I am writing to voice my support of Puget Sound Energy’s plans to: construct a second transmission line to serve Winslow and construct an additional substation in the Winslow area.
Let’s review the situation. Our comprehensive plans dictated that most of the population growth on our Island was to occur in Winslow, which it has.
The huge Harbor Square development, Madrona Village, most apartments, senior housing units, and numerous personal homes in Winslow are all heated exclusively with electricity.
While some of those who live in outlying areas have alternative heat sources – wood, propane or emergency generators – it is an unusual situation for any of those fuels to be used in a condo or apartment developments.
In addition to housing, there are numerous businesses in Winslow that rely on electricity to operate (duh!) and to serve the public. This includes grocery stores, medical facilities, gas stations and banks.
I fully support the right of individuals to utilize power sources of their own choosing in their own homes. Viva the solar panels and geo-thermal!
But for the majority of us here, these cutting-edge utilities are too expensive, and we need to go about our daily and work lives with a reasonable expectation of absolutely dependable power. And talk about fair.
As PSE customers, we only pay for the electricity we actually use, so if one family chooses to lower the thermostat, their efforts are rewarded with a reduced bill.
During the recent cold spell, when the electrical load was most certainly at its highest and we were each morally bound to try to reduce the electrical loads, we were told not to have fires in our wood stoves or fireplaces due to the air stagnation.
OK, so sometimes we cannot use alternative fuels to help cut back on electrical use. Is this a Catch-22 or what?
Hey, we live here! Some of the loudest complaints I have heard about the proposed transmission line come from people who admitted to me that they spend their winters as snow birds, and thus were unaware of exactly how many times the power went off in Winslow last winter alone.
For many of us, moving south for the chilly months is not an option.
If you agree with me that our community needs to do everything it can to assure that we all have sufficient electricity to go about daily life uninterrupted, I encourage you to express your support to PSE by writing to: Heather Brickey, Puget Sound Energy East, 355 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue, WA 98004. Or you can call her at (425) 456-2848.
If we don’t speak up, those members of our community who have decided that expanding local electrical capacity is an evil plan perpetrated by the greedy new owners of PSE will prevail, and we will all experience the discomfort, inconvenience and sometimes even danger of not having dependable power.
Sure, we can each do our best to reduce our personal energy use, but the community as a whole will benefit from the substation and the transmission line.
May we all stay warm!
Dee DuMont
Grow Avenue
