Holiday Greetings from the Energy News Digest
As
we near the end…of this year, I want to express my thanks to everyone who has
commented on stories or made suggestions about how the news digest can better
serve their needs. May your Christmas and New Year celebrations live up to the expectations
inherent in the season.
BTW,
the news digest will be enjoying hot buttered rum on Monday, and trying to
dispose of wrapping paper in an ecologically sensitive way on Christmas. It
will return, woozy and content on Wednesday morning.
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.
THE NEWS DIGEST ON TWITTER
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HOT SHOTS – TODAY’S TOP FIVE STORIES
Mason County PUD No. 1 Makes Strides in Electricity
Restoration Push (Mason County PUD No. 1)
FERC
Upholds Previous Wind Power Ruling, Asks BPA for Equitable Cost-Sharing Plan (Sustainable Business Oregon)
Editorial - Saving Columbia Basin Salmon Requires
a Boost in the Northwest’s Focus & Ingenuity (Oregonian,
Portland)
Wyden – Oregon’s U-S Senator Introduces Broadband
Cap Bill (Broadband Reports)
Mason
County - Winter Weather Advisory Dec. 21 (KMAS Radio,
Shelton, WA)
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS (Details Below)
- Mason County PUD 1 Makes Strides in Electricity Restoration Push (
- Mason County PUD 3 Crews Restore Electricity for 65 Dewatto–Area Customers
- Power Still Out for 2,000 Lake Wenatchee Area Customers as Trees Continue to Fall
- Oregon Utility Commission Shrinks Pacificorp Rate Hike
- 56 Avista Employees Approved for Buy-Out
- Pacific Gas & Electric Customers Get Bill for Gas Rebuild
- New Mexico State Regulators Halt Cooperative Rate Hikes, Call for Hearing
- Long Island Power Authority Faces Commission
- Ameren to Exit Power-Generation Business
- How Utilities Can Turn Pilots into Partnerships
- Editorial - Saving Columbia Basin Salmon Requires a Boost in the Northwest’s Focus & Ingenuity
- Sand Building Up Bars at Elwha River Mouth
- Boil-Water Advisory Issued in North Mason
- EPA Arrests Longview Septic Business Owner Accused of Dumping Violations
- FERC Upholds Previous Wind Power Ruling, Asks BPA for Equitable Cost-Sharing Plan
- World Trade Organization Says Canada Green Energy Scheme Broke Trade Rules
- Why It’s the End of the Line for Wind Power
- The ‘Most Tested Light Bulb in History’
- Why Renters Use More Electricity
- Burbank Utility Saves the Walt Disney Co. $23,000
- California Residential Utility Customers to See a ‘Climate Dividend’
- 72 Percent of Bids at California’s Carbon Auction Came from One Company’s Mistake
- Is Nuclear Power Necessary for Solving Climate Change?
- Electric Cars, Plug-In Hybrids Gain Sales
- Wyden – Oregon’s U-S Senator Introduces Broadband Cap Bill
- ‘The Basement’: Subterranean Visit to Pittock Building Yields Mementos of Bygone Age
- Homes for Hackers Experiments with ‘Fiber Tourism’
- Washington Supreme Court: Legislature Failing at Education Funding
- Democrats in Washington State Senate to Ask Lt. Governor to Help Shift Power to New Majority
- Congressman-Elect Heck Wins Seat at House Budget Committee
- Congressman-Elect Kilmer Earns House Armed Services Committee Appointment
- Mason County - Winter Weather Advisory Dec. 21
- Highway 101 in Hood Canal Area Reopened
- Mason County Golf Course “Salish Cliffs” Named to Golfweek Top 10
- A Helium Shortage Leads to Fewer Balloons in the Sky
- Ad in New York Times Thanks Washington Voters for Drug Reform’s “Best Year Ever”
WORD OF THE DAY
Hagiography
• \hagg-ee-AW-gruh-fee\ • noun - 1: biography of saints or venerated persons 2:
idealizing or idolizing biography.
“Write
a book about me that leaves out the ‘naughty bits,’” extolled Stalin to his
trembling biographer. “I guess I’m gonna have to pad this hagiography with LOTS
of pictures,” the mousy, bespectacled ghost writer murmured to himself. “Otherwise
this will be one thin volume.”
