Monday, June 30, 2014

Clatsop County Was Biased against Pipeline for Oregon LNG, Must Reconsider Permit (Oregonian, Portland)

Columbia River Sockeye Run at Halfway Point Double 10-Year Average, Over 20,000 a Day Crossing Bonneville Dam (Columbia Basin Bulletin)

Vestas Settles Shareholder Suit for $5 Million (Northern Colorado Business Report)

Industry Groups Stir Opposition to a Cap-And-Trade Expansion They Say Will Lead to Higher Gas Prices (Sacramento Bee, CA)

Facebook Reveals News Feed Experiment to Control Emotions (The Guardian, UK)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 30, 2014


Friday, June 27, 2014

Group Tests Oregon Coast for Fukushima Radiation (KGW-TV, Portland, OR)

Discarded Fish Cost About $2 Billion in U-S, $20 Million in Northwest, Oceana Says (Oregonian, Portland)

FERC under Fire (The Hill, Washington, DC)

Mason PUD 1 Commissioner, Janda Elected Vice Chair of Energy Northwest Executive Board (Mason Web TV, Shelton, WA)

Seattle City Light Worker Who Blew Whistle on Whiskey ‘Gifts’ Loses Out (Seattle Post Intelligencer, WA)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 27, 2014


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Mason County Neighbors Voice Concerns over Sells Road Pot Farm (Mason Web TV, Shelton, WA)

Avista Warns against Scams after Spokane Incident - Woman wearing blue Avista hat tried to enter home (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)



35 Straight Years – Mason PUD 3 Passes another State Audit (Mason PUD 3, Shelton, WA)

Studies: Pacific Northwest Orcas among World’s Most Contaminated Marine Mammals (Associated Press)

Portland General Electric Seeks Zone Change for Possible Solar Power Plant near Salem (Oregonian, Portland)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 24, 2014


Monday, June 23, 2014

Sacramento Municipal Utility District Wins $53.1 Million in Legal Fight over Nuclear Waste Facility (Sacramento Bee, CA)

Montana: NorthWest Energy’s Electric Rates among the Highest in the Region (Helena Independent-Record, MT)

Supreme Court Nibbles at EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Powers (Politico, Washington, DC)

Sockeye Showing over 7,000 A Day Past Bonneville, Run Likely to be Twice 2004-13 Average (Columbia Basin Bulletin)

ABA: Lawyers Can Scour Jurors’ Social Media Sites (Associated Press)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 23, 2014


Friday, June 20, 2014

Daniel Poneman, Deputy U-S Energy Secretary, to Step Down (Reuters)

Cowlitz PUD Staff Revises Proposal Regarding Marijuana Businesses’ Access to Power (Longview Daily News, WA)

Neighbors Plan to Protest Pot Farm in Shelton (KING-TV, Seattle, WA)

Oregon: Baker County Planners to Review Wind Farm Application (Baker City Herald, OR)

$1 Billion Shortfall: Washington State Governor Inslee Warns of Huge Deficit (KCPQ-TV, Seattle, WA)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 20, 2014


Man Killed in Fireworks Explosion Idenitified (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)

(TENINO, WA) -- The Thurston County Coroner’s Office has identified the man killed in the explosion and fire at a fireworks manufacturing plant in south Thurston County on Wednesday as 75-year old William Hill of Olympia.  Lt. Greg Elwin with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office says Hill died from his injuries before he could be airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.  The explosion at Entertainment Fireworks is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Washington Department of Labor and Industries.  Two other people were injured in the explosion.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Bellevue City Council Looking for Answers to Puget Sound Energy’s Energize Eastside (Bellevue Reporter, WA)

Intruder Burned at Renton Substation Still Alive (Associated Press)

About 14,000 Young Salmon Die in Elwha River Release of 2.6 Million Fish (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)

Grant PUD Declines Request to Support Credit, Leaves NoaNet (iFIBER One News, Ephrata, WA)

Lawsuit: Extending Eagle Death Permits Illegal (Associated Press)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 19, 2014


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Washington State Substation Intruder Nearly Electrocuted After Cutting Wire (Associated Press)

Latest Federal Plan for Columbia Salmon Challenged (Associated Press)

