{"id":32922,"date":"2017-10-01T10:46:13","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T17:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/?p=32922"},"modified":"2017-10-07T10:53:51","modified_gmt":"2017-10-07T17:53:51","slug":"power-meets-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/power-meets-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Meets Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry gets a close-up view of the Columbia River system, and gives his perspective on America\u2019s energy future<\/h2>\n
\"Back
Back row from left, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Rep. Greg Walden and Rep. Dan Newhouse hold a press conference after Perry\u2019s tour of McNary Dam. Photos courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Ted Case<\/strong><\/p>\n

McNary Dam, in Northeastern Oregon on the Columbia River, is not as famous as Grand Coulee Dam or other iconic projects that help propel the Pacific Northwest economy. Tucked away near the communities of Umatilla and Hermiston, McNary Dam is as low-key and unpretentious as any giant hydroelectric project that has the capacity to provide electricity for roughly 686,000 homes.<\/p>\n

In August, McNary Dam came out of the shadows, gaining a level of well-deserved notoriety when U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry visited the 7,000-foot-long structure.<\/p>\n

Perry made the trip at the behest of Congressman Greg Walden (R-Hood River), who represents Eastern Oregon in Congress and serves as the formidable chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.<\/p>\n

Perry\u2019s visit to the Northwest\u2014his first as energy secretary\u2014came as Walden\u2019s committee kicked off high-profile hearings titled \u201cPowering America,\u201d which are focused on potential reforms related to the electrical grid.<\/p>\n

\"Perry\u2019s
Perry\u2019s visit included a tour of McNary\u2019s powerhouse. From left are BPA Administrator Elliot Mainzer; Perry; Newhouse; Walden; Lt. Col. Damon A. Delarosa, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Rick Werner, chief of operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are few regions of the country where Perry\u2019s department has more significant domain. The Bonneville Power Administration and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, are just two examples of the department\u2019s sweeping jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

After marveling\u2014and tweeting\u2014about the spectacular aerial view of Mount Rainier and landing in Washington state, Perry crossed over into Oregon and toured McNary with Walden and U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents Washington state\u2019s Fourth Congressional District.<\/p>\n

McNary is one of several dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers that has astonishing success with fish passage. Ninety-eight percent of steelhead successfully pass through the dam.<\/p>\n

At a brief news conference following the tour, Perry was clearly impressed with what he had witnessed, calling McNary \u201can incredibly complex\u201d operation that is \u201ca fascinating part of America\u2019s story.\u201d Perry said the entire Columbia River system is \u201cthe story of innovation and American power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the press conference, Perry, Walden and BPA Administrator Elliot Mainzer, who also attended the tour, held a stakeholder meeting at the dam with a small group of Pacific Northwest energy leaders. The group included Robert Echenrode, the CEO of Hermiston-based Umatilla Electric Cooperative; and Bryan Wolfe, a prominent local farmer and member of Umatilla\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

During the 90-minute roundtable discussion, which covered topics from transmission to the future of wind farms, Perry outlined his vision of America\u2019s energy future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am an \u2018all-of-the-above\u2019 energy guy,\u201d he said, noting America will need natural gas, coal, wind and other renewable resources, such as hydroelectric power, to meet its growing electricity demand.<\/p>\n

\"Above,
Above, Perry meets with Northwest energy leaders at McNary Dam and gives his \u201call-of-the above\u201d energy strategy. Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perry also did not shy away from discussing the Trump administration\u2019s controversial proposal to auction off BPA\u2019s 15,000 miles of transmission assets\u2014an idea universally opposed by public power advocates and one that is meeting stiff resistance in the halls of Congress. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be afraid\u2014from time to time\u2014to have conversations about being more efficient and defending your program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Echenrode briefed Perry on the proliferation of energy intensive data centers in Oregon\u2019s Columbia Basin. \u201cWhen I was governor of Texas, I tried to recruit every data center I could,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

Wolfe told Perry irrigation from the Columbia River was critical to the area\u2019s thriving agricultural sector.<\/p>\n

Perry, a former agriculture commissioner from Texas, is no stranger to rural issues or areas with little population density.<\/p>\n

Recalling that his father used to call parts of rural Texas \u201cthe Big Empty,\u201d Perry also discussed his deep history with Texas electric cooperatives and the challenges faced by rural utilities. He also lamented that while Texas had a diverse range of energy resources, the Northwest\u2019s hydroelectric system is in a class by itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis river is an extraordinary resource,\u201d Perry said. \u201cIt\u2019s priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry gets a close-up view of the Columbia River system, and gives his perspective on America\u2019s energy future By Ted Case McNary Dam, in Northeastern Oregon on the Columbia River, is not as famous as Grand Coulee Dam or other iconic projects that help propel the Pacific Northwest economy. Tucked away […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,229],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreca.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}