SHELTON FORECAST & WEATHER ALERTS
ENERGY & UTILITY ISSUES
Mason County PUD No. 1 Makes Strides in Electricity
Restoration Push (Mason County PUD No. 1)
Mason County PUD 3 Crews Restore Electricity for 65
Dewatto–Area Customers (Mason County PUD No. 3)
Power Still Out for 2,000 Lake Wenatchee Area Customers
as Trees Continue to Fall (Wenatchee World, WA)
Oregon Utility Commission Shrinks Pacificorp Rate
Hike (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
56 Avista Employees Approved for Buy-Out (Spokesman
Review, Spokane, WA)
Pacific Gas & Electric Customers Get Bill for
Gas Rebuild (SF Chronicle)
New Mexico State Regulators Halt Cooperative Rate
Hikes, Call for Hearing (Taos News, NM)
Long Island Power Authority Faces Commission (National
Public Radio)
Ameren to Exit Power-Generation Business (Chicago
Business Journal, IL)
http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2012/12/20/ameren-to-exit-power-generation.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2012/12/20/ameren-to-exit-power-generation.html
How Utilities Can Turn Pilots into Partnerships (Christian
Science Monitor)
FISH & WILDLIFE
Editorial - Saving Columbia Basin Salmon Requires
a Boost in the Northwest’s Focus & Ingenuity (Oregonian,
Portland)
Sand Building Up Bars at Elwha River Mouth (Seattle Times)
WATER & THE ENVIRONMENT
Boil-Water
Advisory Issued in North Mason (Kitsap Sun, Bremerton,
WA)
EPA
Arrests Longview Septic Business Owner Accused of Dumping Violations (Longview
Daily News, WA)
RENEWABLE/ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
FERC
Upholds Previous Wind Power Ruling, Asks BPA for Equitable Cost-Sharing Plan (Sustainable Business Oregon)
World
Trade Organization Says Canada Green Energy Scheme Broke Trade Rules (Reuters)
Why
It’s the End of the Line for Wind Power (Forbes
Magazine)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2012/12/21/why-its-the-end-of-the-line-for-wind-power/
CONSERVATION & EFFICIENCY
The ‘Most Tested Light Bulb in History’ (Northwest
Public Radio)
Why Renters Use More Electricity (NY Times)
Burbank Utility Saves the Walt Disney Co. $23,000 (American
Public Power Association)
CLIMATE CHANGE SEQUESTRATION VAULT
California
Residential Utility Customers to See a ‘Climate
Dividend’ (San Jose Mercury News, CA)
72
Percent of Bids at California’s Carbon Auction Came from One Company’s Mistake (Grist Online)
Is Nuclear Power Necessary for Solving Climate
Change? (The Guardian, UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/21/nuclear-power-necessary-climate-change
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/21/nuclear-power-necessary-climate-change
BARREL O’ GREEN POTPOURRI
Electric
Cars, Plug-In Hybrids Gain Sales (SF Chronicle)
TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Wyden – Oregon’s U-S Senator Introduces Broadband
Cap Bill (Broadband Reports)
‘The Basement’: Subterranean Visit to Pittock Building
Yields Mementos of Bygone Age (Oregonian, Portland)
Homes for Hackers Experiments with ‘Fiber Tourism’
(Kansas City Business Journal, MO)
POLITICS & GOVERNANCE
Washington Supreme Court: Legislature Failing at
Education Funding (Associated Press)
Democrats In Washington State Senate to Ask Lt. Governor
to Help Shift Power to New Majority (Olympian, WA)
Congressman-Elect Heck Wins Seat at House Budget
Committee (Olympian, WA)
Congressman-Elect Kilmer Earns House Armed Services
Committee Appointment (KBKW Radio, Aberdeen, WA)
GENERAL NEWS
Mason
County - Winter Weather Advisory Dec. 21 (KMAS Radio,
Shelton, WA)
Highway 101 in Hood Canal Area Reopened (Associated
Press)
Mason County Golf Course “Salish Cliffs” Named to
Golfweek Top 10 (South Sound Business Examiner)
A Helium Shortage Leads to Fewer Balloons in the
Sky (NY Times)
Ad in New York Times Thanks Washington Voters for
Drug Reform’s “Best Year Ever” (Seattle Times)
DIVERSIONS
One-Third of Pacific Northwesterners Believe in Bigfoot
Teacher Inherits $7 Million in Gold Coins from
Reclusive Cousin
The Real Brothers Grimm Were Stranger than Fiction
NASA Once Planned to Feed Astronauts Emergency
Fruitcake
SONG OF THE DAY
Brenda
White - Christmas in the Northwest
Charlotte
Church & Josh Groban - The Prayer
