Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, doing business as Clark Public Utilities
and commonly referred to as Clark PUD, is a
public utility district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
in Clark County, Washington. Clark PUD provides electric service to all of Clark County except for the
Georgia-Pacific
Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, toilet and paper towel dispensers, packaging, building products and ...
Camas Paper Mill Camas may refer to:
*Camas Bookstore and Infoshop in British Columbia, Canada.
* Camas, Seville, Spain
*Camas, Idaho, United States
*Camas, Montana, United States
*Camas, Washington, United States
* Camas County, Idaho, United States
* Camas prairie ...
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
, which have their own municipal water systems.
Organization
After previous attempts in 1934 and again in 1936 failed, Clark PUD was formed by
referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...
in 1938, when the citizens of Clark County approved a proposal to create a municipal
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
to provide electric service to the County under the laws of the State of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. At the time, Clark County's electric service was being provided by two private utility companies,
Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - 44% of the inhabitant ...
(PGE) served the Vancouver area, and the Northwest Electric Company (NEC) served the remainder of rural Clark County. Both companies had waged vigorous campaigns to defeat the measure, and did not readily withdraw from the County even after the measure was approved.
As a public entity, Clark PUD was to be led by a three-member
county commission
A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually compris ...
charged with overseeing the utility. Clark PUD's first commissioners were elected simultaneously to the creation of the district, they were Heye H. Meyer, L. M. Jones, and Adolf Ast.
Clark PUD is overseen by the Board of Commissioners, who hire and supervise a General Manager, set policy, approve budgets, establish rates, and approve major expenses. The General Manager oversees day-to-day operations of the District.
Current members of the Board of Commissioners
* Nancy Barnes
* Jim Malinowski
* Jane Van Dyke
History timeline
*1938: Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County was formed following a vote of the citizens of Clark County.
*1939: Clark PUD entered into negotiations with the
Bonneville Power Administration
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is an American federal agency operating in the Pacific Northwest. BPA was created by an act of Congress in 1937 to market electric power from the Bonneville Dam located on the Columbia River and to con ...
(BPA) to secure access to electric power supplies.
*1940: Clark PUD submitted offers to buy out the Clark County assets of PGE and NEC, but both companies refused the offers.
*1941: Citizens from the Lincoln Avenue, Minnehaha, and Bryn Lawn neighborhoods asked Clark PUD to provide water service to an area north of the City of Vancouver's water system. A public hearing was scheduled to consider the request, but the process was interrupted by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
entering
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
*1942: Amidst the war effort, one of the seven
Kaiser Shipyards
The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The shipyards were owned by the Kais ...
was built on the north shore of the Columbia River at Ryan Point in Vancouver, to participate in the war effort by producing
Liberty ships
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...
and
Victory ships
The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slig ...
, and with it came plans to build several war housing projects. The City of Vancouver created a
housing authority
A housing authority or ministry of housing is generally a governmental body that governs aspects of housing or (called in general " shelter" or "living spaces"), often providing low rent or free apartments to qualified residents. The existence of ...
to operate the projects, and Clark PUD successfully outbid PGE and NEC to serve what would later become the MacLoughlin Heights neighborhood of Vancouver. At 12:00 noon on August 21, the Air Reduction Company (today part of
Linde
Linde may refer to:
Places
*Lindes and Ramsberg Mountain District, a former district in Sweden, see Lindesberg Municipality
*Lipka, Złotów County, a village in Poland, called Linde before World War II
Rivers
*Linde (Tollense), a river of Meckle ...
), which was built in Vancouver to serve as an
acetylene
Acetylene ( systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pur ...
producer for the new shipyard, became Clark PUD's first customer, receiving electricity purchased and delivered by the new public utility company. Three days later, Clark PUD began service to the new housing projects. The Vancouver Linde plant is still in operation at its original site, a 4715 NE 78th StGoogle Street View .
*1944: After unproductive negotiations with PGE and NEC, Clark PUD adopted a resolution to acquire the electric transmission and distribution assets in Clark County from both companies through court action.
*1945: The
Washington Court of Appeals
The Washington Court of Appeals is the intermediate level appellate court for the state of Washington. The court is divided into three divisions. Division I is based in Seattle, Division II is based in Tacoma, and Division III is based in Spoka ...
in Tacoma set a purchase price of $801,000 on PGE's assets in Clark County, and Clark PUD floated revenue bonds to finance the purchase. Clark PUD was approached again from residents asking the District to provide water service, this time in the Hazel Dell area north of Vancouver.
