POPULARITY
5 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
2 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
2 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
2 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
2 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
2 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
3 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
2 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
2 episodes with Puget Sound Energy
Since her first power sector job with Pacific Gas & Electric, Hannah Bascom knew she wanted to focus on people and clean energy — not on what she calls “the pipes and wires part of the business.”That interest led her to Nest in early 2014, just a few months after Google had acquired it. Almost a decade later, she moved on to SPAN and then Uplight, a technology partner for energy providers. Today, as Uplight's chief growth officer, Hannah thinks more than ever about how people interact with energy — and how to better manage that demand.This week on With Great Power, Hannah talks with Brad about the vital role of demand side management, also known as DSM, for managing load growth, and why she thinks leveraging the demand stack can help utilities to better manage that growth. They also discuss how Puget Sound Energy is using a VPP and rate program to reduce peak demand. And she talks about the important role that rate design can play in encouraging consumers to electrify their homes.With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter.Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick and Mary Catherine O'Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.
Dozens of major companies have sent a letter to Washington's governor and state legislature to "review and revise" the tax and budget proposals, saying they threaten the state's economic stability.Alaska Airlines, Amazon, Costco, Microsoft, Nordstrom, PSE, Zillow, T-Mobile, Redfin, Virginia Mason, WaFd Bank, Weyerhaeuser, Puget Sound Energy, and the Seattle Mariners were among the co-signers on the letter addressed to Gov. Bob Ferguson, State Senate Leader Jamie Pedersen, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, and Minority leaders John Braun and Drew Stokesbury.This comes a day after Ferguson said he would veto any bill with a proposed wealth tax off the table in any spending package amid approvals by the House and Senate for a slew of new taxes.
This Line Life Podcast episode highlights the 25-year career of Jon Backman, an IBEW journeyman lineworker, troubleman for Puget Sound Energy and founder of Making Connections, LLC. The graduate of Northwest Lineman College started in the line trade in the utility line clearance program before joining an apprenticeship program at a municipality in Washington State. When he topped out as a journeyman, he worked as a lineworker for a PUD in Washington State and then moved to Puget Sound Energy to work as a troubleman or electric first responder. In his current role, he responds to storms and outages and serves his community. To learn more about Jon, read his profile in the April 2025 Lineworker Focus department and his article about RFI troubleshooting coming up in T&D World's May 2025 Electric Utility Operations section. If you know of a journeyman lineworker we should consider profiling in Lineworker Focus and have as a guest on our Line Life Podcast, email me at amyfischbach@gmail.com. Also, listen and subscribe to the Line Life Podcast at linelife.podbean.com to become part of our community.
This Line Life Podcast episode highlights the 25-year career of Jon Backman, an IBEW journeyman lineworker, troubleman for Puget Sound Energy and founder of Making Connections, LLC. The graduate of Northwest Lineman College started in the line trade in the utility line clearance program before joining an apprenticeship program at a municipality in Washington State. When he topped out as a journeyman, he worked as a lineworker for a PUD in Washington State and then moved to Puget Sound Energy to work as a troubleman or electric first responder. In his current role, he responds to storms and outages and serves his community. To learn more about Jon, read his profile in the April 2025 Lineworker Focus department and his article about RFI troubleshooting coming up in T&D World's May 2025 Electric Utility Operations section. If you know of a journeyman lineworker we should consider profiling in Lineworker Focus and have as a guest on our Line Life Podcast, email me at amyfischbach@gmail.com. Also, listen and subscribe to the Line Life Podcast at linelife.podbean.com to become part of our community.
Puget Sound Energy is considering moving power lines underground to prevent outages. Jeff Bezos announced some big changes to the opinion section of the Washington Post. Bruce Harrell and the Downtown Seattle Association provided an update on the state of Downtown. // Big Local: The City of Tacoma just spent money to virtue signal. Just hours after King County and the local transit union reached an agreement to create a safety task force, someone was shot at the Renton Metro Transit Center. A teen in Kennewick was arrested in an armed robbery at a coffee shop. // You Pick the Topic: Jake Tapper is releasing a very ironic book about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.
In this illuminating episode of the TLC, Tend Life Community Podcast, we dive into the transformative world of solar energy with Manuel Larrain, the marketing manager with Northwest Electric and Solar. Thinking about solar panels for your roof or the sleek Tesla Solar Roof? Wondering how to store and optimize solar energy for your home or business? Manuel walks us through the possibilities, touching on everything from energy efficiency to the environmental benefits of going solar. We also shed light on the financial perks, including potential federal tax credits for solar installations that make the transition even more appealing. With energy rates on the rise—especially for Puget Sound Energy customers—solar can be your ticket to long-term savings while staying ahead of rate hikes. But it's not all watts and wires! In our signature Sipping on Success segment, we uncorked a bottle Barrage Cellars 2019 Red Mountain Malbec wine to toast innovation and sustainability. Because what pairs better with sunny solutions than a glass of perfectly aged inspiration? Whether you're dreaming of a Tesla Solar Roof, considering battery storage, or simply exploring ways to outsmart utility bills, this episode is packed with bright ideas, financial insights, and a few wine-inspired chuckles.
Puget Sound Energy is assuring its King County customers that they will get their power back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. MSNBC is terrified of Trump’s new AG pick Pam Bondi. An elderly woman in Seattle drove her car off the roof of a house and somehow didn’t suffer any injuries. WSDOT said a new project on I-5 is going to obstruct traffic for 3 years. Guest: Desirae Aylesworth is the co-owner of Wild Mountain Cafe in Seattle’s Crown Hill neighborhood. Yet another small business that was broken in to. // Democrats’ radicalism moved the entire country to the right. Nancy Mace is receiving unhinged death threats for her opposition to trans women using the women’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill. Ana Navarro of ‘The View’ says you’re a bigot if you don’t want transgender women to go into a women’s bathroom. A state rep in Montana says that trans women are just as biologically female as ‘cis women.’ // Washington State University researchers have developed an AI model that can detect a whole host of health problems. UW Medical Center has a treatment that can cure depression with electrical currents.
Election results are still coming in for Washington's tightest races. Most of the voter initiatives went down to defeat this year. But one -- Initiative 2066 -- is poised for success. It targets natural gas regulations by rolling back pieces of a big law forcing Puget Sound Energy to explore electrification and likely knocking down new building codes that makes installing natural gas in new construction harder. It's passing by a slim margin: just over 3 percentage points. But not so fast, because opponents of 2066 say they're gearing up to take the issue of natural gas from the ballot to the courts. They plan to file a legal challenge over the constitutionality of the initiative. Soundside was joined by guests from both the YES and NO on 2066 campaigns to hear their thoughts on the election results and where the initiative is headed next. Guests: Molly Gallagher, Statewide Poverty Action Network, and Leah Missik, the acting Washington Director of the nonprofit Climate Solutions (No 2066) Jan Himebaugh, director of external affairs at the Building Industry Association of Washington (Yes 2066) Related Links: KUOW - Will natural gas be turned off in Washington state? Voices for and against Initiative 2066 Misleading methane gas initiative barely passes after days of “too close to call” - NO on 2066 BIAW celebrates Initiative 2066 election results protecting natural gas choice - Building Industry Association of Washington See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A number of Washington cities have approved declarations publicly opposing ballot initiatives on next month's ballot, with at least initiative supporter hinting that money is playing a key role in these decisions by various city councils. The four initiatives are as follows: Business Industry Association of Washington-sponsored Initiative 2066 would repeal provisions of a new state law aimed at hastening Puget Sound Energy's transition away from natural gas by prohibiting the state and all local governments from banning, restricting or discouraging the use of natural gas in new or existing homes or commercial buildings.
This election season we're bringing you conversations on all of the statewide initiatives on this November's ballot -- and this year, many of those initiatives have something to do with Washington's ambitious goals to completely transition off of fossil fuels. Last week we heard about Initiative 2117, which would repeal a key part of Washington's Climate Commitment Act. Today, we're talking about Initiative 2066. This one's about natural gas. If passed, the measure would repeal parts of a natural gas law passed earlier this year. In a nutshell, the law was designed to push Puget Sound Energy into developing a plan for transitioning away from natural gas. This is where Initiative 2066 comes into the picture. It's supported by many of the critics of this year's natural gas law – including building and hospitality associations. Simply speaking, the initiative is aimed at guaranteeing utility customers' access to natural gas by repealing certain provisions in this year's earlier natural gas bill, 1589, and changing state building codes. I-2066 would prohibit penalties for using natural gas in construction, limit the ability of building codes to discourage the use of natural gas, and keep utility officials from making planning decisions that make natural gas cost-prohibitive. Initiative supporters have branded it a “ban” on natural gas bans. Over the next two days, we'll hear from a supporter of the initiative to repeal provisions in this year's natural gas law…. and an opponent of the initiative. For the "No" side of the issue, Soundside spoke with Leah Missik, the acting Washington Director of the nonprofit “Climate Solutions.” She's also on the executive team for the "No on 2066" campaign. Guests: Leah Missik, acting Washington Director of the nonprofit “Climate Solutions” and a member on the executive team for the "No on 2066" campaign. Related Links: NO on I-2066: Keep energy affordable in Washington (no2066.org) Measure to prevent phasing out of natural gas in WA is on track for November ballot • Washington State Standard City Inside/Out: Gas or green? Debate over natural gas heads to voters | seattlechannel.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Puget Sound Energy has signed a 25 year contract to purchase energy from a wind farm being built in Central Montana.
Industry benchmarks helped Jenny Haykin, integrated leaves and accommodations program manager for Puget Sound Energy, identify "excessive leave utilization" and reduce short-term disability by 45%! Listen in to learn how she did it. DMEC resources referenced in the episode:DMEC AbsenceExemplar™ Benchmarking DashboardsStrategies for Managing Excessive Use of Leave2024 DMEC Annual Conference
What’s Trending: Puget Sound Energy is urging people to use less energy as we are in the middle of a heat wave. They cannot handle the demand of energy during this time. An Ace Hardware made the news for their uptick in AC unit sales as people always fail to prepare for the heat wave. Jason tells us the story of when he got stuck in the middle of nowhere because of his rented EV running out of battery. Many Democrats are calling for President Joe Biden to step down and pass the torch to someone else // LongForm: GUEST: William O’Neal is a 21-year veteran of the Army. He called out a local building management firm for flying a tattered American flag above a pristine-condition LGBT Pride flag // The Quick Hit: Who is really making the decisions for the Biden Administration? Rep. Maxine Waters is convinced that it Trump wins the 2024 election, he will go after black people
Virtual power plants are an old idea being revolutionized by new technology. VPPs bundle distributed energy resources, such as rooftop solar, demand response, energy storage and electric-vehicle chargers, into a single grid-scale resource. Proponents say they are essential to decarbonizing and meeting growing demand. The U.S. Department of Energy says VPPs could provide as much as 20 percent of demand in 2030. John Manetti and Aaron August come on Energy West to talk about Puget Sound Energy's VPP, which launched in November. It is about 30 MW now. The company plans to expand it to at least 86 MW by the end of 2025 and could provide 10 percent or more of the company's demand in just a few years.
