Grays River Dam interests PUD

The PUD commissioners did their best to get through regular business last Tuesday so a representative from the Pacific Northwest Energy Coalition could update them on changes occurring in the electric industry.

Commissioner Larry Reese asked corrections be made to the PUD minutes from the last meeting. The corrections dealt with a report Reese gave commissioners on the closures and cancellations of new energy projects around the United States. He said the plant closures were due to legal challenges brought by the government and environmental agencies in relation to greenhouse gas standards.

Commissioner Esther Gregg opened the meeting to public comment. Tom Fest from Grays River asked about building a dam in Gray’s River. “I and my neighbors see it as a win for the community,” said Fest.

Fest told commissioners he thought that property values would increase if dikes along portions of the Grays River were restored. He also said groups like the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board and Ducks Unlimited want to breach the dikes in Grays River. “We got one group down there that has a proposal out to spend $39 million to breach the dikes along 14 miles of the Grays River. This will take away from the tax base, flood more fields and further reduce farm production,” said Fest.

Fest said he saw a myriad of economic benefits if the PUD would build a dam and restore the dikes in Grays River. “Wouldn’t the jobs created, the land values and tax base preserved, and sustainable farming eventually offset the cost of building one?” Fest asked.

Commissioner Bob Jungers told Fest he thought at least two of the commissioners supported the idea of building the dam. “We’d love to have a dam up there. I think its an absolute win, win for everybody involved.” said Jungers, “Just the flood control aspects of having a dam would be beneficial for the people of Grays River, for the County and for the PUD.”

The Commissioners discussed the idea among themselves for about 30 minutes and then told Fest the PUD was not in a position to build a dam in Grays River.

The Commissioners then introduced Jim Oakley from Energy Northwest who wanted to clear up a fact he’d read in The Eagle’s last coverage of the PUD.

The article said Energy Northwest, a public power consortium based in Richland recently upgraded their Columbia nuclear power plant near Richland, and the downtime had increased the company’s generating costs by $20 million a day.

Energy Northwest sells its power to the BPA. “What the BPA said,” said Oakley, “was that the upgrade has added about $1 million a day to their operating costs.” Oakley agreed the total down time costs to buy replacement power while the nuclear facility was being refurbished had probably added about $20 million to the BPA’s budget.

PUD manager David Tramblie also reported to Commissioners that a shift was occurring in an investment the PUD had made back in the 1950’s relating to the Packwood Lake Hydroelectric Project, southeast of Mount Rainier. The projects’ shareholders, Wahkiakum PUD being one, were granted a 50-year license in 1960 and the generation facility went into commercial power generation operation four years later.

Tramblie said he had attended a meeting recently to try and determine who would purchase the excess power generated by Packwood once the BPA Tier-2 rate system takes effect in 2011. “This will leave some of the smaller utilities, such as ourselves in an interesting quandary,’ said Tramblie.

The Wahkiakum PUD owns one percent of the Packwood generation and Tramblie told commissioners he wondered what would happen to the PUD’s share in Packwood. He said most likely the larger utilities, with more shares in Packwood would take the majority of the power, “Which poses the question: At what price do we sell our power to these participants?” Tramblie asked.

Commissioner Bob Jungers said it seemed reasonable to him to sell any excess power to the other members at market rates. “That would give us equitable compensation for the costs we’re exposed to,” said Jungers, “and I think we should either renegotiate our contract, or divest ourselves from the project.”

Commissioners also reviewed the PUD’s resolution on Net Metering presented by PUD attorney Tim Hanigan. The resolution describes the legal rights of the PUD in relation to customers who generate their own electrical power, and then sell any excess power back to the PUD.

Jungers said he had read the resolution and asked Hanigan to reword some parts and clarify other sections. “I know the intent of the language but my concern is that some of the language might be misinterpreted,” said Jungers.

Commissioners also decided to do personnel reviews by the end of the year.