Online Bill Pay for Chehalis Utility Customers to Start Early Next Year (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)

(CHEHALIS, WA) -- Beginning early next year Chehalis utility customers will be able to pay their bills online. 

The Chehalis City Council this week approved implementing the online payment program. City finance director Chun Saul says it will enhance the customer’s experience by utilizing modern technology. She says the new online bill pay program should also simplify staff workload and improve efficiency.

The new online bill pay program approved by the City Council is “Civic Pay” by Springbrook. The program’s estimated annual cost to the city is $27,380. The city decided to pay all transaction fees and not to charge the customers a convenience fee. City staff estimates it will be available for customers in January or February of 2020.

Flipping the Bird on the Sage Grouse (Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy)

(BOISE, ID) -- Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho granted a preliminary injunction ruling that the administration failed to analyze how sage grouse would be harmed under a plan issued in March that would allow for drilling and mining activities amongst the bird’s habitat.

“It is likely that these actions will cause further declines of the sage grouse under the weakened protections,” Winmill wrote in his decision.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management sought to revise a previous sage grouse plan issued in 2015 by the Obama administration with the support of western states. The Obama administration decided not to list the bird as endangered — a more significant step — but protected large chunks of habitat from oil and gas drilling. The range of the grouse extends across 270,000 square miles in parts of 11 states in the western United States. The bird's population once numbered in the millions but fell to a few hundred thousand in recent decades.

Rick Perry to Tout Small Nuclear Reactors in Europe (Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy)

(WASHINGTON, DC) -- Energy Secretary Rick Perry is traveling to Europe this weekend to tout the Trump administration’s work to encourage the development of small modular nuclear reactors.

Perry will visit Brussels for the first-ever U.S.-E.U. High Level Forum on SMRs to boost cooperation on the emerging but still in-development technology, which the energy secretary told reporters on a press call Wednesday is “key to ensure clean, reliable, secure baseload power for years to come.”

Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania are among European countries that have signed memos with various private companies in the U.S. on developing advanced reactor technologies, said Sam Buchan, DOE’s assistant secretary for international affairs.

The agency is optimistic that other countries, including in Europe will look to import a technology being developed by Oregon-based NuScale that is on track to be the first company to obtain a license to operate a small reactor design in the U.S. for commercial use, with deployment planned for 2026.

State of Oregon Finds Wind Farm Abused Workers (Willamette Week, Portland, OR)

(SALEM, OR) -- Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle's agency has lowered the boom on Colorado-based RES Construction, a subcontractor on the $590 million Montague wind farm in Eastern Oregon's Gilliam County.

Investigators for the Bureau of Labor and Industries determined RES deprived workers of hundreds of meal and rest breaks earlier this year. BOLI now proposes to fine RES $209,800, the biggest penalty imposed by the agency since it fined legislative leaders $1.1 million in a sexual harassment case.

The Montague project qualified for more than $10 million in tax benefits for the project's developer, Avangrid. RES may now fight the fine in a contested case hearing. "Our wage and hour division found evidence of wrongdoing," Hoyle said. "Workers are entitled to meal periods and rest periods under Oregon law." RES declined to comment.

Lewis County: Progress is continuing on the Skookumchuck Wind Energy Project (KELA Radio, Centralia, WA)

(CENTRALIA, WA) -- Progress is continuing on the Skookumchuck Wind Energy Project in Lewis and Thurston counties. Sean Bell with RES America, the company building the project, was at this week’s Lewis County Commissioner’s meeting to thank county staff and the commissioners for their support of the project. In updating the commissioners on the project, Bell said the blades for the wind turbines will start being delivered to the site later this month. Each of the turbine blades is 233 feet long. The 38-turbine Skookumchuck Wind Energy Project, which will produce 137 megawatts of electricity, is located near the TransAlta coal plant in Centralia.

President Trump Nominates Republican James Danly for FERC (Washington Examiner)

(WASHINGTON, DC) -- President Trump on Monday night nominated Republican James Danly to be a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The move confirms speculation that Trump would choose to fill only one of two vacancies at FERC by first nominating a Republican without also putting forth a Democrat, as is customary.

Danly has been FERC’s general counsel since 2017. Before that, he was an associate in the energy practice at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Army.

If confirmed, Danly would further tilt the makeup of FERC to the GOP, giving it three Republican commissioners and one Democrat as it considers a docket that includes updating market rules in grid operator PJM, pipeline approvals, and grid resilience.

The sitting commissioners are Democrat Rich Glick and two Republicans, Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Bernard McNamee. Former Republican Chairman Kevin McIntyre died of cancer in January, while Democrat Cheryl LaFleur retired this summer after Senate Democrats indicated they would not support her for a third term.

Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, had urged Trump to simultaneously nominate one Republican and one Democrat.

Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has also warned that he would block legislation passed by the energy committee unless the White House paired the nominations.

But committee chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, was eager to see the White House boost FERC’s number, and has indicated she is not likely to hold up confirmation votes without the White House nominating a Democrat.