There is ongoing debate over a newly-enacted law and its effect on natural gas in Washington state. The state's largest utility provider says it does not affect natural gas for new or future customers, but others argue that the new provisions set the stage for turning the shut-off valve for good. House Bill 1589 signed by Gov. Jay Inslee last month consolidates Puget Sound Energy's planning for both electrical and natural gas. While opponents claim it bans natural gas, PSE recently put out a fact sheet arguing that it does not. At the same time, it references provisions of a separate bill enacted in 2019, Senate Bill 5116, which requires all utilities meet various energy portfolio requirements. Under the Clean Energy Transformation Act, utilities must have 80% non-emitting energy sources by 2030 and 100% non-emitting by 2045. Full Story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/washington/article_297d6c46-f69c-11ee-93ab-f3947ebf1a46.html --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/washington-in-focus/support
Governor Inslee signed a Democrat bill that he says creates the roadmap and tools for Puget Sound Energy to get out of the natural gas business. What does that mean? Senator Chris Gildon provides a comprehensive explanation of this controversial new law. The post Elephant in the Dome Podcast: Inslee signs Democrat bill to transition largest utility away from natural gas – Gildon breaks down implications appeared first on Senate Republican Caucus.
Puget Sound Energy is challenging claims that a recent bill signed into law restricts or eliminates natural gas service, calling it "misinformation." This session, the Washington State Legislature enacted Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1589, which was signed last week by Gov. Jay Inslee. The bill was proposed during last year's session, but failed to clear both chambers. Among its provisions are the consolidation of PSE's planning process for both electric and natural gas services. Initially, the bill also removed PSE's legal obligation to provide existing natural gas service to customers, while banning future natural gas hookups to new commercial or residential construction. Full Story: https://www.thecentersquare.com/washington/article_4496751c-f071-11ee-8146-73fac6fee36b.html --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/washington-in-focus/support
PHILLIS' BIO Phyllis Campbell is one of the most prolific leaders in the Pacific Northwest and has had a remarkable five-decade career. She currently serves on the boards of Remitly, SanMar, Air Transport Services Group, Allen Institute and is the Edward Fritzky Chair in Leadership at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business. Until a few years ago, she served as Chairman of the Pacific Northwest Region for JPMorgan Chase, preceded by leading The Seattle Foundation as CEO and served President of U.S.Bank of Washington. She previously held seats on the boards of Nordstrom, Puget Sound Energy, Safeco, Alaska Airlines, Washington Roundtable and was Chairman of the US-Japan Council. Phillys has received several awards for her corporate and community involvement, including Women Who Make A Difference and Director of the Year from the Northwest Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors. She writes and speaks often on topics that include high performing teams, board effectiveness, business strategy, leadership, authenticity and purpose. Phyllis holds a bachelor's degree from Washington State University and an MBA from the University of Washington. PHYLLIS RELATED LINKS PJC Website Allen Institute - Profile Remitly + ATSG - Boards Career Thoughts WSU Honor GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepod.podbean.com/ Javier's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/javiersaade & Bio: https://tinyurl.com/yykxum8a SUPPORT & CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/96934564 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551086203755 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOPOFGAMEpod Subscribe on Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/vLKLE1SKjf6G Email us: info@topofthegame-thepod.com THANK YOU FOR LISTENING – AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS
One of the most controversial bills passed by the Washington State Legislature this session has yet to be signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee. Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1589, dubbed by critics as the "natural gas ban bill," would allow utilities – that is, Puget Sound Energy – to start planning how to move away from natural gas. Inslee is expected to sign the bill, a cornerstone of Inslee's agenda to fight climate change, into law. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/washington-in-focus/support
Democrats in the state Legislature passed a bill requested by Puget Sound Energy that insulates PSE from paying for state-mandated carbon-reduction goals by cutting off gas natural service to its customers. Listen to what Republican Senators John Braun, Chris Gildon, Drew MacEwen, Perry Dozier, Shelly Short and Matt Boehnke have to say about it. The post Elephant in the Dome Podcast: The natural gas ban – HB 1589 – selling out Washington families for corporate interests appeared first on Senate Republican Caucus.
Ecoterrosim from the left is happening, like banning natural gas. One of the main utilities in the separate country of Washington has lobbied to ban natural gas in new construction. But, that won't last. They intend to make you change over from gas to electric in your house or apartment. The cost is going to be enormous. Zach Abraham believes that this may be the thing that breaks the back of the party that runs Washington. He predicts that there will be a huge drain, because the advantages in living in other parts of the country will be so much greater.What does God's Word say? Matthew 6:2424 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.Episode 1,453 Links:Statement from Rep. Mary Dye on final passage of Puget Sound Energy natural gas bill4Patriots https://4Patriots.com/Todd Stay connected when the power goes out and get free shipping on orders over $97. Alan's Soaps https://alanssoaps.com/TODD Use coupon code ‘TODD' to save an additional 10% off the bundle price. Bioptimizers https://bioptimizers.com/todd Use promo code TODD for 10% of your order and get up to 2 travel size bottles of Magnesium Breakthrough free. Bonefrog https://bonefrogcoffee.com/todd Use code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your first purchase and 15% on subscriptions. Bulwark Capital Bulwark Capital Management (bulwarkcapitalmgmt.com) Call 866-779-RISK or visit online to get their FREE Common Cents Investing Guide. GreenHaven Interactive Digital Marketing https://greenhaveninteractive.com Your Worldclass Website Will Get Found on Google!
Is it possible to generate renewable energy, beef, and wildlife habitat in the same space? Long-time collaborators Puget Sound Energy, WSU Extension, Stingley Ranches, and Washington Dept of Fish & Wildlife have proven the reality of this unlikely combination for more than 15 years on sagebrush ecosystems in the Intermountain West. The Wild Horse Coordinated Resource Management group has been managing grazing and a wide diversity of wildlife species on a wind energy facility since 2007, with a stable grazing process, abundant non-game and game species, and power for 80,000 households. The wind farm has facilitated, rather than diminished, habitat conservation through funding rehabilitation, stockwater, and innovative grazing in addition to preventing housing development on extraordinarily valuable habitat. Transcript and links at https://artofrange.com/episodes/aor-126-renewable-energy-wildlife-grazing-jeff-tayer-ryan-stingley-jennifer-galbraith.
Comedian and actor Richard Lewis is dead at the age of 76. KNOW IT ALL: 1) Biden is headed to the border. 2) Puget Sound Energy proposes hefty rate hikes to pay for hydro and wind power. 3) Don't use rice for your wet smartphone. 4) Seattle is the least churched city in America. // Exploring the root causes of the border crisis. How El Salvador became a safer country to live in. // Why does Biden keep giving impromptu press conferences in front of his helicopter when no one can hear or understand him?
The Washington House of Representatives has passed a bill initially introduced last year banning Puget Sound Energy from providing natural gas in new residential or commercial construction. http://tinyurl.com/29cjcv2p #TheCenterSquareWashington #WashingtonStateHouseofRepresentatives #SenateEnvironmentEnergyTechnologyCommittee #HouseBill1589 #PugetSoundEnergy #NaturalGasBan #ResidentialorCommercialConstruction #WashingtonState #VancouverWa #ClarkCountyWa #ClarkCountyNews #ClarkCountyToday
Sometimes, the thing that holds us back from realizing our genius is having the courage and skill to share it. This week's guest on the Realizing Genius Podcast helps kids find their voice. After the trauma of childhood abuse, today Jackie Bailey is the founder and executive director of The Speak Feed Lead Project, which has empowered hundreds of children, teens, and adults with confident, courageous voices shared on global stages, competitions, podcasts, and books. As an award-winning team-builder, educator, leader, and coach, Jackie has been a featured speaker at corporate events at Microsoft, Smith-Barney, Puget Sound Energy, Fred Hutch Cancer Care Alliance, and at mega events like The Voices of Women Summit, Family Matters Summit, Health Wealth Wisdom, and The Best You Expo where she shared stages with Marissa Peer, Mas Sajadi, Bernardo Moya, Bill Walsh, and Kim Serafini. Jackie shares resources and opportunities for your kids and you to gain the confidence to share your voice. Be sure to check out Speaksgiving! Speaksgiving is a live-streaming event featuring youth and adults who want to share their gratitude for having a VOICE! You can speak! You can share your message with the world! Let's help kids, teens, and young adults know they have VOICES to share, too! The SpeaksGiving event will be live on Facebook from 1:00 - 4:00 pm Pacific time on November 28th, 2023. When you give a gift of any amount, you'll receive the Zoom link to join the SpeaksGiving event. Show up any time during the event and SHARE YOUR VOICE! This is a fantastic opportunity for kids and parents! Find out more on the podcast. LINKS Website: https://www.speakfeedlead.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpeakFeedLead Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakfeedlead/?hl=en Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/SELFishBowl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-bailey-4532287/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-UK77I3lt7K2X64e6UXX0g Life Mastery Radio with Todd & Jackie: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr2yBJME1dAiGTT4wNddomg
Antisemitic incidents increasing in WA, Puget Sound Energy wants to raise rates, and construction begins for Seattle's first protected intersection. It's our daily roundup of Seattle's top news stories from host Paige Browning.
Earlier this month, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved a request by Puget Sound Energy to increase its natural gas rates to cover the costs of the state's cap-and-trade program under the Climate Commitment Act. However, the approval also carried with it a stipulation that the utility provider could not show on customers' bills the reason for the rate increase, a decision that was recommended by the Washington Attorney General's Office. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/washington-in-focus/support
Representatives from Puget Sound Energy and Avista Corp. explain how you can get new equipment upgrades and enjoy significant rebates. You will also hear from Alteza, a company that specializes in hospitality equipment and that offers help with applying for the rebates. PSE's presentation: https://wahospitality.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WHA_PSE-Rebates-Presentation_8-30-2023.pdf Avista's presentation: https://wahospitality.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Avista_8.30.2023-WA-Hospitality-Association-Webinar-Slides.pdf Avista's EV options for Washington businesses: https://wahospitality.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Avista_EV-Options-for-WA-Businesses_8.30.2023.pdf Find Alteza at https://altezausa.com/ Subscribe to Washington Hospitality Industry Podcast on Soundwise
"They don't want people to know they're being harmed by government policies", says Washington Policy Center environmental policy analyst, Todd Myers, about the Washington State Utilities Commission deciding against alerting customers of Puget Sound Energy that their bill for using natural gas is now going up. Instead the utility will tell rate payers by e-mail or snail mail. Myers explains the new tax hike on WA energy bills and the "brazenly dishonest" decision. Myers says the public counsel within the WaUC said the billing info "needed to be hidden" and adds that decision on the monthly billing statements is "contrary to the spirit of Washington State constitution and law. How WA Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, how now been caught up in this anti-consumer and anti-taxpayer fiasco.
