March 2018- “Spill” is quite literally the water that is spilled through massive gates that are raised at our federal hydropower dams. The spill is designed to help young salmon migrate quicker and easier downstream from the rivers to the ocean. Due to a ruling after two decades of litigation from fish advocates, Judge Simon […]
March 2017- PUD 1 receives its power from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) which runs the hydroelectric system in the Northwest. Back in the mid-1990’s the federal government passed a new energy bill which gave some of the benefits of the hydro system back to investor-owned utilities (IOUs) like Puget Sound Energy. The IOUs complained that […]
My father helped build the lower Snake River dams. I’m sure he would turn over in his grave if he knew what some environmental organizations are now proposing. For example, Wendy Gerlitz of the Northwest Energy Coalition (NWEC) recently opined that the region must choose between healthy populations of wild salmon and removing the Snake […]
March, 2016- When I opened this morning’s paper the headline read, “Washington Considers Nation’s First Carbon Tax.” At a recent Washington PUD Association meeting we discussed the various carbon reduction policies that are currently in play in Olympia as well as Washington DC. There are multiple policies that could impact our cost of providing reliable […]
February marked the 80th year of public service for Mason County PUD No. 1. While Homer T. Bone is often cited as the “father of public power”, one very influential public power supporter in our state was Morrison F. Pixley. Pixley was a land developer and the nephew of Frank M. Pixley, the celebrated founder […]
The PUD was honored with three Excellence in Communications Awards from the American Water Works Association’s Pacific Northwest Division at their annual conference.
December, 2014 Emergency Preparedness is important. In October, the PUD participated in the Great Washington Shake Out earthquake drill and earlier in the year employees revised our Emergency Response Plan. We have to be ready so that when the devastating earthquake does finally hit, we have a practiced plan in place to help get the […]
June 2014- By: Commissioner Jack Janda On a recent tour of the Hanford Site with the Energy Northwest Executive Board, I was struck by the difference between the nuclear waste the Department of Energy is dealing with from our country’s defense programs, and what some people call nuclear “waste” from the generation of electricity. People […]
April, 2014- Mason County residents are seeing something on TV and in other media that has been a part of our way of life for over 75 years, yet is often overlooked: how hydropower dams and the incredible power of the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia and Snake Rivers benefit our daily lives. This public education effort […]
Olympia and Washington, D.C. appear to be in love with high cost wind and solar power while discriminating against low cost hydro power. Generous government subsidizes are provided to encourage the development of these new intermittent resources. For example, if a homeowner puts solar panels on their rooftop, they can get a credit from the […]
