Case in Point – Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Assn

01 May

Case in Point

Case in Point — May 2021

As I write this column, the Oregon House of Representatives is preparing to consider Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association (ORECA)-supported legislation (HB 2654)...

01 Apr

Case in Point

Case in Point — April 2021

If you pay attention to news about the electric utility industry, you will hear and read a lot about a future with “100%...

02 Mar

Case in Point

Case in Point — March 2021

I live next to a forest, and on the evening of Friday, February 12, I thought Paul Bunyan was outside my window. As...

01 Feb

Case in Point

Case in Point — February 2021

“I need you to disappear.” I heard this request as a young Capitol Hill staffer when a Republican congressman asked a Democratic colleague...

01 Jan

Case in Point

Case in Point — January 2021

“What do you want to do when the pandemic is over?” I asked my children this question over the holidays and received answers...

01 Dec

Case in Point

Case in Point — December 2020

I guess it is the new normal that conducting your association’s annual meeting in the shadow of an exercise bike is no big...

01 Nov

Case in Point

Case in Point — November 2020

I wondered what the woman in the flowered dress was searching for in the rubble. Surprisingly, there was not a trace of smoke...

01 Oct

Case in Point

Case in Point — October 2020

We had to decide what to take. But the real question was, “What do we really need?” Evacuating our home was not something...

10 Sep

Case in Point

Case in Point — September 2020

I thought for sure Gov. Kate Brown’s staff would cancel our meeting. She is, after all, an exceptionally busy leader dealing with multiple...

01 Aug

Case in Point

Case in Point — August 2020

There are countless differing perspectives about the coronavirus epidemic, but hopefully we all agree the loss of life is tragic, wherever it occurs....

01 Jul

Case in Point

Case in Point — July 2020

I took a call from National Public Radio the other day, which I concede is not a regular occurrence. The reporter, who was...

01 Jun

Case in Point

Case in Point — June 2020

OK, I was wrong. A few months ago, we published my column expressing hope that I would soon be writing about some topic...

01 May

Case in Point

Case in Point — May 2020

I run the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association under the watchful eye of Charlton Heston. He’s glaring down in my new home office...

01 Apr

Case in Point

Case in Point — April 2020

This is the last column I ever wanted to write. I’d rather use this space to write about anything else related to electric...

01 Mar

Case in Point

Case in Point — March 2020

Oregon’s electric cooperative leaders are some of the friendliest people I have encountered. They are reasonable, courteous to a fault and slow to...

01 Feb

Case in Point

Case in Point — February 2020

Don’t blink. The Oregon Legislature convenes this month, and there are some large questions to be answered. Unlike the odd-year slog of a...

01 Jan

Case in Point

Case in Point — January 2020

It was a good way to end the year. In 2019, I used this page several times to advocate for passage of the...

01 Dec

Case in Point

Case in Point — December 2019

We packed a lot into the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association annual meeting last month. We had excellent presentations from energy experts, legislators,...

01 Nov

Case in Point

Case in Point — November 2019

One of the most challenging things about planning an Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association annual meeting is not what content to include in...

01 Oct

Case in Point

Case in Point — October 2019

The other day, I looked up from my computer at work and observed a group of deer right outside my window looking at...

01 Sep

Case in Point

Case in Point — September 2019

I am not what you would call a daredevil. Sure, I like adventure as much as the next guy, but it’s more along...

01 Aug

Case in Point

Case in Point — August 2019

The story is familiar: Forests are burning and oceans are rising because of climate change. Something needed to be done. The solution? Cap-and-trade...

01 Jul

Case in Point

Case in Point — July 2019

What is that on the cover of our magazine? A graphic of a U.S. Senate bill? We have a tradition of putting extraordinary...

01 Jun

Case in Point

Case in Point — June 2019

Recently, I drove 3½ hours to attend an annual meeting of one of my electric cooperative members. It was a long day for...

01 May

Case in Point

Case in Point—May 2019

My middle-school-age daughter is studying government, and it’s been a bit humbling. She is a smart girl, and I’ve looked at her homework....

01 Apr

Case in Point

Case in Point—April 2019

As evidenced by our feature story this month, this winter tested the strength of the Oregon rural electric program like I have not...

01 Mar

Case in Point

Case in Point — March 2019

There will be plenty to talk about. That is my message to the scores of electric cooperative leaders who will descend upon Salem...

01 Feb

Case in Point

Case in Point — February 2019

Any organization is smart to look ahead, but occasionally you also need to return to your roots. In January, the Oregon Rural Electric...