Host Gina Stark talks about Puget Sound Energy on this episode of The Whatcom Report.
In the latest episode of the Energy West podcast, Clearing Up's Dan Catchpole and California Energy Markets' Jason Fordney talk about the California Independent System Operator's latest look at expanding its footprint, Southwest Power Pool's announcement that Markets+ is moving into development early, big rate increase requests from two SoCal utilities, Puget Sound Energy's push to shut down its natural gas business and more.Read more about what's happening in the power industry in the West at NewsData's Clearing Up and California Energy Markets.Follow us on Twitter: @CUnewsdata, @CEMnewsdata, @dcatchpole and @fordneyenergy.
Puget Sound Energy has registered unprecedented engagement with its mental health and wellness programs. Learn how they design offerings, customize programs to align with company culture, and use data to gauge success. And read an article in @Work magazine that highlights this success and has been unlocked for listeners: http://bit.ly/3SSrlnL
Today - The Wenatchee School Board has selected four superintendent candidates to move ahead to the next steps of the district's interview process. And later - Chelan County PUD entered into a 20-year contract with Puget Sound Energy.Support the show: https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/site/forms/subscription_services/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Federal law enforcement authorities have revealed the alleged motives behind attacks on four power substations in Washington state on Christmas Day that left thousands of people without electricity.The four substations that were targeted were the Graham and Elk Plain substations operated by Tacoma Power and the Kapowsin and Hemlock substations operated by Puget Sound Energy. The damage to just the Tacoma Power substations was estimated to be at least $3 million.On Tuesday, the FBI identified 32-year-old Matthew Greenwood and 40-year-old Jeremy Crahan as the perpetrators of the attacks after analyzing their phone records.One of the Tacoma Power substations caught images of one of the suspects and a pickup truck that was tied to the two men. When law enforcement arrested Greenwood and Crahan, they found the same clothing caught on camera and seized two unregistered guns, one with a makeshift silencer.The two men were charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, conspiracy to attack energy facilities is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and possession of an unregistered firearm is punishable by up to ten years in prison.Support the showSign Up For Exclusive Episodes At: https://reasonabletv.com/LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos every day. https://www.youtube.com/c/NewsForReasonablePeople
For this Hacks & Wonks week-in-review, political consultant and host Crystal Fincher is joined by metro news columnist and opinion editor for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Matt Driscoll! They start the show reviewing the criminal trial of elected Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer. Troyer is charged with false reporting and one count of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant in relation to his alleged harassment of Black newspaper carrier Sedrick Altheimer. This week, the trial revealed discrepancies in Troyer's account of the incident compared to the police report. This case hinges on whether the state can prove Troyer's actions were criminal, and it's anticipated that the trial will be sent to the jury next week. Next, Crystal and Matt recap a new investigative report from ProPublica and The Seattle Times that reveals how deeply the state's schools are failing students with complex disabilities, sending many of them to for-profit entities with little oversight, leading to instances of mistreatment and abuse. In housing news, the Pierce County Council will vote next Tuesday on an affordable housing sales tax. The county needs more funding for affordable housing, and even though a sales tax is a regressive tax, it's the best available option the council has to generate additional revenue for affordable housing projects. The tax will require five votes to pass from the Council that includes four Democrats and three Republicans. In other Pierce County Council news, Crystal and Matt discuss the retirement of Council Chair Derek Young. They explore his political career, talk about his impact, and share their appreciation for how he handled the responsibility of being an elected leader. The trend of dangerous, sometimes violent protests against drag shows and drag story time events came to Renton this week, which saw a local brewery get shot at before their Drag Queen Story Hour event on Thursday. It's part of an increase of anti-LGBT and antisemitic hatred and violence happening across the country. The incident in Renton comes alongside concerning reporting from KUOW revealing that the electrical grid in Oregon and Western Washington has been attacked six times since mid-November, with at least two of the attacks resembling the incident in North Carolina last Saturday. It's a foreboding sign of the rise of domestic terrorism in this country fueled by right-wing hate. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Matt Driscoll, at @mattsdriscoll. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com. Resources “TPD officer testifies that Troyer reported no death threat to him. Next, defense's turn.” by Jared Brown from The News Tribune “WA's schools are failing students with complex disabilities. It's happening in Tacoma too.” by Matt Driscoll from The News Tribune “‘Kids Seem to Be a Paycheck': How a Billion-Dollar Corporation Exploits Washington's Special Education System” by Lulu Ramadan, Mike Reicher and Taylor Blatchford from ProPublica “At Washington special education schools, years of abuse complaints and lack of academics” by Mike Reicher & Lulu Ramadan from The Seattle Times “Pierce County needs an affordable housing sales tax. Will it get one next week?” by Matt Driscoll from The News Tribune “Pierce County Council Member Derek Young Retires from Politics for Unknown Future” by Sara Thompson from Key Peninsula News “Renton Brewery Shot Up before Drag Queen Story Hour” by Will Casey from The Stranger “String of electrical grid attacks in Pacific Northwest are unsolved” by Conrad Wilson & John Ryan from KUOW Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full text transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we are continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's cohost: metro news columnist and opinion editor for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Matt Driscoll. [00:00:56] Matt Driscoll: Hello, thanks for having me - it's good to be back. [00:00:59] Crystal Fincher: It's great to have you back - enjoyed your commentary and insight last time, excited for it today. Well, there's a lot of news that we need to get to this week. I think the first thing that we will start off with a recap of is the trial of Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer. What is he on trial for and what has happened so far? [00:01:23] Matt Driscoll: Yeah. Well, first just a shout out to my colleague, Jared Brown, who's been in court covering this thing, following it on Twitter, and writing daily recaps - they've just been doing an incredible job in the courthouse. But yeah, our sheriff down here in Pierce County, Ed Troyer, he's on trial for two misdemeanor counts - one of false reporting and another of making a false or misleading statement. The reality of this - in general terms, if this was anyone else is - if convicted, he's facing maybe a little bit of community service and maybe a fine of some sort. It's not a big deal, in the sense of he was just an average person. But of course, it is a very big deal because he's our sheriff down here in Pierce County and there are a lot of complicated aspects of this case. Just to - if folks aren't following the case or haven't heard, which I kind of doubt at this point, but basically this all stems from an interaction he had with a newspaper delivery carrier. It's been so long now - I don't even remember exactly when that was, but I guess it was January - looking it up now - of 2021. A Black newspaper carrier in his neighborhood - Troyer basically saw him, thought he looked suspicious, started following him around. Confrontation ensued, Troyer ended up summoning a police response saying he had been threatened. It sparked a massive response, which was quickly kind of downgraded to a smaller response. But still, the bottom line was you had a huge police response, guns-drawn situation with a Black newspaper carrier who felt in danger for his life. And so that story, thanks to the reporting of folks at The Seattle Times and then at The News Tribune, got a lot of attention and led to the governor calling for an investigation into it. And eventually it led from charges from the state AG's office. So there's no charges down here locally, but Bob Ferguson jumped in and filed these misdemeanor charges. And that was a long time ago, and we're finally at the trial now. So we've been following it here for a couple of weeks - jury selection took a while, and now we're into actual testimony. And actually, Ed Troyer was on the trial, or on the stand, yesterday. So that was the latest interesting event in an interesting case, that's probably the most high-profile misdemeanor trial I can recall. [00:04:01] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. So Ed Troyer is an elected sheriff, not an appointed sheriff, like currently exists in King County - also makes just the issue of accountability more challenging. It's not a situation where - in the midst of this, there were inconsistencies that were revealed between Ed Troyer's initial account and what actually seems to have taken place, or what ended up in the police report about this. And in those situations, often - I won't say oftentimes - but in other situations, sometimes that could lead to accountability or discipline locally. That's a whole different issue when you have an elected public official and not someone who is subject to interdepartmental discipline or anything like that. So this trial is basically the accountability lever and - to the point of independent oversight - had to be initiated externally, because it wasn't happening just from the agencies in the jurisdiction. The prosecution presented their case and rested. The defense is now presenting their case. There were questions about whether Ed Troyer would take the stand in his defense. He has done so. And up until this point, where we're recording on Friday morning, the defense questioned him and now he is getting ready to face questioning from the prosecution. So we will see how this turns out, we will continue to follow this along. I don't think the trial is expected to last more than a few more days before it goes to the jury. Is that correct? [00:05:45] Matt Driscoll: It's been slow going - I think that's the expectation. They don't - there are no trials on Friday, no trial on Friday - so the next action will be Monday. You'll have the state cross-examining Troyer. And I should mention - that was a shoddy recap, I guess - because I've been living it down here in Pierce County for so long, it just feels like coming up. But the crux of this case basically is - when Troyer summoned police response, he said that his life had been threatened. And then when cops arrived, he told them that wasn't the case. So that's the crux of it - is whether he made a false statement, a false report that summoned this huge police response. It's almost like a swatting, mini-swatting situation. So it kind of hinges on that. At the end of the day, I think, there's going to be a big burden on the state to prove that this was more than - and I guess I'm a columnist, I can share these sorts of opinions - whether this was more than Ed Troyer being stupid, right? Like I think it's established that - what he, at least in my mind - his actions on that morning were not the smartest thing to do and were not what he should have done. But is that criminal or not? I think that's going to be that's kind of the crux of it. And I think it's going to be interesting to see what the jury decides there. My gut tells me it's going to be difficult, just given the nature of things to get all jurors to agree one way or the other, but we'll see. And that's why we follow it. [00:07:20] Crystal Fincher: It is why we follow it. Certainly I'm sitting here as a Black woman, who has seen these situations unfold, and feels that this newsletter, newspaper carrier was fortunate to escape this situation with his life. The kind of call and the kind of accusation made initially in the call is the kind of pretext to death and shootings - shootings called justified because they felt that they were threatened, particularly from Black men. So this call was - if this indeed happened the way it's alleged to or appear to have happened, was a risk to this Black man's life. And by just doing his job - to have someone who felt uncomfortable with this Black person in their neighborhood - followed them, basically stalked them down the street, and then initiated a confrontation - is just beyond the pale. And one, for anyone in that situation - he could have been any other resident on the street calling and saying their life was threatened by this person, and it would invite a massive police response - certainly for the sheriff of the entire jurisdiction. And is this behavior that we want to see, that we are comfortable with from the head of all law enforcement in that jurisdiction - even in the most charitable interpretation of this possible, which you kind of recap, where he's just being ignorant and ridiculous. Do we want this ignorance leading this agency? Is this the head that we want? Regardless of the outcome of this trial, I think those are important questions to examine and ask - for us to ask ourself - where is the bar that we hold elected officials and public safety officials to? And I personally feel that Pierce County deserves better, but we'll see how this trial turns out and we'll continue to follow it throughout. Also want to talk about a story that you talked about - that came from ProPublica, The Seattle Times also wrote about it - but about Washington schools failing students with complex disabilities. What's happening here and what have you seen in Tacoma? [00:09:52] Matt Driscoll: Yeah. I mean, this is just an incredible story. And first and foremost - I guess I did this last time too - but credit where credit's due - the reporting