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.