Commissioners must often balance opposing views

Norm Gutzwiler, PUD Commissioner

8/21/2008

It’s not quite like juggling balls in the circus, but many of the decisions PUD commissioners face require careful consideration of competing demands.

Sorting through different viewpoints and weighing information provided is our responsibility as your elected representatives. Still, it seems more decisions we make require balancing conflicting needs.

Several examples come to mind:

• Trail use in the hills west of Wenatchee
• Security for PUD buildings, lines and dams
• Long-term power sales contracts

I’ve hiked and hunted in the nearby hills all my life, and I want to see future generations have the same opportunity. However, with more use comes responsibility for balancing recreation with protecting wildlife .

The license for Rock Island Dam requires the PUD to provide habitat and winter range for deer on 960 acres of land in the hills west of Wenatchee, and it gives the state Department of Fish and Wildlife oversight. We agreed to let the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust cross the habitat for a section of the Sage Hills Trail , but recently we had to install fences to restrict access to unauthorized trails nearby.

Security took on new meaning for the power industry following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. As a public utility, we pride ourselves on being open and accessible. We like inviting our customer-owners and visitors into the office to do business and to Rocky Reach Dam for fun and learning.

But to keep doing that, we had to develop a new security program to balance federal mandates for restricted access with our goal of inviting the public in for visits.

Future use of the clean, affordable hydropower produced at our dams is another big issue. After listening to the public and the PUD’s negotiating team, we approved contracts with Puget Sound Energy and Alcoa that commit about half the output of Rocky Reach and Rock Island Dams for 17-20 years after 2011 in exchange for paying the same percentage of production costs and other fees. Again we found ourselves balancing financial certainty and community benefit with concerns about future flexibility.

We always appreciate the public’s help in reaching these decisions. Send us your thoughts anytime through the “contact us” feature of this Web site.