief Says Critics Rely on Myths: Wind & solar ‘too expensive’
Wind, Water & Questions - Readers Come Through With Suggestions
North Dakota - Basin Electric Idles a Generating Unit While Missouri River Dams Crank Out Electricity
Basin Electric Backs Off Coal for Surplus Garrison Dam Power
Commercial Fishery Near Grand Coulee Dam Says Trout Being Killed by Spill Effects
Virtual Fish Put New Eyes On Underwater Toxins
Naturally Competitive - On Your Mark, Get Set, Name That Shrub
Clallam PUD’s Carlsborg Sewer, Peninsula College Projects Make Final State Budget
Ruling Upheld in Spokane Sewer Plant Death
Lake Roosevelt Water Levels 60 Feet Below Normal
California - Plan for Giant Turbines near I-10 Exit in Palm Springs Generating Controversy
A Natural Gas Power Plant to Make Renewables More Practical
German Steel Warns of Rising Costs in Move to Renewable Energy
Clackamas Community College Offers Class on Do-It-Yourself Wind Turbines
Editorial – Washington State Needs Better Reporting of ‘Green’ Building Data
NOAA’s Eye-Opening Time-Lapse Video of April’s Deadly Tornadoes
Venice May Be Less at Risk from Seas than Feared
US Electric Car Revolution to Go Forward, With or Without Congress
Sloppy Recycling Seen Posing Threat to Green Tech
WA Lawmakers Kill Film, Newspaper Tax Breaks in Waning Hours – Data Center Incentives to Expire
What Did & Didn’t Pass In Legislature This Year
Washington State Representative Angel Went on Cruise during Special Session
Gary Locke breezes through Senate hearing – Nominated for Ambassador to China
Grays Harbor Paper Shuts Plant; 240 Jobs Lost
ou Need to Know
Average Gas Price in Washington $3.95
Mason County Man Shot with Arrow Says Daughter Kept Him from Calling 911
Feds to ‘Barefoot Bandit:’ You Owe Us the Rights to Your Story
New Washington State Coastal Radar Dome Installed
Retiring Shelton Schools Superintendent
Tiny Beetles Deployed to Contain Scotch Broom Problem
Mail Carrier Who Defecated in Yard Gets to Keep Job

WORD OF THE DAY

Tussle • \TUSS-ull\ • Noun - 1: a physical contest or struggle: scuffle 2: an intense argument, controversy, or struggle

“Don’t go in there!” shouted the scarred employee who stumbled from the board room into a growing crowd of curious, yet strangely calm cubicle-dwellers. “A tussle over the last maple bar went horribly wrong…and the CEO did not come out the winner.”

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

Iberdrola Renewables Contract Will Help Puget Sound Energy Meet Customers’ Peak Power Needs (News Blaze)

http://newsblaze.com/story/2011052611403300002.bw/topstory.html

California - Pacific Gas & Electric Rates to Drop for Heaviest Utility Users (SF Chronicle, CA)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/27/BU1F1JLL1G.DTL

California - Oakley Natural Gas Power Plant Clears Final Regulatory Hurdle (San Jose Mercury News, CA)

http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_18148277

Constellation Energy to Buy Electricity Seller StarTex for $142.5 Million (NASDAQ)

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201105270849dowjonesdjonline000377&title=constellation-energy-to-buy-electric-seller-startex-for-1425-million

Maryland - Shattuck’s $15 Million Pay Riles Constellation Shareholders (Baltimore Business Journal, MD)

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2011/05/27/shattucks-pay-riles-constellation.html

Kansas to Delay $2.3 Million Disaster Payments to Electric Cooperatives That Suffered Disaster Damage (Associated Press)

http://www.newstimes.com/default/article/APNewsBreak-Kansas-to-delay-disaster-payments-1397179.php

Puget Sound Energy Finds Family of Flying Squirrels in Power Pole (KING-TV, Seattle)

http://www.king5.com/news/local/flying-squirrel-power-pole-122704519.html

Group Proposes Solar Panels for Backup Power at Nuclear Power Plants (Penn Energy)

http://www.pennenergy.com/index/power/display/2534318592/articles/pennenergy/power/nuclear/2011/may/group-proposes_solar.html

Canada - Hydro Quebec Chief Says Critics Rely on Myths: Wind & solar ‘too expensive’; Alternatives to Romaine River dam would cost far more (Montreal Gazette, Quebec)

http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Critics+rely+myths+Hydro/4846691/story.html

A MIGHTY RIVER vs. A MIGHTY WIND

Wind, Water & Questions - Readers Come Through With Suggestions (Renewables Biz)

http://www.renewablesbiz.com/article/11/05/wind-water-and-questions

North Dakota - Basin Electric Idles a Generating Unit While Missouri River Dams Crank Out Electricity (Associated Press)

http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/9ae378537e3145e6a5f563cab38e0c56/ND--Basin-Unit/

Basin Electric Backs Off Coal for Surplus Garrison Dam Power (Bismarck Tribune, ND)

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/article_037f6578-87c2-11e0-8088-001cc4c03286.html

FISH & WILDLIFE

Commercial Fishery Near Grand Coulee Dam Says Trout Being Killed by Spill Effects (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/27/commercial-fishery-says-trout-being-killed/

Virtual Fish Put New Eyes On Underwater Toxins (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

http://news.opb.org/article/virtual-fish-put-new-eyes-underwater-toxins/

Naturally Competitive - On Your Mark, Get Set, Name That Shrub; Mason County Eco-Field Trip Inspires Students (Olympian, WA)

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/05/27/1666186/naturally-competitive.html

WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT

Clallam PUD’s Carlsborg Sewer, Peninsula College Projects Make Final State Budget (KONP Radio, Port Angeles, WA)

http://www.konp.com/local/6919

Ruling Upheld in Spokane Sewer Plant Death - Supreme Court says CH2M Hill liable for $6.5 million (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/27/ruling-upheld-in-sewage-death/

Lake Roosevelt Water Levels 60 Feet Below Normal (KING-TV, Seattle)

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Lake-Roosevelt-water-levels-60-feet-below-normal-122676724.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

California - Plan for Giant Turbines near I-10 Exit in Palm Springs Generating Controversy (Palm Springs Desert Sun, CA)

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110527/BUSINESS/105270306/Windmills-Iconic-eyesore-

A Natural Gas Power Plant to Make Renewables More Practical - GE says its new gas-plant design can address the sudden drops that occur with renewable forms of energy (Technology Review, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/37635/?mod=chfeatured

German Steel Warns of Rising Costs in Move to Renewable Energy (Bloomberg News)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/05/27/bloomberg1376-LLUJGO6JTSEG01-4RKHUPKVA950GNCEAED7754V9M.DTL

Clackamas Community College Offers Class on Do-It-Yourself Wind Turbines (Oregonian, Portland)

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/index.ssf/2011/05/clackamas_community_college_offers_class_on_do-it-yourself_wind_turbines.html

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

Editorial – Washington State Needs Better Reporting of ‘Green’ Building Data (Olympian, WA)

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/05/27/1666226/state-needs-better-reporting-of.html

CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT

NOAA’s Eye-Opening Time-Lapse Video of April’s Deadly Tornadoes (TreeHugger)

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/05/noaas-eye-opening-time-lapse-video-oif-aprils-deadly-tornadoes.php

Venice May Be Less at Risk from Seas than Feared (Reuters)