The Energy News Digest: 04/15/11

Friday, April 15, 2011

Energy News Digest for April 15, 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

Lewis County PUD Turns Down Bonneville Power Administration Settlement (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)

http://www.kelaam.com/pages/localnews?Lewis-County-PUD-turns-down-BPA-settleme=1&blockID=504664&feedID=410

Bonneville Power Administration, Wind Developers Argue Over Looming Problem of Too Much Power from Renewables - BPA this week backed away from a plan to start pulling the plug on wind turbines (Oregonian, Portland)

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/04/bpa_wind_developers_argue_over.html

Seattle Public Utilities Employees Fired After Lowering Their Own Bills (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2014783813_spu16m.html

Strong Sacramento River Fall Chinook Run Will Boost Fisheries Off Northern California & Oregon (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/reeltimenorthwest/2014777434_strong_sacramento_river_fall_c.html

Port Townsend City Wireless Network Could Create Public Hot Spots (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20110415/NEWS/304159979/peninsula-poll-backgrounder-port-townsend-city-wireless-network

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)

· Lewis County PUD Turns Down Bonneville Power Administration Settlement

· Seattle Public Utilities Employees Fired After Lowering Their Own Bills

· Montana High Court Hears Eminent Domain Fight over Energy Transmission

· Population Soars near Nuclear Reactors

· California - Pacific Gas & Electric Granted Rate Hike to Pay for Gas Pipeline Repairs & Maintenance

· TransAlta's Operations Director Edmonton-Bound

· TVA Agrees to Phase Out 18 Coal Powered Units, Shift to Cleaner Fuels: Natural Gas & Biomass

· Winter's Outages In Texas Show Electric Grid System Worked, NRG Chief Says

· Pennsylvania Power Plant Pollutes in Jersey

· Oil Settles Above $108, Natural Gas Up 2 Percent

· Strong Sacramento River Fall Chinook Run Will Boost Fisheries Off Northern California & Oregon

· Snake River Steelhead Pass Dams at 2nd-Highest Rate

· Portions of the Snake River Opening Soon for Spring Chinook

· Dam Passage & Spill Boost Salmon Survival

· Lake Cle Elum Fish-Passage Proposal Called Major Milestone

· Salmon Reclaim Nisqually Delta

· Pacific Salmon May be Dying from Leukemia-Type Virus

· Bonneville Power Administration, Wind Developers Argue Over Looming Problem of Too Much Power from Renewables

· Grid Problems Trigger Rolling Wind-Farm Outages in Pacific Northwest

· US Geothermal Receives Key Reservoir Certificate for Neal Hot Springs Oregon Project

· California Supreme Court Tosses Solar Project Lawsuits

· Duke Energy Plans $44 Million Battery at Texas Wind Farm

· American Forests Can Store More Carbon Emissions than Previously Thought

· Portland's Northwest Shingle Recyclers Grind Oil from Shingles for Reuse as Asphalt for Roads

· Indoor Pollution Is Nothing to Sneeze At

· Algae Could Replace 17 Percent of US Oil Imports: Study

· Port Townsend City Wireless Network Could Create Public Hot Spots

· Microsoft Data Center GM Timmons Heads to Apple

· Google Hits Snags On Government Email Contracts

· Washington State Worries about What It Will Lose in Federal Budget Deal

· Series of Big Quakes Mean More on the Way?

· Despite Rain, Washington's Wildfire Season Begins

· Controllers Need To Nap on the Job, Say Scientists

· Seattle & Denver Lead For Small Businesses in the West

WORD OF THE DAY

Terpsichorean • \ \ • Adjective - Of or relating to dancing

“Terpsichorean Terrapins Travel to University of Maryland for Cheer Team Tryouts”

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

Lewis County PUD Turns Down Bonneville Power Administration Settlement (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)

http://www.kelaam.com/pages/localnews?Lewis-County-PUD-turns-down-BPA-settleme=1&blockID=504664&feedID=410

Seattle Public Utilities Employees Fired After Lowering Their Own Bills (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2014783813_spu16m.html

Montana High Court Hears Eminent Domain Fight over Energy Transmission (Helena Independent Record, MT)

http://helenair.com/news/article_9b8ec25e-672a-11e0-87d9-001cc4c002e0.html

Population Soars near Nuclear Reactors (KNDU-TV, Tri-Cities, WA)

http://www.kndu.com/story/14450931/population-soars-near-nuclear-reactors

California - Pacific Gas & Electric Granted Rate Hike to Pay for Gas Pipeline Repairs & Maintenance, But Must Report What It Does With the Money (San Jose Mercury News, CA)

http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_17848542

TransAlta's Operations Director Edmonton-Bound (Olympian, WA)

