Your PUD
News Release
Commissioners look ahead to legislative session
Chelan County PUD
News Release
1/12/2009
Chelan County PUD commissioners Monday received an update on the state legislative session from External Affairs Director Tracy Yount and his staff.
A PUD priority for the legislative session is amending the state’s recreational use statute. The PUD is asking to have liability protection extended to the PUD for whitewater boating in the Chelan River Gorge. Establishing trial runs for kayaking the gorge was approved as part of the new Lake Chelan federal operating license, and the PUD would like to protect all customer-owners by having clear liability protection in case of any accidents.
PUD staff are also watching for possible changes to Initiative I-937, which can be amended by a simple majority this year. Chelan County PUD supports more recognition of hydropower as a renewable source of power.
Staff will also watch the legislative session closely on water, climate change and budgetary issues. Yount and staff will report to the PUD Commission weekly as the session proceeds.
In other business, PUD commissioners:
- Heard from Kirk Hudson, managing director of Transmission and Distribution Operations, on outages and damage resulting from last week’s storms. Commissioners commended crews and staff who helped restore power quickly to an estimated 400 customers at the peak of the Tuesday night storm and passed along customer thanks they had received.
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The next regular meeting of the PUD commission is at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 19, in the boardroom at PUD headquarters, 327 N. Wenatchee Ave.
Most PUD commission meetings are recorded and a link to the audio is available on the PUD’s home page at www.chelanpud.org.
Christy Shearer
Deputy Public Information Officer
Chelan County PUD
(509) 661.4258 office
(509) 421.4258 cell
(509) 661.8117 fax
christy.shearer@chelanpud.org