September 2015 Share Package Utility Contacts

Amy Murphy, Alaska Village Electric Co-op, (907) 565-5343, amurphy@avec.org

Pam Spettel, Blachly-Lane Electric Co-op, (541) 284-2147, spettelp@blachlylane.coop

Jeff Beaman, Central Electric Co-op, (541) 312-7753, jbeaman@cec.coop

Christine Stallard, Coos-Curry Electric Co-op, (541) 247-6638 ext. 417, christine@cooscurryelectric.com

Sabrina Owens, Escambia Electric Co-op, (850) 675-7433, sabrina@erec.com

Denise Whitehead, Glades Electric Co-op, (800) 226-4025, dwhitehead@gladesec.com

Diane Junion, Graham County Electric Co-op, (928) 485-8654, djunion@gce.coop

By Brandon Pomrenke

Like any activity, crime evolves with time. Today’s wide use of the Internet has given rise to cybercrime, which requires no physical proximity.

Today’s cybercriminals are not the stereotypical band of hackers sitting in a dark room with comput-ers and monitors casting an eerie glow. They work from just about anywhere with an Internet or phone connection. There is no need for super-computers or physical access.

Because this threat is so commonplace, many in the energy industry work tire-lessly to combat computer-related crime.

The energy industry may have a special draw to cyber-criminals because of the importance of electricity to everyday life and because most Americans’ information is stored somewhere in a util-ity’s system.

A successful and broad-scale attack could set back parts of a local economy, its infrastructure and its ability to function reliably.

Those who work in the energy industry are aware of the risks to not only a reli-able power supply, but to

members’ personal informa-tion—the prime target and moneymaker of cybercrime.

The Big PictureNational Rural Electric Cooperative Association Cybersecurity Lobbyist Bridgette Bourge believes cybersecurity is a priority for every level and type of energy provider, whether they are co-ops, munis, IOUs or government agencies.

Bourge explains, “Everyone is getting together and trying to find out, ‘Where are the gaps, vulnerabilities and opportunities where we can help each other?’”

Bourge, whose computer network experience dates back to the Y2K days on Capitol Hill, believes working with and educating utilities and consumers can make a difference in today’s technol-ogy-based world.

But information sharing may be one of the biggest challenges to keeping the energy sector secure against cybercrime, she adds.

“Information sharing among the industry, and from government to industry, is a major obstacle we’re fac-ing today to get a common operating picture and know where the largest cyber threats

are,” she said. To push through the infor-

mation-sharing challenge, Bourge and others in the energy industry’s corner have put together the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. The bill provides liability and Freedom of Information Act protection for utilities that report viola-tions/attacks against their systems.

For smaller utilities that may lack the funding or staff size to support such a demanding task, this bill encourages information shar-ing with the government and agencies such as NRECA and the Electricity Sector Information Sharing and Analysis Center. The goal is gaining a better operational

understanding of cyberattacks against the energy industry and working to combat them.

“Getting this bill through will allow a better common-threat operating picture for small, medium and large energy providers,” said Bourge.

An example of this part-nership’s effectiveness comes from Consumers Power Inc., which covers approximately 3,500 square miles near Philomath, Oregon.

Within those 3,500 square miles are 22,000 meters. It takes quite a bit of effort—both on the ground and through the CPI network—to provide safe, reliable electric-ity to so much territory.

That is where information-sharing partnerships comes into play.

“There are services we can

The Battle for CybersecurityFrom the national level to the local, the energy sector strives to protect members

Power LinesEnergy News For Consumers

Photo by solarseven

28 S E P T E M B E R 2015

partner with to share informa-tion,” said CPI CEO Roman Gillen. “There are quasi-governmental service pro-viders with access to federal information who are aware of hacking trends, worldwide and certainly in the U.S. They can combine that knowledge with security log information that we voluntarily provide them. In return, they keep us posted as to particular attacks that are trending in our area or our industry.”

This relationship keeps national cybersecurity records up to date, and updates any local utility that could be directly affected.

“Security is a very complex and deep subject,” said Gillen.

He hired a certified secu-rity firm to test the company’s cybersecurity readiness.

“I immediately saw the

value of having somebody with a critical eye look at our systems,” Gillen said.

Bourge sees the willingness to work with outside agencies as one benefit of the energy industry’s desire to protect member information and keep the grid safe.

“The electricity sector is the only sector that is regularly held up as an example for a public-private partnership in coordination,” said Bourge.

She points out this sector is the only one with manda-tory cybersecurity standards.

The standards give co-ops a set of guidelines to follow as a first line of defense against cyberattacks. In keeping with the tradition of information sharing and cooperatively cre-ating guidelines, NRECA also has worked to create a tem-plate that cooperatives can use to formulate their own cyber-security programs.

NRECA’s Business and Technology Strategies team lead Maurice Martin sees these templates and guides as a solid first step in building a security program at utilities because they aid in risk man-agement and cybersecurity planning.

He noted that current strat-egies may change throughout time.

“One project is research-ing next-generation monitor-ing to offer a more advanced approach to network moni-toring to all co-ops,” Martin said. “The project is gathering threat data from 10 co-ops around the country.”

Those who work in the energy industry know the technical environment is

constantly evolving. However, with dedication and know-how, it is possible to mitigate cyber risks.

“We’ll never reach a point where we lean back in our chairs and wipe our hands on our laps and say, ‘We’ve done it; we’ve arrived,’” said Gillen. “Our networks change over time. There are new devices and ways of doing things, new configurations and new equipment. The network changes regularly and new vulnerabilities are discovered. It’s a continuing process of assessing where we are, check-ing fixes we think we’ve put in place and taking additional steps to make it more secure.”

Gary Dodd, Bonneville Power Administration chief information security offi-cer, also believes in tak-ing all measures possible to protect infrastructure and information.

“I have intelligence analysts working 24 hours a day, seven days a week doing this work,” Dodd said. “We have some people right now, and every minute of the day, hunting for persistent threats in the network.”

The Human FactorIt is difficult to secure people and their practices, said Gillen.

“Particularly in the co-op world, we are friendly and trusting and cooperative,” he said. “That’s something that can easily be taken advantage of by people on the outside.”

There are a variety of ways consumers can mitigate risks. Some are technical, others a little more practical.

For example, consumers should be careful when open-ing emails or clicking links embedded on unfamiliar web-sites. They should not provide credit card, banking or other personally identifiable infor-mation by phone.

Understanding informa-tion security is important not just for those who have information in the system, but also for those who have access.

BPA tests its employees by sending internal test emails with false links, explained Dodd.

“If employees click on the bad link I’ve sent them, it takes them to training that shows them how to recognize those,” he said.

Cybercriminals can be con-vincing. It is their job to get your information.

“Cybercriminals are after any information they can sell,” said Bourge.

Dodd agrees. When com-paring whether hackers prefer affecting the grid or getting their hands on personally identifiable information, he thinks the latter is preferred.

“I think it’s a combination of the two,” said Dodd. “But personally identifiable infor-mation wins hands-down because there is a financial reward.”

Regardless of why the threat exists, those working in the energy sector focus on how they can protect member information and what precau-tions they must take.

