I Portland reps explain
gripes with PNUCC, BPA
By ANN TRENEMAN
Of the Emerald
Deficiencies in the Pacific
Northwest Utilities Conference
Committee (PNUCC) drafted
legislation and an explanation of
Portland's lawsuit against the
Bonneville Power Authority
(BPA) were presented at a meet
ing Tuesday in the Lane County
Commissioner Conference
Room.
Cary Jackson, aid to Francis
Ivancie, Portland city commis
sioner, and Angus Duncan, from
the Portland mayor's office, out
lined their views of current North
west energy problems and possi
ble solutions at the meeting spon
sored by the Lane County Com
missioners.
The City of Portland filed the
lawsuit several months ago
against BPA because of an "ina
bility to negotiate on key issues in
the PNUCC legislation," Jackson
said. “The City of Portland is a
‘have-not’ in the existing legisla
tion."
Jackson listed the key issues as
energy allocation: energy
policy-making authority given to a
group with the Northwest utility in
dustry rather than to a publicly ac
countable group, and conserva
tion measures, which he said the
biii has stripped away and effec
tively neutered.”
The purpose of the lawsuit is to
"supply an equitable solution for
Pacific Northwest citizens,” Jack
son added.
A
Shrill sound device drives
rodents wild, sends fleas
flying, kills cockroaches
HIPASS, Calif. (AP) — A sound
so shrill it drives rodents wild, kills
cockroaches and sends fleas fly
ing is whistling up a fortune for
Bob Brown, a polio-crippled guitar
player who retired in 1965 on a
$235 monthly Social Security
check.
In his garage one day six years
ago, Brown was putting together
an electric guitar when he tangled
some wires. He recalled Tuesday
that he saw rats scattering. He
crossed the wires and the rodents
ran again.
Brown, 51, built what he called a
rat repellent box and since then,
18,000 have been produced in
Los Angeies and Tijuana, Mexico.
A chicken farmer north of San
Diego, about 50 miles west of
Hipass, bought the first one when
“about 10,000 mice were bother
ing the chickens every night. It
cleared his place in four or five
days,” Brown said.
The government of Venezuela
recently ordered 300 to kill cock
roaches in food stores in Caracas,
and 1,000 were sent to Spanish
granaries in Barcelona.
Brown plans to fly to Brooklyn,
N.Y. next Tuesday to talk to U.S.
Housing and Urban Development
Department officiate about placing
I
9,000 units in low-rental apart
ments.
Brown, a native of Fairmont,
Minn., said the frequency is “over
a million cycles a second.”
He said this means domestic
and rural customers would re
ceive first chance at hydroelectric
power.
Since 1973, Portland has been
denied BPA power and relies on
private utilities for power. Private
rates, according to Jackson, are
three times as high as public utility
rates.
Reasons behind the extra cost
are the necessity for private
utilities to generate their own
power, resulting in the $480 mill
ion Trojan Nuclear Rant.
Duncan stressed the suit is
against BPA, questioning the leg
ality of power-marketing proce
dures, and is not against public
utilities such as the Eugene Water
and Electric Board (EWEB).
The suit, if successful, would
cancel contracts Eugene and
Springfield have with BPA.
Jackson spoke against the
practice of “net-billing,” which he
feels gives customers a double
preference with the BPA.
EWEB has such a “net-billing”
arrangement with the BPA, buying
thermal power from Trojan and
selling it to BPA, which then cre
dits EWEB's account for the
purchase.
Jackson said, this system gives
the public utilities access to long
term power and also gives them a
better chance to support BPA.
BPA is not authorized to buy
thermal power directly and must
depend on this method, which
Jackson said may violate BPA
codes.
Another complaint included in
the lawsuit is that BPA failed to
comply with the 1969 National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
An example given is the con
tract with Alumax, a heavy indus
trial power user, which BPA
signed after 1969. The ‘ net
billing” agreements were also
pledged after the NEPA became
law.
State Sen. Ed Fadeley,
(D-Eugene), pointed out it was
“just as likely the PNUCC bill will
get passed because of pressure
from the suit.”
Jackson responded there was
“no alternative but to proceed with
the lawsuit,” and said this was a
risk that had to be taken.
Jerry Rust, Lane County com
missioner said his support of the
goals for "across the board dis
tribution of power, including both
Portland and Eugene people,”
and said he favored the City of
Portland's stand on conservation.
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