LOCAL
A3 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, DECEMbER 26, 2018
Conservation measures can reduce electric bills
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Historical preservation delays transfer
of the Umatilla Chemical Depot
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
A
s electric rates go up, consum-
ers have the power to lower
their energy bills through
conservation.
December, however, can be a diffi-
cult month to conserve power.
Christmas decorations suck up elec-
tricity. The onset of cold weather makes
people want to turn up the heat. Christ-
mas vacations can mean more time at
home, translating to more time running
the television and other appliances.
And any houseguests for the holi-
days means extra dishes, laundry and
showers.
Some people see an increased elec-
tric bill as just another part of their
Christmas budget. Pete Rosenberg of
Hermiston said the collection of inflat-
ables and lights in his front yard add
about $20 to $30 to his December elec-
tric bill each year, but that’s “not too
bad.”
“The joy outweighs the price,” he
said.
Rosenberg said he enjoys seeing the
lights in his yard and in other yards this
time of year. Students walking home
from Hermiston High School also
complement the decorations.
Katie Wallace, a residential spokes-
person for Energy Trust of Oregon, said
family visiting for the holidays might
increase a customer’s energy usage too.
“People may be doing more laundry,
with houseguests,” she said.
Since most of the energy for a load
of laundry comes from heating the
water for the cycle, Wallace said peo-
ple can conserve energy by washing
clothes on the cold setting. They can
also air-dry clothes, or run cycles in the
dryer back-to-back to take advantage
of the hot air already trapped inside the
dryer from the first load.
When it comes to keeping warm
this time of year, Wallace said keeping
blinds and drapes open during the day
helps utilize sunlight to heat the house,
and closing the blinds after dark traps
heat in. Placing rugs on bare floors can
trap heat.
Energy Trust of Oregon recom-
mends setting your thermostat between
58 and 62 degrees at night or when
everyone will be at work all day, and
65 to 68 degrees while you’re home.
“That can help keep you comfort-
able but also save some energy,” she
said.
Steve Meyers, spokesperson for
Umatilla Electric Company, said for
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
The family cat hangs out near the plug-ins that electrify Pete Rosenberg’s Christmas
display outside his Highland Avenue home. The Hermiston man pays about $20
extra each month for the additional electricity.
every degree lower that people set
their thermostat in the winter, they can
save about 2 percent on their heating
bill. Lowering your thermostat by 10
degrees every night instead of keep-
ing it running at the same temperature
while everyone is asleep can reduce
your month’s bill by 10 to 20 percent.
As people consider lowering the
temperature in their home, Meyers said
getting rid of drafts can make a big dif-
ference in their comfort level. UEC
provides a free home energy audit, and
one of the first things they do is recom-
mend sealing up air leaks with caulk or
other means.
“A lot of homes can be really leaky
around the windows and doors and
things like dryer vents, and it can be
pretty easy and inexpensive to fix that,”
he said.
Adding insulation in the attic can
be more time-consuming and expen-
sive, but there are rebates and tax cred-
its available. Meyers said when he
fixed the insulation in his own 1970s-
era Hermiston home, he was able to use
those incentives to cut the cost in half,
and it made a “dramatic” difference to
the comfort of his home in addition to
saving money on heat.
Both Wallace and Meyers said small
conservation measures, like setting
the dishwasher to air-dry mode and
unplugging devices when not in use,
all add up.
It may seem counterintuitive for
organizations that make their money by
selling electricity to offer up programs
and information to help people use less
electricity. But Meyers said building
power plants is “expensive and risky”
so electric utilities would rather see
people conserve. Plus, he said, they
want people to be able to afford to live
in the area and farmers to be able to
afford to keep their pumps going.
“When customers are doing well,
UEC is doing well,” he said.
• Phone, laptop and tablet chargers
use electricity even when they’re not
charging a device, so unplug them
when they’re not in use.
• Plug electronics like your tele-
vision, DVD player, computer and
printer into power strips that can be
easily turned off when not in use.
• Let hot foods cool down before
refrigerating or freezing them so
your fridge doesn’t have to work so
hard to cool down.
• Make sure hot air is flowing
freely from your heating system by
regularly cleaning and replacing
filters and make sure registers are
clear.
• Use a microwave or toaster oven
instead of the stovetop or oven to
heat food.
• Take short showers and don’t let
the water in your sink run constantly
while you’re brushing your teeth or
washing dishes by hand.
As the Columbia Devel-
opment Authority contin-
ues to discuss how best to
preserve historical and cul-
tural resources at the former
Umatilla Chemical Depot,
they got a little bit more to
work with this week.
During a CDA board
meeting held via confer-
ence call on Wednesday,
Dec. 19, executive direc-
tor Greg Smith told board
members he was in Red-
mond, on his way to pick up
a trove of original construc-
tion plans and communica-
tions from when the depot
was built in the mid-1940s.
“It fell right out of the
sky and into our lap,” he
said.
Smith said state Sen.
Betsy Johnson (D-Scap-
poose) had called him and
told him she had found
something that would be
of interest to Umatilla and
Morrow counties.
Johnson’s father, Sam
Johnson, owned saw mills
and other lumber hold-
ings in the Bend and Red-
mond area, and his busi-
ness had been contracted to
provide the lumber for the
construction of the depot’s
buildings. She offered up
the construction plans and
corresponding documents
to the CDA to preserve as
part of the depot’s histori-
cal record.