“Cybersecurity is no longer just an interesting conver-sation,” Dodd said. “It’s an absolute must.” n

S E P T E M B E R 2015 29

8

James DulleyCut Your Utility Bills

To ask a question, write to James Dulley, Energy Report, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH. 45244, or check his web page, www.dulley.com.Copyright 2015, James Dulley

8 SEPTEMBER 2015

Above, a windbreak of evergreen trees along the north side of the house can reduce convective heat loss and air infiltration. Low evergreen shrubs along the foundation help.

Top, an insulating window shade with sealed sides blocks all three modes of heat loss and improves your comfort when sitting near a window.

Understanding Heat Loss and

Heat Gain

Q: I plan to make a few energy-efficiency improvements to my home using a con-tractor. I would like to better understand how a home loses and gains heat so I am not talked into unnecessary projects. Can you help?

A: Using a few proper terms and show-ing some knowledge can keep a contrac-tor from trying anything unnecessary or unethical. Keep in mind, you will not know if improvements helped until next year’s utility bills arrive.

Many do it yourself books about ener-gy-efficiency improvements offer a great starting point.

Each home is unique. What some books recommend may not always be the best option for your home.

The most common misconception about a home is that heat rises. Heat does not actually rise. Instead, heat flows equally in all directions. What rises is warm air, because it is less dense than cool air. This is important to keep in mind when determining where, how much and what types of insulation to use for various areas of your home.

The basic types of heat flow are con-duction, convection, radiation and air infiltration (leakage).

Conduction, the most common type, is how the handle on a cup gets hot from coffee.

The amount of heat lost or gained from conduction is primarily a function of the temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor surfaces of an outside wall. If the outdoor temperature drops so that the temperature difference is twice as large, twice as much heat will be lost through the wall. This is why set-ting the thermostat lower during winter or higher during summer saves energy.

The insulation level of a home affects heat loss. If the insulation R-value is doubled, the amount of heat loss is cut in half.

Convection refers to heat flow from a fluid, such as air or water, moving over a

surface. The heat lost by convection will also double if the temperature difference doubles, but it increases even more as air blows faster. This is what causes a wind chill factor during the winter.

Radiation is heat flowing through space or air. This is how the sun warms us. Just as it warms you, your home loses radiant heat to the outdoors, especially on a clear cold night.

Radiant heat flow is different. When the temperature difference is doubled, the heat flow increases by 16 times. On a clear night, outer space is minus 460 degrees, so the heat loss increases dra-matically.

You may notice how chilly you feel by a window at night. On a summer after-noon, a black shingle roof can easily reach 160 degrees, radiating heat down through the insulation and the ceiling.

Using this background knowledge, make a list of problem areas, such as a persistently chilly room. If the room is located on the northwest side of the home, convection losses and air infiltra-tion from winter winds could be a factor. Erect windbreaks such as a privacy fence or plant evergreen trees to help.

Since heat moves down as well as up, check the lumber band joist, which rests on the foundation. If it is not insulated, heat can be lost by conduction mov-ing out of it. Insulate the joint and caulk where the joist rests on top of the foun-dation. This spot is often uneven and leaks air.

Installing shades and closing them can block the direct radiant heat flow to the cold night sky or from the hot afternoon sun. This is much less expensive than installing new windows.

Have low-emissivity, reflective foil sta-pled under the roof rafters. This dramati-cally reduces the radiant heat flow down-ward on hot summer afternoons.

Remember these tips and you can make your home energy efficient and have a good experience with your contractor. n

S E P T E M B E R 2015 25

When a major retail outlet suffers a cybersecurity breach, it often becomes the top news story for sev-eral days. We all worry about the security of our personal information, particularly when it links to our bank account.

But major retail outlets are not the only places where your personal data is stored. How does the electric utility industry safeguard the personal infor-mation collected in the course of providing electric service? Fortunately there are a number of industry best practices in use.

Data encryption is used almost universally to both transmit and store information securely. Powerful algorithms enable sent or stored informa-tion to be encoded in such a way that it is unrec-ognizable and unusable without a corresponding decryption key to reverse the process.

Website developers incorporate data encryption and decryption into the design of utility and other commercial websites so information remains pro-tected even if it is intercepted by a third party.

A variety of organizations monitor and alert utili-ties to the discovery of data protection vulnerabili-ties. In the unlikely event a data protection scheme is compromised, utilities immediately shut down the website until the vulnerability is corrected with updated software.

In compliance with state and federal law, credit card utility payments receive special attention. Credit card information is stored in an encrypted format within utility databases.

Utilities employ a variety of technologies to pro-tect their internal and external data networks from unauthorized access. Network appliances called firewalls are used to restrict access to each device on the utility’s data network. Firewalls also provide information to help the utility spot attempts to break

through the protective electronic barrier. Utilities are also careful to maintain separation among general business networks, their electric transmission and distribution networks, and the Internet in order to make it harder for a vulnerability in one network to affect another.

Employees are required to create complex pass-words of a minimum length, use a unique password to access each information system, are forbidden from sharing or reusing passwords, and must change their passwords regularly.

Utility customers can play an important role as well by following the same safe password practices. Customers should apply the latest operating system, antivirus, web browser, and application software updates to their personal computers and smart phones as soon as they become available. Most importantly, customers should always be suspicious of phone and email messages demanding personal information or immediate payment by electronic means. Call the local utility before taking any action to verify who sent the message.

Many utilities now require their customers to pro-vide a personal identification number or PIN before giving out customer information over the phone. Utilities are also reconsidering whether to main-tain Social Security numbers, drivers’ license num-bers, and other personally identifiable information that was routinely requested in years past because the risk of such information falling into the wrong hands outweighs its usefulness.

Utilities must manage many risks in their efforts to keep your lights on. Protecting and safeguarding information has added yet a new dimension to those efforts. Utilities and customers must work together to adequately protect sensitive personal information from falling into the wrong hands. n

Cybersecurity Matters at UtilitiesVigilance is required in protecting your personal information

Roman Gillen is president and CEO of Consumers Power Inc, an electric cooperative based in Philomath, Oregon.

Voice BoxCommentary on Power Issues

Central Electric

By Courtney Linville

It is rare these days to find generations of families involved in the same business or type of job. Owen Hix, a Central Oregonian, grew up with stories about his great-grandfather and his uncle, who were both linemen.

“I also have a lot of family friends who are line-men, too,” he says. “I just knew I wanted to go after the same thing.”

Owen’s great-grandfather William Wister Haines is something of a legend in the world of linemen. Many know him as Slim Hix. His book “Slim,” looks at the job of a lineman during the Great Depression. Slim also wrote the screenplay for the Hollywood version that starred Pat O’Brien, Henry Fonda, and Lindsay Stuart Erwin.

Many crew members of Central Electric Cooperative have watched the film.

“It’s a great movie, and it’s the only one about linemen,” says General Foreman Ron Massey.

With a desire to go after the same career as family

and friends, Owen approached CEC about doing a job shadow for a day with a line crew. He was recently accepted into Northwest Lineman College and wanted to gain some insight into his future career.

“I wanted to have some experience before I start school and have a good idea of what I’m getting into,” he says. “Plus, I will know a little bit more than anyone else.”

The CEC line crew worked a variety of jobs and tasks throughout the day, including installing and connecting a new meter. Each task included instruc-tion on the importance of safety when working with electricity.

“I learned a lot more today than I thought there would be,” says Owen, “and I found out I will like this job a lot more than I thought I would.”