team there on Seattle Times and ProPublica on this story. It's just a jaw-dropping story. This is one of those stories where my wife and I were sitting - because they'd hit on Saturdays - and we're sitting around in the living room and she's actually reading the excerpts from the story because we're in such disbelief of what's transpiring. But the long and short of it is basically the state is obligated to provide basic education to students with complex disabilities. They're required to require basic education to all students, but including those with disabilities. And in certain cases, you've got children, students with disabilities that make it really difficult, if not impossible, to do that in a standard classroom or a standard school building. Districts across the state have done a lot of work to try to integrate students with disabilities as much as possible into regular classrooms. As a parent of a child with disabilities, I know the system well. But in some cases, when you're talking about - sometimes severe behavior stuff, sometimes it's medical, feeding tubes - any number of things that can require a situation where - what the state needs to provide can't be done in a classroom. So, long story short, districts don't have a lot of money. We don't fund education anywhere near as much as we should, and they have this obligation to serve these students. So what has transpired basically is a system that we've created in the state where these students are often - that work is outsourced to other schools. Many times they're for-profit schools - they're publicly-funded private schools, so private entities that then receive state funding to do this work. Districts send their challenging students there, the students that need this there. But with the story, the ProPublica-Seattle Times piece really revealed is just the incredible lack of oversight that happens there. It's basically on the districts to monitor each of their students, and the oversight from the state as a whole is really lax. Maybe districts know what's going on with their individual kids. Maybe they've got a couple in these situations, but the full picture is really hard to see. And that's what this investigation revealed. And what it revealed, shockingly enough, is that when you welcome in for-profit entities to serve our most vulnerable children, bad stuff happens sometimes. And there's some really bad stuff in this story. Some allegations of abuse and mistreatment, just some anecdotes that I won't - you should read the story, but some of the situations painted specifically in one of these schools, the Northwest, the acronym is SOIL - I'm going to of course forget what it stands for at the moment - but it's the largest one of these in the states. It's got three campuses, including one in Tacoma. Long story short, Tacoma has relied heavily on this school in particular over the years, going back to 2015. It has sent basically more funding to this Northwest SOIL school than any district in the state by a wide margin. And the unsatisfying answer here is - when talking to district officials, it's essentially - this is the system we have. It's not great. We would like to see it better, but we don't have the means to serve these students and we're reliant upon it. And so that's a really unsatisfying answer. It's an unsatisfying answer to parents, I'm sure, but I think the bigger picture is until we reimagine them and blow up this system we've created in this state, where we're essentially outsourcing this work to for-profit corporations and publicly-funded private schools where - we basically welcome situations like this, in my opinion. So that was a lot of rambling, but this story, it pissed me off. It makes me really, really mad. [00:14:10] Crystal Fincher: It's a shame. And the state unquestionably has a responsibility to provide an appropriate education, in the least restrictive means possible, to all students - including those with disabilities and complex disabilities. Funding has been a continual conversation in this. And the fact is these programs don't currently exist in public schools to the degree they need to serve all the entire population of students, including those with complex disabilities, because they don't have the funding to implement and support those. And as we see too often in these situations, if you ask me, for-profit companies then are there to fill that gap, they say. But what we see is that when profit is a main driver and not an outcome from a student is the main driver - predictably, obviously - we're going to see profit prioritized ahead of these students. And we're seeing them in these situations with shocking and abhorrent and abusive and harmful consequences. And are we comfortable? In the column that you wrote, you asked a very appropriate question. Are we comfortable abdicating our responsibility as the state to for-profit entities who already have a record that is troubling? Are we comfortable with this? Because this is the system that we have and there are reasons, multiple reasons, to be uncomfortable. Are we prepared to confront the questions about funding that are related to this? Are we prepared to meet the responsibility as the state ourselves, or continue to check a box saying - oh, we handed the student over to the Northwest SOIL School, which seems like an appropriate acronym at this point in time. [00:16:12] Matt Driscoll: School of Innovative Learning, that's what it is. [00:16:16] Crystal Fincher: Yes, and so it's just really troubling. Right now, there are no other options - so families are faced with the prospect of their kids not getting their constitutionally mandated education, or sending them someplace where they're at risk - that's the plain truth - where they're at risk. They're certainly at greater risk than in the school setting and other settings for abuse. But if they're in another setting, they're at risk of not getting an appropriate education. That is a choice that no family should have or should face, and we have a responsibility to do better. We have to talk about revenue. We have to talk about funding as part of that. And I hope the Legislature takes this seriously and meaningfully addresses this deficit and these challenges, because it's going to take action there to help solve this. But man, this is troubling. I'm happy you wrote about it. I'm happy that ProPublica and The Seattle Times did this piece, with so much investigation and legwork that it took - just really troubling. We owe our kids, all of our kids, a better education than this. We can do better. [00:17:34] Matt Driscoll: No, you're exactly right. And I think your prescription for what needs to happen is exactly right too - that's one of the frustrating things - talking to the local district. I felt obligated to call Tacoma and basically be like - you read this story, WTF. But you do that, right? And it's not a problem that they can solve by themselves - they can't, given the current structure, provide the services that they need to because they don't have the money and they don't have the staffing and they don't have the resources to do it. So Tacoma can't solve it alone. The Seattle schools can't solve it alone. It really does require a state response and really a complete rethinking of the way we serve these students - and most of all, bags and bags of money. And you would hope that reading something like this would inspire us to have those difficult conversations and would inspire that change. But the political realities of it make me fear that we're going to take half measures, we're going to increase our oversight of these - when what I really think we need to do is blow it up and work on the thing. Because the only option is not just for-profit. There are schools that do this work that are not for-profit. There are other ways to do this. So there's a school in Puyallup - I think it's the Olympic Academy or Olympic something or other, and this is really wonky stuff - but basically there are education regions and they can band together and they can create these schools - and it's not a for-profit thing, there's more oversight, there's more involvement, there's more district involvement. So it's not an unsolvable problem - what it takes is political will and a lot of money. [00:19:25] Crystal Fincher: That is true. And once again to reinforce, they're constitutionally mandated to provide this. If our constitution means anything, then that should motivate working to fix this problem. Also want to cover an issue that you also wrote about - Pierce County needs an affordable housing tax. It is going to be up for a vote in front of the Pierce County Council next week. What will this do? And is it going to pass? [00:19:57] Matt Driscoll: No, I don't think so. But first I want to just get your - as a King County person, are you shocked by the fact Pierce County does not have this tax? Because most people, many counties do. This is not like some rare thing. Is it mind-boggling to you to hear that we're still fighting in Pierce County about whether or not we should build affordable housing? [00:20:20] Crystal Fincher: Well, I may be a bit more familiar with Pierce County than a lot of people, so I find it not surprising at all in any kind of way. I think Pierce County is moving closer to there. Are they at the point where they're ready to pass this now? Questionable. But this problem is just getting so much worse for everybody that it's getting undeniable. And we are seeing, more and more, that voters are voting for people who are saying that they're going to take action. And seeing pressure even from entities who traditionally rail against any kind of taxes - no matter what kind of benefits they have, especially if people with money need to pay more taxes - that they're feeling pressure to at least come up with rhetoric saying that they want to address this problem. Because before, several years ago, I think people were comfortable not addressing this at all, or maybe not characterizing this as a problem for everyone. That's not possible anymore. This is a problem for everyone. And so now it's just the question, what are they going to do about it? And is this something that they feel moved to do? But just backing up a little bit - [00:21:34] Matt Driscoll: Let me answer your original question - I apologize. But yeah, so basically, it's a one-tenth of 1% sales tax in Pierce County, which would raise about $20 million a year - estimated - cost the average Pierce County resident about $16 a year, that then that money could be used for affordable housing or related services. Tacoma already has this tax, so we already do it here in Tacoma. A number of cities and counties across the state already do it - conservative and liberal - I don't know the exact numbers off the top of my head, but I know Wenatchee has it. Ellensburg has it. Spokane has it. Snohomish has it. Thurston has it. As you pointed out, I think we've passed the point of this being a problem that elected leaders feel comfortable ignoring. I think they know they can't ignore it. So in Pierce County, to pass this tax, what it's going to take is a supermajority on the Pierce County Council. So current makeup on the council is four Democrats, three Republicans. In my opinion, as a columnist, the reason that you've seen Pierce County move closer, as you alluded to, is because we do have a Democratic majority on the Pierce County Council now. So I think that's sped up some of these talks, some of this action. We do have a Republican Executive in Bruce Dammeier. But regardless, it's going to take five votes, by our charter, to get a tax passed - so they're going to need a Republican to side with the Democrats to pass this tax. It was passed out of committee last Tuesday. It'll be voted on on the 13th if it all goes as scheduled. And I anticipate a split vote - I think this is going to be a 4-3 vote. I think this is going to be very similar, for those who follow it - in Pierce County, our long trod towards enacting a behavioral health sales tax, which is very similar. It was a very similar situation. Counties, cities across the state already had it. It's money that goes to behavioral health services, mental health and addiction services. Pierce County drug our feet for years. We literally debated it for years and years and years. And we finally were able to get that fifth vote on the council to make it happen in 2021. So it took a very long time. I anticipate this is going to be a very similar thing. I think what's going to happen is, Democrats are going to make the case next week. It's going to be a rock solid case because anyone who looks around, I think, can see where home prices are, where housing prices are, our lack of affordable housing. I think the estimate by the county's own plan to address housing is they need something like 50,000 units affordable to those at 50% of area median income or below by 2044 just to meet the need, which doesn't even consider the housing that's needed to meet those above 50% of area median income, which is very low. I don't know Pierce County area median income off the top of my head, but it's it's usually around $50,000-60,000 depending on whether you're looking at individuals or families. This is not a wealthy county. This is hitting us hard. This is hitting us in Tacoma. This is hitting us in rural places. It's clear we need some sort of answer from the county - both to build the housing itself, and to help get federal money to address the problem. But no, I don't think it's going to pass yet. I think it's going to take a long time. I think the Republicans are going to express the things they're uneasy about, and they're going to go through the process of trying to answer those questions. I also anticipate it becoming more of a political football. If you follow Pierce County - listeners - clearly, you're very familiar with Pierce County, so I don't mean to suggest you're not - but for listeners, I know sometimes it seems like a weird, far off place. There's a micro home village for the chronically homeless that Republican County Executive Bruce Dammeier and his team very much wants to build. There are some questions about what the funding would look like for that. The current plan, as it's been described as basically a one-time investment of ARPA funds and then hands it over to private folks and donations. I think one thing that's going to - that you might see - is Democrats saying, if you want to build this, we need the tax. I wouldn't be surprised to see that. I also think it's just going to be one of those long bureaucratic processes where the Republicans need to prove to their base that they're not gung ho for a new tax, and