
Electric Outage: 1-844-484-2300
Water Emergency: 541-685-7595
EWEB Main: 541-685-7000
To maintain the reliability customers have come to know and trust, EWEB must address an aging infrastructure bubble.
Find Out MoreFor the past year, EWEB’s electric division has been preparing for a complete reconstruction of the Currin substation. Quite simply, it’s reached the end of its useful life.
Find Out MoreIn January, our elected Board of Commissioners approved an agreement for EWEB to make an unprecedented bulk purchase of substation transformers.
Find Out MoreAt EWEB, we do what we can to help others in need. That’s been the reality for several of our electric and water crews over the past few weeks as we’ve responded to mutual aid requests for storm response and drinking water restoration, locally, and out of state.
Find Out MoreDespite an ice storm and a few windstorms in Eugene and the McKenzie Valley in the past few weeks, EWEB has so far fended off widespread weather-caused power outages – largely because of investments in year-round system maintenance and infrastructure improvements.
Find Out MoreCommissioners unanimously voted to approve a Record of Decision endorsing the General Manager's Recommendation to decommission the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project and approved Resolution 2302 directing the GM to develop a Leaburg Hydroelectric Project Decommissioning Action Plan
Find Out MoreEWEB is developing a plan to ensure that Eugene has a sufficient supply of reliable, affordable and clean electricity in the decades ahead, and is inviting the community to participate in the process.
Find Out MoreEWEB has joined 10 other Western utilities are to help ensure clean energy resources will be adequate to serve the growing demand in the region, while also managing costs and maintaining reliability for customers.
Find Out MoreFor their final meeting of 2022, on Dec. 6, the EWEB Board of Commissioners grappled with some major decisions and looked ahead to a new year.
Find Out MoreCommissioners supportive of General Manager's recommendation to remove Leaburg Dam
Find Out MoreIn the years ahead, EWEB will have to make a lot of decisions about where to get the electricity that we deliver to customers.
Find Out MoreFor EWEB, preparing for harsh winter storms is a year-round responsibility. While we can’t control the weather, we can make our electric infrastructure more resilient to withstand storms that bring snow, ice and wind to Eugene.
Find Out MoreThere’s no obvious right answer to the question of what to do about the Leaburg dam and canal. EWEB’s Board of Commissioners met this week for a work session with staff about the project.
Find Out MoreBy partnering with ShakeAlert and the Oregon Hazards Lab, EWEB gets an early warning of the effects of earthquakes on hydropower facilities.
Find Out MoreEWEB held its Poster Contest for 5th grade students in our service territory for Public Power Week, October 2-8, receiving more than 100 entries from classrooms across the area.
Find Out MoreJune 24, 2022
When EWEB began receiving reports of Canada Geese refusing to leave our powerline poles in the McKenzie Valley, EWEB Environmental Specialist Andrew Janos knew his Osprey Protection Program was a success.
The fake geese are meant to prevent Osprey from setting up nests on cross arms – but in this case, they tricked some people, too!
“If you have ever had an angry Canada Goose charge you, you’ll know how fearless and determined they can be, and bullying Osprey out of their nests is quite common,” Janos said, explaining his goose decoy program. “Due to the fact that they typically nest before Osprey (in February vs. March-April), they often beat to the Osprey to their own nests and lay eggs in them. Based on this observed blatant intimidation, utilities have been putting up decoys for a while as a general deterrent to nesting Ospreys/raptors.”
EWEB has constructed Osprey nesting platforms throughout the McKenzie Valley, but sometimes Osprey try to build a nest on top of cross arms. If allowed, the sticks and debris can create a fire hazard and cause power outages – and puts the birds at risk.
“There are official perch/nesting deterrents on the market, but why not use something that is biologically recognizable to the birds and a conversation piece?” Janos said.
The goose decoys are just one of the many ways EWEB works to protect migrating birds and waterfowl. Last summer, EWEB installed brightly-colored markers on powerlines over water crossings to help birds see the powerlines and avoid flying into them.
Installing these bird flight diverters is part of EWEB’s greater environmental mitigation requirements for relicensing the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project, along with other fisheries and wildlife. EWEB worked with biologist JD Dwyer to install approximately 140 markers across 8 water crossings.
Dwyer used a drone to attach the markers. This new method is both more cost-effective and safer than installing them by helicopter, which is how they're usually installed.
In his graduate research, Dwyer helped develop this drone deployment method, along with other avian avoidance systems.
“We have flown drones all across the country. We’ve done it in about 4 or 5 states,” he said. “It is very rewarding, because as biologists, so often we’re just monitoring something dying. So it is nice to be able to have an actual, real impact.”
Along with preventing bird collisions, EWEB is improving the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project area by establishing fish passage for endangered bull trout and Chinook salmon, and building an improved spawning channel for salmonids.
“It's important to know for EWEB customers and ratepayers that this is one of the several examples of EWEB’s environmental commitment to protecting both wildlife and fisheries within our service area,” Janos said.
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Mailing Address: 4200 Roosevelt Blvd., Eugene, OR 97402
Phone: 541-685-7000
Toll free: 800-841-5871
Email: eweb.answers@eweb.org
Customer service phone hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday