Preparing for the NEXT CENTURY - Eugene Water & Electric Board

Preparing for the NEXT CENTURY
Eugene Water & Electric Board

2 EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
EWEB: Where history
and the future meet
EWEB headquarters along the Willamette River.
BRYAN WESEL
Focus on the future.
That’s been a hallmark of the Eugene
Water & Electric Board during its 95-year
history. It was true during the first meeting
of the Eugene Water Board in a downtown
storefront in 1911, when civic leaders
talked about
how to utilize
surplus
electricity
from the
newly
completed
Walterville
Power Plant to run the city’s street lights.
It remains the primary focus today.
As EWEB marks its 95th year in 2006, the
utility’s staff and elected commissioners
are not dwelling on the past. Instead,
they are preparing for the next century of
operation as Oregon’s largest citizen-owned
municipal utility.
Several important initiatives are under
way that will ensure EWEB remains a wellrun
and efficient public utility with reliable
electricity, excellent water and innovative
services that provide value for each dollar
spent by the utility’s 85,000 customerowners.
“The next few years will be a critical
time for EWEB,” says General Manager
Randy Berggren. “EWEB has a long
history of serving the public good, and
the initiatives we are undertaking now
will serve our customers for the next
100 years with the
same ethic of public
ownership, accountability,
service, innovation and
responsiveness.”
Most notable on
this list of initiatives is
relocation of EWEB’s field
operations to a new site in west Eugene.
The utility’s administrative staff will
remain in the current headquarters building
along the Willamette River. But as early as
next year, EWEB will begin construction
of a new water and electric operations
building, vehicle shops and other facilities
to serve the engineers and field crews who
keep the lights on and water coming out of
the tap (See story, Page 5).
This special section is intended to give
readers of The Register-Guard an overview
of these major initiatives, along with a
strong dose of EWEB’s rich history for
perspective.
Some of the other initiatives and
programs highlighted in this section are:
■ On the heels of a new operating license
for EWEB's two oldest power plants,
Leaburg and Walterville, the utility will
submit a license renewal application
in November for its largest source of
electricity, the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric
Project. Relicensing Carmen-Smith in 2008
will ensure that EWEB customers continue
to enjoy a reliable source of lower-cost
electricity.
■ EWEB continues to acquire wind power
and other sources of clean, renewable
energy. In 1999, EWEB became the first
public utility in Oregon to build a wind
farm and offer an innovative “windpower”
option for customers. The utility has
signed contracts to purchase additional
windpower, is investing
in new “fish-friendly”
hydropower and soon
may add geothermal
power to its "portfolio"
of energy sources.
■ Thirty years ago,
EWEB's leadership
launched an era of energy
conservation in the Pacific

EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY 3
“EWEB has a long history of serving the public good, and the
initiatives we are undertaking now will serve our customers
for the next 100 years with the same ethic of public ownership,
accountability, service, innovation and responsiveness.”
– EWEB General Manager Randy Berggren
Northwest. Today, 5 percent of electric
revenues are invested back into the
community to help customers reduce
consumption through conservation and
energy efficiencies. Customers now save
more than 50 megawatts of electricity
– and tens of millions of dollars on their
combined electric bills – each and every
year.
■ Customers are benefiting from a steppedup
investment in making the electric and
water systems more reliable. This includes
an additional $7 million a year to improve
aging poles, wires and other electric
facilities, as well as planned increases in
capital spending to rebuild aging water
lines and reservoirs, and improve the water
intake on the McKenzie River.
■ EWEB is building on the strength
of its work force in a number of ways.
With nearly half of the utility's current
employees eligible to retire within the next
five years, EWEB is devoting resources to
train the next generation of leaders.
■ Ninety-five years ago, the citizens of
Eugene created their own municipal utility
to ensure the safety and health of the water
supply. Since then, water quality has been
a top priority for EWEB. In recent years,
EWEB has increased its efforts to protect
our water supply, the McKenzie River.