they need to be won over, and they need all these guardrails that we talk about to ensure that the money is spent wisely and yada, yada, yada. I think eventually we'll get there, but I don't anticipate it Tuesday. So it was a long answer, but I think that's where things stand. [00:26:21] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, I think that's a decent read of the situation. What I would say - [00:26:25] Matt Driscoll: Decent, decent! [00:26:26] Crystal Fincher: I think it's a great, accurate read of the situation. I was about to say - I think you nailed it with its parallel to the behavioral health tax issue and debate, and how lengthy that was. And I think that's also instructive - for those who do want to see this implemented - on how to get that passed. As you talked about in your column, the pressure from the public was instrumental in getting that tax passed. And I think it will be instrumental in addressing this issue. And so for those who are listening, for the public out there - it is really important to contact your County councilmembers, to contact your elected leaders - even if you feel they're not inclined to vote for this, or if they are, to let them know what your situation and circumstance are, to let them hear your story. Anecdotes actually go a far way, a long way in addressing issues like this. A lot of times people don't understand the specific pain that is being felt by people put in these situations - how it impacts seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, those who are dealing with families with complex needs, the disabled community. People who are among the most vulnerable and in need of protection, who are some of the people who are least likely to be able to just meet an increase with a raise at work - if they're not working, if they're retired, if they're in different industries that are not keeping up with this kind of thing. A sales tax, I think across the board, you will find it's no one's favorite tax to implement. To be clear, it is a regressive tax. It is also the only lever that the county is afforded in this situation to be able to solve this. And until there are different avenues opened up at the state level, this is what the county is left with to be able to address this problem. And I think my read of the situation - a lot of people's read - is that this is the time to do everything possible at all levels to address this crisis, because it is a crisis. So it'll be interesting to see how this unfolds. It'll be interesting to hear, particularly what the Republican members of the council do say, as they deliberate this and discuss this in their meeting and in the public - and how they answer the concerns that their residents have. So we'll continue to follow this story also. [00:29:02] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, I agree. And just one quick point on that process - this is Hacks & Wonks. I was talking to some folks about the - why now, why we're doing it. And I think there is an importance, even if the tax isn't - even if it's not going to pass this time, I think it's helpful from a political standpoint to get the folks on that council on the record to say what their position is and why they're either supporting it or in some cases not supporting it, because that's exactly what we saw with the behavioral health sales tax is - once you publicly have that conversation and say what you would need to - because again, no one can deny the problem. Say what you would need to get there to support something like this - that kind of gets the ball rolling and you can start answering some of those questions. So I think it's, even if it doesn't pass next week, I think it's a starting point and it's a good first step. [00:29:56] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely agree. Another item I want to talk about today is with someone who the listeners of Hacks & Wonks are probably familiar with, because he has been a prior guest - is Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young is about to complete his final term on the Pierce County Council. He is being term-limited out and is stepping down and away from public life. And so I just wanted to just take a moment and see what your reflections on Derek and his term have been. How did you find his time in office to be? [00:30:37] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, it's an interesting discussion for me, in comparison for me, because he's been on the council for eight years now. So basically he arrived at his position about the same time that I arrived as a metro news columnist at The News Tribune. I'd been working at The Seattle Weekly previous to that, still lived down here - but so basically our tenure overlaps. So I basically covered him the whole eight years of his time on the council. And for Derek, for those who don't know - maybe it's been mentioned on the show - but he was essentially like the Parks and Rec's boy mayor of Gig Harbor on the council. I forget how young he was when he was first elected to the Gig Harbor City Council, but he was quite young. He did that and then later he ran for Pierce County Council and he's been there for eight years. So listen, from a journalism perspective, from a news perspective, I think we like to keep sources at an arm's length. We need to maintain skepticism, right? We can't become best friends with the people we cover. And certainly, Derek and I are not best friends by any means - but I will say - you interact with a lot of people in this job and you talk to a lot of people and you talk to a lot of politicians. And a lot of times they are, you can tell they're just feeding you soundbites, feeding you hot air, feeding you what the research says they should say. And Derek, I have just always found to be - one, he's really sharp on the policy stuff. He's one of those people that - I think it takes a special kind of person to get really into the mechanics of governments and just be really into it - excited about the procedures and the policy, but he's one of those people. He's really smart at that stuff and I just think he's really reasonable and really sensible, and those are things I appreciate in a leader. One thing about Derek is - there was a time when he was a Republican. And then he has since become a Democrat - now he's been a Democrat for many years now - but Pierce County is an interesting place, right? We've got Tacoma, which is this urban, progressive hub, and then you've got the rest of the county. And the bottom line with the rest of the county is it is either very moderate or red. And Derek is one of these people that can walk the line, that can get progressive things done in a county like Pierce County. And I think there's something to be said for that. I think we talked about the behavioral health tax already. I think Derek's a key reason that we got that. I think we're bringing up the affordable housing tax now, in part, because Derek's ending his term and they want to get a vote with him, even though his predecessor will likely - or the person who, I don't know, I always get those words mixed up - but the person who's filling his seat will likely vote the same way. I think it's as an honor to him - just the work he's done - they want to get a vote in before he leaves. So I think he's accomplished a lot. I think a lot of what he's accomplished has been behind closed doors in that kind of wonky way, that government work. I don't know how long we have to talk about this, but I was talking to Derek just last week about - I had an issue with a vote he took back in 2015 that would have allowed big box retailers up in Fredrickson. And I was all ready to rip him up on it because I was writing about Canyon Road and the way that has sprawl that's created. And I called him up and he was like - well, actually two years later we reversed that. It didn't get a lot of promotion because I didn't want to spike the football, but we were able to reverse that through just basic government maneuvering, the kind of stuff that most people don't see. And he's really good at that kind of stuff. So I think it's been a successful tenure and it'll be interesting to see what he does from here. [00:34:50] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And from my perspective, especially looking at the politics of things, I think Derek is one of the forces most responsible for the Democratic representation and the increase in Democratic representation that we've seen in Pierce County, certainly on the Pierce County Council. He has always prioritized developing leaders, recruiting leaders, and supporting other leaders. Like you said, a lot of his work has been done behind the scenes, which is absolutely true. And I don't think people really understand how much work he has done, both to build Democratic leadership in Pierce County and just on the nuts and bolts of building better communities. One of the cities doing the best job in the state, actually, in meeting their comprehensive plan goals to accept density is Gig Harbor. It's not an accident that that comes in the wake of the work that Derek Young did in Gig Harbor. And just understanding the nuts and bolts of building community, of understanding how you have to adequately plan for growth - or else there are lots of consequences - how regional planning is important to local outcomes and results in feeling that responsibility. Absolutely, I don't think the behavioral health tax would have passed without him. And doing meaningful stuff - he has taken his responsibility as a steward of public health for the county seriously. And has had to fight against a lot of opposition and weird forces, including through the pandemic, to maintain the capacity and ability to deliver on that responsibility. So I just appreciate his thoughtfulness. We don't agree on everything, but the one thing that I always find is that he's coming with a great understanding after a lot of conversations with folks in and throughout the community, that he is not making decisions simply based on emotion or rhetoric or what's popular, that he's really thoughtful and processes information and community needs in a really serious way, and really focused on outcomes and accountability - and I think that has shown. And so as I see him leaving, it certainly leaves a legacy that I think he can be proud of and that others are building upon. I think Gig Harbor and Pierce County are better off for Derek Young having served. So I just wanted to take a moment to talk about that and say I personally appreciate what he has done, and see him as an example for others to follow as they look at being an elected official in public leadership. [00:38:02] Matt Driscoll: Well said. I'm not going to gush about the guy on record - I just think that I'd lose street cred as a journalist if I just, if I just gushed. But yeah, he's very thoughtful and I've enjoyed covering it. It's been - it's funny to see - eight years of the overlap that we've had, but I've enjoyed talking to him. He's been a good source. You can always call him and he'll explain something to you, which I always appreciate because I do the Columbo thing, right - where it's - oh, walk me through this. And he'll always walk you through it. And those land use things, he's really sharp on those sorts of things. So yeah, I agree 100%. [00:38:36] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And he's younger than a lot of people who wind up long political careers, because he did start at 21 in Gig Harbor. So excited to see what is next for him. Now, a troubling story this week. One of a few troubling stories, frankly, but there was a Renton brewery that was shot up before a drag queen story hour. This is a story that we're seeing unfold across the country, and we're not immune from it here in Washington state. There are a number of drag queen story hours. This one in Renton was one that caught people's attention, that actually had a lot of chatter online about it from right-wing sources railing against this. There's been a lot of unfortunate, inaccurate characterization of people who are just existing as trans people in the drag community - and characterizing them and people who patronize, support, associate with them - as "groomers" or "pedophiles," or somehow degenerate, morally unfit - blah, blah, blah, blah. This being used as a political tool by many people - attracting a lot of hate speech, threats of violence, dehumanizing speech - which we all know incites violence. And predictably, this has incited violence. Now there's no absolute clear tie. We don't know who did fire this shot into this brewery, but we are seeing a familiar pattern of hateful rhetoric, violent rhetoric - followed by violent action. We've seen it at hospitals that treat the trans community and trans children. We've seen it at other drag story, drag queen story hours, and now we're seeing it here. To be clear, these stories - it is literally a story hour - it's just a drag queen reading some stories. There is this assertion by right-wing forces that basically just existing as a drag queen - and they also say for the trans community and it's extending to the entire gay community really - that just existing in drag is inherently sexual and immoral, which is not the case. That's like saying just existing in a heterosexual existence and in particular type of clothing is inherently sexual. It is not, but that is the assertion here and it's being used to pass laws in different states to basically keep people from being able to fully participate in society and to ostracize them. This is part of a coordinated effort and goal that we are seeing, and it looks like violence and really this is terrorism. This is politically motivated violence, is part of the overall strategies and tactics that are being used by right-wing forces to fight against this. This happened in Renton. This attracted a lot of sympathy and support obviously from the community coming together to say this is unacceptable. We support you. There's a talk about a rally to support that in the community. There's no question that the broader community finds this unacceptable and abhorrent. The question is - how diligent are we going to be as a society and are investigative and law enforcement entities going to be in combating this? I think that's the question before us right now as a community - how intense are we going to be in standing against this? But it's unacceptable. I am not shocked certainly, but dismayed to see this happen locally in Renton, as it's happening across the country. And I'm dismayed at the acceptance of blatant hate and dehumanization of certain groups, whether it's the drag community, folks within