As LED Industry Evolves, China Elbows Ahead (NY Times)

Senate Democrats Call on Four Republican EPA Chiefs to Help Press Case on Climate Change (Associated Press)

Amazon Fire Phone Shops for Prime Customers with 4.7-Inch Screen, Rubber Body, Firefly Shopping App (CNET News)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 18, 2014


Lewis County Broadband Internet Project Finished (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)

(ONALASKA, WA) -- More homes around the Onalaska and Salkum area now have access to high-speed internet service.  TDS Telecom says its broadband internet project is now complete.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus-funded project makes high-speed internet service accessible to more than 400 area homes and businesses.  The project included installing about 10 miles of fiber optics cable throughout its McDaniel Telephone Company area.  The cost of the project was $1.6 million.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Litigious Environmental Groups Refuse to Acknowledge Success of Federal Salmon Efforts, File another Lawsuit (News Release, Northwest RiverPartners, Portland, OR)

(PORTLAND, OR) -- So-called fish conservation groups again are blaming the Obama Administration for “forcing” them into the courtroom. It’s ironic. It’s also not true.

“They are hardly being dragged into court,” said Terry Flores, Executive Director of Northwest RiverPartners. “They are the ones bringing the litigation, despite unprecedented support for this latest salmon plan from federal and state agencies and more than a dozen Northwest tribes.”

Earthjustice, National Wildlife Federation, Save Our Wild Salmon and various commercial and sport fishing groups are the plaintiffs in a long-running lawsuit against NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for ensuring protection of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act.  Today, these plaintiffs made sure that salmon protection efforts will continue to remain mired in the courtroom—instead of allowing them to work on the ground and in the rivers, where they could help fish. They filed yet another legal challenge against the federal salmon plan, known as the Biological Opinion or BiOp, in U.S. District Court – Court of Oregon. 

“For these perennial critics, it is déjà vu all over again as they repeat claims they’ve made for years, despite documented progress that includes the most abundant salmon returns we’ve seen in decades,” said Flores of Northwest RiverPartners (NWRP),  an alliance of farmers, utilities, ports, businesses and other river users that is a party to the litigation.

The plaintiffs claim that the federal salmon plan reduces or rolls back spill (water spilled over the dams to help young fish moving downstream). This is simply not true.  Last Friday (June 13), federal dam operators filed a “Fish Operations Plan” that continues spill at current levels to allow the parties in the litigation to focus on the merits of the case. 

 “The agencies have been spilling at the dams at safe levels for fish for years,” Flores said. “The litigants’ demands for ever more spill could actually harm or kill the very salmon they say they want to protect.”  
As for the overall salmon plan, “contrary to the plaintiffs’ claims, the truth is that the plan approved by NOAA Fisheries accomplishes exactly what the law demands—and more,” Flores noted.  

Federal law demands that federal hydropower dams do not jeopardize fish survival. The salmon plan that’s now under fire already meets this standard through the use of new fish-passage technologies and safe levels of spill.  According to NOAA Fisheries, these methods are helping salmon survive at levels similar to those seen in rivers without any dams at all.  But the plan also goes further, putting salmon on the path to recovery with extensive habitat improvements that make this the most comprehensive and expensive effort to protect an endangered species in the nation. The plan is based on the best available science and has been vetted and endorsed by the Obama Administration’s top scientists. 

“For proof of the plan’s success, look to the healthy fish returns over the last decade, including the historic return of more than one million fall Chinook to the Columbia River last fall,” Flores said. ”This year, Spring Chinook returns already are well over that of the ten-year average, and 1.6 million Fall Chinook and 1.2 million coho are forecasted to return.”

Three out of four Northwest residents agree that it’s critical for dams and salmon to co-exist, according to results of a March 2014 poll conducted for Northwest RiverPartners by DHM Research of Portland. By refusing to acknowledge that the existing salmon plan not only fulfills—but goes beyond—the demands of federal law, the plaintiffs show they are out of touch with public sentiment, Flores said.

“It is past time to acknowledge the obvious: Dams are only one of many factors that determine the fate of salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The hydropower system is doing its part to prevent harm and speed salmon restoration, despite the fact that most salmon mortality occurs in the ocean—making ocean conditions a much larger factor affecting their survival,” Flores said. 

