Board Members present: Dorothy Anderson, Peter Bartel, Susie Smith, Patrick Lanning, and Sandra Bishop.
Others present: Randy Berggren, JoAnn Andersen, Gale Banry, Tom Buckhouse, Terry Bequette, Deborrah Brewer, Marty Douglass, Mel Damewood, Bill Fletcher, Dick Helgeson, Dave Koski, Roseanna McArthur, Jim Origliosso, Laurie Power, Jim Wiley, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; Lance Robertson of the Register-Guard; Don Haagensen, Special Council, members of the public; and Kris Aanderud, City of Eugene Minutes Recorder.
President Anderson called the Work Session of the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) order.
ELECTRIC SUPPLY CONTINGENCY PLAN
Jim Wiley, Electric Division Director, along with Dave Koski, Electric Operations Manager, and Marty Douglass, Public Affairs Manager, presented the Electric Supply Contingency Plan to EWEB Commissioners. A Power Point presentation was made, a copy of which was provided to Commission members. Mr. Wiley noted that there were two circumstances under which EWEB would note that there was an impending energy shortage: warnings and alerts, with warnings preceding the alert stages, if time permits. There are three alert stages, as follows:
There are several actions that will be undertaken, with the magnitude of each action increasing as the warning and alert stages increase. That are as follows:
Mr. Wiley reported that the outlook has improved, with no load/supply balance anticipated for the summer, and a 17 percent probability for a shortage or outage for the coming winter. This probability was three to four times higher than the industry average, which is a cause for concern. He reported that this may change due to a number of factors, including weather, or the estimated conservation is not achieved, or new sources of supply do not come online as anticipated.
Dave Koski presented the plan to deal with the projected shortfall.
- Initial emergency actions
- Information coordination during rolling outages
President Anderson asked for an explanation of the "cold load." Mr. Koski said that when there was cold weather, loads may be lower in the night, but then may double when residences start furnaces, which causes a problem for the system.
Vice President Bartel asked what the potential move of Peace Health would have on the plan. Mr. Wiley said that the system would have to be updated to serve the revised load and to exclude the new hospital circuits. Mr. Koski noted that the move would not be for potentially another two years.
Commissioner Bishop asked if there were certain types of customers who would be included in the rotating outages. Mr. Koski said that the outages would be spread throughout the EWEB system, not specific customers.
Marty Douglass spoke to communications anticipated through winter, as well as communication during an outage event. Mr. Douglass said that communication was key to managing outage events. He spoke to the various strategies which might be used, both as an education tool as well as to announce impending outages. The communication plan would include the website as a baseboard for communication, followed by media contact with editorial boards to heighten the awareness to the potential problems, with a feature story as a follow-up. Mr. Douglass said that he felt that public service announcements (PSA) can accomplish the same goal as paid advertising. He said that starting the dialog and emphasizing conservation could be included in PSAs through the fall. Mr. Douglass asked for comments and feedback on the communication plan.
Commissioner Smith said that the current PSAs for water and electric, were very well done and were getting a lot of play. She said that she liked the middle of the road approach, but suggested that all of the Lane County delegations be included in a broader message. She said that the outages would include other utilities in the area and that coordination should be encouraged.
Vice President Bartel said that he too supported the balanced approach. He said that most customers realize that there was a potential problem, but that the next level of meeting with editors or directors was premature at this time. He concurred that working with other utilities was a good thought.
President Anderson concurred. She said that inserts into power bills might also be educational.
Commissioner Bishop expressed concern that the public might feel that EWEB was planning outages. She said that the communication should be that outages would be only initiated in emergency situations.
Commissioner Lanning suggested that a direct e-mail might be initiated to provide information. He also asked to be kept updated on the situation and projections.
Commissioner Bishop asked if load shedding would be used before outages would be initiated. Mr. Koski said that load shedding would be primary. Mr. Wiley stated that EWEB's largest customers would rather shed load under controlled circumstances and support the community to avoid rotating outages. The large customer support for this concept was demonstrated last December when a Siberia express was predicted for the Northwest. Mr. Wiley added that it was possible to get through both Stage 1 and Stage 2 without interruption of services to residential customers.
Vice President Bartel asked when the EWEB Commissioners would be informed about potential outages. Mr. Berggren said that there would have to be some notification, but would prefer not to have the notification built into the plan. Mr. Douglass said that he would make it a point to get the media messages to the Commissioners at the same time the information was released to the media.
Mr. Koski noted that any conservation efforts realized over the summer and into the fall, would have an impact on the potential for outages later in the fall and coming winter.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT/RELICENSING SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
Gale Banry, Project Manager, initiated the discussion on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Leaburg/Walterville relicensing agreement. He introduced Don Haagensen, EWEB's Special Council, and Laurie Power, Environmental Manager, who were also present to assist with the presentation and respond to questions. Mr. Banry provided a historic overview, including licensing for Leaburg/Walterville, Blue River and Carmen-Smith hydroelectric projects operated by EWEB on the McKenzie River.
Mr. Banry spoke to the relicensing agreement:
President Anderson asked if the changes in FERC membership would cause a problem. Mr. Banry said that it was not anticipated to raise concerns. Ms. Power and Mr. Haagensen concurred that there has been work to ensure that the agreement would continue to move forward.
Mr. Banry reviewed the ESA for Carmen-Smith and Blue River:
President Anderson asked if the transmission line issue would have to be fought again. Mr. Banry said that there will have to be further discussion, but that it may be possible to just go down the county road.
Vice President Bartel asked if the studies would be contracted for or would they be completed by EWEB. Mr. Banry said that the studies would be contracted. He added that funding for the studies may be taken from this year's budget, as well as funding anticipated in the capital plan.
Mr. Haagensen spoke to the process which has to be used for ESA consultations, due to a controversy between the FERC and NMFS. He said that FERC will have to resolve the issues and the controversy. As a result, both the Carmen-Smith and Blue River would be pulled out of the ESA consultation process, but would be in a separate process in an effort to not delay the Leaburg/Walterville relicensing efforts. Mr. Haagensen said that the controversy centered around the jurisdictional conflict between the agencies.
Mr. Banry said that it was the goal to get the Leaburg/Walterville construction completed. He said that he hoped that the agencies would be creative to work with their own attorneys to try to work through the ESA problems and controversy.
Mr. Banry addressed the next steps:
Mr. Banry said that the transition of staff at the federal level had required additional local staff time to bring new staff up to date.
Mr. Bartel asked when it was anticipated that the relicensing agreement might be ready for signature. Mr. Banry said that it was hoped that there would be preliminary biological opinions (BOs) prepared for Friday's meeting. He said that he anticipated it would be sometime late June before the process was completed. Once the relicensing agreement was sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), FERC would approve the agreement, approve the amendments, insert the new amendments, review the response to the 403 construction schedule, and issue their views and opinions on the BO. Right now EWEB is out of compliance, due to the timing of this process, which was anticipated to be approved during the FERC review. Mr. Banry said that the FERC process would take approximately three months, but noted that FERC does not meet in August.
President Anderson asked what was intended to be done about the lake raise issue. Mr. Banry said that the hydraulics of the system would be evaluated. There is also the strength of the rollgates that must be considered. The agencies' issues on the screens addressed issues of mortality of fish hitting debris that was stuck in the screens, the fish return system, and the pump system which caused some mortality. These issues were being addressed to come up with the best or most operative approach. He added that the consultants have done a lot of study on the canal to address concerns.
Commissioner Lanning noted that he recently toured the area.
President. Anderson asked that the meeting reconvene at 7:20 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 p.m.
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Assistant Secretary President