By the time EWEB's 100th anniversary
rolls around in 2011, many of these
initiatives will be completed or well under
way. Recognizing that there's a need to
keep planning – and acting – for the future
Bill payment station, circa 1955.
is what has given EWEB a reputation
as a utility that gets things done with a
high degree of efficiency. Or, as Norman
Stone said in his 1986 book “Bountiful
McKenzie:”
“Over many years EWEB has tended
to function in a light-calvary mode. It has
avoided the pitfall of becoming a sluggish
bureaucracy. It has moved quickly and
decisively when required to do so in the
interests of its customers. And it seems to
have understood the dynamics of change.”
Your commissioners:
Uniquely Eugene
The Eugene Water & Electric Board is somewhat unique as
municipal utilities go. In many cities, such as Seattle, the utility is
governed by the city council. But in Eugene, a separate elected board
governs the utility and makes all important policy and rate decisions.
The independent governing board concept was established from
the get-go 95 years ago and remains strong under EWEB’s current
leadership. This separate board, elected by the citizens, is spelled out
in the Eugene City Charter.
All commissioners are elected to four-year terms. Four board
members represent specific wards of the city, while a fifth member is
an “at-large” commissioner and is elected by all voters.
Commissioners are not paid. They volunteer their time on
the EWEB board. And they come from all walks of life. President
Sandra Bishop (at large) owns and operates her own government
relations firm. Mel Menegat (Wards 6 and 7) is a retired attorney
and administrative law judge. John Simpson (Wards 1 and 8) is an
engineer at VersaLogic in Eugene. Patrick Lanning (Wards 2 and 3) is
vice president of instruction at Lane Community College. And Ron
Farmer (Wards 4 and 5) is the regional president for Bank of America.
L to R: Mel Menegat, Sandra Bishop, John
Simpson, Ron Farmer and Patrick Lanning.
JOHN BAUGUESS

4 EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
Utility’s roots traced
to typhoid epidemic
A typhoid epidemic that struck Eugene
100 years ago provided the catalyst that
led to the creation of today’s Eugene Water
& Electric Board. When the outbreak
was traced to the private, for-profit water
company, outraged citizens sprang into
action, voting in 1908 to buy the system
and create a municipal, citizen-owned
water utility.
The Eugene City Council ordered the
construction of a hydroelectric power
plant that would run the pumps necessary
to ensure adequate water pressure. When
the Walterville Hydroelectric Plant on the
McKenzie River was completed in 1911,
the City Council transferred control of the
utility to a separate citizen board.
But even before the first meeting of the
Eugene Water Board took place on March
11, 1911, city leaders already were thinking
about more than providing clean, safe water
to the citizens of Eugene.
The Walterville Power Plant generated
plenty of surplus electricity. First, the city
decided to power its streetlights. Then, a
handful of businesses started buying power.
The Eugene Planing Mill on Lawrence
Street, currently the site of the REI store,
became the public utility’s first electric
customer. In 1916, the board purchased the
private Oregon Power Company’s electric
system, positioning the utility as the fullservice
provider it is today.
By 1932, Leaburg Dam and Powerhouse
were completed, providing even more
electricity for our growing community.
The electric utility continued to expand
from those early beginnings. The name
of the Eugene Water Board was officially
changed to the Eugene Water & Electric
Board in 1949. By that time, EWEB had
constructed the steam plant and was
generating electricity from the facility.
The plant later provided steam heat to
most of the downtown area, a practice that
continues today.
Since EWEB’s beginnings 95 years ago,
its elected commissioners and professional
staff have maintained a strong ethic of
public ownership, a belief that water and
electricity are essential products that
should be owned by the people. The words
of former Eugene Mayor Joseph Matlock
hold true today as much as they did nearly
a century ago:
“In my mind, water is associated with
health, light with learning, and it is our aim
that each child, however poor or obscure,
shall have at the minimum cost these two
fundamentals of civilization.”
Early city hall, and first Eugene Water Board
office.
Building a new fish ladder at Leaburg Dam,
2001.
Leaburg Powerhouse.
“In my mind, water is associated with health, light with learning, and
it is our aim that each child, however poor or obscure, shall have at the
minimum cost these two fundamentals of civilization.”
– Former Eugene Mayor Joseph Matlock, 1908

EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY 5
GOING GREEN
“These new facilities will
serve EWEB well into our next
century with a modern, efficient
and environmentally friendly
operations center.”
