Thompson, Hatfield Rubber-stamp Miller’s Stupid Ideas on Tokeland

What is the reliability of the Grays Harbor PUD services: the average reliability over five years power… is available 99.9 percent of the time, or an average loss of 60 minutes a year from outages other than from Bonneville supply. Outages can be from trees down, car taking out a power pole, etc. My research shows this is typical for a stormy coastal community. 

Pacific County PUD #2 commissioners were briefed by Mr. Miller (PUD #2 general manager) with data from his engineering staff. They used overtime worked by Grays Harbor PUD to show power in Tokeland is 14 times more likely to fail than in Pacific County PUD. Therefore, Pacific County ratepayers need to rescue the Tokeland ratepayers. Additionally, there needs to be a backup loop provided in the case of power outage. Well…this is an absolute bogus technical argument; it is without any technical merit, typical of Doug Miller bamboozle speak.

First, Pacific County has only one power source, Bonneville power, so when we lose that power source there is no backup.

Second, the 14 times more likely was based upon overtime worked; this is not a measurement of reliability. Grays Harbor uses overtime to accomplish scheduled maintenance on their main lines, and has little to do with power outages. This was to fool the commissioners, which is easy with (Diana) Thompson and (Ron) Hatfield.

What will the extension of power to Tokeland cost the Pacific County ratepayers? Well, Miller reports no cost at all, because it will be put on our credit card…really. A realistic cost to each ratepayer in Pacific County would be $1,200, and would result in no gain in reliability.

If, the power is extended to Oysterville, as planned, then these costs could more than double.

The reliability argument is without merit. Then what is the extension for? Well, follow the money; there are thousands of acres of view property for development along Highway 105 if power was made available at ratepayers’ expense. The ratepayers should not be paying for this power extension; this, like other utilities, should be the responsibility of the land developer.

I had asked what alternatives (engineering trade studies) had PUD #2 considered; the answer by Mr. Miller was none. He said he had never heard of “engineering trade studies.”

This shows the total ineptness of the PUD #2 engineering manager, and the total stupidity of commissioners Hatfield and Thompson. They have two interests, picking up their paycheck, and rubber-stamping.

Ron Craig

South Bend, Wash.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on www.hometowndebate.com 711/12. If you would like to respond to this story, go to hometowndebate.com