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April 2001
Just Point & Click to a Wealth of
Information
Change Means Conservation
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News & Views from Your Elected Representatives
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Minutes of the Meeting Held on:
February 27, 2001
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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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