He recommends anyone interested in a career as a lineman try job shadowing.

“It’s very interactive,” he says. “You gain a lot of knowledge, and it will prepare you a little bit more. I’m really excited to start school, especially after today.” n

A Family AffairLocal teen looks to follow family into the lineman trade

Owen Hix, center, spent a day observing a Central Electric line crew.

8 S E P T E M B E R 2015

By Steven Johnson

To his supporters, he was called Brian the Sea Lion. To his detractors, he was C022, a voracious predator who had to be put to death.

In either case, he was the poster mam-mal in a high-stakes dilemma that has preoccupied federal agencies, electric utilities, elected officials, fish and game agents, tribal groups, animal rights activ-ists and academic researchers.

What happens when one federally pro-tected species eats another?

Earlier this year, wildlife manag-ers resumed a program to trap and kill California sea lions to prevent them from devouring endangered salmon in Pacific

Northwest waters. It is part of a multibil-lion-dollar effort to balance fish survival with hydroelectric production.

Since 2008, officials have euthanized 55 of the most gluttonous offenders after caging them near Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. Another 13 were placed in permanent captivity at various zoos around the country.

The sea lions remain undeterred, hav-ing gorged on an estimated 4,700 adult salmon in the first half of 2014 while hydropower customers paid to preserve the lives of those same fish.

“When you have one protected spe-cies—the California sea lion—eating another protected species—salmon—it

really makes you scratch your head,” says John Prescott, president and CEO of PNGC Power, a generation and transmission co-op in Portland. This is compounded by the fact that billions of electricity users’ dollars have been spent to dramatically improve the salmon populations.

“Apparently sea lions don’t always fol-low court orders and legislative fiats.”

The issue is not confined to the cool waters of the Columbia. Co-ops nation-wide are looking at hydropower as a resource to add to their clean energy portfolios. But every time they do, they have to consider the possibility that they will be caught in a clash of environmen-tal laws, just like in the Pacific Northwest.

The Ultimate Price Euthanizations of hungry sea lions add controversy to costly salmon protection efforts

Coos-Curry Electric

A sea lion dines on a salmon, both of which are federally protected, which makes finding ways to protect both animals difficult.Istock photo

4 S E P T E M B E R 2015

Hitting Members in the Pocketbook When Dave Sabala joined Roseburg-based Douglas Electric Cooperative in 1978, fish and wildlife expenditures barely registered a blip on members’ monthly bills. Now, members pay more for those initiatives than they do for transmission services.

“About 20 percent of their power bills goes to fish and wildlife programs in some form or another,” says Sabala, gen-eral manager of the co-op, who retired in June after 37 years. “These programs hit our members in their pocketbooks. It’s quite frustrating, and we want to be sure those dollars are being invested wisely.”

Dams in the Columbia River Basin make up 90 percent of the Northwest’s renewable energy. The Bonneville Power Administration, which markets federal hydropower to 54 electric cooperatives and other consumer-owned public util-ity districts and municipals, has spent a minimum of $640 million on fish and wildlife mitigation every year since 2005.

One-third of the rates BPA charges for wholesale power—which is about $30 per megawatt-hour—is tied up in fish and wildlife activities, with special attention to 13 species of steelhead and salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.

With other federal agencies, BPA is implementing a court-supervised plan to rebuild dwindling salmon stocks. The power marketer also signed a 2008 pact between tribes and agencies that set aside

about $1 billion for salmon restoration. “We can unequivocally say this is, by

far, the largest wildlife restoration program in the country,” says Terry Flores, execu-tive director of Northwest RiverPartners, an alliance of farmers, utilities, ports and businesses that includes about 40 electric co-ops. “We have overhauled the dams. We’ve changed the way the hydro system operates. We have made it safer for fish to pass through and around dams.”

Structural modifications at dams have lowered the mortality rate of young fish moving downstream, and habitat improvements helped returning adult salmon reach a record fall run in 2013.

On September 8, 2014, more than 67,500 adult fall chinook passed through Bonneville Dam—a single-day high. The year was marked by an overall record return.

Sea Lion BuffetBut packs of sea lions are biting into these gains. The spring run of upper Columbia River chinook salmon continues to strug-gle as 1,000-pound sea lions swim more than 100 miles up the Columbia River and settle in for an extended buffet.

In 2001, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for operat-ing the 1,200-MW Bonneville Lock and Dam, spotted six California sea lions for-aging for food. By 2005, about 100 showed up at the dam. Wildlife management actions have reduced the number at the dam in recent years, but a lot of sea lions move in and out of the river. This year, observers counted 1,400 of them resting in the commercial boat basin at Astoria.

Michelle Wargo Rub and her team at the Seattle-based Northwest Fisheries Science Center catch and tag salmon. In November, she startled a committee of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council when she disclosed that about 45 percent of the 2014 spring chinook salmon run died between the mouth of the Columbia River and Bonneville Dam.

Wildlife officers use floating traps to capture sea lions.Photo by Jessica Sall, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Bonneville Dam is a hot spot for sea lions eating migrating salmon.BPA File photo

Continues on page 28

S E P T E M B E R 2015 5

By her analysis, predators could be con-suming 22,500 to 57,000 Columbia River salmon.

The study has yet to be peer reviewed by scientists, and there is no direct evi-dence to support the conclusion that sea lions are totally to blame.

There are other ways fish can die as they migrate upriver to spawn.

The Corps of Engineers suggested wildlife managers monitor sea lion activ-ity, even using critter-mounted cameras to understand how and where they seize their gilled prey.

“We’ve spent an enormous amount of money chasing our tail,” Steve Eldrige, general manager and CEO of Umatilla Electric Cooperative in Hermiston.

Still, the loss of those mature salmon can inhibit restoration for years because the mature salmon are loaded with eggs to spawn, notes Scott Corwin, executive director of the Portland-based Public Power Council, which represents elec-tric co-ops and other consumer-owned utilities.

“It’s not just the adults,” he says. “As the marine mammals catch them when they enter the river from Bonneville Dam on down, you can also lose the potential for hundreds of juveniles that would be the progeny of each of those adult fish killed. That adds up to big numbers.”

Exhausted Nonlethal Options In the case of sea lions and salmon, two major environmental laws run afoul of each other. The Marine Mammal Protection Act, signed by President Richard Nixon in 1972, precludes whole-sale killings, imports or exports of sea lions and like creatures. The ESA of 1973 protects several species of salmon and steelhead, most of which were listed in the 1990s.

“It’s nothing new to have laws conflict-ing with one another, and this is clearly the case,” says Sabala.

Relocation is not an option. Wildlife teams tried that in 1988 and 1989, when sea lions were binging on salmon and steelhead near Seattle. Shipped to their home base in Southern California, the intrepid sea lions returned to Puget Sound within a few weeks.

More recently, crews at Bonneville Dam have tried to haze sea lions with

racing boats, irritate them with fire-works and underwater noisemakers, and frighten them with rubber buckshot.

The success has been minimal. That has led to more drastic mea-

sures. In 2008, the governments of Idaho, Oregon and Washington tapped a provi-sion added to the 1972 law that allows the National Marine Fisheries Service to

California sea lions, above, are being supplanted as the main threat to salmon by Steller sea lions.iStock photo

The Ultimate PriceContinues from page 5

28 S E P T E M B E R 2015

authorize extermination of nuisance sea lions.