– Ken Beeson
EWEB’s relocation project manager
BRYAN WESEL
The Eugene Water &
Electric Board is pushing
ahead with plans to build a
modern and efficient center
for the utility’s engineers
and repair, maintenance and
construction crews.
The new facility, which
will be built at Roosevelt Boulevard and Beltline Road, will replace
the 53-year-old “Quonset hut” operations building, vehicle shop,
warehouse and other run-down facilities on EWEB’s riverfront site
in downtown Eugene. EWEB’s administrative staff will remain in
the existing headquarters building along the Willamette River.
Currently in the design stage, the new facility also will take
on a “green” flavor with a number of energy and water efficiency
measures that will meet some of the highest “LEED” standards set
by the U.S. Green Building Standards Council (LEED stands for
Leadership in Energy Efficient Design). Among other things, the
new facility is being designed to reclaim and reuse nearly all waste
water and storm water produced on the site.
When completed as early as mid-2009, the new facilities will
culminate nearly two decades of planning by EWEB on an eventual
replacement for its aging electric and water operations buildings
and storage yard. The existing non-headquarters facilities were built
in the 1950s and have outlived their useful life.
“These new facilities will serve EWEB well into our next
century with a modern, efficient and environmentally friendly
operations center,” says Ken Beeson, who is EWEB’s project
manager for the new facilities. “As the community grows, we need
to be able to continue EWEB’s commitment to provide reliable
power and water, to respond quickly when outages occur, and to
New facilities key to
EWEB’s future as an efficient,
reliable utility
be a leader in the efficient
use of our energy and water
resources.”
Next spring, a final design
and cost estimate will be
completed. Commissioners
then will decide how to
finance the new facility, as
well as make any final decisions on the design and the timetable for
constructing the operations center. Construction will require a small
rate increase of approximately 2 percent, according to preliminary
cost estimates.
As Beeson sees it, the new facility will meet high standards
for efficient operations, sustainability and fiscal responsibility,
“without sacrificing one over the other.”
“EWEB has always been a leader in these three qualities, and we
want to again lead the community and show how an industrial site
like this can be developed in a way that will inspire others to do the
same.”

6 EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
Thirty years of energy conservation
No utility in the Northwest has done more to help its customers use less energy over the past
three decades. EWEB customers have saved a cumulative 52 average megawatts over the
past 30 years. That’s more energy than is generated annually by all of EWEB’s hydroelectric
projects in Oregon. How did it all begin The following is a retrospective of how Eugene citizens and
their publicly owned utility came to view energy conservation as a legitimate alternative to energy
generation.
The “big bang” that ignited the modern
era of energy conservation was the 1973
Arab oil embargo against the U.S., which
resulted in long lines at gasoline stations
and heating oil shortages.
But the embargo’s biggest, lasting effect
was on the mind-set of most Americans,
who for the first time realized that our
traditional energy resources are not
limitless.
At the time, most electric utilities still
were promoting the 1950s theme of “living
better electrically.” New appliances and all
things electrical proliferated at a time when
“Redi-Kilowatt,” the animated electricity
icon, promised us: “Inside and out, your
home will have all the magic that electricity
can perform – plus ample horsepower for
future conveniences that electrical research
is sure to provide.”
Things were not much different in
Eugene in the early 1970s. When upstart
EWEB Commissioner John Reynolds,
a University of Oregon architecture
professor, made a motion to appoint a
citizens’ advisory committee on energy
conservation, it died for lack of a second by
other board members.
We needn’t rush into “lowering
the standard of living of the citizens of
Eugene,” countered one board member.
Yet resource planners recognized that
demand for electricity would continue to
grow, as new residents, businesses and
industry relocated to Eugene. Where would
the energy come from
Initially, nuclear power was seen as
the answer. But in 1970, Eugene voters
approved a four-year moratorium on the
construction of nuclear power plants in or
near the city. Conservation began to emerge
as a viable option.
“The need for new resources remained,
and without the option of nuclear power,
EWEB commissioners directed staff to
pursue conservation and renewable energy
resources,” says Mat Northway, Manager of
Energy Management Services since 1984.
