PATRICIA SOMLO stood at the front of the crowd, and demanded answers from Portland General Electric (PGE) staffers.
“My first question to you is why are you here? You act as if you’ve come here to listen to us, and then you lecture us,” she said tersely, reflecting the sentiment among the dozens of neighbors assembled in Southeast Portland’s Sunnyside Environmental School auditorium.
They’d met up on Thursday night, October 16, to hear PGE’s latest plans for expanding the electrical substation on SE 32nd and Belmont—and the meeting did not go well. Neighbors want to see expansion alternatives—like undergrounding the substation, or insulating the equipment with gas, so the additional transformer could be squeezed into the existing space—but PGE staffers presented a plan that would knock down three existing homes and nearly double the size of the substation.
“If this goes through, all of us are suing PGE for the loss of value on our homes,” Somlo concluded.
The circa-1961 substation must be upgraded, PGE Regional Manager Christine Dunn told the crowd at the outset of the meeting, “so we can meet our customers’ needs today and in the future.” Energy demand grows one to two percent each year.
“With the continued revitalization of SE Portland, we need to add capacity in this area to serve our customers,” added PGE System Planning Manager Jeff Wheeler.
Though a few folks at the meeting objected to increased energy consumption on climate change grounds, most neighbors understood that PGE needs to boost the substation’s capacity. What they didn’t understand, however, is why the project’s staff seemed stuck on the cheapest option: “Simply adding the transformer and expanding the substation,” as Wheeler described it, at a cost of about $4 million. PGE staff—plus Frank Angelo, a planning consultant—have already met with the city about the project, and plan to submit a permit application in November. “We’ll start construction late next year, and our intent is to have the project complete in 2010,” Wheeler explained.
Neighbors concerns range from property values to electromagnetic fields (and their tenuous link to childhood leukemia), to the possibility that this barebones substation expansion will set a precedent for other neighborhoods around Portland.
Given those concerns—which neighbors say they’ve brought up at three previous, smaller meetings—residents asked why PGE hasn’t presented other more community-friendly options. “This might be an opportunity for you,” pointed out Tami Kent, whose son attends the nearby school. “It could be a huge benefit or a huge thorn in your side.”
Dr. Bill Fish, an engineer professor at Portland State University, told the team from PGE that he “would generously give you a D-minus” for presenting a single, low-cost option.
Wheeler explained that PGE looked at undergrounding the substation, but estimated it would cost $30 million. Meanwhile, he explained that the gas insulation technology would add “$1 to $2 million” to the project cost.
His answers didn’t placate the crowd. “Everything that’s been said here is reasonable. We are asking why is the bottom-line dollar the only thing that matters to this corporation? Why don’t the people who live here matter at all?” asked one woman from the back of the room. “Meet us halfway. Please.”
By the end of the night, neighbors rebuffed Dunn’s suggestion that a smaller group convene to discuss the project (“This group is only going to get bigger!” one resident replied), and Wheeler said they’d get back to neighbor Greg Raisman’s request that PGE “withdraw your applications, sit down with us, and come up with something that improves livability and health.”
PGE spokesman Steve Corson—who attended the meeting—says “we obviously got an earful at the neighborhood association meeting, and that’s not a surprise.” PGE “needs to get input from the city” before the project engineers can determine “whether or not there’s a way to line up whatever the city is requiring of us with the concerns that were raised in the neighborhood association meeting.” To get the city’s input, PGE will proceed with their permit application. “Filing the application isn’t the end of the process, filing the application is a step in the process,” he adds.
As for PGE’s concerns about cost, Corson points out that “it’s not just a matter of doing what the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association wants us to do, it’s doing what our overall customer base wants us to do.”
Meanwhile, neighbors plan to meet up this weekend to plot their next move—including applying for a grant to join with other SE Portland neighborhood associations, or even print anti-expansion lawn signs.
PGE is a monopoly, which I thought was against the law.
I am a part of their “customer base” because I have no other choice.
They do whatever they choose because they have no competition. It makes me sick to think about how much money I give them a year.
Seriously, I want to know why federal law does not apply to their all-POWERFUL corporation. I say it is time for a class action suit to put an end to PGE’s reign over Portland.
SUNNYSIDE-
Use this as an opportunity to get rid of this noxious power plant once and for all and DEMAND clean, renewable energy with no health side effects!!
solar
wind
perpetual motion
FREE ENERGY
Together WE THE PEOPLE can do ANYTHING!
Except elect the president of our country. I like your optimism though. Thanks.
Hey there, Pinki. Tuscadero….
PGE isn’t a monopoly. There’s also one other Pacificorp (which makes this market a duopoly).
