Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune, July 25, 2013

Page 1

MEET THE ARTISTS - AND THE

MOLSON SCHOOL REUNION

AUTHOR - AT THE TVBRC

Picnic at Lost Lake on Saturday at noon, with potluck lunch at 1 p.m.

See Page A6

SERVING WASHINGTON’S

OKANOGAN VALLEY

SINCE 1905

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Feds approve Enloe Dam License

A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Water Quality Certification still under appeal with Ecology BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR

OROVILLE – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a new 50-year federal license for the Okanogan Public Utility District to operate Enloe Dam FERC issued the license on July 9, 2013 for the PUD’s Enloe Dam project. The license is the culmination of nine years of studies, negotiations and plan development with tribes, community groups and local, state and federal agencies, according to a recent press release from the PUD. The nine megawatt (MW) Enloe Dam project is located on the Similkameen River at river mile 8.8 to the northwest of Oroville. “The license contains provisions and commitments over the next five decades that allow the PUD to generate more local renewable hydropower, protect fish and wildlife, and enhance recreation. Some of the key project features include: A new park, picnic area and boat ramp located near the dam site; improved

recreation trails and interpretive signage; multiple fish and wildlife enhancement projects, including a side channel reconnector project on the river and gravel augmentation and an improved access road and parking area for recreators and visitors,” states the utility in their release. Okanogan County PUD staff is currently reviewing the terms and conditions of the FERC license, which also incorporates the terms and conditions of the Water Quality Certification issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) on Aug. 20, 2012 and the incidental take terms and conditions contained in the Biological Opinion submitted to FERC by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on September 27, 2012. David Womack, President of the public utility’s Board of Commissioners, expressed his pleasure that FERC issued a 50-year license instead of the typical 40-year license. However, John Grubich, General Manager, cautioned that Ecology’s Water Quality Certification is currently under appeal, and the terms and conditions of the easement for the federal land the project sits on have not been finalized with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The FERC license is posted on the PUD’s website at https://www.okanoganpud.org/.

Power rates going up no matter what Public meetings discuss electric rate increase options BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR Photos by Brent Baker and Zachary Van Brunt

OROVILLE – The rate you pay for electricity is going up no matter what you might have hoped. The questions now are by how much and how soon. Okanogan County PUD held the final of three public meetings Monday, July 22, to explain the current financial situation at the public utility. In order to stay out of a financial hole, the PUD must raise rates due to several factors, especially a drop in the wholesale power market and in the interest it was being paid on reserves. Also, while operating costs have gone up

History. Food. Dancing. Truck and Tractor Pulls. It was quite the diverse day of activity around the north county on Saturday, from Oroville to Tonasket to Wauconda. Top (l-r) Dolly Englebretson, Barbara Workman, Evelyn Dull and Dale Caraffa sold a variety of irresistible pies at Oroville’s Heritage Days on Saturday; right, at the Wauconda Fabulous ‘50s Sock Hop, Dale Olson and daughter Elizabeth were among several hundred that danced the night away; above, another big crowd enjoyed the Truck and Tractor Pulls in Tonasket, where Garrett Parlette (shown) and others put on an impressive show. More pictures of all these events on pages A2-3.

for residential and all classes of power users, actual usage has been dropping, further lowering incoming revenues. Retail revenues have dropped 13 percent over projected revenues and wholesale revenues dropped 24 percent. Richard Cuthbert, senior consultant with the firm SAIC, discussed the utility’s current situation and what can be done to keep pace with increased costs and lower revenues. Toward this end the district commissioned a 2010 Equity Management Plan (EMP) and formed a Design Review Panel made up of local power users. “We gathered information from the utility going back over a 10 year period (to draft the study),” said Cuthbert. “We used this to identify the amount the district needs to stay financially sound.” Cuthbert said this amount includes how much it will cost for the district to continue providing service to each of the

SEE PUD | PG A4

Queen preps for Omak Stampede BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

OMAK - As this year’s Omak Stampede approaches, Stampede queen Breanna Howell has been both looking back at a summer of experiences that only come with being a rodeo queen, as well as looking forward to some of her biggest events of the year. Howell, of Tonasket, recently returned from one of the West’s preeminent rodeos after spending the July 4 week at the Calgary Stampede. That 10 day event annually draws between 1 and 1.2 million in attendance. “It was massive,” Howell said. “The people up there are absolutely amazing. “The visiting roy-

alty were chauffeured around in a charter bus to a bunch of the events... All the royalty got to watch the rodeo from right up on the rail, which was a lot of fun except we got splattered with mud. Which it’s a rodeo, so you expect that, when but we were all wearing white hats.” She said that it was hard to tell that the city, including the rodeo grounds, had largely been underwater from massive flooding just a week earlier. It put a bit of a damper on attendance, according to organizers, but Howell was impressed with the lack of evidence of the flooding. “You couldn’t tell,” she said. “There were millions of dollars damage done to the zoo, and

there were some water marks on the sides of the buildings, but other than that there was no sign of it. “It was so well cleaned up. They had volunteers come into help out from all over the world. The amount of support was incredible.” Howell didn’t have any competition last fall in her bid to become Miss Omak Stampede. Her lifelong friend Karlie Henneman faced a similar situation in the Miss Tonasket Rodeo competition, but it allowed the two to be able to serve as rodeo queens together after competing against one another in the Tonasket rodeo queen competition the year before.

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Breanna Howell (second from left) of Tonasket represented the Omak Stampede at the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada last month. She said that was just one of many experiences she’s had as Miss Omak Stampede that she hopes will encourage other girls to try out for that and other royalty positions this fall. “There were five girls who tried out (in 2011) and Karlie was the runner up, so I was really glad she got it this year,” Howell said.

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“One reason I tried out for the Stampede because I didn’t want to run against Karlie again. Since we were in Kindergarten or first

grade and we were exposed to the ‘queen world’ we’ve always

SEE STAMPEDE | PG A4

INSIDE THIS EDITION Valley Life A2-3 Letters/Opinion A5

Community A6-7 Classifieds/Legals A8-9

Real Estate Cops & Courts

A9 A10


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