Mason County PUD #1
75^th Anniversary Speech
Alderbrook Resort
Union, Washington
October 15, 2009
(As prepared)

A big happy 75^th anniversary to Mason County PUD #1!  This is a significant day, not only for Mason County, but for all 27 of our public utility districts across the state because Mason #1 was the very first. 

Collectively these PUDs provide electricity, sewer, water and telecommunications services to nearly 2 million Washingtonians.  So this anniversary is also a celebration of the history of the PUD movement in our state, where we are today and what the future may bring.

Of course this is also an anniversary year for Mason County itself – the 155^th anniversary.  Bonus points to anyone in the room who can tell me the name of this county for its first decade.  (Answer: Sahewamish, or Sawamish County, 1854-1864).

Is there anyone from the Washington Grange here?  You Grangers know that our state’s PUD movement really started in 1930 with the passage of an initiative called the Grange Power Bill, which authorized public utility districts to form in our state and gave such districts the force of acquiring needed property by eminent domain.  In fact, the Grange Power Bill was another first too – it came as a result of our state’s very first initiative. 

The initiative formed the process. But the public power movement really began to take hold when Mason County PUD was approved by voters on November 6, 1934 by a vote of 346 to 69.

You historians in the audience know that it had taken Washington awhile to get there.  Early efforts to organize public utility districts often faced fierce opposition from privately owned utility companies.

The first PUD in the United States actually formed in 1880, but once Mason County PUD opened its doors, the rest of the state caught up fast.  After the state Supreme Court upheld the PUD law in 1936, the Washington State Grange organized an all-out effort to get PUDs on ballots across the state. Over the next six years, 19 more PUDs would form in Washington. 

Paul Holme’s history of Mason County PUD #1 recounts how a lot of people just did not want – or could not afford – to pay the $150 to buy a share of Hood Canal Mutual to get the “juice”.  There were also lingering feelings of ill-will toward Tacoma City Light for its development of the Cushman Dam and the reign of power – so to speak – that city had over the locals with regards to the main power source.  It was during the Depression and the anti-corporate sentiment and desire for change won out and support for the PUD grew.

Everyone here must know the history of Mason County PUD #1 far better than I, so I’ll leave it to our local historians to tell more of those tales.  After all, those in the electricity and water business have all the good lines.

But, since most of us here are too young to remember or know, I will mention a few other things that we know were happening in our state that founding year of 1934. So I will share a few tidbits of our state history from that year.

I mentioned November 6 as the day voters approved the PUD. You know what else was on the statewide ballot that same day? It was the second time voters were asked to pass a personal state income tax.  A state income tax had actually passed two years before but was subsequently overturned on challenges by a 5 to 4 vote in the Washington Supreme Court.  It failed by a significant margin in 1934, and would go on to fail three more times up to 1975, the year before I started serving in public office.

Just a couple of weeks before that historic election there was a powerful windstorm. On October 21 gusts of up to 83 mph blew across Western Washington. It was the largest storm to ever to be recorded in this region at that time. The storm killed 21 people, injured more than 100, and wrecked three ships.

In the early 1930s there were some heated discussions at both the regional and federal levels of government as to whether to build the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River high or low. High, of course, was far more expensive and complex.  The first contract for the dam, which would be a huge Depression-era jobs project under the Public Works Administration, was awarded in 1934 after bids were opened in Spokane.

In fact President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose New Deal was still being dealt, came out later that year to check on the dam’s progress.  But it wasn’t until the following year that Congress authorized the high dam, one of the largest in the world and currently the fourth largest producer of hydroelectric power. It also irrigates vast stretches of land in eastern Washington.

A powerful Washington company of that era as well as this era – the Boeing Company – suffered a big setback in 1934.  The company was forced by the federal Air Mail Act to divest itself of its passenger airline holdings, including the company that would become United Airlines.  As a result, company founder William Boeing sold his stock, retiring to a life of property development, horse breeding and yachtsmanship.

There was a massive, west coast-wide strike by maritime workers in 1934. During the 83 day strike, only one ship managed to leave the harbor at the Port of Seattle. Over 1,200 members of the Seattle Longshoremen joined thousands of other maritime workers in closing all seaports between San Diego and Juneau.

Perhaps equally dramatic in our state’s history was the death of one prison guard and seven inmates over at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla during an escape attempt there. 

Clarence Martin was our state’s governor in 1934. He was known as the “people’s governor” because of his reputation for frugality when it came to government spending.  In fact there is a photo of Governor Martin in my office, hanging over a display of office furniture in the Capitol as it existed in 1934.

