Power generators kicked into high gear
■ When treezing weather hit
Eugene over break, the
University turned to other
sources for electricity
By Brooke Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
During winter vacation the Uni
versity spread the holiday spirit by
offering its help to the entire Eu
gene community as below- freez
ing temperatures drove up the de
mand for power and threatened to
exhaust the community’s energy
source. It may not be the last time
the campus has to offer its servic
es.
At the request of the Eugene Wa
ter and Electric Board, the Univer
sity used both of its electrical gen
erators to fill all of the campus’s
electricity needs Dec. 11 and 12, so
EWEB could better meet the com
munity’s energy demand during
the ongoing Northwest energy cri
sis.
The crisis, which is being
caused by an unusually dry winter,
higher power prices and not
enough new power generation
sources, led EWEB to ask its com
mercial customers to curtail their
use of power or generate their own
electricity.
“The demand for electricity has
grown due to population increas
es, but the supply has not kept up
with the demand," EWEB Public
Affairs Manager Marty Douglass
said.
In early December there were
forecasts for zero degree tempera
tures, he said, adding the situation
could have meant not enough en
ergy for all of Eugene.
Although the temperatures did
not drop as expected, Douglass
said the University, along with oth
er commercial customers, may be
asked to generate their own power
again in future months if severe
weather becomes a reality.
“We’re on alert throughout the
winter since freezing temperatures
still pose a threat,” Douglass said.
George Hecht, University Cam
The demand for
electricity has grown due
to population increases,
but the supply has not
kept up with the demand.
Marty Douglass
EWEB Public
Affairs Manager
pus Operations director, said the
University has two generators, and
each can generate as much as three
megawatts of power per hour, but
under normal conditions only
about half of the generators’ power
is used.
“Buying electricity is generally
cheaper, so we use the generators
only when we need to,” he said.
One generator is a back pressure
generator that is used to generate
steam for heating the campus and
the other is a condensation genera
tor that is not used as often, he
said.
Although the University did not
lose any money from using the
generators this time, Hecht thinks
the price of campus power is going
to increase.
“It’s possible this energy short
age could be a long term problem,
and the era of cheap energy will be
gone,” he said.
Douglass also said University
electricity rates are expected to in
crease soon.
“I think we’ll see customers pay
ing more than they ever have be
fore,” he said, adding that the in
creased rates will apply to all
customers.
University Energy Specialist
Amy Lake said the University will
receive a credit from EWEB for the
amount of electricity used from the
generators.
She added that utility rates,
which are the prices of heating
campus auxiliary buildings such
as the EMLI and student housing,
will also be unaffected by higher
costs from the generator usage be
cause these buildings are heated
by steam and not electricity.
“I think we’ll find out we bene
fited from the generator use over
all,” she said. “Once we factor in
the fuel that will be made up with
the credit I think we’ll come out on
top.”
Increase
continued from page 1
energy costs. Like Weyerhauser,
Sacred Heart creates its own ener
gy by using steam, something that
has helped keep costs down in the
past.
Jim Weston, director of facilities
management for Sacred Heart, said
costs will go up due to the price in
crease, but patients won’t be pay
ing more for their healthcare.
“We’ll find a way to handle the
increase without compromising
the quality of our care,” Weston
r
said.
Sacred Heart has completed
three years of a five-year agree
ment with EWEB to conserve ener
gy. EWEB has put $1 million into
the $1.5 million plan that has giv
en the medical center energy effi
cient lights, more sophisticated
motors on the equipment and wa
ter “chillers” that will all help con
serve energy.
Despite all the conservation ef
forts, Sacred Heart will still need
to find ways to cut back costs with
out making patients uncomfort
able, Weston said.
“Patients can be assured that we
Patients can be
assured that we won't be
turning the lights off on
them or shutting off
their heat.
Jim Weston
Director of Management
Sacred Heart
won’t be turning the lights off on
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them or shutting off their heat,”
Weston said. “We’re going to have
to look at where we can trim
costs.”
Smaller businesses, such as the
University of Oregon Bookstore,
will also be affected by the price
hike. However, the bookstore isn’t
anticipating raising its prices as a
result of the energy crisis.
“We’re still a big enough busi
ness that we can afford an increase
like this,” General Manager Jim
Williams said.
The bookstore is already
equipped with energy-saving light
fixtures, and has been involved in
EWEB’s energy-saving programs.
“Everything we do, we try to do
in a conserving way,” Williams
said.
Williams also said that if energy
prices continue to rise into next
year, the bookstore may incur ad
ditional expenses, but none large
enough to affect product prices.
“Each business is going to need
to do an internal assessment of it’s
power need,” Connolly said.
Chavez
continued from page 1
abusive relationship, who fled
Guatemala at a time of turmoil in
that country, who landed in the
United States knowing no one and
having no friends and having no
place to live and no way to support
herself.”
Chavez said a friend introduced
them and asked her to take Merca
do in.
“I did that even at the time know
ing that there was some risk to me,”
she said, adding: “If I was asked by
a friend to do that again, I would do
it in an instant, without hesitation.
Union leaders and some Democ
rats were already gearing up to try
and defeat Chavez’s nomination be
fore the immigrant story broke, con
cerned about her strongly conserva
tive positions and background,
including opposition to affirmative
action and raising the minimum
wage. On Tuesday, the AFL-CIO re
leased a 17-page analysis of her
record and promised to try and stop
her confirmation in the Senate.
In light of the new controversy,
Senate Democrats also were set to
charge hypocrisy, noting that
Chavez had criticized Zoe Baird,
who was forced to withdraw in
1993 as President Clinton’s nomi
nee for attorney general. Baird had
had illegal aliens as household help
and did not pay Social Security tax
es on their wages, and Chavez said
that the illegal alien aspect of that
case was most troubling.
On Tuesday, Chavez said that the
Baird case was different from her
own, though she said that Baird,
too, was treated unfairly.
With less than two weeks before
Bush takes the White House, there
was no immediate word of a new
nominee.
Bush said in a statement that he
was disappointed Chavez would
not be in his Cabinet. “Linda is a
good person with a great deal of
compassion," he said.
Earlier prospects for the Labor
Department included Missouri
Rep. Jim Talent, a defeated nomi
nee for governor of Missouri; Rep.
Jennifer Dunn of Washington and
Rich Bond, a former chairman of
the Republican National Commit
tee. One Bush adviser said Tuesday
the prospects also included Elaine
L. Chao, former deputy transporta
tion secretary and the wife of Sen.
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward
Kennedy, the top Democrat on the
committee that handles this nomi
nation, said Chavez’s withdrawal
offered Bush a second chance.
“If there’s a silver lining to the
events of recent days it’s the oppor
tunity now to name a labor secre
tary in the distinguished tradition
of recent Republican presidents,”
he said in a statement.
Bush initially stuck with Chavez,
but by Tuesday, the president
elect’s high command got word to
the nominee that she should with
draw. It was a quick step to cut po
litical losses and avoid the distrac
tion of a Cabinet dispute with an
evenly divided Senate.
With his nominees for attorney
general, John Ashcroft, and for sec
retary of the interior, Gale Norton,
also drawing sharp opposition over
their views, a Chavez uproar could
have been a significant problem.
Chavez, 53, headed the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights during
the Reagan administration. She has
since been a conservative colum
nist and television commentator,
and founded the Center for Equal
opportunity, a conservative think
tank in Washington.
©
RECYCLE