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/04/14/1616827/transaltas-operations-director.html

TVA Agrees to Phase Out 18 Coal Powered Units, Shift to Cleaner Fuels: Natural Gas & Biomass (Christian Science Monitor)

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2011/0414/Coal-power-TVA-agrees-to-phase-out-18-units-shift-to-cleaner-fuels

Winter's Outages In Texas Show Electric Grid System Worked, NRG Chief Says (Poten & Partners – Time to get a little “FecalShine-TM” and go to work…)

http://www.poten.com/NewsDetails.aspx?id=11171660

Pennsylvania Power Plant Pollutes in Jersey (Courthouse News Service)

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/04/12/35726.htm

Oil Settles Above $108, Natural Gas Up 2 Percent (Associated Press)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/04/14/national/a093555D50.DTL

FISH & WILDLIFE

Strong Sacramento River Fall Chinook Run Will Boost Fisheries Off Northern California & Oregon (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/reeltimenorthwest/2014777434_strong_sacramento_river_fall_c.html

Snake River Steelhead Pass Dams at 2nd-Highest Rate (Bellingham Herald, WA)

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/04/15/1969552/snake-river-steelhead-pass-dams.html

Portions of the Snake River Opening Soon for Spring Chinook (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/reeltimenorthwest/2014783778_portions_of_the_snake_river_op.html

Dam Passage & Spill Boost Salmon Survival (Bonneville Power Administration)

http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/1582/1063671/

Lake Cle Elum Fish-Passage Proposal Called Major Milestone (Yakima Herald-Republic, WA)

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2011/04/14/lake-cle-elum-fish-passage-proposal-called-major-milestone

Salmon Reclaim Nisqually Delta (KING-TV, Seattle)

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Have-salmon-re-claimed-the-Nisqually-River-Delta-119885704.html

Pacific Salmon May be Dying from Leukemia-Type Virus (Mcclatchy Newspapers)

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/14/112197/pacific-salmon-may-be-dying-from.html

RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/04/bpa_wind_developers_argue_over.html

Grid Problems Trigger Rolling Wind-Farm Outages in Pacific Northwest (Forbes Magazine)

http://blogs.forbes.com/williampentland/2011/04/14/grid-problems-force-rolling-wind-farm-outages-in-pacific-northwest/

US Geothermal Receives Key Reservoir Certificate for Neal Hot Springs Oregon Project (PR-USA Net)

http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=692201&Itemid=29

California Supreme Court Tosses Solar Project Lawsuits (Renewable Energy World)

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/04/california-supreme-court-tosses-solar-project-lawsuits?cmpid=rss

Duke Energy Plans $44 Million Battery at Texas Wind Farm (Charlotte Business Journal, NC)

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/power_city/2011/04/duke-energy-plans-44m-battery-at.html

CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY

American Forests Can Store More Carbon Emissions than Previously Thought (Oregonian, Portland)

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/04/amercian_forests_can_store_mor.html

BARREL O’ GREEN POTPOURRI

Portland's Northwest Shingle Recyclers Grind Oil from Shingles for Reuse as Asphalt for Roads (Oregonian, Portland)

http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2011/04/portlands_northwest_shingle_re.html

Indoor Pollution Is Nothing to Sneeze At (Chicago Tribune, IL)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/newhomes/ct-home-0415-healthy-homes-20110415,0,2154332.story

Algae Could Replace 17 Percent of US Oil Imports: Study (NASDAQ)

http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2011-04/algae-could-replace-17-pct-of-us-oil-imports-study.aspx?storyid=71308

TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Port Townsend City Wireless Network Could Create Public Hot Spots (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20110415/NEWS/304159979/peninsula-poll-backgrounder-port-townsend-city-wireless-network

Microsoft Data Center GM Timmons Heads to Apple - Some of Microsoft’s innovations during Timmons’ tenure are on display in its latest data center in Quincy, Washington, (Data Center Knowledge)

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/04/14/microsoft-data-center-gm-timmons-heads-to-apple/

Google Hits Snags On Government Email Contracts (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014778508_gmail15.html

POLITICS & GOVERNANCE

Washington State Worries about What It Will Lose in Federal Budget Deal (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014778972_federalbudget15m.html

GENERAL NEWS

Series of Big Quakes Mean More on the Way? (Seattle Times)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014779024_bigquakes15m.html

Despite Rain, Washington's Wildfire Season Begins (Associated Press)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014779841_apwawildfireseason.html

Controllers Need To Nap on the Job, Say Scientists (Associated Press)