“All over the west, things are burning, and we see the smoke every morning, but certainly there's an impact to those that provide us electricity to these fires,” said Representative Newhouse. Rylee Fitzgerald reports. Read the whole story here: https://www.applevalleynewsnow.com/news/rep-newhouse-visits-benton-rea-prosser-substation-to-discuss-utility-wildfire-mitigation/article_3d8ae3ce-4f72-11ef-a705-af47eff0e08a.html
PROSSER, Wash. — Tuesday, Representative Dan Newhouse toured a new Benton REA substation in Prosser. He met with the Benton REA to discuss utility wildfire mitigation efforts. Fires are burning all around the Pacific Northwest, and Newhouse said the goal is to lessen the amount of fires, and minimize the catastrophic nature of wildfires.
“All over the west, things are burning, and we see the smoke every morning, but certainly there's an impact to those that provide us electricity to these fires, because they have to run lines through those areas that many times are burning,” said Rep. Newhouse, of the fourth district of Washington state.
When wildfires rage through, the risk of power-outages comes in.
“When it's hot like this, and power’s out, customers want that power restored as quickly as possible, so looking at ways that we can help with that, allow them to replace what they had with the latest and best technology to help improve the delivery of electricity and probably lessen the likelihood of sparks, or those kinds of things that happened that could cause a fire in the future,” said Rep. Newhouse.
Troy Berglund is the deputy general manager with the Benton REA, and the VP of member experience. He explained that power outages can be devastating to all industries.
“When you shut power off, whether it's from a fire or to avoid a fire, you know, the vulnerable population is affected. It affects businesses. It affects our members, like agriculture industries. Obviously, when there's irrigated crops and they don't have power to their pumps, that affects them dramatically, and potentially their crops. So, it is a significant factor,” said Berglund.
Benton REA is hoping the collaboration with Newhouse will impact utilities, liabilities and funding when it comes to wildfire mitigation.
“We're working with Congressman Newhouse just on, you know, the utilities limiting their liability. We're also looking at funding. So, when there are these disasters, how do we access funds to not only rebuild the system, but improve it so we avoid future problems,” said Berglund.
KENNEWICK, Wash. — The National Horseshoe Pitchers Association World Tournament kicked off Monday at the Toyota Center and Arena, and lasts through the weekend. This is the first time the horseshoe pitching world tournament has happened in the Tri-Cities, let alone Washington state, and the top-tier competition is open to the public.
BENTON COUNTY, Wash. — Benton County Fire District #6 battled a fire along Highway 14, Tuesday morning. The Canoe Ridge Road fire, now put out, threatened vineyards and a winery. It started west of Paterson, and brought crews of all kinds to the scene, including fire crews from all around the state, railway, electric and more.
PASCO, Wash. — The Pasco Public Facilities District board approved the validation report for the new Pasco Aquatics Facility at a recent meeting. The board went over a more-than-130-page report on the design, value delivery, project schedule and more. The validation process has lasted for around seven months.
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