Bulletin (Northwest Public Power Association) articles from June 2008

Bulletin (Northwest Public Power Association) archives from June 2008

2008 E&O hits the mother lode!(Association News)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Phil Reed (Central Lincoln PUD), chief prospector and chair of the 2008 E&O Conference, broke the trail to the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in search of the mother lode and everyone hit pay dirt!...

2007 Safety Award winners.(Association News)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An annual tradition, the 2007 NWPPA Safety Award winners were announced at this year's E&O Conference; awards are determined by who has the least amount of OSHA-reported safety incidents within their category. For a...

The 2008 NIC will be in shades of green.(Association News)
June 1, 2008... Green. It seems to be the buzzword for this year as companies around the nation and in every industry try to demonstrate their efforts to be environmentally friendly and sustainable. As the planning committee for this year's NWPPA Northwest...

Northwest public power milestones (1961-1967).(Association News)
June 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * 1961--The United States and Canada sign the Columbia River Treaty, authorizing the construction of three large storage dams along the Columbia River in British Columbia, dramatically increasing both the amount of...

Time is running out to submit EIC entries!(Association News)
June 1, 2008... If you have not yet mailed your Excellence in Communication entries, be aware that you only have about a week left to do so! To be eligible, all entries for the 15th Annual NWPPA Excellence in Communication Competition must be post-marked by...

Seaside Alaska fishing town upgrades generators, moves into 21st century.(Engineering & Operations)
June 1, 2008... Located 126 miles south of Anchorage is the picturesque town of Seward. Named after William H. Seward, the Secretary of State who purchased Alaska from Russia, it is a world-class commercial and sport fishing destination that overflows with...

What is the status of your organizational health?(Policy Making & Management)
June 1, 2008... There perhaps has not been a better time to assess the health of your organization: What is working well? What could be working better? Where the focus should be? What are the challenges? The changing economy over the past few years has...

Power supply in the run-up to a post-2011 world.(Power Supply & Risk Management)
June 1, 2008... Question: What's power supply got to do with the price of tea in China? Answer: Quite a lot actually. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] According to a recent report by the U.S. Government's Energy Information Administration, the use of coal for...

Projects will keep Chelan busy.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Chelan County PUD (Wenatchee, Wash.) has received $74,000 from the State Department of Ecology to retrofit 42 diesel vehicles to reduce emissions. Fleet Manager Gary Lentsch said the exhaust system changes will reduce particulate matter...

White Creek Wind dedicated.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Under sunny skies on May 8 in the Columbia River Gorge, over 300 people gathered to celebrate the dedication of the White Creek Wind Project. The 205-megawatt project, which began commercial production in November, is the largest U.S. wind...

Friederichs is new Ferry County manager.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... PUD No. 1 of Ferry County (Republic, Wash.) has welcomed John M. Friederichs as its new manager. Friederichs has been with the utility since 1988 and has most recently been the conservation manager. His new appointment became effective on March...

Snohomish PUD pushes for conservation.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Everyone wants to be a superhero! At least that's the premise behind the new conservation campaign launched by the Snohomish County Public Utility District (Everett, Wash.) this spring. The broad-based effort is built around the theme, "Be a...

McGary named director of Energy Resources.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Clark Public Utilities in Vancouver, Wash., has chosen Pat McGary to be its director of Energy Resources. McGary joined Clark Public Utilities in 2002, after serving as power manager at Mason PUD No. 3. He also worked at Clark Public...

EPUD helping USGS and Osprey; leading green power program.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the research biology arm of the Department of the Interior and they are looking into the health of our rivers. Toxins in rivers will show up in Osprey populations, so they are testing their eggs. For that,...

Putnam, Jobes, and Tracy join OTEC.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Oregon Trail Electric Co-op (OTEC) recently hired Marcia Putman, Kelly Jobes, and Charlie Tracy to work out of its headquarters in Baker City. Putman began work as manager of Human Resources on June 9. Certified as a professional in human...