Preservation of histori-
cal and cultural resources
on the former depot land
— including original ruts
made by the Oregon Trail
and places of significance
to the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation — is the last piece
of the puzzle before the
land transfers from the U.S.
Army back to local con-
trol.The CDA had hoped
to have the land transferred
in 2018 (and several of the
preceding years) but the
process will roll over into
2019.
WORSHIP
COMMUNITY
First Christian Church
“Proclaiming the Message of Hope,
Living the Gospel of Love”
Sunday School 9:15am
Worship Service 10:30am
567-3013
McDowell promoted to Herald editor
per subscribers, but there’s
a lot in the newspaper they
could benefit from,” she
Hermiston Herald and said.
East Oregonian reporter
McDowell said she will
Jade McDowell will step continue to look to add
into a new role this week unique sections to the Her-
— as the news editor of the ald, like the Hermiston His-
tory and “Three Minutes
Herald.
McDowell, 29, has With” segments, which
worked for EO
don’t appear in any
Media Group since
other company pub-
lications. She also
August 2013, first as
hopes to open the
an East Oregonian
reporter, and then
paper to more com-
munity participation
for both the EO and
Herald once the two
through guest col-
newsrooms merged
umns and features.
in June 2015.
“I think there are
While she has Jade McDowell a lot of opportunities
handled some edi-
for partnerships with
torial duties for the Her- the schools, maybe working
ald since February of 2018, with aspiring student jour-
McDowell will now be nalists,” she said.
McDowell will also con-
responsible for big-picture
operations of the weekly tinue to work as a reporter,
covering city government
paper.
“I’ll be looking at and economic development
how the paper is working
together as a whole, instead
of just the next edition,” she
said. “How can we make
the paper better as a whole,
help more people want to
subscribe.”
She said she’d like to
work on growing circulation,
especially with a diverse
population of readers.
“Younger families aren’t
always traditional newspa-
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
in western Umatilla County
for the Herald and the EO.
Daniel
Wattenburger,
managing editor of the
East Oregonian who shared
interim editor duties with
McDowell through 2018,
said she is a perfect fit for
the job.
“Jade is an outstanding
journalist,” he said. “She’s
an empathetic reporter who
knows how to get the most
out of a story. She’s earned
the respect of the commu-
nity and will serve Hermis-
ton well.”
A graduate of Brigham
Young University’s jour-
nalism program, McDow-
ell worked as a Metro edi-
tor and Opinion editor for
the college paper, The Daily
Universe, with internships
at The Dalles Chronicle and
The New York Daily News.
She worked for two years
as a reporter at The Dalles
Chronicle before joining the
EO.
Though she spent most
of her childhood in The
Dalles, McDowell got
to know Hermiston long
before she lived here —
spending weekends and
summers with relatives who
lived in town.
“When they offered me
the job at the EO, they said
I could work in Hermiston
or Pendleton, and I picked
Hermiston,” she said. “I’m
familiar with it, I liked that
it was a younger, growing
town, and it’s a half hour
closer to home.”
Outside
of
work,
McDowell is a member of
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, and is
the president of the wom-
en’s organization for the
young single adults con-
gregation, for 18 to 30
year-olds.
775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston
The Full Gospel
Home Church
235 SW 3rd
Phone 567-7678
Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker
Sunday:
Sunday School........10:00 am
Worship...................11:00 am
Evening Service........7:00 pm
Wednesday Service..7:00 pm
“Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you.”
1 Pet. 5:7
First United
Methodist
Church
Hermiston
191 E. Gladys Ave , Hermiston OR
555 SW 11th, Hermiston
567-9497
Nursery provided for all services
Sunday School - 9:30 AM
Worship - 10:45 AM
6:00 PM
Wed Prayer & Worship - 7:00 PM
“Proclaiming God’s word,
growing in God’s grace”
St. Johns
Episcopal Church
Join Us
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Rev. Dr. Jim Pierce, pastor
N.E. Gladys Ave & 7th, Hermiston
t. PH: 567-6672
We are an all inclusive Church
who welcomes all.
LANDMARK BAPTIST
CHURCH
Family service 9am Sunday
NEW BEGINNINGS
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Sun. Bible Classes...................10:00am
Sun. Worship Service..............11:00am
Sun. Evening Worship..............6:00pm
Wed. Prayer & Bible Study......6:00pm
Worship Service 10:30 AM
Sunday School 9:00 AM
Pastor J.C. Barnett
Children’s Church &
Nursery Available
700 West Orchard Avenue
P.O. Box 933
Hermiston, Oregon
www.hermistonlmbc.com
541-567-8441
125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232
Pastor David Dever
Seventh-day
Adventist Church
McKay Creek Estates
FREE Cognitive
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Grace Baptist Church
1520 W ORCHARD AVE
Sunday Worship Service
10:30 am Classes for Kids @ 9:15 am
SEEKING JESUS, SHARING LIFE,
SERVING PEOPLE
www.hermistonnazarene.org
Saturdays
Sabbath School........9:30 a.m.
Worship Service......11:00 a.m.
English & Spanish Services
567-8241
Hermiston Jr. Academy
1300 NW Academy Lane, • Hermiston
Our Lady of Angels
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Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
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