The Humane Society of the United States challenged the plan on the grounds that it violated the statute and ignored more important factors that contribute to diminishing salmon stocks.

In October 2013, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that salmon trump California sea lions, whose numbers have swelled to 300,000, thanks in part to the 1972 law. It approved a maximum of 92 killings a year through 2016, when permission expires.

In practice, the numbers fall far short of that. In a single year, state wildlife managers have not killed more than 15 of sea lions observed killing salmon at Bonneville Dam.

“Prior to 2008, we had exhausted the nonlethal options,” says Jessica Sall, fish communications coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We would not have sought approval for lethal removal if we had not exhausted all the nonlethal options, such as hazing.

“We always make the point that it’s one of many things we’re doing to try to protect the endangered populations that are part of that spring chinook run. We are under no illusion that this, in and of itself, is going to save a fish population.”

More Than Numbers Given the projects undertaken in the past decade, a spectrum of interests from tribes to fishermen to utilities contend that some form of predator management is reasonable as part of a comprehensive fish-recovery program.

“We’re talking about the way nature works,” says Eldrige. “Predators follow abundance until there’s no abundance, and then the number of predators goes down. So if we’re trying to create these runs, you’re going to have to limit the number of sea lions and other preda-tors. Just trying to scare them away won’t work.”

Under the current system, wildlife teams trap and brand sea lions around

Bonneville Dam to track their move-ments. In 2014, they marked 21 sea lions that were not slated for lethal removal before returning them to the river. Such branding is a critical part of the legal authorization that allows patrols to cap-ture and kill sea lions. Before they can place an animal on a kill list, they have to be able to identify it individually through a brand, tag or natural markings.

Wildlife officers also have to view the sea lion at the dam for five days—the days do not have to be consecutive—and expose it to nonlethal hazing.

Sea lion C022, aka Brian, met all the criteria. He was branded in spring 2012 and placed on a kill list. Eleven months later, he was snared in one of four float-ing traps anchored downriver from a fish ladder at the dam, loaded on a barge and hauled away.

At first, he was a candidate to be shipped to a zoo. More than a dozen captured sea lions have found such new homes. But when veterinarians exam-ined him, they discovered precancerous lesions that disqualified him from ship-ment to a zoo or theme park, so he was euthanized April 16, 2013.

His death brought an outcry from ani-mal rights organizations. A group called Dam Guardians, part of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, bemoaned the news, put it on Twitter and demanded wildlife officials release the results of a necropsy.

To fish biologists, the removal of predators represents one tool to help populations of fish. In an October 2014 report, Robin Brown, marine mammal research program leader for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, esti-mated the removal of 73 California sea lions from 2008 to 2014 saved between 7,000 and 24,000 salmon.

“It’s about more than numbers,” adds Corwin, who notes fishermen also endorse controls because sea lions snatch salmon off the ends of their lines. “It’s a commitment by the region to see the salmon runs improve dramatically.

“In light of the continuing improve-ment, you don’t want to be taking steps backward because of predation.”

New Threats But the problem with sea lions might be getting worse. Researchers suspect Steller sea lions, another protected species, are supplanting California sea lions as the top consumers of salmon. Stellers are larger than California sea lions, reach-ing 11 feet in length and weighing up to 2,500 pounds.

A Corps of Engineers report says salmon consumption by Steller sea lions has increased nearly every year since 2002, hitting 1,891 fish from January to May 2014. On a daily basis, there are now twice as many Steller sea lions at Bonneville Dam than California sea lions.

That is a problem because the fed-eral trap-and-kill authorization does not include Steller sea lions.

There has been a move afoot in Congress to expand the lethal program. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill in 2012 to make it easier for states and tribal authorities to secure permits to capture and kill sea lions.

A similar measure cleared a House committee in 2013, but expired with-out additional action. In January, Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., introduced a similar bill that would allow tribal members— under the training of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—to remove sea lions by lethal force.

In the meantime, Flores says sea lions demand close investigation because there is not much more to be squeezed out of enhancements at dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

“We’re finding that we’re getting sur-vival rates of 93 percent, 96 percent, 98 percent and more at some of the eight dams,” she says. “Can we get another 1 percent? Possibly, but it would mean millions of dollars more for a very small return. We need to focus on other areas, sea lion predation being one of them.” n

S E P T E M B E R 2015 29

Blachly-Lane Electric

By Pam Spettel

Blachly-Lane Electric Co-op is in a unique place. We have much higher than recommended equity, and infrastructure showing multiple points of vulner-ability of failure. We have prioritized retiring capital credits at a much faster pace than comparable to other national and state co-ops, and even of those our own size, yet the record reflects that we have more frequent outages related to the condition of our plant when compared to other co-ops. One thing remains especially important—service reli-ability is of vital importance to Blachly-Lane Electric Co-op members.

To pinpoint how to best provide BLEC members with the electrical service dependability you want and need, in early 2014 TriAxis Engineering evalu-ated our system to identify and prioritize needed maintenance and reliability improvement opportu-nities. The study has given valuable guidance in the development of a 10-year plan of capital improve-ment projects aimed to bring Blachly-Lane mem-bers the service reliability and capacity they depend on now and in the future. Work on these essential improvements is underway.

Data Supports What Experience Tells UsEach year the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation conducts an extensive bench-marking effort of every electric cooperative across the country. From this effort multiple Key Ratio Trend Analysis ratios are generated that examine many aspects of the co-op business. We can mea-sure the reliability of our own system by looking at reliability ratios that are standard across the electric utility industry.

CFC’s System Average Interruption Duration Indices provide important insight to the overall health of the system at large. The SAIDI ratios show how the system is operating under normal condi-tions in addition to when external factors such as power suppliers, extreme storms, and prearranged maintenance create outages. What did the KRTAs show about Blachly-Lane’s system?

Blachly-Lane’s SAIDI ratios show significant

spikes and dips in the past 10 years. Our reliabil-ity indicators fluctuate considerably when com-pared with similarly sized co-ops and statewide and national averages.

With the 10-year capital improvement plan in place and beginning to be implemented, members will experience fewer outages, and we should see improvements in the SAIDI ratios over time.

Taking PerspectiveMother Nature, power supply issues, and many other variables cause electric distribution utilities to have outages, and BLEC is no exception. The goal of the 10-year capital improvement plan is to make sure you have the most reliable system we can deliver while balancing the cost it takes to do so. Taking a comprehensive look at our system and updating it to meet the foreseen load demand will allow it to continue to keep the lights on in the man-ner you expect.

Other System Reliability EffortsJust as accountants are busiest at tax season and retailers experience the holiday rush, Blachly-Lane tree and line crews also have a peak season. The dry weather of summer provides the ongoing opportu-nity to improve and upgrade the reliability of our system. Tree crews are using the summer months to aggressively clear foliage and tree limbs that interfere with power lines during winter storms. Line crews use the dry season to conduct line, pole and equip-ment improvements to improve system reliability before winter.

Blachly-Lane is also using the summer to com-plete the installation of new meters. This systemwide maintenance project increases our efficiency. The man-hours used to read meters will be used to add an engineering and operations coordinator to our team. This position will assist with implementing our 10-year capital improvement plan to improve system reliability even further. We anticipate filling the position by early autumn.

