A hydro plant that runs on diesel? Why didn't I think of that?

At the rate we are going with the disinterested citizenry and corrupt politicos I wouldn't be surprised if by 2017 the City of Portland has sold off Bull Run to Nestles or the highest bidder and we're drinking out of the Willamette. Priceless resource.

Or just pave it over.

For someone who constantly complains about how the water bureau is managed this is a rather surprising statement. The city of Portland receives payments from PGE for the power PGE buys from the plant. There were environmental concerns about putting in that plant at the time it was built but the spill shouldn't mean shutting down the plant.

Since the dam would still require a source of electricity for pumps, gates, and other maintenance needs, having an on-site hydro plant to take advantage of the existing water supply makes plenty of sense - and the excess power (which absolutely counts as "green") can be sold at cost, which then makes the City a little bit of money on the lease.

Otherwise, the City would have to pay for a transmission line to the facility, which is located quite appropriately "in the middle of nowhere" and would require extensive costs to build and maintain. (Since the transmission line is for PGE's benefit to export power, the City isn't responsible for it now.) And the liklihood of a power failure is practically zero - whereas if the power had to be brought in, there is substantially higher risk of a power outage simply because of the transmission lines running through remote, mountainous, forested land.

So there's a diesel leak. Have you checked out the dirt underneath one of Portland's many truck terminals, railroad yards, or heck - the Willamette River? The Milwaukie MAX line will require EXTENSIVE environmental remediation thanks to passing over ground that was used quite literally for petrochemical dumping.

The city of Portland receives payments from PGE for the power PGE buys from the plant. There were environmental concerns about putting in that plant at the time it was built but the spill shouldn't mean shutting down the plant.

The city borrowed against that revenue a long time ago to build the thing. The bonds are rated the lowest of any City of Portland bonds. When the current deal is over, they'll no doubt be telling us that some sort of expensive upgrade is needed.

Let Bull Run be about water. Stop trying to make it into a theme park or a power plant. When the current bonds are paid off, pull the plug on this deal. It will have generated around 40 years of money for somebody -- probably not water ratepayers. That should be enough.

In FY 2011-12, Hydroelectric Power transferred $300,000 in Hydroelectric Power Operating
Fund profits to the General Fund and in FY 2012-13 that amount is being increased to $500,000.

The Hydroelectric Power Bond Redemption Fund pays the debt service due on revenue bonds that were
issued to finance construction of the Portland Hydroelectric Project (PHP). This fund is required by the
PHP power sales agreement between the City and Portland General Electric (PGE). The trustee for the
City's Hydroelectric Power Revenue Refunding Bonds holds the assets in this fund and serves as paying agent for the bonds. As partial payment for the sale of electricity that is generated at the PHP, this fund receives monthly payments from PGE for the annual net debt service due on the City's Hydroelectric Power Revenue
Refunding Bonds. Requirements include debt service to be paid on the outstanding Hydroelectric Power
Revenue Refunding Bonds and a debt service reserve held in ending fund balance.

"Proceeds from the sales of the project's power generation output to PGE pay for all debt service on the Portland Hydroelectric Power Revenue Bonds originally sold to finance the construction of the project's facilities. Those power sales proceeds also pay for the City's project administration costs with all excess profits going to the City's General Fund." Half a million bucks a year is nothing to sneeze at.

Since the dam would still require a source of electricity for pumps, gates, and other maintenance needs, having an on-site hydro plant to take advantage of the existing water supply makes plenty of sense - and the excess power (which absolutely counts as "green") can be sold at cost, which then makes the City a little bit of money on the lease.

While I absolutely agree with the initial point regarding need for electricity at the site, you need to revisit your parenthetical comment - hydropower, according to the state of Oregon, is not "green" and cannot be included toward meeting state mandates for renewable energy sources.

Let's see the entire agreement -- maybe PGE's gross negligence and dereliction of duty is cause for immediate termination of that contract. And perhaps it is no matter what that contract do or doesn't say.

Both dams had power to them already since they were finished long before the two power plants were built. From the Oregon department of Energy "House bill 3649 passed in 2010 Allows up to 40 aMW from non-utility owned hydroelectric generation facilities constructed prior to 1995 to qualify annually, if the facilities are certified as low-impact hydropower and located in Oregon." So yes power from those facilities qualifies as renewable power and can be used towards a utilities RPS.It's a 32MW plant.

"Mike's" IP address:

IP Information for 192.122.244.232

NetRange: 192.122.243.0 - 192.122.247.255
CIDR: 192.122.244.0/22, 192.122.243.0/24
OriginAS:
NetName: GASCO-NET
NetHandle: NET-192-122-243-0-1
Parent: NET-192-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
RegDate: 1991-09-06
Updated: 1996-09-03
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-192-122-243-0-1

OrgName: Northwest Natural Gas Company
OrgId: NNG-2
Address: 220 NW Second Avenue
City: Portland
StateProv: OR
PostalCode: 97029
Country: US
RegDate: 1991-09-06
Updated: 2011-03-17
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/org/NNG-2

Otherwise, the City would have to pay for a transmission line to the facility, which is located quite appropriately "in the middle of nowhere" and would require extensive costs to build and maintain.

It might surprise you that we actually already have electricity out here "in the middle of nowhere," Mike. I used to drive past one of the power plants on my way to work almost everyday, taking the back roads from Sandy to Corbett. There's even - ya know - houses and stuff out here.

Mike is the same guy who said on a previous post that we all have the option of heating our homes with natural gas if we didn't like the price of electricity. He obviously knows very little about the power industry in Oregon or is shilling for one reason or another. Either way, he's not credible.

Ex-bartender: I'm not the one who wrote "Otherwise, the City would have to pay for a transmission line to the facility, which is located quite appropriately "in the middle of nowhere" and would require extensive costs to build and maintain." That was Erik H. Look at the post. In addition I never said that we all have the option of heating with natural gas.I said some do.Again check it. If anyone is not credible it would be a person who doesn't even bother to check the name at the bottom of a post.

My apologies on the first, Mike. But you didn't correct your statement about natural gas being available as an alternate to PGE until you got called on it, so I won't take back that part. Sorry, Erik's authoritative misstatement of the facts put me of a mind of yours. My bad. I've been working on double checking myself before shooting my mouth off. Guess I have to work on it some more.

Actually, Baloney Joe, it is Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch that
hold the large debt on the PWB bonds and it has been estimated
that foreclosure by these bondholders can take place by 2016.
Thus, all the expense that ratepayers have put into the water
supply system will be for naught as our assets within the system
will be overtly and easily taken. No bidding necessary as
far as I can tell.