Puget Sound Energy announced today it has completed a new $15 million natural gas supply line between Frederickson and South Tacoma.

Natural gas began flowing through the new line on Sunday, according to a PSE release.

The project, designed to upgrade the utility’s natural gas system in South Tacoma, involved installing 5.25 miles of 16-inch natural gas line from PSE’s existing Frederickson station to 128th Street East and Waller Road.

Construction began in August, with the work advancing approximately 200 feet per day.

PSE has more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers.

The Port of Seattle and the City of Tacoma have entered into partnership with one of the largest ports in China, hoping to create a global model for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

U.S. and Chinese officials gathered in Seattle Monday morning to celebrate an “ecopartnership” with the Dalian Port Corporation of Liaoning, China.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, who has led efforts to expand clean energy cooperation with China, announced the agreement, saying it would “establish a model of how our two countries can work together to improve the world environment and our economies at the same time.”

Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma and Tacoma Public Utilities Director Bill Gaines both attended Monday’s event and spoke about Tacoma’s participation in the partnership.

Baarsma noted that the container terminal operator and cargo company SSA Marine will be a major player in the partnership. SSA Marine has a terminal in Seattle and is planning to build one in Tacoma, to be served by TPU’s Tacoma Rail.

The partnership was part of a larger agreement made between the United States and China in June.

That agreement, called the Ten Year Framework on Energy and Environment Cooperation, emphasizes goals of clean air and water, clean, efficient transportation and conserving forests and wetlands.

Initial talks on the agreements were held in Gig Harbor last March.

The Washington state connection is one of seven ecopartnerships reached in Beijing on Dec. 4. All of the partnerships are voluntary and involve a wide variety of government agencies and businesses, universities and non-profits.

Together, the United States and China consume one-third of the world's oil, more than half the world's coal and emit 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.

Tacoma's own hair stylist to the stars, Angel del Solar, has a big project going on at his boutique salon.

Del Solar, owner of the Angelo Mendi Boutique Salon on North Tacoma Avenue, will be working with Phillip Wilson today and tomorrow to produce an instructional video on an innovative hair-cutting technique that Del Solar compared to Frank Gehry's style of architecture.

Traditional methods of cutting have stylists looking at one section of hair at a time, and to cut it a certain way, so that almost any haircut can be reproduced on any head, del Solar explained to me last week. "Kind of like pre-fab housing," he said.

But the technique he and Wilson, a top national stylist himself, is all about deconstruction to produce a unique cut for every person.

"We decided it was time to make a video so that people could work and learn at their own pace," del Solar said by e-mail this weekend. "We chose Tacoma because I had a great connection with Michael Dziak who will be producing the video and MeRa Tausend, (a) nationally recognized photographer. We have models coming from Lux Talent, a modeling agency here in Tacoma and the clothing from Dame Lola right next door to our salon."

Check out Wednesday's News Tribune for more details on this project by a nationally recognized stylist who is one of Tacoma's hidden gems.

Boeing's revolutionary, but oft-delayed 787 Dreamliner has passed the 900 orders mark.

Boeing reported this week that an unidentified customer has ordered 15 more of the composite-bodied, twin-engine airliners.

That brings the Dreamliner orderbook to 910 planes, more than any jetliner before its first flight.

Boeing delayed that first flight again last week to the second quarter of 2009, almost two years later than it was first scheduled.

The Dreamliner has been delayed by problems with suppliers, fastener and software issues as well as by a 58-day strike by Boeing machinists.

The first production 787 is set to be delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways in 2010.

Boeing sales for the year now total 657, behind rival Airbus and less than half of last year's record-setting pace, but still a strong year by historic measures.

It isn't even Christmas yet, and the airlines are starting their afte-Christmas sales.

SeaTac's Alaska Airlines, for instance, is touting its "Extend Your Holiday" sale with fares as low as $59 each way to San Francisco and $69 to Los Angeles.

With taxes, those fares are $139 and $159 roundtrip.

Alaska's rival, San Francisco-based Virgin America, is matching those fares. United Airlines is matching those fares to San Francisco and nearly matching them to LAX.

Credit the recession and falling fuel prices as well as the usual January travel lull for the bargain fares.

The cheap fares, of course, have conditions in the fine print. On Alaska, the tickets must be purchased before the end of 2008 and apply for travel between Jan. 6 and Feb. 11. A two-week advance purchase is necessary to secure the low fares. The tickets must be purchased on the airline's Web site, alaskaair.com. Tickets purchased by phone or at the counter will cost more.

Springtime runway maintenance in Petersburg, Alaska, will halt Alaska Airlines service to the small town on the Inland Passage for nearly a month in March and April.

Alaska Airlines said it will halt service to Petersburg March 23 and resume it April 22 next year.

The Alaska Department of Transportation will replace several culverts that span the runway at Petersburg.

The SeaTac-based airline will reroute passengers through Wrangell at no additional charge for changing their tickets.

The Alaska Department of Transportation is working to find alternate means of transportation for people destined to Petersburg during the runway closure. More information is available at the Petersburg Alternate Transportation Office at (907) 772-2950 or at tpac@aptalaska.net.