BUT if you’re unhappy with one, switch to the other. Or buy solar panels. Or a gas-powered generator. Or a horde of gerbils to run in their little wheels attached to diodes (or whatever). There’s always options if you’re determined enough (and have a bit of imagination)…
And “the people” they’re building a POWER STATION not a POWER PLANT one makes energy, one distributes it over a wide area… and both are useless without the other.
Not all power companies have lines going to every area. That’s why in most, if not all neighborhoods you only get one option for utilities. So, switching isn’t really an option.
Even if everyone could afford to invest in thousands of dollars in solar panels (or gerbils, for that matter), the fact remains that PGE would be tearing down housing and worsening the property values (and health?) of those in the neighborhood.
My friend who lives in one of the circa 1911 houses behind the substation would have to find a new place to live when they tear down the house. And whatever, it’s PGE’s property, they are allowed to do that. But it is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. I ask that you drive by the property and take a look. Can you imagine spending 500 Gs on your house and spending time and hours gardening and building neighborhood pride and then seeing and feeling that blight everyday out your front door?
Are there REALLY no compromises or alternatives for the citizens who make Sunnyside their home? If not then I’m ashamed of the City of Portland and PGE.
I cycled by the substation and noticed there is a lot of extra room on their lot as it is.
Also, why don’t they offer to move the homes and in fact raffle them off to winning families and have it all be for charity?
Are they wanting to tear down the old Laundry Rules! house that the Junior Private Detective kids used to live at? if so thats a real bummer…
This sucks! Fuck PGE!!! They steal from us and now they want to destroy one of the coolest neighborhoods in town. Don’t let them! They can do it another way. Jeff Wheeler is a liar.
Am I the only one that sees the humor in this? The houses in the area around 32nd and Belmont are generally owned by a lot of well off baby boomers, who when younger, probably wore flowers in their hair and protested the war in Vietnam, and now are rising indignantly to fight evil PGE because…..they are going to reduce their property values.
What have house prices down in that neighborhood – doubled in the last 5 years? I’m pretty sure that if the power station expansion was in Gresham, these same people would not be out protesting it. But they would be happy to force PGE to move the substation underground at ten times the price, in order to jack up power prices for everyone, because it would keep their neighborhood looking dreamy and their house values rising like Swiss Alps.
I think it’s good that we have to see power stations (and clear cuts, and oil refineries…). It’s a reminder that we all are consuming too much energy and too many materials, no matter how much we try to block it from our view.
The houses PGE would tear down on Yamhill are all rentals and not occupied by yuppies at all.
One occupant is a struggling single mom who has lived there for well over fifteen years. Another is young single man with a roommate who works at the red cross. Neither party can afford to buy a home. The third house on the corner on 31st and Yamhill used to be occupied by a number of young college age folks, but I’m not sure who lives there now.
I don’t know why you would think being evicted from your home is funny. The only points you’ve made here are that you are uninformed, find it easy to typecast the people you know nothing about, and that you seem to like to hear and believe yourself and only yourself.
I’m just responding to what’s written in the article. It never mentions tenants being evicted, but instead describes angry homeowners that are upset about the substation expansion, primarily because of the loss of value to their homes.
If the Mercury wanted to make the case about the tenants being forced to move out, then they should write an article that includes their perspective, not one about homeowners with a classic case of NIMBY. And to balance it out, maybe they could also write about how we all benefit from living in a vibrant and growing city, but that means we use more electricity, and depend on unsightly things like substations.
I attended the meeting.
Most people were reasonable about the stated need to expand substation load capacity. The frustration arose over PGE’s unwillingness to explore alternative design options and their unresponsiveness to concerns voiced at previous meetings.
If you walk along Yamhill on that block, you’ll understand the impact the proposed expansion will have on a quiet residential street which is situated only a block and a half from the Sunnyside Environmental School.
As the above article notes, an alternative “gas insulation technology” design could be implemented to increase the load capacity as desired while maintaining the existing footprint. PGE estimated that gas insulation technology would add $1-2 million to the $4 million estimate of their current design proposal. $1-2 million is a small price to pay to maintain the integrity of a historic neighborhood.
A neighbor at the meeting suggested that PGE could sell the three houses on Yamhill they propose to demolish. The proceeds should bring in $1-1.5 million which would entirely or greatly offset the additional cost of using gas insulation technology. PGE seemed unenthusiastic about the idea.
There was strong opposition to PGE’s plan and tactics and I was encouraged by the community response. Keep in mind that the proposed capacity expansion is just the first of many such expansions PGE plans around the city. Even if you don’t live in the Sunnyside neighborhood, you may find that PGE proposes a similar expansion in your neighborhood in the future.