No matter the season, our staff is dedicated to bringing you service you can always count on at as close to cost as possible. n

Understanding BLECs 10-Year PlanInvesting in system reliability for current and future members

28 S E P T E M B E R 2015

S E P T E M B E R 2015 29

Blachly-Lane Electric

Articles VI - XIThis is the third of a four-part series taking a closer look at Blachly-Lane Electric Cooperative’s bylaws and how they guide the cooperative. We invite you to download the bylaws from www.blachlylane.coop, or stop by the office and pick up a copy to follow along more closely.

As we have learned through this series, Blachly-Lane bylaws easily can be clustered into categories. In previous months, we have looked at:

• Articles I-II, which outline the roles and responsibilities of members.• Articles III-V, which outline the roles and responsibilities of directors.This month we explore Articles VI through XI of the Blachly-Lane

Electric Cooperative bylaws, which describe the finer points of the coop-erative’s business.

Article VI, Indemnification, financially preserves the board, management, employees and agents when expenses are incurred as a result of their con-duct of Blachly-Lane business. This article also protects the board, employ-ees or agents of the co-op against claims asserted against them in their offi-cial capacities in accordance with Oregon state law, as long as their actions are conducted in good faith. The provisions in Article VI are consistent with Chapter 62 of the Oregon Revised Statutes dealing with Cooperative Corporations.

Article VII, Contracts, Checks and Deposits, says it is the duty of the board of directors to authorize any contracts on behalf of the co-op, and that checks, drafts, notes and bonds are to be signed by those board offi-cers, agents and employees as are determined by board policy, and that co-op funds are to be deposited to the credit of the co-op at the financial institutions specified by the board.

Article VIII defines our nonprofit operation. As a cooperative non-profit, this article prohibits the paying of interest or dividends on capi-tal furnished by member-patrons. This article also provides detailed instructions about patronage capital, how it is to be used, managed and distributed, and what would happen to it should the co-op dis-solve. This section also describes how capital credits should be distrib-uted in the event a member-patron should die, and specifies that the

bylaws are the binding contract between the cooperative and its member-patrons. Article IX states that any member or director may waive receiving notice of meet-

ings as required to be given in earlier sections of the bylaws.Article X, Disposition of Property, spells out the types of services and property the

co-op may and may not dispose of and the manner in which such disposal is to be handled. It also allows the board of directors the authority to borrow money on behalf of the co-op and dictates from whom they may do so.

In like manner, Article XI details the procedural requirements regarding ownership interests in, the sale of all of the co-op assets to, or business partnerships or mergers with other business entities.

By now you may be asking, “So, what happens if the bylaws need to be changed?” Next month we will conclude the series by looking at Articles XII–XVI, which deal primarily with amendments to the bylaws themselves. n

Bylaws 101: Understanding Blachly-Lane Bylaws

First Addition 2014

Blachly-Lane Electric

Cooperative Articles of

Incorporation and Bylaws

Member Approved

July 2014

8 S E P T E M B E R 2015

4 S E P T E M B E R 2015

Alaska Village ElectricAlaska Village Electric

Nulato Wildfire 2015

This is the daunting scene that greeted lineman Lars Sorensen when he landed in Nulato in June. This wildfire grew bigger and eventually nearly sur-rounded the community. Lars and Edgar Solomon from Kaltag spent long hours doing what they could to keep the power on while the fire advanced.

Alaska’s wildfires consumed more than five-million acres this summer, including land on the outskirts of Nulato. AVEC lineman Lars Sorensen flew into Nulato right before the fire activity greatly increased and pretty much surrounded the village. Thick smoke shut down the airport so the only way to evacuate was by boat on the river. Thankfully a fire containment line helped stop the advance of the fire into the community. “Firefighting crews extin-guished small spot fires within Nulato and strength-ened the black line around town,” fire officials wrote.

A huge debt of gratitude is extended to the hard-working firefighters, airplane pilots and the locals whose efforts saved the community and evacuees.

Photos by Lars Sorensen.

Plant operator Erick Mountain and Tribal Administrator Paul Mountain watch the fire from this vantage point.

Looking to the right from the power plant. Looking left from the power plant as the fire advances.

5 S E P T E M B E R 2015

Thick smoke shut down the airport and nobody (including firefighters) could fly in or out of the village. Residents evacuated by boat, traveling 36 miles on the Yukon River to Kaltag. As the fire moved closer to the power plant Lars spent more time down by the river, ready to flee to avoid being nearby if the bulk fuel tanks caught fire and exploded. He said it was pretty scary.

Above and left: Thick smoke clouds from the approaching fire billowed up near the tank farm. Lars had collected what fire extinguishers he could find, ready to use on small hotspots if required.

This is one of the airplanes that flew to the rescue! It dropped fire retardant to halt the fire’s steady advance. The community basically lost one out-building and AVEC’s distribution system suffered minimal damage.

Bob Merino has always been fascinated by electrical theory. He says that is why he has worked his entire life in the electricity industry.

Born in Safford, but spending most of his life in Morenci, Bob was hired by Phelps Dodge (now Freeport McMoRan) right out of high school in the summer of 1973.

In 1980, he enrolled in the Field Electrician Apprenticeship Program with Phelps Dodge. In the middle of the four-year program, the mine shut down. All Bob lacked was on-the-job training.

He worked for various elec-trical contractors from 1982 to 1984, then landed the line-man apprenticeship job for the city of Safford in 1984.

When GCEC was looking for a trained and experienced lineman, Bob joined the team.

“The work environment, benefits, pay and a better opportunity for my fam-ily attracted me to Graham County Electric,” Bob says.

Bob was on the line crew for 21 years, and worked on installation and calibration of electric, gas and water meters. He also did solar inspections for the cooperative.

General Manager Steve Lines was part of the man-agement team that hired Bob in 1993.

“This has turned out to be a very good decision for the co-op,” Steve says. “Bob was a very good field lineman who was always willing to come out during storms, after hours, and get the power back on to our members. Now, Bob is our meter-man techni-cian. His knowledge and skills acquired as a lineman have helped him do a great job for us in that position.”

With five “Bobs” on staff when he was hired, “Merino” was stitched on his shirts. To this day, he continues with that moniker.

“I appreciate Bob—or Merino, as his shirt says—for his great attitude and desire to be the best at whatever the co-op has asked him to do,” Steve says.

Of his work with GCEC,

Bob says, “It’s a great oppor-tunity to dissect problems and use my curiosity of why the problem exists. I figure it out and find a solution. I think back to being a lineman and being on call. I would watch a storm roll in and know I would be headed out. I’ll admit, sometimes I think this is a young man’s game.”

Bob stays young by staying busy with his hobbies: work-ing on classic cars, riding his

Harley-Davidson motorcycle and playing guitar with the Crossroads Band for nearly 25 years.

He married Evie more than 32 years ago and has three children, two grandkids and a third due in February.

Bob loves jamming at his house with family. He enjoys all types of music and hopes his legacy lives on—both in music and the business of electricity. n

Bob Merino prepares a gas meter for calibration. He says he loves the challenge of dissecting the problem, then solving it.

Graham County

Employee Spotlight

Merino Keeps MetersCalibrated

Bob works on both gas and electric meters as GCEC’s meter-man technician.