the LGBTQ community - principally the trans community at this point in time. I think this is absolutely related to the rise in anti-Semitic talk that we see openly, and accepted, and that's being platformed around this country. Openly racist talk - we are seeing a renaissance of hate, and it is really dismaying. And it's going to take people not tolerating this in all of the spaces that they are in. If someone's making a joke as you're at the gym, if you're talking with your friends, if you're at work - wherever you're at, we can't tolerate jokes. We can't tolerate casual statements of hate. We can't tolerate dehumanization and othering and we have to make it absolutely clear that it's unacceptable to say that in our presence. People who espouse hate should be more uncomfortable doing that than they currently are, and we all have a role to play in that happening. Wondering what your take is on this, Matt? [00:44:18] Matt Driscoll: Well, just a hard pro sign I guess on everything you just said. I think you summed it up really well. I guess I feel obligated to note that I've read the story about this. I don't know everything about this specific instance, but I think broadly speaking - the picture you paint is 100% accurate. You see hate, I think you see it fomenting online. I think you see the way that that turns into real action and real harm and real danger and real terrorism. I do think that this constitutes as terrorism when things like this happen. And going back to a conversation we had before we started recording - obviously, you alluded to other places across the country where you've seen laws passed and those sorts of things and certainly those things are happening, but I think a big part of this is - you called it a renaissance of hate and I think these are desperate actions by people who are losing. I mean I think they're losing, and I think they know it and they feel it - and I think that this leads to - and this doesn't excuse any of it, just in case that's not incredibly clear - but I think they're desperate and it generates hate speech. And when you add in the internet where people are able to silo themselves off and the stuff just grows and grows and grows and grows, it eventually - and none of us should be shocked by this - it eventually jumps off the screen and moves into real life. And people get hurt, and people get killed, and lives are altered, and lives are taken. So yeah, I agree with you. I think the general level of acceptance of this sort of stuff in our society, and the way we talk about it, and the way we report on it, and the way we discuss it, and the way we think about it - needs to be more clear just how unacceptable it is. [00:46:27] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely agree. And to the point you were just discussing and we discussed earlier - they are losing. They are absolutely losing. I think one thing that we do need to recognize is that when it comes to marginalized populations gaining rights in this country - and there are another number of countries where this precedent has been set, but we don't need to look any further than this country - terrorism has been employed as a response to that. Okay, we can't do it at the ballot box, we're losing - so we're just going to enact violence to attempt to fulfill our needs. I mean there was a statement made in North Carolina that these acts of violence and terrorism will continue to happen as long as drag queen story hours exist - it's a pretty clear statement of motivation and intent. And we need to not be surprised by this, but be prepared for it. And to effectively fight against it at all levels - to hold our elected officials accountable for fighting against it, to hold our institutions accountable for fighting against it, and to hold ourselves accountable for fighting against it - in all of the spaces that we inhabit, all the places that we are, and the people who we associate with in any way. That this is unacceptable in all of its forms because we're not done with this. It's predictable that it was going to happen. We know that rhetoric like this results in violence and it's escalating. And either we're gonna take steps to counteract it or we're in for a lot more. We have to address this. And related to that - seemingly, are stories about attacks on our electrical grid here in the Pacific Northwest as we saw back East. We have had attacks on our electrical grid here in the Pacific Northwest. What has happened with these attacks? [00:48:35] Matt Driscoll: Yeah. Certainly I've just been - I think this is one of the - I know as a news person you get this weird kind of callous nature where you're like - oh man, this is a really interesting story - when it's actually a terrifying story, a really alarming story. But yeah, this story is all of those things, and I've just followed it like anyone - but basically, what we're seeing is what appear to be at least somewhat coordinated attacks on power grids across the country. I forget - where was the, was it Carolinas that - yeah. So and then we've had some up in this area as well - I think it was - KUOW did a really good kind of look into what's happening. And again - similar - going back to your point, I've just read the stories everyone else read, but certainly what seems to be happening - at least to some extent - is extremist online groups being involved with encouraging and instructing folks how to do this. And the people who follow online extremist groups then going out and doing it. And I want to be careful - because I, again, I've just read this item - we don't have an exact answer to what's going on yet, so I don't want to jump to conclusions. But I do think we can say that you know there does seem to be some online extremist group involvement with this to - helping to perpetuate it - and people are doing it across the country. And it's terrifying, not just because of the prospect of losing power and what that could do - and when we talk about losing power, we're talking about a whole lot more than just your lights going off. There's a lot of fairly obvious reasons why electricity is very - it's crucial to a lot of folks, including in medical situations and what have you, but it's again - it's just terrifying for the way you see just belligerent hate, the kind of hate that if you encountered it in-person, it would be like one person ranting lunacy on a corner. But online, the way people can self-select and can group, it becomes incredibly, incredibly dangerous. So yeah, I think there are similarities between this story and the one we just talked about in the way that online extremism seems to be playing a role in it. [00:51:08] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And it was in North Carolina - after gunfire attacks on two electrical substations - resulted in tens of thousands of people being out of power for days. This was not a brief interruption - schools were closed, traffic lights were dark, people who relied on refrigerated medication had it spoil. It is a horribly disruptive situation - our society runs on power at this point in time, and this was an attack on that. Here locally, there were six separate attacks in Washington and Oregon - the Bonneville Power Administration, Puget Sound Energy, Cowlitz County Public Utility have reported different attacks involving cutting through fences into these facilities, attacking infrastructure with gunfire, setting fires - really seems to be employing a number of the same tactics that we saw in North Carolina. And across these six different attacks here in Washington and Oregon - employing similar tactics across those attacks - so this seems to be a coordinated effort that we're seeing. Some of these resulted in more disruptive power losses than others. This doesn't seem to be some super sophisticated entity doing sophisticated things to disrupt this - these are people crudely breaking in, shooting up these facilities. It does invite questions about what can be done to harden the security of these facilities, where else may we be vulnerable - there are lots of conversations about just our infrastructure in our community for basic services and what can be done to better protect those, because evidently there are groups that are seeing those as principal and primary targets, no matter how many people it impacts. And it does seem like this tactic has now shifted to - we're targeting specific communities, but we're willing to make sure everyone feels pain in order to try and help achieve our goals. And it's causing pain, and we're - this is the tip of the iceberg, it seems. And either we do something to intervene right now, or we see this get a lot worse. The FBI has declined to comment on whether or not they're investigating these, but it's an issue and we've had several attacks here locally and it's just troubling. [00:54:08] Matt Driscoll: It's, yeah - troubling is the word for it, I would say. It's just, it's so fascinating on a lot of levels because as you mentioned, sometimes you see terrorism and it has a really specific target - and kind of the purpose of it can - you see it. With this, it's almost just chaos. It's almost just like the unraveling of society around us. I think you're right - the sole purpose of it is to inflict just damage, just widespread damage and it's almost - it's not specific, it's just trying to disrupt and harm people and create havoc and chaos for - from a small, small minority of people - assuming what we have is accurate with the ties that - again, feel desperate and are led to do desperate things. So yeah, the year 2022 - the year we had to start guarding our electric grids. [00:55:17] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. [00:55:18] Matt Driscoll: If you had that on your bingo card, I guess, you win. [00:55:22] Crystal Fincher: I hope we don't have it on the 2023 bingo card - I will tell you that much - I would love to nip this in the bud and get real clear that this is unacceptable everywhere. And with that, we thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, December 9th, 2022. Hacks & Wonks is co-produced by Shannon Cheng and Bryce Cannatelli. Our insightful co-host today is metro news columnist and opinion editor for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Matt Driscoll. You can find Matt on Twitter at @mattsdriscoll - that's two L's at the end. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks, and you can find me at @finchfrii, with two I's at the end. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.
Thanks again to EarthUP, our September Sponsor. EarthUP enables employers to crowdsource corporate emissions reductions from their employees. They use a bottom-up approach to reduce costs for sustainability teams while de-risking a company's emissions reduction strategy. EarthUP's mission is to make sustainability part of everyone's job so companies can meet their emission goals. Visit them at earthup.eco In this episode, Amanda Hsieh talks with CEO/Founder of EarthUP, Stephen Bay. EarthUP provides a vertically integrated SAAS platform that allows companies to measure emissions, purchase offsets, and reach net-zero through employee action. Stephen is passionate about creating solutions to reduce emissions and improve our environment. He channeled his passion for sustainability into his first company, Eco Consulting, in partnership with Puget Sound Energy, the largest utility in the Northwest. The concept for EarthUP came to life while working with Skanska to identify low-hanging opportunities to reduce their corporate emissions and get employees involved in their climate goals. EarthUP's mission is to "Make climate action part of everyone's job." Listen as Amanda and Stephen discuss how employee engagement can be the game changer in an organization's sustainability efforts. Every job turns into a climate job by inspiring, educating, and activating employees. Organizations that are successful in this transformation make it personal for their employees by connecting sustainability topics and addressing the creation of healthy work-from-home environments. Stephen reminds us that sustainability changes are not about sacrifice but improvement. Make sure to subscribe to ESG Decoded on your favorite streaming platforms and our YouTube Channel so that you're notified of our vodcast episodes! Don't forget to connect with us on our social media channels. Enjoy this episode! Interested in being a guest on the podcast? For consideration and scheduling, please fill out this form. Resource Links EarthUP Website: https://www.earthup.eco/ EarthUp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthup-eco EarthUP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthup.eco/?hl=en EarthUP Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthup.eco/ EarthUP Twitter: https://twitter.com/EarthUP_eco
On today's bonus episode, Adam Crawford (Outreach Manager, Puget Sound Energy) sits down with Jo for a LIVE conversation at Electrify Expo: Seattle. Adam starts by shining light on some of the programs PSE is leading, their plan to bring more EVs onto the grid, and their goal to “remove” emissions vs “move” emissions. Then, Jo and Adam explore the details and benefits of “net metering,” the progress made in Seattle's charging network, his personal experience with EVs, and which EVs he is most excited about.-----FOLLOW:InstagramTwitterFacebookWebsiteATTEND ELECTRIFY EXPO:New York (Aug 27-28)Miami (Oct 8-9)Austin (Nov 11-13)PRODUCED BY:Alex Lagos / Lagos Creative
Private electric utilities in the Pacific Northwest are planning tens of millions of dollars in upgrades to reduce the risk that their power lines could spark wildfires during extreme weather. Utilities such as Pacific Power, Avista, Idaho Power, Portland General Electric and Puget Sound Energy are either required to or are voluntarily submitting wildfire mitigation plans.
During episode 6, season 2, I had the privilege of interviewing one of my very dear friends, Gilbert Archuleta. Gilbert is the Director of Customer Energy Management at Puget Sound Energy. His values are authenticity, financial security, and diversity. I so LOVED his thoughts on the importance of being authentic, and how critical it was for him to find his voice, lean into his voice, and then create pathways for others to use their voice. How does authenticity and using your voice help you build your resiliency muscle?Listen. Follow. Enjoy. #resiliency #resiliencytheory #values #quotient #leadership #journey #gratefulness #gratefulnessjourney #leadershipdevelopment #personaldevelopment #leaders
KGMI's Joe Teehan talks to representatives from Puget Sound Energy about a new clean energy program for businesses.