As a first step, the utility established
EWEB’s Conservation Center in 1977 to
help customers identify ways to reduce
electric waste and improve efficiency of
use.
“EWEB’s Conservation Center was the
very first of its kind in the country,” says
Ralph Cavanagh, senior attorney for the
Natural Resources Defense Council who
is considered one of the founders of the
energy conservation movement.
“Unlike most utility boards at that
time, EWEB commissioners had come to
view conservation as an energy resource
opportunity, and the Eugene community
embraced the concept,” adds Northway.
In 1980, Congress approved the Pacific
( )
“It is because of
innovators like you that
Oregon is a leader in the
efficient use of energy.”
– Former Oregon Gov. Victor Atiyeh
Northwest Electric Power Planning and
Conservation Act, which directed the
region to adopt plans to ensure a lowcost,
sustainable electric energy supply
in the future. Those plans included the
development of energy conservation,
renewables and other resources.
Soon, the federal Bonneville Power
Administration began working with
Northwest utilities to implement broadbased
conservation programs. In 1982,
EWEB signed a residential weatherization
contract with the federal power-marketing
agency to begin providing rebates to assist
customers in weatherizing their homes.
“It was becoming increasingly clear that
the cheapest potential source of energy was
conservation,” says former EWEB President
Camilla Pratt.
The new program instantly created a
two-year waiting list to participate in the
EWEB/Bonneville weatherization initiative.
In September 1983, the first month of the
initiative, EWEB completed over $1 million
in weatherization work, recalls EWEB Key
Accounts Manager Mike Logan.
The program eventually included an
innovative financing method that had never
been done before. Using its tax-exempt
status as a municipal utility, EWEB sold

EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY 7
$17 million in bonds to provide
financial help to customers wishing
to weatherize their homes. BPA then
promised to repay the bonds as part of its
commitment to promote conservation.
EWEB’s pioneering weatherization
program won both the American Public
Power Association’s “Energy Innovator
Award” and the State of Oregon’s
“Governor’s Energy Award.”
“It is because of innovators like you
that Oregon is a leader in the efficient
use of energy,” Gov. Victor Atiyeh said in
presenting EWEB with its award.
By 1986, EWEB had weatherized 10,000
electrically heated homes in the utility’s
service territory. By 1991, the tally had
reached 25,000.
In the 1990s, EWEB formalized its
conservation efforts by including energy
efficiency as a key part of the utility’s
Integrated Energy Resource Plan, and
affirmed its importance by dedicating 5
percent of annual revenues to finance
programs to help customers save on energy
costs.
“This level of commitment was an
important part of EWEB’s energy resource
portfolio,” says Susie Smith, another
former EWEB commissioner and president.
“Not only does conservation offset
more expensive energy purchases in an
increasingly volatile market, it reduces
energy costs while making customers more
comfortable in their homes. It also results
in reinvestment of local dollars in local jobs
and industries.”
EWEB also started focusing on helping
commercial businesses and industrial
customers with their energy improvements,
while the utility’s residential programs
expanded to include energy efficient
appliances, water heating and heating
system efficiency.
By 1994, Willamette Week had ranked
EWEB first among Northwest utilities for its
energy conservation efforts. “Eugene Water
& Electric Board comes out way on top in
terms of percentage of energy conserved,”
noted the publication.
( )
In
partnership
with the
BPA and
two other
local
utilities,
EWEB
opened
the Energy
Outlet,
which
helped transform
the market for
energy-efficient
appliances,
compactfluorescent
lighting and
other products
that now are
commonplace in
local commercial
home and
appliance
centers.
“Eventually,
energy-efficient
appliances
grew to be quite Amory Lovins
prominent in
floor display at
local retailers, and we found the Energy
Outlet had achieved its goal of making
the purchase of energy-saving appliances
quick and easy for customers,” says EWEB
Energy Management Programs Manager
Bob Lorenzen (the Energy Outlet closed in
2005).
