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Plan
to help power rates
Water
settlement proponents outline subsidies for irrigators
By
TY BEAVER
H&N
Staff Writer
Energy conservation, tax credits, federal energy supplies and
alternative energy projects will help subsidize irrigator power rates,
if the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement is implemented.
Proponents of the ag reement met with irrigators from
on and off the Klamath Reclamation Project Tuesday night to discuss
details of how power rates will be made affordable through the
settlement, which provides $41 million to develop power subsidies.
A few irrigators voiced concerns about the
administrative difficulties of implementing the program and whether
federal support can be guaranteed. Proponents said it will be a
complicated process, but workable.
Released Jan. 15, the agreement calls for a variety of
projects and actions to allocate water among Basin communities,
including dam removal. Money to help pay for purchase of private land
for the Klamath Tribes and stable power rates for irrigators also are
included.
David Stewart-Smith, a consultant hired by the Oregon
Department of Energy to work with the stakeholders, outlined how a
variety of programs and projects would help subsidize the 15 megawatts
of electricity needed in the Basin to power irrigation systems.
Taking advantage of business energy tax credits and
receiving energy from the Bonneville Power Administration to help run
federally owned pumps on the Project would help offset some costs. So
would installation of solar facilities and finding investors to help
build a renewable energy plant, Stewart-Smith said.
Selling energy from the plant would further buy down
the rate.
But energy conservation efforts, such as refining
irrigation systems to reduce water pressure demands, could provide the
most immediate savings.
“I assume it would take 20 percent off the top and I
think that’s conservative,” Stewart-Smith said.
The subsidy itself would either be offered as a credit
on an irrigator’s power bill or be sent as a check for the irrigator
to apply to his costs.
Irrigators Tom Mallams and Bill Kennedy asked about
receiving power from BPA to help reduce dependence on PacifiCorp.
Kennedy said he’d heard that the idea was not warmly received by BPA
users.
Stewart-Smith said officials with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation are still speaking with BPA, but that if Congress authorized
the Project to receive the energy, it would be provided.
Irrigator Edward Bartell and Melinda Davison, counsel
for Klamath Off-Project Water Users, raised the issue of administering
the subsidy, pointing out that it would require PacifiCorp to share
their customer files.
“The only way to equitably distribute the benefit
would be to credit it on the actual power bill,” she said.
Stewart-Smith and Greg Addington, executive director
of Klamath Water Users Association, said it will be a complicated
process to carry out, but that it could be done.
Where things stand
Discussions with PacifiCorp regarding the possibility
of dam removal are ongoing, as proponents continue to seek support for
the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.
Three tribes, coastal fishermen, many environmental
groups, the government of
Those opposed include the
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