By Peter Sachs / The Bulletin
WASHINGTON - Rural electric cooperative managers had strong
words Wednesday for federal agencies with review and planning
processes that bog down routine projects.
The consequences can be thousands of dollars of wasted money, months to relocate a single utility pole or cut down a dangerous tree, heightened fire risks and longer service disruptions for customers, the managers told a U.S. House joint subcommittee on resources Wednesday.
"It appears to me that the agencies are lost, and vague at best," with procedures that must be followed to modify rights of way, said Carl Albrecht, an electric co-op manager from Utah. "When it takes these organizations eight years to create a 10-year plan, there is a problem."
But the reality on the ground in Central Oregon isn't always as dramatic, and utility managers have learned to adjust to the government's long project timelines.
"After a while you say, 'Man, what a process to go through,'" said Bill Kopacz, general manager of Midstate Electric Cooperative, in a telephone interview. "But you have to go through the process in order to meet all the environmental and all the other constraints."
Midstate's territory stretches from Bend south to Crater Lake and southeast to Christmas Valley. The co-op has power lines that crisscross land owned by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, so it is no stranger to working with those agencies when projects extend beyond its rights of way, said Kopacz.
The lengthy federal review process applies when utilities want to do work in forests outside the 30-foot-wide areas surrounding power lines. Depending on which federal agency has jurisdiction, archaeological studies and environmental impact studies of plant and animal life may be required.
Other groups and landowners can request public hearings and submit comments, prolonging the process. The impact studies alone can take a year or more, said Steve Eldrige, general manager of the Umatilla Electric Cooperative in northeast Oregon.
Eldrige told the committee he has waited nine months for permission to move a single tree rooted outside the right of way that endangers a company power line in the Blue Mountains.
"Why does it take nine months on getting an answer on removing one tree?" asked U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore.
Perhaps a Forest Service ranger simply forgot about the tree removal request, Eldrige replied.
But Walden pressed on, suggesting the process needs to be expedited.
"We think that's exactly the answer, but we've been unable to get to that point," Eldrige said. His co-op has found addressing even seemingly minor problems to be time-consuming and circuitous, because there is no expedited review process.
But Joel Holtrop, a Forest Service deputy, said there are already programs in place to let utilities deal with some right of way issues more quickly. He told the committee that co-ops can get special permits from the Forest Service to clear branches and trees near rights of way. With the permit, utilities can also act after emergencies without having to get approval from the Forest Service first.
Holtrop agreed with the sentiments of the utility managers who testified, that "proper and coordinated planning" between utilities and forests will make projects run more smoothly and quickly for everyone.
Kopacz said a faster review system would be "nicer" and could help in emergencies. But it isn't necessary for normal operations, he added, because Midstate works off a five-year forecast plan to anticipate the government's typical two-year review process.
"We've adapted to the two-year time, and we just know how long that's going to take," Kopacz said.
Cathy Wilson, general manager of the Wasco Electric Cooperative, said she has never experienced problems as bad as those described to lawmakers by co-op managers in South Dakota, Arizona and northeastern Oregon.
"We've had a good rapport with our Forest Service people," Wilson said. Relations are so smooth that the Forest Service even has volunteered its snowmobiles to help repair crews reach downed lines after heavy winter storms, she added.
Midstate's Kopacz and Jim Crowell of the Central Electric Cooperative agreed that their companies have no problems with the ranger districts in their areas.
Wilson said the quality of relationships between different utility cooperatives and forest districts may have as much to do with egos and personal politics as with long-term planning and national forest policies.
"When you're dealing with such a variety of people and personalities," Wilson said, "it probably will have to be a legislative fix."