Now, in the first decade of the 21st
century, EWEB is continuing to expand
its work with commercial and industrial
customers to the point that almost 75
percent of the utility’s annual energy
savings comes from these customers. For
residential customers, EWEB continues
to focus on energy efficiency measures
around the home, such as the promotion of
compact fluorescent lighting.
The same financial commitment to
“EWEB’s leadership in efficient use of
electricity has set an important
example for the whole Northwest.”
– Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute
conservation
– 5 percent of
retail revenues
– remains intact.
And an update
of EWEB’s
energy-resource
plan identifies
conservation
as the top
priority, ahead
of acquiring
new renewable
resources such
as wind power.
In the past 30
years, EWEB has
invested over $93
million in the
energy efficiency
of local homes and businesses.
“The savings from conservation
amounts to over $135 million in wholesale
power bills, money that would have left the
local economy to BPA and other wholesale
power generators,” says Northway.
“Instead, that money stayed in the
community and lowered our cost of energy
for everyone.”
Amory Lovins, chief executive officer
of the Rocky Mountain Institute and
another founder of the energy conservation
movement, notes that “more efficient use
(of electricity) is already America’s biggest
energy source – not oil, gas, coal or nuclear
power. EWEB’s leadership in efficient use
of electricity has set an important example
for the whole Northwest.”
DAVID MARLOW

Focus on renewable power
When
Eugene
Water &
Electric
Board
customers
say they
want
renewable
Dawn Craig and Chris power
Davidson converted to solar resources,
water heat.
the utility
listens.
Ever since EWEB initiated an extensive
energy resource planning process in the late
1980s, customers have communicated with
their utility through citizen involvement
committees, surveys and focus groups
on the issue of energy resources. Their
advice: Invest in conservation, then pursue
renewable energy sources to help meet the
growing demand of consumers and help the
environment at the same time.
“In each process, citizen groups have
concluded the same thing: conservation
first, then renewables like wind and solar,”
says EWEB’s Energy Resource Projects
Manager Jim Maloney.
The utility’s elected board and staff
responded in numerous
ways. EWEB currently
spends 5 percent of
retail revenues on
conservation – one of the
highest commitments
to conservation among
utilities. It launched a
solar hot water heating
program in the early
1980s, which has provided
financial assistance
and expert advice to more than 1,000
customers who’ve installed systems. It
also has provided incentives and advice
for customers wishing to install solar
electricity (photovoltaic) arrays.
In recent years, EWEB has embarked on
a path to diversify its “portfolio” of energy
sources, using $150 million in bonds
approved by voters in 1992. Like most other
public utilities, EWEB is heavily dependent
on hydropower. Having a better mix of
resources, particularly renewable energy,
can help reduce the volatility of energy
prices (such as during a drought) and help
the environment at the same time.
In 1999, EWEB, PacifiCorp and the
Bonneville Power Administration partnered
to build a 69-turbine wind farm in
southeastern Wyoming. For the first time,
EWEB customers could choose to buy wind
power to support the project and test local
markets for renewable energy products.
As for the future, EWEB continues to
look to invest in renewable energy projects
that make financial sense or in promising
research. As the result of the most recent
update of the utility’s resource plan, EWEB
commissioners in May 2006 dedicated
UO’s Lillis Business Complex.
( )
“In each process, citizen groups have
concluded the same thing: conservation
first, then renewables like wind and solar.”
– EWEB Energy Resource Projects Manager Jim Maloney
1 percent from electric rates to acquire new
renewable energy sources.
Earlier this year, commissioners agreed
to purchase wind power from the Klondike
III wind farm being built in northeastern
Oregon and may buy geothermal power
from a project under consideration in
Idaho. EWEB also purchases renewable
energy from the Stateline wind farm on
the Oregon-Washington border and the
Tieton Hydroelectric Project in Central
Washington.
In addition to supporting the Solar
Monitoring Laboratory at the University
of Oregon, EWEB also supported the
Wind Research Cooperative at Oregon
EWEB’s Wyoming wind farm (also top).
State University in the 1990s. The
utility continues to study solar electric,
ocean wave generation and other new
technologies.
“EWEB’s energy resource plan is not
a typical ‘least cost’ plan because the
utility has multiple objectives guided by
community preferences,” says Maloney.
