Earth week panel discusses NW energy
By PAUL WALDSCHMIDT
Of the Emerald
A panel discussion Thursday
night on the future of the
Northwest's energy supply pro
duced a variety of ideals, but no
agreement on how that supply
could be stretched to the year
2000.
The forum, sponsored by the
University’s Survival Center as
part of its Earth Week program,
attracted 20 spectators to the
Eugene City Hall.
Panel members included Mike
Katz, a Bonneville Power Ad
ministration (BPA) economist,
who worked on a BPA energy
policy study, Jim Blumquist,
Northwest energy coordinator for
the Sierra Club, Hugh Smith, a
major author of the Pacific North
west Utilities Conference Commit
tee (PNUCC) regional power bill,
Peter Sage, with Congressman
Jim Weaver's office, and Bob
Zagorin, environmental re
searcher.
Katz outlined a number of pos
sible scenarios describing the
region's power situation over the
next two decades. He said state
and local government’s influence
of these scenarios was limited. He
said it would take direct federal
intervention to influence most of
them. It is important, he said, to
distinguish what is theoretically
possible and what is practical to
improve the energy picture.
Katz described the region’s
uses of energy available to it. He
said 23 percent of the energy con
sumed in the Northwest is in the
form of electricity, which is twice
Need transportation?
E-OWNED
CAR
RENTALS
for a clean, used car at a price you can afford!
No Mileage Charge - *9,s Daily
225 Main St., Spfld. _747-0709
the amount consumed nationally
on a per capita basis.
Petroleum accounts for 52 per
cent of the energy, which is about
seven percent less than nation
ally. Natural gas, coal, nuclear
and wood accounts for the rest.
Katz broke the energy con
sumption down by sectors.
Transportation accounts for 36
percent of the energy consumed,
with two-thirds of that going to pri
vate automobiles. Industry uses
34 percent; the largest consumer
being the paper industry. The
home sector uses 19 percent.
Space heating and hot water heat
ing uses 80 percent of that share.
Eleven percent goes to other
building such as business and
public.
He said the BPA’s report has
been criticized because its fore
cast of future energy needs was
cited as too low. Katz defended
the forecast by pointing out the
report’s high forecast is about four
percent higher than forecasts by
utilities and only slightly lower
than the utilities for its medium
and low forecasts.
The report concludes that the
cost of overbuilding for future
power needs is not as great as
underbuilding and running the risk
of energy shortages.
The next three panelists, Zago
rin, Blumquist and Sage, criticized
the PNUCC bill.
A
/
i //•
BENEFIT
BREAKFAST
For
GRETCHEN
MILLER
Candidate for City Council
Ward 4
Monday, April 24
8:00 A.M. to 11:30 A.M.
at
THE HQMEFRIED TRUEKST0P
790 EAST 14TM
Zagorin said the utilities are
pushing for a regional power bill
for two reasons. He said BPA con
tracts which guarantee low rates
to aluminum companies are due
to run out in the 1980 s and the
power may then be made availa
ble to public utilities.
Secondly. BPA’s purchase au
thority which is used to help pro
vide financing for the construction
of thermal generating plants will
soon be exhausted.
Zagorin said BPA’s authority to
guarantee the purchase of power
from the thermal plant means
consumers will pay higher rates.
He critized the construction of
thermal power plants in Eastern
Washington as costly and said the
developers are making mistakes
that the public has to pay for.
Not all industries which use
large amounts of energy, he said,
produce significant employment.
He said a study shows that the
Northwest aluminum industry
uses about a third of the region's
energy and only produces three
percent of the region’s jobs.
Blumquist said that the BPA
and the utilities began to realize by
the late 40 s and early 50 s that
they were running out of dam sites
and began making plans to incor
porate thermal power into the
region’s power supply.
He said, however, that the
studies failed to consider con
servation and more efficient
technology as ways of creating
more energy. It is not too late, he
said, to re-evaluate these faulty
assumptions.
Smith defended the PNUCC bill
as a compromise solution that
provides for savings from con
servation efforts but also provides
for the construction of more power
plants, both nuclear and coal.
He said an increase in the
energy supply is needed to pro
vide for an increase in the labor
force and the need for new jobs
“Every new job requires an in
crease in energy.”
Smith discounted the effects of
conservation as a way of freeing
up more energy. He said it is dif
ficult to tell how much conserva
tion will work. People are already
conserving, he said, and it would
be difficult to encourage them to
conserve more.
Democratic candidate for governor Emily Ashworth
will contribute to Enviroment Day of Earth Week ’78 with a
noon speech on “Energy in Oregon Politics.”
Ashworth strongly opposes nuclear energy and the use of
herbicides in Oregon’s forests.
The Trojan Decommissioning Alliance, Mobilization
for Survival and Citizens Against Toxic Sprays will present
films from 10 a m. until 4 p.m., running continuously in the
downstairs lobby of the EMU, outside the Survival Center.
The films include "Lovejoy’s Nuclear War," the story of
Sam Lovejoy’s fight against nuclear power in Massachusetts.
“The Last Resort," “Radiation and Health,” "More Nuclear
Power Stations," and the "Harmon Seaver Story,” a film about
herbicides.
Earth Week will end Saturday, with a benefit dance in the
EMU at 8:30 p.m. Dakotah will play; admission is $1.50.
DUFFY’S 'C
Friday 4-6 Pitcher Sale (no cover)
5-7 Live Music with Scandal
Friday & Saturday 9-2
SCANDAL ($1 cover)
Sunday on the Big Screen
Blazers vs Seattle playoff games
FUTURE CPA’S
LET US HELP YOU
BECOME A CPA
OUR SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS
REPRESENT_
PORTLAND 503 223-3384
CLASSES BEGIN MAY 22
CPA
REVIEW