DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Two updates on energy stories covered previously in this space…

Following up on a story from May about the new “methane digester” energy generator at Straus Dairy, the Chronicle covers accusations from other dairy farmers about the difficulty of getting similar projects approved:

Rather than encouraging methane-powered electrical generators as other state utilities are doing, critics say, Northern California’s largest utility is actively undermining adoption of the technology by burdening farmers with excessive expenses and endless paperwork; that, they say, makes it impossible to get a methane system online in a timely and economical fashion.

Following up on the story of Snohomish Co. energy officials transcribing tapes in which Enron employees admit to gaming the energy market, the Chronicle published a human-interest story about the crew who transcribed the Enron audio tapes:

Headphones clamped to their ears, a dozen listeners spent 45 to 50 hours a week for three months crammed into a windowless Santa Cruz office, playing and replaying over 2,000 hours of taped conversations between Enron traders.
Many of the conversations were so disjointed and full of jargon that it was like learning a foreign language.
“On any given day, with 12 people listening, you might have one three- minute phone call that ended up in the transcripts for the final testimony,” [said Carl Pechman, president of Power Economics].