“The philosophy is to provide electricity
for the Eugene community today and in
the future at the lowest economic and
environmental cost.”

EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY 9
Focus on reliability
Ever since the utility’s
early beginnings 95 years
ago, the people who run the
Eugene Water & Electric Board
have placed a high value on
maintaining reliable electric
and water service. Reliability
of service and water quality are
EWEB’s highest priorities.
And for nearly 100 years,
it has succeeded. The utility’s
low power-outage rate ranks
among the nation’s best, for
example. The quality of the
water consistently comes out
at the top of various national
or regional rankings.
Customers think so, too.
In the most recent customer
survey conducted by EWEB, more than 90
percent of customers say electric reliability
and water quality are high priorities for
them. Ninety-three percent say electric
reliability is good to excellent, and nearly
90 percent rank their water quality as good
or excellent.
“We know that reliability is one of the
most important services that we provide,”
says Jim Wiley, EWEB’s Electric Division
Director. “When you turn the switch or
faucet on, you expect electricity or water to
be provided immediately.”
But as EWEB nears its 100-year
anniversary in 2011, utility planners are
taking a hard look at parts of the electric
and water systems that are getting older
and showing signs of deterioration. EWEB
has 1,200 miles of electric wires, more than
two dozen substations and other facilities
that need to be constantly maintained or
replaced as they end their useful life.
EWEB faces the same “aging
infrastructure” issue for its 800-mile system
of water pipes, reservoirs, pumping stations
and water-treatment facilities.
In 2004, EWEB commissioners
approved a 4.6 percent rate increase
devoted to upgrading the electric system.
The rate action generates about $7 million
in additional revenues that are being
reinvested in new poles, wires, crossarms,
substations and other components of the
electric system owned by the citizens of
Eugene.
The added revenues already are being
put to good use. For example, EWEB is
performing a detailed inspection of more
JOHN BAUGUESS
than 20,000 power poles and is making
necessary maintenance or safety repairs. In
2005, EWEB replaced 337 poles and 1,328
crossarms.
Next year, EWEB’s oldest substation will
be totally rebuilt. Willamette Substation,
located near the river that bears its name,
has served downtown Eugene almost since
the utility’s beginnings. The substation is
showing signs of old age, and many of the
transformers, wires and other components
are deteriorating at an unacceptable rate,
resulting in periodic failures. Many of
the larger “feeder” lines that extend out
from the substation and serve entire
neighborhoods surrounding the downtown
area also are being upgraded.
EWEB has advanced the timetable of
the project to have it completed prior to the
2008 Olympic Trials.
EWEB also has developed an ambitious
capital-improvement plan for the water
system. Many pipes and water mains
date back to the 1920s and 1930s. EWEB
needs to speed up the replacement and
maintenance schedule on many of these
older pipes to ensure continuation of the
system’s high reliability.
Over the next few years, EWEB likely
will increase water rates, reinvesting
the additional revenues in projects to
replace aging pipes, rebuild deteriorating
reservoirs, build up to four new reservoirs
and improve the water-intake facility on the
McKenzie River.
The capital plan also calls for
developing a back-up source of water
in the event the city’s sole source, the
McKenzie River, is disrupted. One project
already under way is a connection to
Springfield’s water system. This “intertie”
will provide water to each city in the event
an emergency limits one city’s ability to
process water for customers.
JOHN BAUGUESS

10 EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
Focus on relicensing
The McKenzie
River is many things
to many people:
recreational boating,
an outstanding wild
trout and salmon
fishery, scenic
beauty that attracts
tourists from around
the world, and a
source of renewable
hydroelectric power.
Eugene
Water & Electric
Board operates
hydroelectric
projects at Leaburg
and Walterville on
the lower McKenzie
River, and at
Carmen-Smith on the
upper section of the
river, under licenses
from the Federal
Energy Regulatory
Commission. These
licenses are designed
to balance energy
production with
other uses of the
river resource.
EWEB currently
is completing
improvements
directed by a new
license for the
Leaburg-Walterville
Hydroelectric Project
that the utility
received in 2001. In
November, EWEB
also will file a new
license application
for its Carmen-
Smith Hydroelectric Carmen Powerhouse.