It will be up to U.S. District Judge Michael Simon to consider the salmon plan and detractors’ complaints, a process that is likely to take most of 2014 and possibly beyond to resolve.


“We look forward to defending this plan in court and showing that the hydro system—and the Northwest families and businesses who pay for restoration efforts through their power bills—are more than doing their part to protect these iconic fish,” Flores said.

Thousands Lose Power as Thunderstorms Hit Clark County (Vancouver Columbian, WA)

Summer Salmon Fishing Season Could Be among Best in Recent History (Seattle Times, WA - Paywall Advisory)



Pot Businesses in Cowlitz County Could Lose Lights (KOIN-TV, Portland, OR)

Cable TV Boxes Become Second Biggest Energy Users in Many Homes (Los Angeles Times, CA – The second biggest? That doesn’t seem correct)

The Sophisticated Social Media Strategy of ISIL (Mashable)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 17, 2014


Monday, June 16, 2014

Tribe Fears Hatchery Work Will Lose Funding (Yakima Herald-Republic, WA)

Salmon Munching Sea Lions at Bonneville Dam Shifting to Different Species, New Problems (Oregonian, Portland)

Vintage U-S Coal-Fired Power Plants Now an ‘Aging Fleet of Clunkers’ (Washington Post)

Credit Implications of EPA’s Proposed Rule on Carbon Emissions Are Mostly Longer Term, Rating Agencies Say (American Public Power Association)

FCC Examining Reasons for Internet Traffic Jams (Associated Press)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 16, 2014


Friday, June 13, 2014

Corps Plans to Kill Nearly 16,000 Cormorants Nesting in Columbia River (Jefferson Public Radio, Ashland, OR)

Washington State Governor Issues Oil Train Directive (Vancouver Columbian, WA)

Inslee Urges Movement on Victoria Sewage, Gets Soft Squishy Answer (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA)

With Google Fiber on the Horizon, Portland Weighs Process for Placement of Utility Cabinets (Oregonian, Portland)

Amazon Launches Prime Music Streaming Service without Fanfare (KING-TV, Seattle, WA)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 13, 2014


Friday, June 6, 2014

Vets, Visitors Flock To Normandy to Remember D-Day (TIME Magazine)

Ocean Salmon Fishing Hot, as Predicted “…summer salmon runs for the Pacific Ocean & Columbia River should be immense…” (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)

Portland General Electric Moving Ahead with Boardman Natural Gas Plant (East Oregonian, Pendleton)

How Will EPA Rules Affect Your Power Bill? Power Providers Say It Is Too Soon to Tell (Bend Bulletin, OR)

Washington State Governor: Fires Will Worsen without Emission Control (Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA)

Word Cloud - Energy News Digest for June 6, 2014


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Oregon, Washington on Path to Meet New Carbon Rules; Factors Outside Region May Cost Ratepayers (Oregonian, Portland)

Port Angeles City Council Approves Action to End ‘Smart’ Meters (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)

Turbines to Be Replaced at Grant PUD’s Priest Rapids Dam (Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, WA)

Adequate Power Supply Forecast for the Pacific Northwest (Electric Co-op Today)

Overfished Pacific Northwest Snapper, Cod, Sole Now Ruled Sustainable (Associated Press)

Energy News Digest Word Cloud for June 4, 2014


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

EPA: Washington State Must Cut Emissions by 72 Percent (KING-TV, Seattle, WA)

Washington State’s Prior Agreement to Phase Out Centralia Coal Plant Will Cover Most Emissions Reductions (Seattle Times, WA - Paywall Advisory)

Caspian Terns Taking Big Bite Out of Columbia River Steelhead, Salmon Trying to Reach Ocean (Wenatchee World, WA)

Ninth Oregon County Gets Drought Declaration (Salem Statesman-Journal, OR)

Port Angeles City Council Action Could Lead to End of ‘Smart’ Meters; Vote Scheduled for Tonight (Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles, WA)

Democrats in Coal Country Run from EPA (NY Times)

2014-06-03 - Word Cloud for the Energy News Digest