The INDEPENDENT, November 7, 2012
Youngs Bay area reopened for
salmon and steelhead fishing
The Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife has an-
nounced that salmon and steel-
head fishing reopened in
Youngs Bay, Youngs River and
the Klaskanine River (including
the North and South Forks) on
Wednesday, October 31, and
will remain open through the
rest of 2012.
Fishery managers decided
to reopen these fisheries be-
cause area hatcheries have
now met their brood stock ob-
jectives for chinook salmon.
These fisheries closed October
13 due to poor hatchery returns
resulting from low water condi-
tions.
Under permanent rules for
these areas, anglers are now
permitted to retain up to two
adult fin-clipped salmon/steel-
head in combination, plus up to
five fin-clipped jack salmon per
day.
For more information, refer
to ODFW’s 2012 Oregon Sport
Fishing Regulations or visit
ODFW’s regulation update
page on the Internet at
www.dfw.state.or.us/resour
ces/fishing/reg_changes/in-
dex.asp.
West Coast salmon discussed in
Virginia courtroom recently
by Chris Thomas, Oregon
News Service
The week of October 22, a
federal court in Virginia was
asked to overturn a decision
that has major impacts on
Northwest salmon and steel-
head. In four western states, in-
cluding Oregon, the National
Marine Fisheries Service rec-
ommends buffers around
salmon streams of at least 500
feet where certain pesticides
cannot be sprayed.
However, Dow Chemical
and two other manufacturers
are fighting the decision, say-
ing buffers are not necessary
and will cost them business.
Steve Mashuda, an Earthjus-
tice attorney representing
wildlife advocates in the case,
says the feds had discussed
banning these pesticides alto-
gether, “But after studying it
some more, they came to a
compromise position, in some
ways, that said ‘As long as
we’re not spraying them direct-
ly next to the salmon streams
and we have a no-spray buffer
along those streams, they can
still be used. That will minimize
the amount that’s making its
way into the water.’”
Mashuda says the chemi-
cals, called organophosphates,
are lethal to the fish even in low
concentrations, but are still
widely used on farms. The
case is being heard in Virginia
because that is the closest ap-
peals court to the Fisheries
Service headquarters in Wash-
ington, D.C.
The other states where the
no-spray buffers would apply
around salmon streams are
California, Idaho and Washing-
ton. An interesting twist to this
case is that these buffer zones
are not currently being en-
forced. Mashuda says environ-
mental groups have their own
separate battle going with the
Environmental
Protection
Agency about that, “In some
ways, it’s slightly ironic that
Dow is suing about these pro-
tections, because they’re es-
sentially right now written only
on paper. They do not exist out
there on the landscape. We
have a whole other piece of lit-
igation that’s designed to try
and get these protections im-
plemented.”
The chemicals are chlorpyri-
fos, malathion and diazinon,
See Salmon on page 14
Power of the People
By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager,
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
Residential Rates
Rising in Northwest
We are not alone.
Northwest residential elec-
tric rates indeed are on the
rise, confirms a new report
from Pacific Northwest
Utilities Conference Com-
mittee, (PNUCC). The committee’s survey of 26
Northwest utilities – collectively representing
about 80 percent of regional load – showed all
but one with higher residential electric rates
since 2007, and most greater than 10 percent
cumulatively. Although each utility’s situation is
unique, PNUCC reported frequent mentions of
common themes underlying the increases –
volatile wholesale power prices, demand
changes, new resources, infrastructure im-
provements, and regulatory/policy requirements
such as renewables portfolio standards.
“What is clear, regardless of whether you are
a utility that buys most of its power from BPA, a
utility that has added a gas-fired generating
plant in recent years, a utility that has an aggres-
sive conservation program, or a system that
sells large quantities of power into the wholesale
market, costs and rates are going up,” conclud-
ed PNUCC. The regional utility association said
it undertook the study “to test the conventional
wisdom” about rising electric rates, and to dis-
cern key influences. It gathered information from
public as well as published sources, later veri-
fied and elaborated on by utility staffers.
PNUCC’s sample incorporated all six Northwest
investor-owned utilities, the largest public-power
utilities, and a few smaller ones throughout the
region.
“The most important thing is to see the range
and the direction,” PNUCC Deputy Director
Shauna McReynolds. “The really important fact
is that customers have seen changes in rates,
and it’s safe to say it’s all on the increase.” There
were a lot of rate increases over the past three
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THE
Page 13
INDEPENDENT News & Information you can use
years: 12 increases in 2009, 16 in 2010, and 18
in 2011. To date in 2012, the 27 utilities have
had 14 rate increases. The vast majority of an-
nual rate changes, up or down, have been in the
single digits; only seven of the entire six-year
period are in double digits. Ten utilities showed
cumulative increases from 2007-2012 that were
below 10 percent. Nine utilities were in the 10.3-
17.7-percent range for that period, while three
were in the 20s, two others were in the 30s, and
one was 49.2 percent. “The changes in utility
rates shown…do not reflect utilities’ actual resi-
dential rates (cents per kWh), nor are they an in-
dication of a utility’s rates in relation to other util-
ities,” said the report. “Therefore, some systems
that experienced significant percentage increas-
es may still have low rates relative to others.” It
also said Northwest residential rates “remain
some of the lowest in the nation.” U.S. Energy
Information Administration data for 2011 shows
all four Northwest states are well below the na-
tional average residential price for full-service
electric providers of 11.6 cents/kWh. Idaho’s
7.87 cents/kWh and Washington’s 8.28 cents
were the two lowest. Oregon (9.54 cents) and
Montana (9.75 cents) are among the lowest 15.
While emphasizing differing circumstances of
utilities – in resources, rate designs, market
roles, power demand, regulatory policies and
other local situations – the PNUCC report said
several themes were apparent in rate influ-
ences. “The drivers are really important,” said
McReynolds. “Whether it’s a policy decision or a
business decision or a change to meet cus-
tomers’ needs, there are implications to those
actions to rates, and they’re not always what
you think they will be.”
One of the drivers is reduced wholesale pow-
ermarket prices, which reduces revenues for
sellers. “With less revenue to offset costs, rates
go up,” said the report. Reynolds said utilities
can find themselves helped or harmed by pow-
er-market circumstances, depending on the sit-
uation.
Power demand is another significant rate in-
fluence, PNUCC said. Recently, load reductions
Please see page 19