Project.
Both of these
relicensing efforts
have involved citizens, river users and government agencies in
helping to determine what environmental, recreational and other
improvements should be made to each project.
The new Leaburg-Walterville license, for example, included a
new fish ladder, fish screens, higher flows in the river, and other
actions to mitigate the project’s impacts on salmon, steelhead
and other species. Over the next year, recreational enhancements
will be added in and around Leaburg Dam and Lloyd Knox Water
Board Park. Each improvement carries a cost that must be weighed
Fishermen put into the McKenzie below Leaburg Dam..
against the benefits
of producing power
for the next halfcentury.
“During
the (Leaburg-
Walterville)
relicensing process,
we received requests
from other river
users to improve
the McKenzie,” says
EWEB Relicensing
Manager Gale
Banry. “With those
improvements
came costs, and
our challenge was
to balance those
improvements
and costs with
maintaining the
lowest rates to our
customers.”
Now EWEB will
be seeking a new
license to operate
the Carmen-Smith
project for the next
30 to 50 years. Built
in 1963, Carmen-
Smith is the utility’s
largest generation
facility, with enough
power to supply
16,000 homes.
Most of this power
is produced at a
cost well below the
historic market price
for electricity.
Relicensing
Carmen-Smith
won’t be cheap, but
Upper McKenzie River.
EWEB believes the
cost of relicensing
will be less than
what it would be
to purchase that power on the wholesale market over the next halfcentury.
And as with Leaburg-Walterville, the bulk of the cost of
relicensing Carmen-Smith will make the facility more fish-friendly.
A number of recreational improvements also are planned.
“Our goal in relicensing the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric
Project is to reduce the impacts of our projects on the river while
maintaining a low-cost energy resource for our customers,” says
Banry. “The role of a public utility is to serve the public, and that’s
what we will strive to do.”
BRYAN WESEL
BRYAN WESEL

EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY 11
Focus on water quality
For nearly 100 years, Eugene area
residents have enjoyed some of the besttasting
and safest water
in the world. Eugene
Water & Electric Board
water is so clean, in
fact, that Organic
Style Magazine named
Eugene’s water the best
in the nation.
The McKenzie
River is the sole source
of drinking water for
nearly 200,000 Eugenearea
residents who are
supplied with water
by EWEB. Water is
drawn out of the river
Karl Morgenstern
at Hayden Bridge,
treated and then sent
to customers through more than 800 miles
of water pipes and stored in nearly three
dozen reservoirs.
As part of its effort to protect this
valuable resource, EWEB developed a
drinking water source protection plan in
2000 that includes a risk assessment of
all potential threats to our drinking water.
Since then, much of this effort has fallen
on the shoulders of Karl Morgenstern,
EWEB’s Drinking Water Source Protection
coordinator.
“The McKenzie is a very unique river;
one of a half dozen that share the same
characteristics that make it what it is,” says
Morgenstern. “It’s a very special river, that’s
for sure.”
One of his key jobs is emergency
and disaster preparedness. Morgenstern
was instrumental in creating a firstever
emergency response plan for the
McKenzie watershed. It’s the foremost
riverwide emergency plan developed in
the Northwest, if not the nation. The plan
includes a sophisticated mapping and webbased
notification and response system to
help agencies quickly respond during an
emergency.
“We work to figure out what threatens
our water, and from that, develop programs
that will take a long-term approach to
mitigating those threats,” says Morgenstern.
A disaster preparedness plan is just
one element of an extensive watershed
protection program that also includes water
quality monitoring, outreach and education.
For example, Morgenstern currently works
Sahalie Falls on the upper McKenzie River.
with Thurston High School on a water
quality-monitoring program taught through
the school’s science classes.
The utility’s latest effort is an innovative
Agricultural Chemical Removal Project,
again spearheaded by Morgenstern. EWEB
and several other state and local agencies
are working with growers to voluntarily
remove unwanted and obsolete farm
chemicals in the McKenzie and Middle
Fork Willamette watersheds as a way to
lessen the threats to water quality.
