PUD commissioners should have sufficient knowledge of energy and related environmental issues to make decisions before spending millions of dollars to study a project that is obviously a bad idea. Commissioners should be able to recognize good ideas when they see them, and only spend hard-earned ratepayer dollars on those. They should be honest with the public and acknowledge that rivers are more than just water. Just because you put water back into a river after it goes through a dam doesn’t mean you didn’t affect anything — you changed the movement of sediment and killed many of the living things forced through a turbine or into a low-flow side channel.
They should be aware that despite hydro being sustainable for decades and a relatively low source of greenhouse gases, it is not considered clean energy due to its effects on aquatic life. They should be aware that the cost of a dam includes not only initial construction, but also maintenance, decommissioning, restoration, litigation, and mitigation costs. They should be aware that the cost of solar depends on how it is deployed, with hardware purchased in bulk and installed on users’ roofs much more cost-effective than leaving customers to make individual purchases, or building solar farms with long transmission lines. They should be aware that promoting conservation is the most cost-effective way to meet everyone’s needs. Eric Teegarden has this skill set, and ratepayers will come out ahead by electing him with his knowledge and skills to the PUD.
Dr. David Bain
Bothell
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