The INDEPENDENT, February 19, 2009
Page 15
Power of the People
By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager,
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
Not What We Needed
This is an article I seriously don’t want to write, but I told
the Board, Staff, Members, and The Independent newspaper
that I would always be upfront, open, and honest with them.
This is one of those times when I wish I had something else
to say, but as we say here at WOEC, “It is what it is.”
The snowstorm struck a huge financial blow to the Co-op.
We came into the month of December doing good and able to
meet the RUS (Rural Utilities Services that we obtain low interest loans from to fund
capital construction on our system) Tier requirements for the fourth year in a row.
We are required to make Tier no less than one of the previous three years. This
storm so far has cost WOEC over $1.8 million. We do not know yet if, or how much,
of this event may be covered by FEMA. So far three of the four counties we worked
in have declared to the State, who then must get federal declaration for us to be el-
igible for funding. This process will take a while before we will know the outcome.
In the meantime, our reserves have been depleted and it has become necessary
for us to use some of our Line of Credit with CFC, (Cooperative Finance Corpora-
tion). This will keep us cash flow positive until our RUS Loan is approved and funds
will be available later this year. We are hoping to receive FEMA funds to pay back
a large portion of this draw down on our Line of Credit.
Due to the storm and the financial ramifications of this event, we delayed the
budget approval so we could incorporate the impacts of these costs, and the affects
of the economic recession or depression we are all experiencing. In that light we,
Management Staff and the Board Budget Committee, made serious cuts to the
budget and made some changes in direction. To get the budget as lean as possi-
ble, the final version has us barely making Tier in 2009. If there are any hiccups in
expenses during the year, we will not be able to hold Tier. This puts us in a very
precarious position with RUS if we are unable to make it in 2009 and we don’t re-
ceive enough FEMA funds to hold Tier in 2008. With three major storms in the last
three years, the odds of not having a hiccup are certainly against us.
One of the changes the Board made was to take funds from a couple of areas
and put it into increasing our donation to “Care to Share” which provides energy as-
sistance for those members who find themselves unable to pay their bills. With un-
employment rising so rapidly in our present economy, we felt this was the best use
of these funds to benefit our members.
The news, unfortunately, gets worse from here. I don’t know how many of you
saw the article on the front page of the Oregonian Business section on February
12, 2009. The article reveals that Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) will be
raising our wholesale power rates by 9.4 percent. Remember what I said previous-
ly about any hiccups this year? Well, this is a major hiccup. There is no way that
WOEC can absorb any of this increase in our current budget with existing rates. We
have no choice but to pass the increase on through to our members. The increase
is set to start October 1, 2009. We will be doing a rate analysis and design to
spread it as evenly and fairly as possible through our rates to each rate class. We
will hold member meetings for our members to discuss the options and rates with
us before the Board takes formal action. I will keep you informed on our progress,
and what the rate increase and structure may be. We know that this is a difficult
time we are all in, but we have no control over when and how much BPA raises our
rates. As I stated, we will do all we can to fairly distribute the increase and are com-
mitted to continue to keep our costs down. I wish there was better news to share.
We are looking at the new Stimulus Bill to see if there are any funds we can access
to help cover the costs of the Timber/Elsie Transmission Line, building the new Ver-
nonia Substation out of the flood plain, help in undergrounding more of our system,
and we are still in the decision process for relocating our facilities out of the flood
plain. We will turn over every rock we can to access funding for these projects that
are crucial to our system.
Here are five reasons to take a close look at your boat propeller
Selecting the right propeller
for your boat’s motor is some-
times as much art as it is sci-
ence. That’s because every
boater uses their boat in differ-
ent ways and under different
conditions. The January 2009
issue of Seaworthy from
BoatU.S. Marine Insurance re-
cently looked at why you may
want to take a closer look at
your prop this winter and ask
yourself these five questions:
1. Is your boat slow to come
onto plane? Pitch is the theo-
retical distance a prop makes
though the water in one revolu-
tion. If a prop has too much
pitch, the boat will have a lousy
“hole shot” — meaning its abili-
ty to get on plane quickly will
suffer, similar to trying to start a
car from a stop in third gear.
Your tachometer can also in-
dicate potential problems with
pitch. Assuming you have a
clean, well-maintained boat,
your boat’s engine should
reach within 100-200 revolu-
tions per minute of its rated
wide open throttle (WOT). If
not, a prop shop may need to
adjust pitch.
2. Does your engine over-
rev and boat seem slow? If
there is too little pitch in the
prop, the engine will over-rev
and go past its redline at WOT.
A prop shop can also add more
pitch or recommend a new
prop. Both under and over-
revving can seriously damage
an engine.
3. Did you run over a log, hit
a sandbar or stump? You may
have forgotten about that little
bump that happened last sum-
mer, but your prop hasn’t and it
could affect performance when
you launch in the spring. One
prop shop proprietor reported
to Seaworthy that 80 percent of
the damaged propellers that
come in to his repair facility
look healthy at first glance —
until they are reviewed with
computerized repair equip-
Storm debris can be a boating hazard
Severe weather this winter
has tumbled trees into many
rivers in western Oregon, creat-
ing hazards for unsuspecting
boaters who are seeking chal-
lenging white water or winter
steelhead fishing.
“Boaters need to be espe-
cially cautious, whether running
a kayak, raft, canoe, drift boat
or motorized craft,” said Ashley
Massey, Public Information
Specialist for the Oregon State
Marine Board. “The heavy
snow and ice brought down en-
tire trees on many rivers, in-
cluding the McKenzie, Rogue
and North Santiam. It’s likely
that other rivers have similar
hazards awaiting boaters.”
Most trees will end up paral-
lel to the river as a minor haz-
ard. If the tree is blocking the
river, or is an imminent safety
hazard, marine patrol officers
have authority to trim or re-
move the tree. “These trees
also represent important fish
habitat, so we work with the ap-
propriate land manager or biol-
ogist to resolve the problem in
a fish-friendly manner, if possi-
ble,” said Massey.
Not all trees can be removed
quickly or easily. “Some re-
movals can be expensive and
dangerous. In other cases,
mother nature or the local
landowner may resolve the
problem,” said Massey. In such
cases, officers may post warn-
ing signs or coordinate with ex-
perienced volunteers to ad-
dress the hazard.
Please see page 18
ment.
4. Do you want to go faster?
The first place to look is the
prop. Stainless-steel props,
with thinner and stronger
blades, allow slightly more
speed. However, the trade-off
is that they are also more cost-
ly to purchase and repair, and
should you strike a submerged
object a stainless prop has the
potential to cause greater lower
unit damage than an aluminum
prop.
5. Using too much fuel? It’s a
good idea to monitor fuel flow,
either with a fuel flow meter or
by doing the math. When fuel
economy starts to suffer the
first thing to check for is pro-
peller damage, as a dinged
prop can easily rob you up to
10 percent in fuel costs.
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