S E P T E M B E R 2015 25

Do-It-Yourself Home Energy AuditsExamine your home for inefficiencies

One of the first steps to making your home more efficient involves understanding how it uses energy. Just as a doctor has to do a thorough examination of a patient before writing a prescription, your home needs a good inspection before most inefficiencies can be identified and corrected.

You can easily conduct a basic home energy audit with a simple, but diligent, walk-through. When auditing your home, keep a checklist of areas you have inspected and problems you find. Most trouble spots can be found in a few key areas.

Locating Air LeaksFirst, make a list of obvious air leaks. The poten-tial energy savings from reducing drafts in a home ranges from 5 to 30 percent a year, with a much more comfortable home being the result.

Check for indoor air leaks, such as gaps along a baseboard or edge of the flooring and at junctures of walls and ceiling.

Inspect windows and doors for air leaks. If you can rattle them, movement means possible air leaks. If you can see daylight around a door or window frame, the door or window has a leak. Usually you can seal these with caulking or weather stripping.

Outside, inspect all areas where two different building materials meet, including all exterior corners,

siding and chimney junctures, and areas where the foundation and the bottom of exterior brick or siding join. Plug and caulk any holes or penetrations for fau-cets, pipes, electric outlets and wiring.

Look for cracks and holes in the mortar, foun-dation and siding. Seal them with the appropriate material. Check the exterior caulking around doors and windows, and see whether exterior storm doors and primary doors seal tightly.

When sealing any home, be aware of indoor air pollution and appliance backdrafts. Backdrafting occurs when appliances that burn fuels and exhaust fans in the home compete for air. An exhaust fan may pull combustion gases back into the living space. This creates a dangerous and unhealthy situation.

InsulationHeat loss through the ceiling and walls in your home could be large if insulation levels are less than the recommended minimum.

When your house was built, the builder likely installed the amount of insulation recommended, if any, at that time. Given today’s energy prices—and the expectation that future prices will be higher—your insulation might be inadequate. That is espe-cially true of older homes.

Online energy audits provide details on checking insulation levels in the attic, walls and basement.

Heating and Cooling EquipmentInspect heating and cooling equipment annually, or as recommended by the manufacturer.

If you have a forced-air furnace, check filters and replace them as needed. Generally, you should change them about once every month or two, espe-cially during periods of high use. Have a profes-sional check and clean your equipment once a year.

LightingOn average, lighting accounts for about 10 percent of a home’s electric bill. Examine the wattage size of the light bulbs in your house. You may have 100-watt or larger bulbs where 60 or 75 watts would do.

Consider compact fluorescent bulbs or light-emit-ting diode bulbs for areas where lights are left on for hours at a time. nThere are several different types of caulk. Make sure you pick the one that is right for the job.

Use Energy Wisely

Escambia River

8 S E P T E M B E R 2015

Water conservation has become an essential practice in all regions, even in areas where water seems abundant. In addition to saving money on your utility bill, water conservation helps prevent water pollution in nearby lakes, rivers and local watersheds. To conserve water in your home:

• Check faucets and pipes for leaks. A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste 20 gallons of water a day. Larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons.

• Don’t use the toilet as an ash-tray or wastebasket. Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tis-sue or other small bit of trash, 5 to 7 gal-lons of water is wasted.

• Check your toilets for leaks. Put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If the color appears in the bowl within 30 minutes without flushing, you have a leak that should be repaired immediately. Most replacement parts are inexpensive and easy to install.

• Use your water meter to check for water leaks. Read the house water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.

• Install water-saving showerheads and low-flow faucet aerators. Inexpensive water-saving low-flow showerheads or restrictors are easy for homeowners to install. Long, hot showers use 5 to 10 gallons every unneeded minute. Limit showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash and rinse off. Low-flow means it uses less than 2.5 gallons a minute.

• Put plastic bottles or a float booster in your toilet tank. To cut down on water waste, put an inch or two of sand or pebbles inside each of two plastic bottles to weigh them down. Fill the bottles with water, screw the lids on and put them

in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanisms. Or buy an inex-pensive tank bank or float booster. This may save 10 or more gallons of water a day. Be sure at least 3 gallons of water remain in the tank so it will flush properly.

• Insulate your water pipes. It is easy and inexpensive to insulate your water pipes with pre-slit foam pipe insulation. You will get hot water faster and avoid wasting water while it heats up.

• Take shorter showers. To cut down on water use, turn off the shower after soaping up, then turn it back on to rinse. A four-minute shower uses 20 to 40 gal-lons of water.

• Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush. There is no need to keep the water running while brush-ing your teeth. Wet your brush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.

• Rinse your razor in the sink. Fill the sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your razor just as well as running water, with far less waste.

• Use your dishwasher and clothes washer for only full loads. Automatic dishwashers and clothes washers should be fully loaded for optimum water con-servation. Most makers of dishwashing

soap recommend not pre-rinsing dishes, which is a big water sav-ings. With clothes washers, avoid the permanent press cycle, which uses an extra 5 gallons for the extra rinse. For partial loads, adjust water levels to match the size of the load. Replace old clothes washers. New Energy Star-rated washers use 35 to 50 percent less water and 50 percent less energy per load. If you are in the market for a new clothes washer, consider buying a water-saving front-load machine.

• Minimize use of kitchen sink garbage disposal units. In-sink

garbage disposals require lots of water to operate properly, and add consider-ably to the volume of solids in a septic tank. That can lead to maintenance prob-lems. Start a compost pile as an alternate method of disposing of food waste.

• When washing dishes by hand, do not leave the water running for rinsing. If you have a double-basin, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have a single-basin sink, gather washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray device or a pan of hot water. Dual-swivel aerators are available to make this easier.

• Do not let the faucet run while you clean vegetables. Rinse them in a stop-pered sink or a pan of clean water. Use a dual-setting aerator.

• Keep a bottle of drinking water in the fridge. Running tap water to cool it off for drinking is wasteful. Store drink-ing water in the fridge in a safe drinking bottle. If you are filling water bottles to bring along on outdoor hikes, consider buying a LifeStraw personal water fil-ter, which enables users to drink water safely from rivers, lakes or any available body of water. n

Fifteen Ways to Conserve in the HomeA Word About Water

Escambia River

S E P T E M B E R 2015 25

Glades ElectricNeighbors Working for Neighbors

Smart, Savvy, Efficient ElectronicsBy Tom Tate

Gadgets, gadgets everywhere! With the cur-rent tech explosion, techies find themselves in a veritable paradise. Let’s take a look at some really cool and useful gadgets on the market today.

Security for the home and family is a top concern. How about a door lock you can control from a smartphone? August, Lockitron, Goji, Kevo Lock from Kwikset and others offer such locks. Using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, they provide such nifty features as remote moni-toring of lock status, temporary guest/contractor access, mul-tiple users and more.

Smart thermostats such as Nest and Lyric get the press, but practically anything you can imagine in your home can be con-trolled from that “super computer” in your pocket or purse.

A popular website, www.Smarthome.com, offers a variety of products. A search on “smartphone home automation” pro-duced 4,695 results. How is that for control?