It's season 3, episode 8 - Distributed Demand Resource Response Week! for Public Power Underground. Underground regulars (Karen Heim, Arin Guillory, Ludgie Gelin, and Paul Dockery) are joined by our Podcast Ambassador from California Energy Markets, Jason Fordney this week. The episode includes conversations with Tacoma Power's Ahlmahz Negash grant funding for microgrids and distributed resources, and PNUCC's Shauna McReynolds and Tomás Morrisey about Demand Response and Distributed Generation in the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's draft 2021 Power Plan. 05:18 - Arin Reports 08:46 - The Arizona Corporation Commission is clashing with Arizona Public Service 13:13 - Ahlmahz Negash, PhD, talks Clean Energy Fund awards for grid modernization projects 21:45 - Southern California Edison transitioning residential customers to Time-of-Use rate plans 22:49 - The Diesel-Fired California Dream 30:15 - Shauna McReynolds and Tomás Morrissey talk about Distributed Generation and Demand Response in NWPCC's draft 2021 Power Plan 48:30 - Avista and Puget Sound Energy file final clean energy implementation plans 51:07 - A Bipartisan Infrastructure Package makes it through Congress 53:19 - Dispatches from #EnergyTwitter: Maine Voters reject transmission and John Oliver talks Power Grid 58:17 - TL;DR news stories we ran out of time to discuss Remember to share this with any friends you have that are electric utility enthusiasts like us! Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts! Public Power Underground, it's work to watch!
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which makes this a great time to learn more about how America's electric companies are working to protect the energy grid from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. On this episode, we first are joined by Manoj Chouthai, Vice President, IT Engineering, Operations, and Cybersecurity at Con Edison, to discuss how electric companies manage cybersecurity risk and the value of partnering with industry and government stakeholders to enhance our collective security. Then, EEI Vice President of Security and Preparedness Scott Aaronson discusses emerging cybersecurity issues and best practices for cyber hygiene with Margaret Hopkins, Senior Vice President of Shared Services and Chief Information Officer at Puget Sound Energy. Want to learn more about cybersecurity from Scott Aaronson? Read his article, "Protecting the Energy Grid is a Team Sport," which was recently published in Security Magazine.
Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!In episode 043, Ballard and Hexagon announced a class six fuel cell electric truck. Germany looks to Africa to find the world's cheapest green hydrogen. Mitsubishi Power gets a strategic financial advisor and its expansion of its hydrogen infrastructure in North America. And it turns out that I'm not alone and how I felt about the Cornell and Stanford study on blue hydrogen. All this on today's hydrogen podcast. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy the podcast. Please feel free to email me at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com with any questions. Also, if you wouldn't mind subscribing to my podcast using your preferred platform... I would greatly appreciate it. Respectfully,Paul RoddenVISIT THE HYDROGEN PODCAST WEBSITEhttps://thehydrogenpodcast.comCHECK OUT OUR BLOGhttps://thehydrogenpodcast.com/blog/WANT TO SPONSOR THE PODCAST? Send us an email to: info@thehydrogenpodcast.comNEW TO HYDROGEN AND NEED A QUICK INTRODUCTION?Start Here: The 6 Main Colors of Hydrogen
Today we're joined by Mary Kipp, the CEO of Puget Sound Energy, the oldest and largest utility in Washington State with over 3,200 employees and $3 billion in revenue. We discuss Mary's journey from growing up on a cattle farm to majoring in theater, and being a prosecuting attorney before going in-house at El Paso Electric. She tells us how she rose in the ranks at El Paso Electric to become CEO, about her own leadership style and traits of great leaders, the most challenging parts of her job, and her deep commitment to fighting climate change as well as the personal impact of having those higher level goals. If you stay until the end, you'll also hear which new belief has most improved Mary's life in recent years along with her advice for college students. Top Three Takeaways: Even though it was discouraging to see mostly white men in the officer ranks at El Paso Electric, Mary decided she was going to be optimistic and make the best of the situation. Her goal became to make her boss successful, because she was so deeply aligned with him on values and mission, rather than her own advancement. Hint: one leads to the other! Control the one thing you can control — yourself. Be committed to something big other than yourself. We all work for a paycheck, but knowing we're making a difference on something bigger brings a sense of satisfaction, purpose, and meaning to our lives and work, particularly if we never have the opportunity to be a CEO. Search for the right culture with a boss with similar values and try to do something that is compelling to you even if it's in a different direction from your peers. Thank you all for listening and please remember to subscribe to the show/write a review if you enjoyed and follow on Instagram @Voyager.Talks or LinkedIn for updates on new episodes! - Zev Instagram: www.instagram.com/Voyager.Talks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zevcarlyle/ Podcast Home: https://bit.ly/VoyagerTalksHome --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/zev-carlyle/message
High temperature records are being broken across the Pacific Northwest, as an extreme heat wave covers the area.随着极端热浪席卷太平洋西北部地区，高温记录正在被打破。Portland, Oregon, reached 44.4 degrees Celsius Sunday.周日，俄勒冈州波特兰市气温达到44.4摄氏度。That broke the all-time temperature record of 42.2 degrees Celsius set just one day earlier.这打破了一天前创下的42.2摄氏度的历史最高气温纪录。In Eugene, Oregon, it was so hot在俄勒冈州尤金市，天气太热，that U.S. Track and Field cancelled Olympic trials Sunday afternoon.以至于美国田径队取消了周日下午奥运会选拔赛。The National Weather Service (NWS) said it hit 43.3 degrees Celsius in Eugene, breaking the all-time record of 42.2 degrees Celsius.国家气象局(NWS)表示，尤金的气温达到了43.3摄氏度，打破了42.2摄氏度的历史纪录。Those who had come to watch were also asked to leave the stadium because of the heat.因为天气太热，前来观看比赛的人也被要求离开体育场。Oregon's capital city, Salem, also recorded the highest temperature in its history on Sunday: 44.4 degrees Celsius.俄勒冈州首府塞勒姆周日也创下了历史最高气温：44.4摄氏度。That broke the old record by 2 degrees.比旧纪录高2摄氏度。The NWS has described the heat wave in the Pacific Northwest as dangerous, unusual and intense.国家气象局称太平洋西北部的热浪有一定的危险性，来势汹汹且不同寻常。The area rarely sees temperatures climb this high.该地区的气温很少上升到这么高。The extreme heat was caused by an extended "heat dome" over the Pacific Northwest.极端高温是由太平洋西北部上空延伸的“热穹”造成的。In Seattle, a city known for its rain, the temperature reached 40 degrees Celsius.在以多雨著称的西雅图，气温达到了40摄氏度。The NWS said that was an all-time record.国家气象局表示，这是有史以来的最高纪录。It was the first time temperatures were over 38 degrees Celsius for two straight days since records were first kept in 1894.这是自1894年首次有记录以来，气温首次连续两天超过38摄氏度。There were also some power outages.还有一些停电状况发生。Portland General Electric said about 3,000 customers were without electricity in the city area Sunday afternoon.波特兰通用电气公司说，该市约3,000名用户周日下午断电。Puget Sound Energy reported 3,400 customers without power in the Seattle area.普吉特声音能源公司报告称，西雅图地区有3400名用户断电。Temperatures were expected to get even hotter across the region Monday, before beginning to cool Tuesday.预计整个地区的气温周一将进一步升高，周二开始降温。The heat wave stretched into British Columbia, Canada, which is just north of Washington State.热浪蔓延到华盛顿州北部的加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚。In Lytton, British Columbia, temperatures hit 46.1 degrees Celsius.在不列颠哥伦比亚的利顿，气温达到46.1摄氏度。It was a new Canadian record.这是一项新的加拿大纪录。A heat warning is in effect for most of Western Canada.加拿大西部大部分地区都发出了高温警告。The country's weather agency says many daily temperature records have been broken across British Columbia.国家气象机构表示，不列颠哥伦比亚的许多日气温纪录都被打破。Seattle's King County closed several COVID-19 testing sites because of the heat.由于高温，西雅图的金县关闭了几家新冠病毒检测点。The Seattle Times reported that the city has opened additional public libraries to provide cooling centers.据《西雅图时报》报道，该市还增开了一些公共图书馆以作为降温中心。Sound Transit said that Seattle's light rail trains may have to run at slower speeds because of high heat on the tracks.普吉特湾中部地区公共交通署表示，由于轨道高温，西雅图的轻轨列车可能不得不以较慢的速度运行。The heat wave also moved into Idaho.热浪也侵袭了爱达荷州。Temperatures there reached above 38 degrees Celsius.那里的温度达到了38摄氏度以上。They are expected to continue for at least seven days starting Monday.预计从周一开始至少持续7天。Cities were telling citizens where pools and cooling centers were available.各城会告诉市民哪里有游泳池和避暑降温中心。Officials were also urging people to drink a lot of water and avoid physically tiring activities.官员们还敦促人们多喝水，避免体力劳累的活动。Still, about 3,000 athletes took part in an Ironman Triathlon in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Sunday.尽管如此，周日仍有大约3000名运动员在爱达荷州科达伦参加了铁人三项赛。The event includes a 3.9-kilometer swim, a 180-kilometer bike ride and a 42-kilometer run.比赛项目包括3.9公里的游泳、180公里的自行车骑行和42公里的长跑。The NWS in Coeur d'Alene said位于科达伦的国家气象局表示，this week's weather "will likely be one of the most extreme and prolonged heat waves in the recorded history of the Inland Northwest."本周的天气“可能是西北内陆有记录以来最极端、持续时间最长的热浪之一。”Race organizers said they had 28,000 kilograms of ice to keep the athletes cool, KHQ-TV reported.据KHQ-TV报道，比赛组织者表示，他们准备了2.8万公斤的冰来给运动员降温。Stan Foster works in the Ironman medical area.斯坦·福斯特在铁人医疗领域工作。"The biggest thing that we tell people is, No.1, don't try to set a record on your race," he said.“我们告诉人们的最重要的事情是，第一，不要试图在你的项目上创造纪录，”他说。"Go slow. Enjoy your day. It's going to be hot."“慢慢来。享受你的一天。天气会很热。”I'm Dan Novak.丹·诺瓦克为您播报。