01 Jan

Case in Point

Case in Point — January 2019

Well, that went fast. It was 10 years ago last month that the Cases rolled into Oregon from Washington, D.C., during one of...

01 Dec

Case in Point

Case in Point — December 2018

Last month, I had the opportunity to interview former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at a post-election forum sponsored by the National Rural Utilities...

31 Oct

Case in Point

Case in Point – November 2018

“Who do you have coming this year?” It’s a question I get quite often from my members around annual meeting time. It’s the...

01 Oct

Case in Point

Case in Point – October 2018

My family and I are big fans of the Mission Impossible movies and Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise....

01 Sep

Case in Point

Case in Point – September 2018

Summer is winding down, and school is in session for my kids. Thank goodness. No longer will I have to wither under 90-degree...

01 Aug

Case in Point

Case in Point – August 2018

The other day, I met Amelia Earhart. OK, not the Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviator who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937....

01 Jul

Case in Point

Case in Point – July 2018

One of the highlights of my summer is ORECA’s mid-year meeting in July. As part of the meeting, my board of directors and...

01 Jun

Case in Point

Case in Point – June 2018

It’s not easy to pass a new law. I have watched countless bills be introduced and then fail to get a congressional hearing,...

01 May

Case in Point

Case in Point – May 2018

I had to admit to a little nostalgia, even though the ornate U.S. House of Representatives committee room largely represented a history of...

01 Apr

Case in Point

Case in Point – April 2018

It was right under my nose—or rather, in my mailbox—the whole time. When we moved from the Washington, D.C., area to Wilsonville, our...

01 Mar

Case in Point

Case in Point – March 2018

How’s it going to end? As a former fiction writer, that’s the question I wanted my readers to be asking, breathlessly turning pages...

01 Feb

Case in Point

Case in Point – February 2018

For the past few months, the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association has worked collaboratively with the Oregon Legislature’s Clean Energy Jobs Utilities and...

01 Jan

Case in Point

Case in Point – January 2018

The Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association wrapped up the year by celebrating its 75th anniversary at the annual meeting in Salem in November....

01 Dec

Case in Point

Case in Point – December 2017

In November, legislative work groups in Salem concluded their efforts to write a cap-and-trade bill for the 2018 short session. Conceived by state...

01 Nov

Case in Point

Case in Point – November 2017

ORECA turned 75 years old this year—a landmark we will celebrate this month at our annual meeting. In preparation for the celebration, I...

01 Oct

Case in Point

Case in Point – October 2017

“It seems like the apocalypse is upon us.” A friend of mine made that observation in early September as what seemed like every...

01 Sep

Case in Point

Case in Point – September 2017

How do you tell the secretary of energy that his policy on the sale of the power marketing administrations is misguided and punitive?...

01 Aug

Case in Point

Case in Point – August 2017

What happened in the U.S. House of Representatives on June 21, 2017, reminds me of Shirley Povich’s classic lead paragraph in the Washington...

01 Jul

Case in Point

Case in Point – July 2017

I have a few random thoughts as we pass the halfway point of the year, the Oregon Legislature wraps up and the U.S....

01 Jun

Case in Point

Case in Point – June 2017

The word seems to be getting out. Recently, a bipartisan group of Oregon legislators wrote Gov. Kate Brown urging her to “constructively participate...

01 May

Case in Point

Case in Point – May 2017

There are not a lot of new ideas coming out of Washington, D.C., but there are a lot of dumb old ones. I...

01 Apr

Case in Point

Case in Point – April 2017

No one can say electric cooperative leaders don’t have heart. We are only a few weeks removed from ORECA’s Legislative Day in Salem,...

01 Mar

Case in Point

Case in Point – March 2017

Oregon electric cooperative leaders will descend upon the state Capitol this month to promote common-sense policies that allow us to provide our members...

01 Feb

Case in Point

Case in Point – February 2017

Opening the box isn’t exactly like opening a Christmas present, but there is still a sense of anticipation. The scene is the opening...

01 Jan

Case in Point

Case in Point – January 2017

One of my favorite holiday events each year is our annual co-op lunch in Salem with our state legislators. It’s a bit of...

01 Dec

Case in Point

Case in Point – December 2016

It has been a long time since I’ve seen so many stories on rural America—about four years. It seems that during every presidential...

01 Nov

Case in Point

Case in Point – November 2016

Not one of the several hundred attendees of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Region 7 and 9 ACRE breakfast in October believed...