( )
“The McKenzie is a very unique river;
one of a half dozen that share the same
characteristics that make it what it is. It’s
a very special river, that’s for sure.”
– Karl Morgenstern, EWEB water source protection
coordinator
A number of growers are scheduled to
safely dispose of more than 1,000 pounds
of obsolete and harmful chemicals during a
collection event in late October.
“I’m glad that EWEB actually put the
resources behind something like this,
whereas other utilities do not,” says
Morgenstern about the water source
protection program. “We try to do
something that is going to make a difference
on the ground.”
BRYAN WESEL

12 EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
The Eugene Water & Electric Board is made up of nearly 500 employees who are
skilled in a wide variety of jobs, from engineering to power trading. They also
have diverse backgrounds and interests, and contribute to our community in
numerous ways. On this page, we introduce you to a few of the people who keep your
lights on and the water flowing.
Power to the people
SCOTT COVER
Scott Cover is one of nearly
40 electric line technicians who
work through rain and shine to
provide EWEB customers with
quality power service.
“It’s the kind of work I enjoy
doing,” he says. “I like working
outside and working with my
hands. When you finish a job,
you see something you’ve made.”
As an EWEB line technician, Cover builds and
maintains underground power systems and responds
to trouble calls and outages. Prior to joining EWEB
in 2004, he worked 15 years as a lineman for the Los
Angeles Department of Water & Power.
His construction skills reach far beyond his
job duties at work: Cover and his wife, Kristy, are
currently putting the finishing touches on the house
they built in the south Eugene hills. They came to the
Pacific Northwest from Southern California seeking
a great place to raise their two daughters, 3-year-old
Summer and 5-year-old Samantha.
Cover and his family spent much of this summer
in their boat, relaxing on many of Oregon’s beautiful
lakes, and they are looking forward to a winter filled
with just as much fun. Cover is hoping that this year,
he might actually reconnect with his snowboarding
gear and hit the mountain.
“I said I’d get better at snowboarding after my
apprenticeship,” he says. “But that was eight years
ago.”
ALLEN DANNEN
The Duck’s dominating 48-
10 win over Stanford to kick
off the 2006 Oregon football
season wasn’t nearly as exciting
for EWEB Senior Civil Engineer
Allen Dannen as for many others.
You see, Dannen is a Cardinal.
Although his civil engineering
degree from Stanford isn’t helping Cardinal football
this season, it is helping EWEB and the rest of
the systems engineering department design and
construct many of the utility’s large capital projects.
For example, he is currently working on enhancing
the emergency detection system at the Leaburg Power
Canal that would protect the McKenzie watershed in
the event of a major emergency.
A member of the American Society of Engineers
and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials,
Dannen worked for the City of Lebanon prior to being
hired at EWEB in September 2003. He says he was
attracted by EWEB’s “strong reputation,” and enjoys
working on projects that “have a strong history,” such
as the Leaburg hydroelectric project.
Dannen was born in Lebanon, and still lives there
with his wife of 11 years, Amy, their 6-year-old son,
Jack, and 14-month-old twin girls, Sadie and Lauren.
“Even though they are still pretty small, it already
seems like my kids are growing up really quickly,”
says Dannen. “I’m taking as much time as I can
to enjoy things like coaching T-ball, playing with
LEGOS, going to the beach and reading bedtime
stories.”
IDA SAJOR
Each work day in the life
of EWEB short-term power
trader Ida Sajor begins at 5:30
in the morning, when she
starts buying and selling power
with other utilities across the
Western United States.
Coming to work that early,
however, is made easier by her co-workers, many
of whom she already knew when she worked as a
power trader at other utilities prior to coming to
Eugene in 2004.
“In the power trading industry, everyone knows
everyone,” she says.
Sajor, who has a master’s degree in finance,
has been in the energy industry since 1983. Before
EWEB, she worked at Montana Power and later
traveled the country as an energy consultant.
EWEB power traders focus on providing
customers with cost-effective energy supplies to
remain competitive in the ever-changing market.
“There’s true integrity behind everyone who
works here, and that’s very important to me,” says
Sajor. “I go home each night with a sense of instant
gratification.”
DESIGN BY CINDEE LEE