April 2001

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Change Means Conservation

News & Views from Your Elected Representatives

Minutes of the Meeting Held on:

February 27, 2001

T he meeting was called to order by President Nancy Horn and all members were present, including Leadership Youth Representative, Natalie Reding. 
     The agenda and consent calendar were reviewed and approved as presented. 
     A technology grant, awarded to McNary High School for the year 2000, was reviewed. McNary administrative personnel and student representative, Shawn Swearingen, who is a member of the E-car race team, gave a presentation to the board summarizing the electric car project. 
     The students build electrically-powered cars which they race against other teams from high schools around the valley. The students were very proud of their product and the industrial arts skills they had learned. 
     Roger Kuhlman reported on the outcome of the ODOT penalty assessed on Salem Electric last February due to delays on the Wallace Road project. Staff was complimented on their research and reporting on the alleged delays resulting in Salem Electric being fully relieved of the penalty. 
    Terry Kelly reported that an increased amount of communication is occurring between Salem Electric and its customers via the co-op’s website. A tally of website "hits" will be provided to the board. 
     A thorough discussion between the board and management took place relative to SB 1149, which focuses on deregulation of the electric utility industry in Oregon. 
     Several board members and staff indicated that they are planning to attend the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Legislative Day scheduled for March 21. 
    There was a lengthy discussion regarding Salem Electric’s involvement in NoaNet. The discussion was followed by a motion, and unanimous vote to terminate further exploration of NoaNet. 
Horn, Bonesteele and Culver each thanked the board and staff for well wishes received last month during times of family loss and individual illness.  
     Meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m.  

     Curt Culver


     Secretary/Treasurer

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Change Means Conservation

     When I was growing up changes weren’t noticeable to me, but maybe I didn’t understand that change was occurring in my life and world.
     The first big change that I remember was the introduction of rock and roll music. That may have been a bigger change for my parents than for myself. But the computer is the thing that had the biggest impact on all of our lives. It is hard to think about all the things the computer does that were done manually at one time.
     These changes added fun and excitement to most of our lives and I wouldn’t want to have not experienced this change. 
     The change facing us today is the uncertainty of a continuous supply of power in the months ahead. Every day I read in the newspaper, or hear on the radio or television, about the short supply of energy that we will face this summer. 
     Our supply will be short of demand because of the lack of rain and snowfall. This will leave our reservoirs that provide our hydropower, with low water levels. Plus, demand has grown without any new generating plants being built to meet the increased demand. This will possibly mean that we will see rolling blackouts this summer. 
     Industry representatives making these predictions sound like they know what they are talking about, so I am going to believe their warnings and make some changes in my life now. 
     I will replace my light bulbs with high-efficiency fluorescent bulbs, install motion detectors on my outside lights, and turn off lights when I leave a room. 
     I am guilty of leaving my computer on when I am not sitting at it, so I will turn it off when I leave it. 
     I will learn to live without air conditioning this summer. 
     It is a given that all of us will be asked to save water in the months ahead. We will only run the washing machine and dishwasher when they are full and at non-peak hours of the day. This will help conserve both our supply of water and electricity.
     I will use less water on my grass so we will have more water to generate electricity. The positive trade-off is that I won’t have to cut my grass as often, so that will save my energy. 
     These small changes at my house will not be hard for me to make or adjust to. If all of us together undertake small steps like these to conserve our electric power supply, we can make a difference. This difference might just be that we won’t have any rolling blackouts this year. 
     Not big steps for all residential customers to take to help us make it through the summer. Remember that change is not always bad and it sure makes life interesting and even exciting sometimes.

    John Elliott

     Director

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