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WEI Member News Agreement between BC Hydro and First Nations Energy and Mining Council Seeks to Enhance Relationships in Clean Energy Sector The BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council and BC Hydro have signed a protocol agreement to identify areas of common interest within sustainable clean energy development. More BPA Putting Recovery Act Funds to Work Chelan PUD Commissioners Endorse Steps toward Financial Stability Saying they approve of recommendations for working toward a more stable financial future, Chelan County PUD commissioners unanimously passed a resolution outlining new financial guidelines as part of strategic planning. More Community Health Clinic and Housing for the Mentally Ill Benefit from Avista Foundation Grants The Shoshone Community Health Clinic in Osburn, Idaho, will receive $3,000 to support low-income medical and dental programs as part of the second quarter 2010 grants made by the Avista Foundation. In Moscow, Idaho, a $1,000 grant will help fund the roof repair for Alliance House, a facility serving persons diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illnesses. More El Paso Corporation Issues 2009 Corporate Sustainability Report El Paso Corporation has published its third annual corporate sustainability report, which provides a comprehensive overview of the company's sustainability efforts, programs, and initiatives. More ENMAX Opens Doors to World-Class Facility in the Heart of Downtown Calgary For the first time in Calgary’s history, a district energy plant has fired up its boilers to produce heat for an extensive array of downtown buildings. The Calgary Downtown District Energy Centre on Ninth Avenue can provide heat for up to 10 million sq. ft. of new and existing residential and commercial buildings, eliminating the need for traditional boiler systems in individual buildings. More EPCOR Acquires Arizona Water Provider for US$35 Million EPCOR Utilities Inc. has signed an agreement for the acquisition of all outstanding shares of Chaparral City Water Company of Arizona. More Eugene Area Students Race with the Sun More than 300 local middle school students put their knowledge of solar energy and electric vehicles to the test on Saturday, June 12 in the 13th Annual EWEB Solar Challenge. More Glendale Water & Power Celebrates a Year of Accomplishments and a Century of Service Glendale Water & Power invited dignitaries and community leaders to help mark a year of unprecedented accomplishments for the utility and to also honor Congressman Adam Schiff for his work in securing federal support for these projects. More IID Announces Watt-Wise Wednesdays Light Bulb Exchange Events Imperial Irrigation District announced the launch of the “Watt-Wise Wednesdays Bulb Exchange” campaign to help customers become more energy efficient by trading up to five incandescent bulbs for five energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. More LADWP General Manager Austin Beutner Presents Strategic Plan Keeping his pledge to begin a new era of transparency, accountability and financial discipline at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, General Manager Austin Beutner presented the LADWP’s 2010 Long-Term Strategic Plan to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, followed by a presentation to the city’s business community and environmental leaders the same afternoon. More New Renewable Energy System to Help Power the Cerritos Corporate Yard High capacity solar panels will soon be constructed and installed on top of the water reservoir at the Cerritos Corporate Yard. MoreNV Energy Hosts Workshops on New GIS Statewide Database NV Energy showcased its new GIS Statewide Database, Nevada Site Locator, at June workshops for brokers, developers and businesses interested in using the new interactive geographic information system (GIS) building and site database. More NW Natural’s Smart Energy Crosses Columbia to Washington PGE Named Winner of 2010 Edison Award, Electric Industry's Most Prestigious Honor The Edison Electric Institute named Portland General Electric as a winner of the 2010 Edison Award, the electric utility industry’s highest honor, recognizing outstanding leadership and exceptional contributions to the industry. More Public Consultation on the Eastern Alberta HVDC Transmission Project Begins After several months of data gathering and evaluating potential routes across a broad study area, ATCO Electric is going public with its preliminary route options for the high profile 500 kV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line project. More Puget Sound Energy Foundation Awards 61 Grants to Local Organizations in 12 Washington State Counties as Part of First Funding Round in 2010 The Puget Sound Energy Foundation will distribute $155,000 through 61 grants to local charitable organizations throughout Washington as part of its first of two funding rounds in 2010. More Questar Board Approves Spin-Off of QEP Resources Questar Corporation announced that its board of directors unanimously approved and set record and distribution dates for the tax-free spin-off to shareholders of its natural gas and oil exploration and production (E&P) and midstream field services businesses. More Riverside Public Utilities Wins APPA Community Service Award Riverside Public Utilities won the prestigious Community Service Award from the American Public Power Association. The award recognized RPU’s School Education Program which demonstrates “the commitment of the utility and its employees to the community in Riverside.” More Seattle City Light Publishes 2009 Annual Report In its 2009 Annual report, Seattle City Light showed how the utility was able to launch new energy conservation programs that nearly doubled savings goals despite a historic national recession and an unexpected plunge in revenue from surplus power sales. More Snohomish County PUD Partners with Mukilteo School District on Resource Conservation Effort Local schools are learning firsthand how energy efficiency can help them address increasingly tighter operating budgets. Snohomish County Public Utility District and the Mukilteo School District have partnered through the utility’s Resource Conservation Manager program to identify operational changes aimed at saving the school district more than $45,000 annually in energy costs. More Solar Incentive Pilot Project Ready to Shine A new pilot program encouraging Oregon customers of privately owned electric utilities to install solar panels to generate power got underway on a limited basis July 1. Pacific Power has established rules and procedures to ensure that the pilot program is administered fairly and that the interests of all customers are protected. More Southern California Edison to Install Smart Meters in South Bay Communities Southern California Edison will start installing smart electric meters throughout South Bay communities in Los Angeles County as part of the Edison SmartConnect program. SCE customers in those communities are receiving new meters starting this week through the end of July, and later this year will be able to take advantage of new programs and services enabled by the meters. More Southwest Gas Receives 2010 ENERGY STAR Leadership in Housing Award from EPA Southwest Gas has received a 2010 ENERGY STAR Leadership in Housing Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the company's ENERGY STAR HOME program. The award recognizes the company's work in promoting energy-efficient new construction and helping to protect the environment through its partnership with ENERGY STAR. More Spectra Energy Announces Plans for New Processing Plant to Meet the Needs of Montney Producers Spectra Energy announced it is responding to customer demand in the prolific Montney play of northeast British Columbia by building a new 200 million cubic feet per day natural gas processing plant west of Dawson Creek. More SRP Seeks Proposals for Large Solar Photovoltaic Generating Facilities SRP has announced a request for proposals for electricity generated from utility-scale, ground-based solar photovoltaic power plants, preferably located somewhere in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. More Terasen Gas Helps B.C. Tackle Climate Change with Biogas Program Terasen Gas has applied to the British Columbia Utilities Commission for a new renewable energy program. If approved, residential customers will be able to sign up for 10 percent of their natural gas usage to be delivered to the Terasen Gas network when available from Terasen Gas’ biogas projects. Terasen Gas has also applied to implement two projects that will upgrade raw biogas into pipeline-quality biogas, known as biomethane, to be added to Terasen Gas’ distribution system. A decision from the BCUC is expected by the end of the summer, with the new program to start in the fall of 2010. More TransCanada Issues US$1.25 Billion of Senior Notes TransCanada Corporation announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, TransCanada PipeLines Limited, has successfully completed an offering of US$500 million of 3.40% Senior Notes due June 1, 2015, and US$750 million of 6.10% Senior Notes due June 1, 2040. More
Rest of the West
California Center for Sustainable Energy and SDG&E Receive Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles for Worldwide Demonstration Program The California Center for Sustainable Energy and San Diego Gas & Electric received three Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles from Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., kicking off a 12-month worldwide demonstration program to assess the vehicles’ performance in real-world driving conditions. A total of 600 cars will be deployed globally, including 150 vehicles to demonstration program partners across the U.S. MoreFirst-Ever Solar-Coal Project Is Running Xcel Energy is now operating a first of its kind demonstration of a hybrid solar-coal approach, using parabolic-trough solar technology integrated with a coal-fired power plant. The project, located at Xcel Energy’s Cameo Generating Station near Grand Junction, Colo., is designed to increase the plant’s efficiency, decrease the use of coal, test the commercial viability of concentrating solar power thermal integration, and lower carbon dioxide emissions. More Industry and Local Government Leaders Create Silicon Valley Smart Grid Task Force The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, City of San Jose and Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced that they have partnered to create the Silicon Valley Smart Grid Task Force. The group brings leaders from industry, the public sector, non-profits and academia together to make recommendations on California's energy efficiency efforts and the rollout of Smart Grid technology. More
On the Move
