New Fire Station for Ocean Shores

New Ice Cream and Desserts Shop

NEWS FROM AROUND THE HARBOR

$77 Million for Wind Power

The Grays Harbor PUD authorized an estimated $77 million investment in wind power. The decision follows the collapse of its $27 million proposal to purchase power generation assets at the Cosmopolis Pulp Mill. That power would have been produced by burning wood waste.

The utility district’s commissioners unanimously approved increasing their share of the proposed Radar Ridge wind project from 5 to 10 percent to 64 percent — the maximum share of the project not yet claimed by other Northwest public utility districts.

Energy Northwest — a joint-operating agency comprised of 24 Washington public utility districts — generates electricity for public utilities and municipalities. It has a proposal to build the Radar Ridge wind farm on public land leased in Pacific County.

To finance the deal, the PUD would have to issue municipal bonds. It also hopes to obtain federal financing through low-interest Conservation Renewable Energy Bonds. PUDs in Grays Harbor, Clallam, Mason and Pacific counties agreed to participate in the project. Energy Northwest planned to seek additional investors this month to get enough support to begin construction by 2010.

To meet the renewable energy requirements approved by voters in Initiative 937, the PUD needs to have 50 to 60 megawatts of installed wind power by 2016 and 60 megawatts by 2020, PUD General Manager Rick Lovely said. It already has 20 megawatts from the Nine Canyons wind farm operated by Energy Northwest in Eastern Washington. Radar Ridge will produce a total of 48 to 60 megawatts of power, depending on the size of the turbines installed in each wind tower, Lovely said.

Tank Company to move into Turbine Building

SATSOP — Officials signed a 15-year lease on Thursday with an Olympia steel tank manufacturing company to move into part of the WPPSS-era Turbine Building at the Satsop Development Park. Chuck Travelstead, the president and CEO of the company said he expects to start manufacturing steel tanks at the park by the first part of next year.

The agreement calls for the company to pay $4,000 per month for the first year, which will escalate up to $38,000 toward the end of the contract. The company will also pay $3,000 per month to help cover security and additional expenses the park has to pay for the company’s presence as well as $5,000 a year for use of a nearby Satsop-owned barge slip on the Chehalis River, which was last used some 25 years ago in the construction process of the nuclear facility.

BMT, which has 60 employees, manufactures steel tanks of all sizes for a variety of purposes, but mainly the petrochemical industry. They often partner with many different companies in that process that may want to re-locate to Satsop to be closer to their partner company. More than $9.7 million will have been invested into the renovation of the Turbine Building to allow BMT to move in.

The state chipped in a $5.053 million grant to cover much of the conversion of the vacant building for the company, but cost overruns forced the Satsop board to chip in $1.5 million of its own cash. The county commissioners also authorized $250,000 from its job growth/distressed area capital fund, which is made up of a “refund” consisting of .09 percent of the state’s share of sales tax revenue generated from the county and is geared for public infrastructure and economic development. In addition, BMT Northwest is expected to invest more than $3 million of its own capital to improve the building.

The company is only using a small portion of the Turbine Building now, but plans are to use the entire 300,000 square-foot space — a lot of it for storage. The facility was originally designed to house two steam turbines for the nuclear power plant that was never finished and finally mothballed in the 1980s. Because the building was never occupied, permit issues and major delays occurred at the county level when officials there maintained the 1970s building should be considered “new construction” and, thus, go through much stricter code requirements than if it had been considered an “existing” building.

BMT Northwest had been located in Olympia, but has to move out because condo developments are encroaching on the property and the lease wasn’t renewed. The Satsop property will also allow the company to expand its employment base — from 60 to about 72 in the near future — and manufacture more tanks and even larger ones.

“I hope you realize with your 60 employees how much that means to Grays Harbor and our economy,” said Chamber of Commerce President LeRoy Tipton.