The WeMo line by Belkin allows you to control individual lights and appliances through the use of their little plugs. Insert the WeMo plug in an outlet, and connect the light or appliance. Through your existing Wi-Fi network and the WeMo app, you

can create schedules and exercise control over your home.Phillips makes an individually controllable LED bulb

called Hue. Using its app, you can control the light level, on/off schedule and color. Phillips even developed a custom scenario for a SyFy channel series to re-create the mood of the series. You can achieve energy savings and create a party mood all at once.

When away from home, Smarthome’s Elertus ELRT-107 Wi-Fi Smart Sensor can monitor temperature and the

presence of water—say, from flooding or frozen pipes—among other things. While pricey, it could more than pay for itself in peace of mind and damage avoidance. Couple this with a smart water shutoff and, if you get a leak alert, you will be able to turn off the water to avoid damage—all from your smartphone.

If you envied Mr. Spock’s tricorder, check out Lapka. This sleek and elegant set of sensors allows you to measure elec-tromagnetic fields, radiation, temperature/humidity and the level of nitrates in foods to be sure they are truly organic. With Lapka, you can be sure your personal space is clean and healthy. All the results show up on the Lapka smartphone app.

From energy savings to security to convenience to fun, the market is full of products and apps that put you in control of your home and how it operates. It is a gadget-lover’s paradise. n

Tinkerers should check out www.littlebits.com. Snap together the pieces to make your own controls—perhaps a remote garage door sensor, a bark monitor or an Internet-based control for a window air conditioner unit. All are possible with the kit.

4 S E P T E M B E R 2015

If you attended the Glades Electric Cooperative Annual Meeting in March, you may have received a free light-emit-ting diode light bulb from our whole-sale power provider, Seminole Electric Cooperative.

Seminole’s gift was unlike most oth-ers you receive at business meetings and conferences. That LED bulb was a piece of the future placed in your hands.

These once-too-costly sources of illumination have become much more affordable in recent years. Add that to their workhorse durability and the LED market is poised to soar.

So what are LED bulbs all about? How are they different from previous technol-ogy? Let’s take a look.

Bulb Basics In LED bulbs, an electrical current passes through a tightly packed semiconductor chip (the diode), releasing energy in the form of light.

Unlike their predecessor, the compact fluorescent bulb, no mercury is inside LED bulbs. That makes them safer to use and discard.

Unlike their ancestor, the incandes-cent bulb, LEDs have no fragile filament, which makes them much more durable and longer lasting.

A well-built LED bulb will last up to 50,000 hours—17 years if it were on eight hours a day, every day. That is up to 50 times longer than a typical incandescent bulb and 10 times longer than a CFL.

Wallet-Friendly Until recently, the biggest obstacle for cooperative members to LED adoption was the cost. One LED bulb would set you back $50.

Now, a quality bulb, such as the one Seminole gave out, costs $8 to $12. That might sound expensive compared to the $1 incandescent bulbs you are used to buying, but factor in the long life of an LED, and you save money over time.

Add the savings on your electric bill to the savings on the cost of bulbs and the benefit is greater.

An LED bulb that gives off as much light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb uses as little as 10 watts of electricity. That means each LED bulb is contributing up to 83 percent less to your electric bill than the traditional bulb it replaces.

Please note: This does not mean your electric bill will decrease 83 percent. Your air conditioning unit—not lighting—con-tributes most to your bill.

Members should be cautious when bargain-hunting for LED bulbs. GEC is all about finding a good deal, but in this case, you get what you pay for. While you can find $5 LED bulbs, chances are they will not last as long.

Co-ops are DifferentIf LED bulbs use less electricity than

traditional bulbs, why are Seminole and GEC encouraging their use? The answer rests in the cooperative difference.

Because electric cooperatives are not-for-profit, our primary mission is to sup-ply members with the power they need safely, reliably and at a reasonable price. It is not to maximize profits.

When a product comes along that can help save our members money, we want to tell them about it—its positives and its negatives—and let them decide.

It is in keeping with the prin-ciples that guide electric cooperatives. Principle No. 5—Education, Training and Information—states that “coopera-tives provide education and training for members, elected representatives, manag-ers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperative.”

Don’t take our word for it. Do your own research. Buy a quality bulb. See how it compares, and if the durabil-ity and money-saving claims are true for you. Then decide whether to pursue making LED bulbs the dominant light source in your home. n

Shining a light on savingsThe cost to use different kinds of bulbs the same amount of time

Incandescent CFL LEDApprox. cost/bulb $1 $2 $8Average lifespan (hrs.) 1,200 10,000 50,000Watts used 60W 14W 10WBulbs to last 50,000 hrs 42 6 1Total cost on bulbs $42 $12 $8(50,000 hour span, 3 hrs/day = 23 yrs)

Total cost of electricity $354 $83 $59(based on 50K hours @ $0.118/kWh)

Total cost $396 $95 $67

(Source: National Rural Electric Cooperative Association)

See the Light With LEDsDon’t be tricked into buying a low-quality bulb

S E P T E M B E R 2015 5

Always look up and be aware of the surroundings

Glades ElectricNeighbors Working for Neighbors

After working in a field on a neighbor’s farm, Jim Flach parked his equipment and stepped out of the vehicle. Not realizing his equipment was touching an overhead power line, he became a path for the elec-trical current as he placed his foot onto the ground.

Jim received a severe electric shock that ultimately resulted in his death a few months later.

Safe Electricity urges farmers to take the proper precautions when working around power lines.

“The rush to harvest can lead to farmers working long days with little sleep,” cautions Kyla Kruse, com-munications director of the Energy Education Council and its Safe Electricity program. “It is important to take time for safety. Before starting work, make sure to note the location of overhead power lines.”

To stay safe around overhead power lines, Safe Electricity urges farm operators and workers to:

• Use a spotter when operating large machinery near power lines.

• Use care when raising augers or the bed of grain trucks around power lines.

• Keep equipment at least 10 feet from power lines at all times, in all directions.

• Inspect the height of farm equipment to deter-mine clearance.

• Always lower extensions when moving loads.• Never attempt to move a power line out of the

way or raise it for clearance. If a line is sagging or low, call Glades Electric Cooperative, (863) 946-6200.

If contact is made with a power line, stay on the equipment. Warn others to stay away, and call 911. Do not leave until the utility crew says it is safe to do so. The only reason to exit is if the equipment is on fire. If this is the case, jump off the equipment with your feet together, without touching the ground and the vehicle at the same time. Then, still keeping your feet together, hop to safety as you leave the area.

Additional tips from Safe Electricity include:• Do not use metal poles when breaking up

bridged grain inside and around grain bins.• Always hire qualified electricians for any elec-

trical issues. • Do not use equipment with frayed cables. “You need to double check, even triple check,

to see what is above you,” says Marilyn Flach, Jim’s widow.

His son Brett adds, “Be conscious of your sur-roundings. You need to keep your eyes open and beware of overhead lines.” nFor more electrical safety information, visit www.SafeElectricity.org. Safe Electricity is the outreach program of the Energy Education Council, a nonprofit organization with more than 400 electric cooperative members and many others who share the mission of educating the public about electrical safety and energy efficiency.

Watch for Hazards During Harvest

6 S E P T E M B E R 2015

Water Regulation Will be Costly By Mark Hayes

In May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers final-ized a water regulation that removes power and responsibility from local officials and relocates it to Washington, D.C.