Mason 3's Anstey retires.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Gardening and traveling await long-time Mason County PUD No. 3 (Shelton, Wash.) Customer Service Manager Shawn Anstey now that she has retired as of May 13. Anstey was hired in 1985 as a part-time clerk at PUD 3. A year later, her position...

PUD donates $500 to Scappoose Rural Fire Protection District.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Columbia River People's Utility District (PUD) in St. Helens, Ore., has donated $500 to the Scappoose Rural Fire Protection District to help build a ventilation roof training prop. "This prop teaches firefighters how to safely mitigate...

Franklin PUD's rating upgraded.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... As of May 2, Franklin PUD's (Pasco, Wash.) rating from Standard and Poor's was upgraded to an "A" status, a move up from the previous rating. The "A" rating and upgrade reflect the District's continued strong and improved financial performance...

Grays Harbor receives "A" rating.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Fitch Ratings has assigned an "A" rating to the Grays Harbor County PUD's (Aberdeen, Wash.) series 2008, $26,700,000 electric revenue bonds. In addition, Fitch affirmed its "A" rating on the outstanding $108.3 million of parity electric revenue...

Utility board elections abound!(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Annual meeting season is definitely upon us! Within the last several weeks, seven more member utilities have held their annual meetings and elected/re-elected board members and officers. During Salem Electric's (Salem, Ore.) annual meeting...

Clallam PUD, Whatcom PUD join Energy Northwest.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Energy Northwest's Board of Directors (Richland, Wash.) has voted unanimously to approve membership applications from Clallam County PUD (Port Angeles, Wash.) and Whatcom County PUD (Ferndale, Wash.). As members of the public power Joint...

Pacific Power, Council, and BPA team up.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Pacific Power, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) announced a regional effort to further improve the efficiency of electricity use throughout the Pacific Northwest. The effort will build...

We remember.(Member News)
June 1, 2008... Former Chelan County PUD (Wenatchee, Wash.) general manager, Sonny Smart, who retired in 1997 because of advancing Parkinson's disease, died on May 6, 2008. He was 69 years old. Smart's career at Chelan began in the Engineering Department...

Cowlitz selects Cooper Power Systems' AMI solution.(Associate Member News)
June 1, 2008... Cooper Power Systems, a division of Cooper Industries, Ltd., announced that Cowlitz County PUD in Longview, Wash., will fully implement the Cannon power line carrier (PLC) advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution. Once complete Cowlitz...

Pennington achieves ISO 9001:2000 certification.(Associate Member News)
June 1, 2008... Pennington Crossarm Co.'s Eugene, Ore., plant is the first manufacturer of wood crossarms to achieve the internationally recognized International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2000 certification after passing a rigorous, three-day...

SNW creates new energy group.(Associate Member News)
June 1, 2008... SNW (Seattle-Northwest Securities Corp.), the Northwest's leading investment banking firm, announced on April 21, 2008, that it has brought together a team of experts with more than 50 years of combined experience in public finance and...

SEPA expands services.(Associate Member News)
June 1, 2008... The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) announced the addition of three utility experts to the organization's staff in the role of regional director. The regional directors are responsible for expanding SEPA's one-on-one utility support...

We remember.(Associate Member News)
June 1, 2008... McKaig Evergreen's Jerry L. Mundon passed away on May 6, 2008, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 67 years old. Mundon was born in Santa Barbara, Calif., on December 12, 1940; however, in 1945 his parents relocated the family to...

A working partnership: the 2008 NWPPA/NCPA Legislative Rally.(Washington D.C. Report)
June 1, 2008... From April 20 to 24, roughly 50 western policy makers from NWPPA and the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) met in Washington, D.C., for the fourth joint Western Federal Policy Conference and Legislative Rally. I was pleased to participate...

Don't blink! The emergence of new global competitors and what that means for you.(Cover story)
June 1, 2008... On Christmas Day, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev stepped down as president of the Soviet Union and the Cold War ended. For the first time since the Bolsheviks seized control of Russia in October 1917, the threat of global communism had ended. While we...