Related News
Related News
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EWEB opens application for 2024 Electric Mobility Community Grants
Grant awards of up to $30,000 to cover costs associated with electric mobility projects.
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The Big Freeze 2024: After Action Report
Winter 2024 was one for the records books, and we'll look back on it for years to come and say, "That was a doozy!" The back-to-back January Ice Storms caused widespread damage to EWEB’s service territory, affecting approximately 38,000 customers. Preliminary repair costs were over $8 million, and additional repairs to transmission lines are still required.
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Fixing the Unseen: Water Pipeline Replacement in Unincorporated Eugene
Learn more about EWEB's methods for monitoring and replacing aged water pipelines.
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Spring Cleaning? How about Spring Emergency Preparedness!
Spring is officially here and that means the plants are blooming, the sun is (sometimes) shining, and the grass is green! We've had our fair share of severe weather already, but spring weather is notoriously unpredictable. While you're in the midst of spring cleaning and garden care, consider completing these emergency preparedness tasks.
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EWEB General Manager Delivers 2024 State of the Utility
General Manager Frank Lawson delivered his address at the March 5 public Board of Commissioners meeting
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Nine days without power: My ice storm story as an EWEB customer and employee
While beautiful and peaceful, buying a home on the edge of the forest and surrounded by trees has its tradeoffs. Moving “upriver,” I knew there would be more threats to prepare for, including Mother Nature’s seasonal surprises.
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EWEB achieves power restoration milestone over the weekend
Crews have so far restored power for 92% of customers who originally lost power at the height of the ice storm.
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Reenergized McKenzie River Valley transmission lines allow EWEB crews to restore power upriver
On Friday, a majority of EWEB crews tackled power restoration efforts upriver, after federally managed transmission lines were reenergized Thursday.
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EWEB estimates one week to complete power system restoration
On Wednesday, EWEB crews restored power for about 10,000 customers by repairing large equipment first.
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Second round of ice and ensuing thaw prompt mass power outages
On Wednesday, all EWEB crews, who have been working nonstop since Saturday, traversed EWEB’s service territory assessing the damage and restoring transmission lines and main power feeders.
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Power restored at EWEB’s water treatment plant
Crews restored electric power at EWEB's Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant Monday evening, allowing operators to switch off the generators and rely again on the grid. Meanwhile, EWEB crews brace for additional outages amidst second round of ice and during the coming thaw.
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EWEB crews making downed lines safe and restoring power across Eugene and the foothills
As EWEB works to restore electric service to customers affected by the ice storm, the customer-owned utility is following established policies and its “hierarchy of repair” to prioritize repairs that restore electric service to the greatest number of customers.
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Leaburg Decommissioning Action Plan
Plan details next steps through regulatory processes to begin dismantling Leaburg Dam by 2032.
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What’s ahead in 2024: General manager’s message to EWEB customer-owners
At the start of the new year, we back at accomplishments from 2023 and look ahead at what's to come in 2024.
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Currin Substation: End of year update
EWEB Engineer Philip Peterson explains what's been happening in the final stretch to complete the substation rebuild.
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EWEB Dedicates Historic Marker to Wiley Griffon, an Early African-American Pioneer
March 14, 2017
Wiley Griffon, among Eugene's earliest African-American residents, came to Oregon from Texas in 1891. In 1909, he purchased a small home on riverfront property near what is now East 4th Ave. and Mill St. in Eugene, immediately west of our headquarters building.
Despite an exclusion clause in Oregon's constitution that made it illegal for African-Americans to settle in the state, Wiley Griffon was a well-known and popular resident.
He became a driver for Eugene's first streetcar system - a mule-powered trolley car that rumbled up Willamette Street, carrying passengers from the Southern Pacific depot to 11th Ave., and east to the University of Oregon. Local children saved their pennies to buy a nickel ride on Griffon's trolley, and he often rewarded them with an easy smile, hard candy, stories and an occasional free ride home. The mule car line never thrived, and by the turn of the century it died out entirely.
Griffon took a series of jobs following the end of the trolley line, including janitor at the university dorm, restaurant worker, and waiter on a railroad dining car. At the time of his death in 1913, at age 46, Griffon was working as a porter at the Elks Club. The location of his grave in Eugene's Masonic cemetery, and the fact that the Elks Club paid for his funeral, indicate the great respect this African-American pioneer earned during his 22 years in a nearly all-white community.
To commemorate Griffon's home site and recognize the community respect he earned, we partnered with the Lane County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to celebrate one of the city's first African-American residents to develop a historical marker.
"I'm really excited to move this story from oral tradition into a confirmed solid history for our community," said Eric Richardson, president of the local branch of the NAACP. "It's important to remember to look back at where we've been and how things have changed so we can continue to move the ball forward."
The dedication of the sign took place on Feb. 17, 2017, during Black History Month. The sign, photos and text are the result of the contributions of numerous community members and organizations, including the Lane County Historical Museum.