Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell

On February 7, 2009, I posted a piece about City Light’s Boundary Dam facility in Pend Oreille County. I described the on-going talks to reach an agreement of impact payments that City Light pays to Pend Oreille County. Impact payments are designed to cover the costs of the facility’s impacts on the area. You may recall that Pend Oreille County was asking for three times the $1.3 million that City Light has been paying annually. The last agreement expired at the end of 2008 and the parties have been without an agreement for 7 months.

In November of 2008, City Light proposed to pay Pend Oreille County nearly $15 million over a ten-year period. I believe this to be fair, reasonable and in accordance with state law. The amount proposed is a 39% increase over the 1999-2008 base payments and a 29% increase over the total payment for that period. City Light’s contribution has increased over the years to account for inflation. It covers the costs of impacts on road maintenance, public safety and schools. In addition, City Light provides 48 MW of at-cost electricity to the Pend Oreille County PUD. This helps to reduce prices for the PUD’s customers and provides important economic benefits to the community. I believe City Light’s presence in Pend Oreille County is a benefit in itself – particularly when City Light provides 30 well-paying jobs in a community that is under economic distress.

While I am supportive to City Light’s position, I am sympathetic to the economic condition of Pend Oreille County. There were significant layoffs from a zinc mine and lumber mills have closed. When this impasse comes to a conclusion, I am hoping that the City of Seattle can work together with Pend Oreille County to develop ways to tap into the emerging green jobs sector, put more people to work and bolster the County’s economy.

Photo Credit: hydroreform, Flickr stream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hydroreform/)

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