Looking ahead after Storm

There are new fiber optic connections and even better power lines going out to the farthest reaches of the Harbor to help prevent outages. There are new power poles up and even a brand, spanking new BPA Tower — replacing the one that crashed onto Basich Boulevard in Aberdeen, after being hit by wind gusts that may have reached up to 100 mph last December.

Some cities have bought new generators. The City of Hoquiam brought in a new emergency services building.

The National Weather Service says it will strive to do a better job notifying the public when severe storms hit the coast and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell has secured $2 million for a Doppler radar system for the Olympic Peninsula, although it has not yet been allocated by the full Senate.

The Weather Service also added a battery to its wind speed monitor in Hoquiam — a need that had existed for years. Plus, the Weather Service is talking with the Grays Harbor PUD about installing another wind speed monitor at the PUD shop in Ocean Shores.

Overall, things are better compared to one year ago today when the wind hit like a freight train and didn’t give up for 36 hours straight, leaving the Harbor battered, bruised and a little shell-shocked, emergency service personnel told The Daily World.

Meantime, the Grays Harbor PUD has spent the last 10 months making upgrades to the system. Much of the power outages across the Harbor were the result of fallen trees. Anderson said the PUD has been working with customers to “remove trees that are endangering our lines” as well as encouraging property owners to buy low-growing trees. There’s even a list of such trees and information on the district’s tree trimming program on the PUD Web site, www.ghpud.org.

The PUD is adding new fiber optic cable to all of its substations. “It means in the future the PUD will be able to better determine the extent of an outage by knowing which meters are out of power, especially as power is restored to larger areas,” Liz Anderson, the Grays Harbor PUD spokeswoman said.

The PUD installed a new cable serving the customers on Neilton Peak. The district also installed devices to ensure that momentary gaps of power don’t result in a longer-term outage. Substations are being improved in east and north Aberdeen and the district also completed “an infrared survey that identifies any faulty equipment in the system,” Anderson said. “The PUD then adjusted or replaced this equipment before it failed, which means fewer outages and increased reliability.”

In August, about a dozen Bonneville Power Administration crew members from Olympia installed a new 105-foot tower on Basich Boulevard in Aberdeen. The old transmission tower fell during the December storm. The tower blocked Basich Boulevard for days, prompting residents who live beyond the Hospital Hill-area road to find other ways to get around it. The tower was probably the most visible transmission line to fall during the storm, although a couple other towers also fell in the area. The new tower has a wider berth and crew members put it in deeper holes so that it could withstand higher winds.

Speaking of Basich Boulevard, in May, the Aberdeen City Council finally approved a paving project to connect Basich Boulevard to the Herbig Heights neighborhood. The connection had been delayed for years because of neighbor fears that it would increase traffic in that area. In September, the road finally went in. Mayor Bill Simpson said it was an emergency services matter because it provided a second route to the hospital if the main one was blocked.

Transportation also became an issue during the storm as dozens of trees — maybe even hundreds — came down on Highway 12 and the Blue Slough Road, isolating Aberdeen and Hoquiam from the rest of the Harbor for more than a day.

Carlberg said it became apparent that the county needed to prioritize “at least one access route in and out of Grays Harbor so in the event that emergency medical service units must transport patients to other facilities, we could depend on at least one route being maintained. This was the case, as you remember, with the critical PUD lineman getting to Harborview. It became apparent that we would need to do our best to maintain at least one route for emergency egress for patients in need of transport as well as getting supplies, equipment and essential personnel in and out of the area.”

It was that isolation factor that led the City of Hoquiam to seek out and begin installing a whole new building devoted to emergency services.  Aberdeen already has a city emergency operations center at the Aberdeen Police Department and an alternate location on high ground at Grays Harbor Community Hospital’s East campus, Carlberg said.

Myers noted, “I am very concerned that the county, given the deep budget cuts that must be made for next year, will have to continue to struggle with emergency management duties with less money, staff time and financial support. It is a stark reality for all government agencies. We must find a way to properly fund emergency management.