*1948: The Superior Court of Clark County set a purchase price of $4,837,500 on NEC's assets in Clark County, and Clark PUD subsequently obtained the remainder of privately held electric delivery assets in the County except for the Crown Columbia paper mill in Camas (which was served by NEC via subtransmission lines from
Troutdale, Oregon
Troutdale is a city in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States, immediately north of Gresham and east of Wood Village. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 15,962. The city serves as the western gateway to the Historic Columbia Rive ...
, across the Columbia River). Through obtaining these assets, Clark PUD also began serving a small number of customers in southeast
Cowlitz County
Cowlitz County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 110,730. The county seat is Kelso, and its largest city is Longview. The county was formed in April 1854. Its name derives from the ...
north of
Lake Merwin
Lake Merwin is a reservoir on the Lewis River (Washington), Lewis River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies on the border between Clark County, Washington, Clark County and Cowlitz County, Washington, Cowlitz County. It was ...
and west of
Yale Lake
Yale Lake is a 3,780 acre LewisRiver.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 July 2010.
Skamania County
Skamania County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,036. The county seat and largest incorporated city is Stevenson, although the Carson River Valley CDP is more populous. The c ...
east of Washougal. The Camas Mill remains a customer of NEC's successor, PacifiCorp, to the present day, and it is still not electrically connected to Clark PUD.
*1951: Clark PUD formally commenced water service with delivery to its first 357 customers in the Hazel Dell neighborhood.
*1989: The citizens of the City of La Center voted to establish a municipal wastewater system, to be managed by Clark PUD.
*1997: Clark PUD began operation of its own electric generation facility, the 230MW natural gas combined-cycle River Road Generating Plant, located in southwest Vancouver a 5201 NW Old Lower River Rd to supplement the purchase of energy supplies from BPA.
*2006: Ownership of the wastewater treatment plant in La Center was transferred back to the City of La Center, and Clark PUD ceased wastewater management operations.
*2007: Public Utility District No. 1 of Cowlitz County (Cowlitz PUD) purchased Clark PUD's assets that were located within Cowlitz County, in anticipation of extending their own distribution system to serve the approximately 50 Cowlitz County customers served by Clark PUD. Cowlitz PUD's extension construction was completed in early 2010, and they successfully established service to that territory on February 17 of that year, ending Clark PUD electric service to Cowlitz County. Clark PUD still serves two customers in Skamania County who have not yet been reached by Public Utility District No. 1 of Skamania County (Skamania PUD).
Operations
Clark PUD's electric service area is approximately 657 square miles and covers all of Clark County, except for approximately 500 acres in Camas occupied by the Georgia-Pacific Camas Paper Mill. The electric system consists of 55 substations and switching stations, one generating plant, and approximately 6,600 miles of transmission and distribution power lines. Other electric infrastructure assets not owned by Clark PUD remain in Clark County but do not serve any local customers; BPA, headquartered in Clark County, owns and operates three major substations and several transmission lines in the county, and
PacifiCorp
PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the western United States.
PacifiCorp has two business units:
# Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington.
# ...
(successor of NEC) owns and operates two hydroelectric dams along Clark County's northern boundary along with their associated transmission lines.
Clark PUD's established water service area is approximately 220 square miles, but the District's responsibility to operate new water systems covers almost all of unincorporated central and northern Clark County except for areas served by the Cities of Battle Ground and Ridgefield. The primary water system and all of the satellite systems combined include 35 wells, 51 booster pump stations, and approximately 788 miles of water mains and distribution lines.
The District employs approximately 380 personnel, and serves approximately 194,000 customers. The Vancouver Service Center located at 1200 Fort Vancouver Way () serves as the District's primary administration and business office, and the Orchards Service Center located at 8600 NE 117th Avenue () serves as the District's primary operations center.
Approximately 30% of Clark PUD's electricity needs are met through operation of the River Road Generating Plant, with the majority of the remainder met through purchases from BPA. Clark PUD also has a share of the
wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historicall ...
generated from the Combine Hills II Wind Farm in
Milton-Freewater, Oregon
Milton-Freewater is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. The city received its current name in 1951 when the neighboring rival cities of Milton and Freewater voted to merge. The population was 7,151 at the 20 ...
, as well as a share of the generation from the Packwood Lake Hydroelectricity Project near
Packwood, Washington
Packwood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in easternmost Lewis County, Washington, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 319, while the town and surrounding Packwood co ...
.
Clark PUD maintains transmission interties with BPA and PacifiCorp, and distribution interties for emergency distribution service with Cowlitz PUD and Skamania PUD.