This collection on top of an old wood desk includes an Underwood ink-ribbon typewriter, a wire recorder to capture and help transcribe meetings and something that appears to be a large, cast-iron stapler but I cannot be entirely sure. There is also a large, ceremonial spittoon, apparently common in the day.  I imagine that equipment is almost identical to that which the Mason County PUD had in its beginnings, if not even slightly superior to what might have been in your offices. 

And so far we have come, both with our technologies – in no small thanks to innovations in our power supply system – as well as in the kinds of services that you all in the PUD world provide to the public.

Today it is easy to forget how difficult it was during that era to get affordable utilities.  In all my years in public office I have never taken public service for granted. But I admit that I have taken power and water service for granted, something nobody did around here back in the 20s and early 30s. In fact, thanks to the fine work of our utility professionals, I think most people do take power for granted. At least until the electricity goes off unexpectedly. 

Only then do the similarities between the powers of public office and of public power come together.  In both places people get on the phone and complain.  And I am sure that those of us in politics get a lot more calls than those in public utility work, as what you all do is far more certain and reliable.

PUDs were founded for the public good, and still stand today for the public good.

According to the American Public Power Association, more than 2,000 cities and towns in U.S. are served by public power. Most are locally governed, just like Mason County PUD #1. Nationally, customers of private power pay an average of 14 percent more on electricity rates.  PUDs may have started with electricity, but many have since branched out into other services like sewer, water and now even into telecommunications like broadband service for high speed Internet.

And the future of public power continues to look very bright as utility districts continue to explore new ways to meet the demands of their customers.

Alternative energy – often called green energy –is no longer a radical concept.  It is the subject of legislation at all levels of government, and stimulus packages contain incentives for its production as we continue to wean ourselves from the strains of energy portfolios heavily reliant on foreign oil.

New power projects in solar, wind, and even ocean wave and tidal generated power are being initiated with great regularity.  Biomass, geothermal, small irrigation, landfill gas, and municipal waste combustion facilities are all being looked at increasingly as sources to meet our energy needs.  And along with green energy of course comes a new category of workers who are employed in so-called “green collar jobs.” A legislative committee I chair looked at this issue last year and let me tell you, the future in this area is very promising.

While most of us here remember the dark days of WPPSS (Woops), nuclear energy is being given a fresh look today by both our political leaders and our energy professionals. We will continue to debate the issues of nuclear plant safety and radioactive waste versus the need for a cheap, renewable energy supply but in many areas nuclear power is on the front burner of these policy discussions again.

Hybrid cars continue to be popular choices and plug-in hybrid electric cars like the Chevy Volt  are just over the horizon – we’ll no doubt have an explosion of these types of vehicles on our highways over the next decade.

At the same time, we will continue to look at conservation as a viable alternative to energy consumption as well.  Home weatherization assistance programs, the promotion of energy-efficient bulbs in our homes and office buildings will continue to get us there.   In state government we have already introduced four-day a week work schedules in some departments in order to cut energy use.

I know that utilities will continue to research and implement cost-effective energy programs, in partnership with our institutions of higher education and our regional power partners.

Issues around global warming and climate change will continue to impact our decisions about resource allocation and how energy is produced as well as used.

Of course out here in the western United States, unlike other regions, there are no public utility districts that produce power from coal. We are far less reliant on oil than most. By far – and it is no real surprise based on our climate and geography and of course the magnificent Columbia River – the greatest amount of energy produced by PUDs along the Pacific is by hydropower.  In fact, we’re more than double that of the nearest region, the New England and mid-Atlantic states. That will no doubt continue to be the case for some time, although whenever I drive to eastern Washington I am amazed by the number of wind turbines Puget Sound Energy has put up.

There are of course many policy, legislative, environmental and technical issues that we must continuously work to address if public utilities are to continue to thrive in the future as they have for the past 75 years.  I’m sure Senator Sheldon can address those legislative and policy issues for you.

But regardless of the challenges that may lie ahead, I have no doubt our PUDs will survive, and continue to perform, innovate and serve us all to the public good.

You have an important voice in Olympia. Now with your great new WPUD Association building in Olympia, and you are not only more visible there but also have new means to provide PUD commissioners across the state a higher level of visibility n our capital. And having my friend and former colleague Erik Poulsen as your association’s representative in the legislature doesn’t hurt either. You stole him from the Senate, which was bad for us, but a great move for the PUDs.

As a resident of Mason County I am proud of our shared history, and proud of this PUD and all that it has accomplished over its 75 years.

Nathan Hale of our nation’s colonial days said: “Every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary.”

It is clear to me that Mason County PUD #1 has provided service in the public good that is both necessary and honorable. Happy anniversary.  Congratulations to everyone who has made this happen, and thank you.