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The city of Boardman has lots to offer with its small town atmosphere and tranquil riverside setting. Home of the “rest area” by Oregon’s first Director of Parks and city namesake, Samuel Boardman, the population of a little over 3,000 relaxes on easy pastures and sustained transportation work. Boardman’s largest employers are international potato giants Lamb-Weston and Logan International, which supply both national and international clients; agriculture is a large portion of what sustains Boardman’s economic drive. The people of Boardman enjoy fishing, golfing, water sports and the rodeo, as is highlighted on Boardman’s official website. The town is most recognized, however, for its impressive industrial transportation port, the Port of Morrow, which is touted as the largest industrial port in Oregon east of Portland.
 

The Port of Morrow is also home to the Boardman Turbine Coal Plant, the Portland General Electric-owned coal-fire plant most recently set for closure in 2020. The Sierra Club has been on this the plant since 1998 due to violations of the Clean Air Act and most recently the nonprofit has been critiquing its plan for closure. What this blogger wonders, among other environmental concerns, is what PGE plans to do with the existing infrastructure and employee population. Due to its capacity of 550 MWs and 15% of PGE’s energy generation, alternatives must be found to secure the same (or better) employment for those who work for the plant.

PGE could choose to establish Coyote Springs III in conjunction with the company’s two preceding natural gas plants, Coyote Springs I & II. While this modification would break little ground in the clean energy sector, as natural gas still emits quite a bit of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere contributing to the green house gas effect, it is a feasible operations switch due to PGE’s sustained activity in natural gas. This switch would require retraining employees, changes and adjustments to current equipment, as well as backlash and lost customers due to increased rates to reach closure by 2020. It’s a big expense, but so is continuing to use coal. The EPA is developing a new standard for hazardous air pollutants this year that will certainly put PGE in a bind if they go back on its 2020 closure plan, as highlighted in an article from OPB.

However, as the adage goes, when one door closes another clean energy door opens. On the front is the Caithness Shepherds Flat Development scheduled to become the world’s biggest wind generation facility sponsored by Caithness Energy, LLC and GE Energy Financial Services. The facility was made possible by a Departament of Energy loan of $1.3 billion and will have a capacity of up to 909 MWs. Where is the location for this new development? Eastern Oregon and more specifically, Morrow County. This type of project has not been realized in any other part of the nation and will create jobs and an opportunity for Eastern Oregon to really shine in the renewable energy market. An article highlighting the advantages of the facility and current policy maker’s critiques can be found at the DOE’s site here.

Will there be backlash amongst energy facilities? Energy unit rates will be the squabble here. The median income is just under $40K and Boardman boasts of its scenery and park restoration, a possible variable of friction when considering the size of the Caithness Shepherds plant at an estimate of 32,000 acres. It would be interesting to get a poll of how the city views the upcoming closure of one plant and the production of another. The city of Boardman is a sign of the times we face ahead; replacing old energy with new, renewable, sustainable energy has us at Focus the Nation hopeful in reaching our clean economy goals.

I had the opportunity today to hear President Obama speak at my campus, Penn State University. President Obama came to Penn State to speak with scientists and engineers about the future of innovation and energy. Once he finished meeting with them, he spoke in front of an eager crowd about young Americans in the energy industry. I found it very inspiring when he spoke because he spoke with such excitement and positivitiy for the future of energy efficiency and how there is a need, more than ever, for energy efficient buildings, and new technology that can help reduce our energy consumption. President Obama then said a startling statistic about how 40% of our overall energy consumption comes from energy use by homes and businesses, which blew my mind away. After I heard that, it made me excited for my event more than ever because we are specifically planning to have a speaker come in and talk about the effects of energy use, and how even we as students who live in residence halls and apartments on and off campus can make small changes in our every day life to reduce our overall energy consumption.

I do believe that it was a perfect time for President Obama to come speak at our campus because this ties in to our event perfectly considering our theme is "Green Jobs, Green Energy, Green Futures". To me, nothing promotes that more than having the president of the United States come to your school and fully support an opporunity to host an event such as the Focus the Nation Clean Energy Forum.

Check out Matt Tumlinson from Columbia Gorge Community College speak out about their event on February 24th!

Check out this great article, found in the Bangor Daily News, about the Clean Energy Forum being held at Northern Maine Community College HERE.