Bill Moeller Commentary: ‘Power To the People?’ Not Always

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I’m sure everyone within reading distance of this column had his or her personal experience to relate after the recent power outage a couple of weeks ago, but I might as well tell you about mine as well.  Like everyone else, I was curious as to the cause. Was it the beginning of WWIII or did some drunk just run into a power pole? 

Having worked all those years at both local radio stations, I’m aware that KELA and KITI are able to generate power to continue broadcasting, but I’m also aware of how the phones ring constantly in such situations and I wasn’t about to add to such chaos! I simply grabbed a book I’d been wanting to re-read, a canvas lawnchair and a can of soda and went to sit in the backyard under a dying hazelnut tree.

Such nonchalance was a cover for the fear that, maybe, this was “The Big One” in which case I’d only be able to hold out for about a week, until everything in the fridge and freezer started to smell bad! I do have a camp stove and a BBQ grill, a few canned goods and a huge amount of water that I use to soften winter temperatures in my greenhouse, but that’s about it. My only contact with the “outside world” during an emergency would have to be whatever I could learn from neighbors.

I decided it was time to quit thinking about buying one of those radios that work during such emergencies and that Walmart would be about the only local place to find one. Unfortunately, when I got there, I saw what I should have expected — a practically empty parking lot. The next day, I went back and bought one and am reasonably sure I’ve read enough of the instruction manual to operate it, should that need ever occur. I don’t know about you but I intend to acquire a reasonable amount of canned and dried foodstuffs — just in case a future outage is prolonged.

The inconvenience which we suffered through for four or more hours was nothing compared to the power outage in New York City at around the same general time. According to the New York Times, 72,000 customers were without power from early evening until late at night. Those customers included Carnegie Hall, 26 theaters and Madison Square Garden where Jennifer Lopez was cut off in the middle of a song. I had difficulty getting an estimate of how many local customers lost power during our own blackout because different sources were involved. By the way, “customer” means individual hookups, not actual population numbers.

Many people who’ve moved into our area in recent years may be unaware that Centralia has its own power plant and has had since the mid 1930s.  A 4-foot high dam was constructed on the Nisqually River and a portion of the water was diverted into a canal for about 9 miles until there is an approximately 200 foot drop down to three generators, after which the water is returned to the river.  For many years, so much power was produced there that Centralia was able to sell the excess to others. In today’s world, that plant now produces only about a third of the needed power for the city with the remainder being purchased from Bonneville Power Administration, or BPA for short.



When I was mayor, nearly 40 years ago, we had to fight hard to keep that dam from being demolished in order to make fish passage easier. A compromise was thankfully reached, otherwise our electric bill would almost certainly be higher today.

 

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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.