Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2010)
The INDEPENDENT, January 21, 2010 Page 15 Power of the People By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager, West Oregon Electric Cooperative And Away We Go While the beginning of 2009 had us buried in snow, so far this winter we’ve made it through the holiday season without a fourth FEMA event. It was so nice to have staff and crews home for the holidays for the first time in four years. I can imagine all of our members were glad to have their lights on and fully cooked dinners this year as well. Let’s hope this New Year is better than last one in all aspects for all of us. Speaking of the New Year, we are going to be very busy in 2010. West Oregon Electric Cooperative has several major projects we will be undertaking this year. The first one will be the construction of a new main substation for Vernonia. With a the substation having been under water twice in eleven years and needing a new transformer, it made no sense to put a new trans- former back into a known flood plain. We’ve started the planning, design, and environmental review of the new Vernonia Substation that will be located at the current pole yard. If everything goes according to plan we should have it completed by the end of this year. We will be designing it to be much more efficient, eas- ier to operate, and easier to do switching from one transmission feed to another. We are hoping to under- ground the lines in and out of the new substation and into the present Vernonia substation to increase relia- bility. Not only will it reduce the risk of outages for this stretch of line, it will better enhance the beauty as you enter Vernonia and on to Anderson Park. Once the new substation is completed, we will be removing the East Substation, also referred to as the Alder Substation. This substation sits in the flood plain as well, so we will retire the old transformer and use the current Vernonia Substation as the backup substa- tion. We are also in the process of building a new Head- quarters facility out of the flood plain. We have select- ed a site and are doing all of the preparatory work be- fore beginning construction. A sales agreement, envi- ronmental review of the site, contractor selection, and traffic study will be the first phases of the project to be completed. Once the contractor is selected, we will commence with the final design work, obtain permits All boaters now need boater card Beginning in 2010, all Ore- gon boaters 12 and older must carry their boater education card when operating power boats greater than 10 horse- power. The Oregon Legislature passed the mandatory boater education law in 1999, giving the Marine Board ten years to phase in the requirement based on age. To qualify for a boater edu- cation card, a person must show that they have completed an approved education course. Courses are readily available through the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, U.S. Power Squad- ron, county law enforcement officers and other partners, or via approved Internet courses accessible at www.boatoregon. com. “Education makes a differ- ence,” says MariAnn Koloszar, Marine Board education coor- dinator. “We’ve seen a reduc- tion in boating related acci- dents since the program be- gan.” In 1995, Oregon had 144 reported recreational boating accidents and for the last sev- eral years, the number of acci- dents has been reduced by more than half that amount. “When it’s beautiful outside, people flock to the waterways. When you have congestion, it becomes even more important to know the navigation rules, proper launching techniques and boater etiquette. Law en- forcement reports 80 percent compliance with the mandatory education law and now re- ceives fewer complaints from boaters. When boaters play by the same rules, it’s safer and more fun on the water,” Koloszar adds. The program will now focus on new boaters. “Young boat- ers, people just getting into boating and new residents will be our most common cus- tomers now that the age-based phase-in is complete,” says Koloszar. As most boaters now know, the mandatory education law requires all persons 12 and old- er to have a boater education card when operating power- boats greater than 10 horse- power. Youth 12 - 15 must have a card to operate a power boat under 10 horse power and must also be supervised by a card-holding adult when oper- ating power boats greater than 10 horsepower. For more information, check the Mandatory Boater Educa- tion information at www.boat oregon.com. when the studies are completed, and then begin con- struction with the aggressive goal of having the project done by the end of 2010. The reason for pushing to get the project done in 2010 is to take advantage of the low costs of construction before they go back up, thus keeping costs to a minimum, and to reduce the risk of us going through another flood event before we get re- located. We also want to use the opportunity to help stimulate the local economy, as one of the require- ments we placed on the project is that the contractor will use as many local products, goods, services, and laborers as possible. We will be reviewing every con- tract bid throughout the project to make sure this re- quirement is met. We hope this project will be a big boost to Vernonia and be a positive sign that the town is not only recovering from the flood event, but is alive and moving forward. It should be a very busy year with some very posi- tive and constructive projects for West Oregon Electric Cooperative that will not only benefit our members this year, but well into our future.