April 14, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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By NATALIE JOHNSON
"Hell no."
That was the answer the Mason
County PUD 3 commission gave to
the Bonneville Power Administra-
tion (BPA) Tuesday to its proposed
settlement for years of lawsuits
over its residential exchange pro-
gram.
There wasn't any question of
whether the PUD 3 would support
the settlement or not - the PUD
has long vowed to fight the settle-
ment. The question was how to
say it.
"So do we want to say 'no' or
'Hell no?" commission chair Linda
Gott asked her fellow commission-
ers.
The "no" option would be to
not address the settlement before
BPA's April 15 deadline, and effec-
tively ignore it.
The "Hell no" option was to vote
to not sign the agreement, official-
ly turning down the settlement."
With a unanimous 3-0 vote,
Journal file photo
Mason County PUD3 commissioners voted not to sign a
settlement agreement with Bonneville Power on Tuesday.
the commissioners told Bonneville ofutiIties had also turned it down.
where to go. BPA's settlement is the cul-
The settlement would have only mination of a decade long battle
been valid if 91 percent of pubic between the administration and
utility districts agreed to it. Before public utilities over the residen-
the PUD 3 commission agreed not tial exchange program, which sub-
to sign the settlement, 14 percent sidizes private utility rates with
public utility ratepayer money.
The Washington State 9th Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals determined
that between 2002 and 2007, the
PUD 3 alone was overcharged
$3,595,310 for their power rates
through the residential exchange
program.
The residential exchange pro-
gram was established by the
Northwest Power Act in 1980, was
designed to help even out the dis-
parity in power rates between in-
vestor owned utilities (IOUs) and
public utilities (PUDs). Basically,
it allowed BPA to subsidize power
rates for IOUs.
Since 2000, PUD 3, along with
the other public utility districts
within the Washington Public
Agencies Group (WPAG), have
been filing lawsuits against BPA,
fighting against what they have
argued are illegally inflated power
rates. They say that these subsi-
dies have been disproportionately
high.
BPA's agreement, which has
gone through several drafts in re-
cent months, would, among other
things, set the exchange rates
for 17 years and prohibit utili-
ties from bringing further claims
against Bonneville for that time.
"We feel like 17 years is a really
long time," PUD 3 manager Wyla
Wood said. "Bonneville cannot be
trusted to look out for our best in-
terest."
The PUD commissioners and
staff alike couldn't find anything
nice to say about the settlement,
which also stated that the PUDs
would not receive any more of the
settlement money that the 9th cir-
cuit court of appeals awarded to
them.
"There is no value to this agree-
ment," commissioner Tom Farmer
said.
By voting to not sign the agree-
ment, the PUD joins several oth-
er public utilities in the state in
continuing to fight with its main
power supplier over inflated power
rates.
I
Two adults were seriously injured following a
Cutoff roads on April 6.
collission
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
near Johns Prairie and Batstone
Wreck near Johns Prairie leaves two injured
By KEVAN MOORE Albertson, 26, was east- senger, identified as According to deputies,
bound at the 1100 blockShelton resident Sherry witnesses told officers
The Mason County of East John's Prairie M. Havens, 29, remainsthe vehicle was travel-
Sheriffs Office traffic Road when it crossed the in criticalcondition after ing at excessive speed
team is investigating a westbound lane strikingbeing airlifted to Har- and Albertson appeared
single-car collision that a parked vehicle then borview Medical Centerto be bobbing her head
left two people injured striking a tree where the in Seattle. Emergency as if she was falling
on Wednesday, April 6. vehicle came to rest. responders from Fire asleep.
According to the sher- Albertson sufferedDistrict 5 needed to use Investigators cited
iffs office, a 1997 Fordminor injuries and wasthe "Jaws of Life" to ex- causing factors of the
Escort driven by Shel- transported to Mason tricate Havens from the collision as drowsiness
ton resident Charlotte S. General Hospital. A pas- vehicle, and excessive speed.
City
n
By NATALIE JOHNSON
After months of discussions and delays, the Shelton city
commission approved new water rates and utility tax Mon-
day.
Although the city commission had a public hearing on
the proposed rates and increase in the utility tax during
their meeting on April 4, they delayed voting on the ordi-
nances for another week to give time for more public com-
ment on the issue.
The city's Community and Economic Developn~ept' ~': ....
rector Steve Goins said that during the W~ek he ~ttet ~-
the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce's Gov-
ernment Affairs Committee (GAC), which had expressed
concern over the new water rate ordinance, which included
an increase in commercial water rates.
Although the GAC was concerned over the increase in
water rates, the commission approved the increase.
=The commercial rates were artificially low," said city
commissioner Dawn Pannell. "Nobody wants to pay more
but if it's equitable that's the best we can do."
The city needed to increase it's utility tax to cover fire
protection for the city, which according to a recent court
case, Lane vs. Seattle, must be covered through the general
fund and not water rates.
The increased water rates outlined in the new ordinance
are designed to pay for increases in infrastructure for the
city's water system in the coming years, outlined in the
water comprehensive plan, adopted through a resolution at
the city's April 4 meeting.
Mayor John Tarrant spoke about the need to increase
water rates, which he said increase water rates about 39
percent over six years, to pay for this infrastructure.
"We don't want to get caught by not having things up-
dated," He said.
#
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Page A-2 - Shelton-Mason County Journal -Thursday, April 14, 2011