PUD plans outage, discusses power plans

The Wahkiakum PUD met in a low key meeting to discuss vehicle and power issues. A reminder to all residents from KM Mountain to the Cowlitz/Wahkiakum County line, a scheduled power outage will take place on August 23 from midnight until 7 a.m. Sunday morning. The outage is for routine maintenance and high voltage switch replacement.

In other business, Manager Dave Tramblie told the board Energy Northwest (ENW) is still working on environmental issues regarding the Radar Ridge wind project. He said he has authorized an engineering firm to do an economic analysis.

He said he was hesitant about spending money to get involved in the project should it fall through. The main concern is the marble murrelet flying into the turbines. Tramblie said ENW would be discussing the situation in their meetings this week.

Contractors are in the process of reassembling the newly acquired transformer and the work should be completed by the end of the week, Tramblie said. Unless there is a catastrophe, it should be ready to go online soon.

Tramblie told the board because of the hiring of a second person to read meters, the PUD will need to purchase another vehicle. “With the current work force, it seems to be our only option,” he said.

Tramblie believes he can find something for a reasonable price, including tax and licensing. The board moved to allow Tramblie to find a vehicle for the second reader.

Auditor Erin Wilson reported that the conservation kits should arrive in area mailboxes this week. The kits will be mailed from an east coast company called Niagara.

For residential customers who have out of town mailing addresses, they will receive a coupon to pick up their kit at the PUD office on River Street. The kits were funded through Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) conservation dollars.

The next PUD meeting will be on August 19 at 8:30 a.m.