WOTUS stands for “waters of the U.S.,” and defines what is subject to federal regulation under the federal Clean Water Act. These “waters” include the “60 percent of streams in the United States (that) flow only seasonally or when it rains,” as Ken Kopocis, the EPA acting assistant administrator for water, explained recently.

Currently, most of these are subject to state control.In this new regulation, the EPA and the Corps

maximized their regulatory reach by suggesting only federal employees can adequately protect our water. They did this without consulting state and local co-regulators. They continued down the path of more Washington-based decision making, meaning federal agencies will regulate everything from the Kissimmee River to ponds and dry creek beds that only temporarily have water after rainfall.

What does this mean for members of Glades Electric Cooperative? More regulated streams—with or without water in them—mean more federal per-mits to maintain and expand our electric distribution network of more than 2,680 miles of power lines. Past experience does not suggest a timely response.

The reliable electricity you pay for every month depends on a robust, well-maintained system—and our ability to quickly make necessary adjustments to keep your lights on. That is why we have been advo-cating for a new rule.

Glades Electric Cooperative takes the responsibil-ity to protect our land and water seriously. After all, we live here, too. But we believe this task belongs close to home, here in Florida, where folks under-stand the opportunities and challenges.

We believe Congress knew what it was doing when it gave the EPA, the Corps and the states shared responsibility for protecting our water: fed-eral jurisdiction over waters that support commerce,

interstate waters and U.S. territorial waters; state jurisdiction over everything else.

This arrangement made sense. Electric cooperatives across the country are work-

ing with other interested groups in supporting con-gressional action directing the EPA and the Corps to withdraw the rule, return to the drawing board and consult with affected parties—especially state and local governments—before reproposing anything. n

More permits will be required to maintain and expand the electric distribution system

S E P T E M B E R 2015 7

Shield Your Home From Energy Loss

Walls. Floors. Ceilings. Attic. These are some of the prime areas of a home that need insulation for you to maximize energy efficiency.

According to the Department of Energy, adding insulation to your home is a sound investment that is likely to quickly pay for itself in reduced util-ity bills. In fact, DOE estimates you can reduce your heating and cooling needs up to 30 percent by properly insulating and weatherizing your home.

If your home is more than 20 years old and was not specifically constructed for energy efficiency, additional insulation can likely reduce your energy bills and increase the comfort level of your home.

Savings for each home depends on several factors: the current level of insu-lation, climate, efficiency of the heating/cooling system and utility rates.

On average, older homes have less insulation than homes built today, but even adding insulation to a newer home can pay for itself within a few years.

Where do you start?First, determine the amount of insula-

tion already in the home. For those with the do-it-yourself spirit, conduct an insu-lation audit, looking for:

• Where your home is insulated, not insulated and/or should be insulated.

• The type of insulation.• The R-value and the thickness or

depth (inches) of the insulation.An area chronically under-insulated is

the attic. Whether you live in a cool or warm climate, attic insulation is essential to keep warm air inside in the winter, and prevent hot attic air from heating

living spaces in the summer. If the attic insulation level is R-19 or

less, consider bringing it up to R-38 in moderate climates and R-49 in cold cli-mates. For flooring in cold climates with R-11 or less insulation, consider bringing it up to R-25.

How Insulation WorksHeat flows naturally from a warmer space to a cooler space.

Winter months, this means heat moves directly from heated living spaces to adjacent unheated attics, garages, base-ments and even outdoors. It also can travel indirectly through interior ceilings, walls and floors—wherever there is a dif-ference in temperature.

Summer months, the opposite hap-pens: heat flows from the exterior to the interior of a home.

Proper installation of insulation cre-ates resistance to heat flow. Heat flow resistance is measured or rated in terms of its R-value. The higher the R-value, the

greater the insulation’s effectiveness. The more heat flow resistance the

insulation provides, the lower the heating and cooling costs.

Save Green by Going GreenToday, you have choices when selecting insulation for the home, including an environmentally friendly option made of recycled materials, such as scrap blue jeans. It looks similar to chopped up blue jeans and is treated for fire safety. With an insulating R-value similar to fiberglass insulation, this blue-jean insulation is a great option.

Get Started and Get SavingWhile an older home will never be as efficient as a new home, an insulation upgrade will make a noticeable difference in your energy use and wallet.

A well-insulated home is one of the most cost-effective means of saving energy and decreasing heating and cool-ing bills. n

INSULATING YOUR HOME TO LOCK IN EFFICIENCY AND SAVINGS

Adding insulation in the areas shown here may be the best way to improve your home's energy e�ciency. Insulate either the attic �oor or under the roof. Check with a licensed contractor about crawl space beneath your home.

Attic

Walls

Floors

Crawl Space Source: Department of Energy

Adequate insulation offers a blanket of protectionBy Anne Price

Glades ElectricNeighbors Working for Neighbors

S E P T E M B E R 2015 25

A Cooperative Day in Your Life

How did you spend your day? Chances are coop-eratives were a big part of it from dawn to bedtime. Take a moment to consider how cooperatives affect you every day.

Your morning orange juice might have come from Florida’s Natural, a producer-owned cooperative based in—you guessed it—Florida, but distributed throughout the U.S.

If your morning coffee came from Equal Exchange (www.equalexchange.coop), you get bonus points because the company sources its coffee from farmer-owned cooperatives in developing countries, and is a worker-owned cooperative.

Do you like milk in your coffee or on your cereal? More than 86 percent of fluid milk flows through a cooperative.

The wheat in your muffin or toast was most likely processed through a farmer-owned grain elevator in the Midwest. If you had cranberries in that muffin, they likely came from Ocean Spray, or maybe you used Land O’Lakes butter or Welch’s concord grape jam—all producer-owned cooperatives that make the products we love on our toast.

After that big cooperative breakfast, it is time to start the day. Working parents might drop off their young children at one of more than 1,000 preschool cooperatives that operate throughout the U.S.

Perhaps this is the day to make improvements to your home. Ace Hardware, True Value and Do It Best are purchasing cooperatives. These small busi-nesses come together to form a cooperative so they can compete with big box retailers not owned by people in the local community.

You stop by the credit union for a loan or pick up cash for that home project from one of 25,000 ATMs. More than 100 million people in the U.S. are members of a credit union, which is a cooperative.

On your way home, you visit one of the country’s

300 community-owned cooperative grocery stores. Many of the meat and vegetable products are sourced from cooperatives.

If you are in a hurry, you swing by KFC, Taco Bell or Pizza Hut to pick up dinner. The franchise own-ers of these fast food restaurants, Dunkin’ Donuts and many other franchises are members of a pur-chasing cooperative.

After dinner, you watch TV from one of more than 1,000 small cable companies that serve rural America, having come together to form a coop-erative that helps keep costs as low as possible. Or maybe you surf the Internet through services pro-vided by your local telecommunications cooperative.

Travel plans? Best Western is a purchasing cooperative.

When it is time for lights out, you flip that switch knowing you are receiving safe, reliable electricity from your local electric cooperative, your friends at Glades Electric Cooperative.

From morning until night, you can have a very cooperative day. n

People around the world rely on cooperatives to supply a variety of products and services, including food from this cooperative in the United Kingdom.

Cooperatives are all around us, from morning to night

By Adam Schwartz

S E P T E M B E R 2015 29