Russ Girling Appointed to TransCanada's Board of Directors, Executive Leadership Team Changes Announced More Joseph H. Netherland Appointed to Spectra Energy Board of Directors More Steve Wright Reappointed Bonneville Chief More Puget Sound Energy Names Kimberly J. Harris President More Rich Riazzi Announces Resignation from Chelan County PUD More El Paso Electric Names Mary Kipp Senior Vice President and General Counsel More Maura Brueger Hired as City Light’s Director of Government, Legislative Affairs More BPA Names Greg Delwiche to Head Power Services More Snohomish PUD General Manager Steve Klein Appointed to State Energy Committee More Burbank Water and Power General Manager Ronald Davis Receives APPA Award More
News
Not Clear If Carbon Limits Will Be In Senate Energy Bill With the nation focused on images of BP’s Gulf oil spill, the Senate is preparing to debate energy legislation that would impose tighter rules on offshore drilling and require utilities to increase their use of renewables for power generation. Still unknown is whether this bill would impose limits on carbon emissions, as the House climate bill did and the Kerry-Lieberman bill proposed to do. More Midwest Elections May Mark Shift Back Toward Coal Governors’ races in the Great Lakes region have the potential to mark a shift in energy policy in the Midwest, away from recent efforts to “green” the region’s energy mix and back toward expanding the use of coal. More Study Says Biomass Releases More CO2 than Coal over Time Power plants that burn wood and other biomass from forests release more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere over time than do coal-fired plants, concluded a new study commissioned by Massachusetts environmental officials. More Poor Marine Ecosystem Health is Due to Rising Greenhouse Gas Levels A report in the journal Science that gathered data from dozens of ocean studies concludes that the marine ecosystems that sustain life on Earth are undergoing significant negative change due to rising greenhouse gas levels. More Probe Prompts Questions about Causes of Antarctic Glacier Melt The Pine Island Glacier, the melting of which is thought to be contributing to rising ocean levels, may not be melting due to climate change, said some scientists who recently surveyed the region underneath the ice sheet using a robot probe. More London Newspaper Apologizes to Climate Report Authors Six months after describing the authors of a World Wildlife Fund report cited in the embattled IPCC study as “green campaigners” with “little scientific expertise,” London’s Sunday Times has published an apology. More Maryland Commission Rejects BG&E’s Smart Meter Plan The Maryland Public Service Commission’s rejection of Baltimore Gas & Electric’s ambitious smart meter deployment plan prompted expressions of shock and disappointment from the utility and the Department of Energy but was hailed by some consumer advocates. More ACEEE Report Says Smart Meters Alone Won’t Curb Power Use The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy analyzed 57 residential sector feedback programs undertaken between 1974 and 2010 and concluded that smart meters would only help realize significant power savings if they were used in conjunction with other measures that “inform, engage, empower and motivate people.” More NRC Legal Panel Says DOE Can’t Unilaterally Kill Yucca Mountain In late June a legal panel for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the Department of Energy couldn’t legally take the Yucca Mountain repository off the table without the backing of the entire NRC. More Texas’ Flexible Emissions Permits May Not Comport With Federal Law Texas’ industry-friendly approach to air quality permitting is being challenged on several fronts due to a lawsuit by the Sierra Club and a change of guard at the EPA. More Automakers Say Federal Fuel Standard Critical to Long-Range Planning Trade group The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes Detroit automakers and Toyota, filed arguments last month with the U.S. Court of Appeals supporting federal fuel economy rules. More All Eyes on California as Electric Car Push Gets Underway California, which through 2015 will be spending $200 million annually on low-emission vehicles, is offering rebates to consumers for the purchase of electric vehicles and is also subsidizing the creation of over 5,000 charging stations over the next two years. More NASA and NERC Concerned About Possible Solar Disruption of Power Grid Solar storms, among other geomagnetic disturbances, were one of a list of “high-impact, low-frequency” events recently identified by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation as threats to the bulk power system. If high-voltage transformers were destroyed in a solar surge, replacing them could take months or even years, warned the NERC report. More Western Governors Talk Renewables Transmission, Climate Change At the Western Governors Association annual meeting, the dangers of climate change and the challenges of getting more renewable energy into the power mix dominated discussion. More New NREL A/C Technology Uses Little Power to Dry and Cool Air The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has invented a new air conditioning process that could use 50 to 90 percent less energy than today’s most efficient A/C units. More
Western Natural Gas Market Review More
Western LNG Update Sempra LNG Terminal Faces New Chapter in Land Dispute More Nikiski Export Renewal Would Be for Already Approved Volumes More FERC Says “No Misconduct” by Oregon LNG More Port of Astoria Votes to Settle Sublease Dispute More |
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