Your PUD PUD News Line

9/27/2005

Public tours and artist reception planned for Public Power Week, Oct. 2-8

Chelan County PUD will join public power utilities across the nation in celebrating Public Power Week, Oct. 2-8.The heritage of public power will be honored with free public tours of Rock Island Dam and an artist reception at Rocky Reach Dam to view paintings of other Columbia River dams.

Guests are invited to join the PUD for tours of the 70-year-old Rock Island Dam on Oct. 4-7 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tours will include a walk through the dam’s two powerhouses, the control room and views of the river from outside decks. To reserve your spot on one of the limited 12-person tours, contact Christy Shearer, (509) 661-4258.

The PUD also invites customer-owners to an after-hours reception for Seattle painter John Moilanen, who is displaying paintings of Columbia River and Snake River dams at the Rocky Reach Visitor Center through November. Click here to learn more about the exhibit. The free reception will take place at 6 p.m. on Oct. 6, in the dam’s Fourth Floor Gallery. Reservations are not required.

Public Power Week is coordinated by the American Public Power Association, of which Chelan County PUD is a member. Chelan County PUD is one of 28 public utility districts in Washington state.

Celebrate autumn at Rocky Reach Dam

Chelan County PUD will welcome trick-or-treaters to Rocky Reach Visitor Center for a Safety Harvest on Sunday, Oct. 30, from 1-4:30 p.m. Events will include, trick-or-treating, Redmond singing group The Bobbers, Smokey Bear, Sparkey and Chelan County Fire District 1, trick-or-treating safety tips, refreshments and a special appearance by the Spider Queen. Chelan County Sheriff’s Office will provide fingerprinting and photos at no cost. All grade-school children in Chelan and Douglas counties have been invited to share in the safety fun and all are invited to come in costume.

The Rocky Reach Visitor Center, seven miles north of Wenatchee on Highway 97A, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday throught Sunday through Thanksgiving. All exhibits are free.

PUD to ask FERC to reconsider

Chelan County PUD commissioners and staff, along with license stakeholders, will meet with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 19, to show their support for relicensing items rejected in FERC staff’s initial response and to hear ideas from FERC.

One of those measures is the concept of a Recreation Enhancement Fund that would help pay for projects in other areas of Chelan County not immediately next to the Columbia River. The PUD has proposed spending about $395 million on mitigation measures to relicense the dam – about half for ongoing costs and the balance for new measures over 50 years. On Sept. 12, relicensing staff told commissioners that all but about 3 percent of the spending was endorsed by FERC staff, including measures related to the PUD’s landmark Habitat Conservation Plan for fish protection. However, two recreation measures and six wildlife proposals weren’t included in FERC’s draft response.

Rocky Reach Dam’s 50-year license expires in June 2006.

Funds accelerate fiber network construction

A majority of commissioners have approved a transfer of $1 million to the PUD’s fiber-optic construction fund, allowing the utility to continue building the system to more than 30,000 homes and businesses, or 75 percent of the county, by the end of 2008.

The dollars will be used to run fiber optics more quickly to areas with underground lines that were scheduled for construction in the next few years. New direct-bore technology is allowing the PUD to move forward in these areas with more ease and speed. The funds come from dollars budgeted for the transmission line from Rocky Reach Dam to the Andrew York Substation, near Monitor, which won’t begin construction until next year.

The extra construction this year could allow access for an additional 500-600 homes and businesses in the county. That puts the PUD’s projected construction to reach 12,500 homes and businesses by the end of the year.

Click here to see if fiber optics are in your area of the county.

Stay in touch with your PUD

The PUD’s Web site is in the process of a much-needed overhaul, but in the mean time, we’ve made it easier to get important information about the PUD on one page. Go to our Web site, www.chelanpud.org, and click on the PUD logo at the top of the page to visit On the Record. You can also take a survey to help us improve our Web site.