High temperature records are being broken across the Pacific Northwest, as an extreme heat wave covers the area.随着极端热浪席卷太平洋西北部地区，高温记录正在被打破。Portland, Oregon, reached 44.4 degrees Celsius Sunday.周日，俄勒冈州波特兰市气温达到44.4摄氏度。That broke the all-time temperature record of 42.2 degrees Celsius set just one day earlier.这打破了一天前创下的42.2摄氏度的历史最高气温纪录。In Eugene, Oregon, it was so hot在俄勒冈州尤金市，天气太热，that U.S. Track and Field cancelled Olympic trials Sunday afternoon.以至于美国田径队取消了周日下午奥运会选拔赛。The National Weather Service (NWS) said it hit 43.3 degrees Celsius in Eugene, breaking the all-time record of 42.2 degrees Celsius.国家气象局(NWS)表示，尤金的气温达到了43.3摄氏度，打破了42.2摄氏度的历史纪录。Those who had come to watch were also asked to leave the stadium because of the heat.因为天气太热，前来观看比赛的人也被要求离开体育场。Oregon's capital city, Salem, also recorded the highest temperature in its history on Sunday: 44.4 degrees Celsius.俄勒冈州首府塞勒姆周日也创下了历史最高气温：44.4摄氏度。That broke the old record by 2 degrees.比旧纪录高2摄氏度。The NWS has described the heat wave in the Pacific Northwest as dangerous, unusual and intense.国家气象局称太平洋西北部的热浪有一定的危险性，来势汹汹且不同寻常。The area rarely sees temperatures climb this high.该地区的气温很少上升到这么高。The extreme heat was caused by an extended "heat dome" over the Pacific Northwest.极端高温是由太平洋西北部上空延伸的“热穹”造成的。In Seattle, a city known for its rain, the temperature reached 40 degrees Celsius.在以多雨著称的西雅图，气温达到了40摄氏度。The NWS said that was an all-time record.国家气象局表示，这是有史以来的最高纪录。It was the first time temperatures were over 38 degrees Celsius for two straight days since records were first kept in 1894.这是自1894年首次有记录以来，气温首次连续两天超过38摄氏度。There were also some power outages.还有一些停电状况发生。Portland General Electric said about 3,000 customers were without electricity in the city area Sunday afternoon.波特兰通用电气公司说，该市约3,000名用户周日下午断电。Puget Sound Energy reported 3,400 customers without power in the Seattle area.普吉特声音能源公司报告称，西雅图地区有3400名用户断电。Temperatures were expected to get even hotter across the region Monday, before beginning to cool Tuesday.预计整个地区的气温周一将进一步升高，周二开始降温。The heat wave stretched into British Columbia, Canada, which is just north of Washington State.热浪蔓延到华盛顿州北部的加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚。In Lytton, British Columbia, temperatures hit 46.1 degrees Celsius.在不列颠哥伦比亚的利顿，气温达到46.1摄氏度。It was a new Canadian record.这是一项新的加拿大纪录。A heat warning is in effect for most of Western Canada.加拿大西部大部分地区都发出了高温警告。The country's weather agency says many daily temperature records have been broken across British Columbia.国家气象机构表示，不列颠哥伦比亚的许多日气温纪录都被打破。Seattle's King County closed several COVID-19 testing sites because of the heat.由于高温，西雅图的金县关闭了几家新冠病毒检测点。The Seattle Times reported that the city has opened additional public libraries to provide cooling centers.据《西雅图时报》报道，该市还增开了一些公共图书馆以作为降温中心。Sound Transit said that Seattle's light rail trains may have to run at slower speeds because of high heat on the tracks.普吉特湾中部地区公共交通署表示，由于轨道高温，西雅图的轻轨列车可能不得不以较慢的速度运行。The heat wave also moved into Idaho.热浪也侵袭了爱达荷州。Temperatures there reached above 38 degrees Celsius.那里的温度达到了38摄氏度以上。They are expected to continue for at least seven days starting Monday.预计从周一开始至少持续7天。Cities were telling citizens where pools and cooling centers were available.各城会告诉市民哪里有游泳池和避暑降温中心。Officials were also urging people to drink a lot of water and avoid physically tiring activities.官员们还敦促人们多喝水，避免体力劳累的活动。Still, about 3,000 athletes took part in an Ironman Triathlon in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Sunday.尽管如此，周日仍有大约3000名运动员在爱达荷州科达伦参加了铁人三项赛。The event includes a 3.9-kilometer swim, a 180-kilometer bike ride and a 42-kilometer run.比赛项目包括3.9公里的游泳、180公里的自行车骑行和42公里的长跑。The NWS in Coeur d'Alene said位于科达伦的国家气象局表示，this week's weather "will likely be one of the most extreme and prolonged heat waves in the recorded history of the Inland Northwest."本周的天气“可能是西北内陆有记录以来最极端、持续时间最长的热浪之一。”Race organizers said they had 28,000 kilograms of ice to keep the athletes cool, KHQ-TV reported.据KHQ-TV报道，比赛组织者表示，他们准备了2.8万公斤的冰来给运动员降温。Stan Foster works in the Ironman medical area.斯坦·福斯特在铁人医疗领域工作。"The biggest thing that we tell people is, No.1, don't try to set a record on your race," he said.“我们告诉人们的最重要的事情是，第一，不要试图在你的项目上创造纪录，”他说。"Go slow. Enjoy your day. It's going to be hot."“慢慢来。享受你的一天。天气会很热。”I'm Dan Novak.丹·诺瓦克为您播报。
Mary grew up on a very rural, cattle ranch in New Mexico just above the US-Mexico border, where she learned to drive when she was just seven years old and had no television in her home. She attended Williams college, in Massachusetts town near the New York-New Hampshire border. She first intended in going into politics, then fell in love with drama and theater, so she shifted her major. After college, she decided to study law.After law school, Mary went to work for a natural gas utility in El Paso, TX, the city in Texas that borders Mexico and New Mexico. She worked as an in-house lawyer at the utility for several years, then went to work for a traditional law firm for a short period of time before she realized she didn't like working as a traditional lawyer. So, she went to work for the (FERC) Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. abbreviated FERC or “FERC”. She spent her time prosecuting utility companies that were not abiding by the law. After 4 years, she went back to work for El Paso Electric Company, where she would work her way up to the CEO position. After spending a huge portion of her career in El Paso, Mary decided to join Puget Sound Energy in Bellevue, WA in 2019 to take on an ambitious challenge. Today, Puget Sound Energy, employs more than 2,500 people, and serves over 1 million customers.
It's Bring Your Ideas! week on Public Power Underground! A lot of guests and guest news this week. Arin Reports (01:16), Tacoma Power's Ahlmahz Negash, PhD, talks about demand response (04:21), Puget Sound Energy's Integrated Resource Plan identifies biodiesel peakers (19:30), Guest News from Oregon Department of Energy's Blake Shelide (20:46), Brian Johnson introduces Holly Dohrman's interview on the post-2028 Provider of Choice process (26:24), Financial Times article on the next step in battery development (41:30), Debrief from April 7th Technical Management Team discussion (47:18), Guest News from NewsData's Mark Ohrenschall on the upcoming Grid Resilience webinar (50:00), NewsData's News Bulletin on Power & Transmission Customers call for BP-22 Comprehensive Settlement (54:46). Public Power Underground, it's work to watch. Public Power Underground, for electric utility enthusiasts. to sign up for the newsletter visit our substack at publicpowerunderground.substack.com.
This week Mike Lorrain, co-founder of Quantum Productions, joins us to talk about some of the changes that have occurred in the 25 years he and his business partner Norb have been making videos, thoughts on the newest tech, and advice for beginners! From pre-production all the way through music and editing, Quantum Productions works to create outstanding, award-winning films for their clients; some of whom include Safeco Insurance, Nordstrom's, and Puget Sound Energy. Check them out at: https://www.quantumproductions.net/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/puget-systems/message
Become part of the Podcastville Community on Patreon! Today we welcome Puget Sound Energy Andy Swayne and Naten Shelby from PSE to talk about improving the electrical grid on the island and future projects. The B.I.STANDER Podcast is a conversational podcast unique to Bainbridge Island and Seattle Washington, that covers Society & culture, through Human Interest stories and arts. The intent is to introduce interesting people, ideas, and conversations. We are not perfect and that's OK! Thank you for your support! Tell them you heard it on: The BISTANDER Podcast! Eagle Harbor Insurance Blue Canary Auto B.I.Hoops & More Helpline House https://www.si.com/fantasy Sound Reprographics Soccer Goal Shelter PLEASE TELL THEM "THE B.I.STANDER PODCAST" SENT YOU! Music performed by Band of Steves of The Island Music Guild. *additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com Listen on Spotify, PlayerFM, Apple Podcasts, TuneIN, Castbox, Amazon Podcasts, Deezer, and more!
In this week’s episode, Correspondent and Town Hall Digital Media Manager Jini Palmer talks with Puget Sound Energy’s Tyler O’Farrell about renewable energy. Town Hall is a PSE Powerful Partner, so for Energy Awareness Month in October, O’Farrell discusses the renewable energy programs at PSE that are designed to keep sustainability within reach. For those with electric power, he explores the solar choice, green power, and customer connected solar options; and for those with gas, he shares about the carbon balance option. Learn more about PSE and energy awareness—and stay in the know about what’s going on in this moment at Town Hall Seattle. Tyler O’Farrell has been with Puget Sound Energy for more than 15 years with experience in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Performance Management, and Regulatory Affairs. Currently, as Product Manager for Voluntary Renewables, he oversees PSE’s Green Power, Solar Choice, and Carbon Balance programs with over 80,000 total customers participating and consistently ranks in the NREL’s top ten renewable energy programs in the country. O’Farrell is a graduate of Washington State University with a BA in Communications. Preserving the beautiful natural spaces and vibrant communities in our area are top priorities for Puget Sound Energy, which is why they created their PSE Powerful Partnerships. PSE realized that there are local nonprofits—like Town Hall—working towards similar goals, and they wanted to help with those efforts. Click here to find out more about PSE Powerful Partnerships. Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here or text TOWN HALL to 44321.
In this week’s episode, Correspondent and Town Hall Digital Media Manager Jini Palmer talks with Puget Sound Energy’s Tyler O’Farrell about renewable energy. Town Hall is a PSE Powerful Partner, so for Energy Awareness Month in October, O’Farrell discusses the renewable energy programs at PSE that are designed to keep sustainability within reach. For those with electric power, he explores the solar choice, green power, and customer connected solar options; and for those with gas, he shares about the carbon balance option. Learn more about PSE and energy awareness—and stay in the know about what’s going on in this moment at Town Hall Seattle. Tyler O’Farrell has been with Puget Sound Energy for more than 15 years with experience in Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Performance Management, and Regulatory Affairs. Currently, as Product Manager for Voluntary Renewables, he oversees PSE’s Green Power, Solar Choice, and Carbon Balance programs with over 80,000 total customers participating and consistently ranks in the NREL’s top ten renewable energy programs in the country. O’Farrell is a graduate of Washington State University with a BA in Communications. Preserving the beautiful natural spaces and vibrant communities in our area are top priorities for Puget Sound Energy, which is why they created their PSE Powerful Partnerships. PSE realized that there are local nonprofits—like Town Hall—working towards similar goals, and they wanted to help with those efforts. Click here to find out more about PSE Powerful Partnerships. Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here or text TOWN HALL to 44321.
As much as we are in a hurry to see change, being thoughtful about it can pay dividends in the long term. Balancing these two forces out - takes real leadership. So who will win the race? The Sustainability Tortoise or the CleanTech Hare?Let us hear how our Season 1 experts determined when it was the right time to act fast, and when they made decisions slowly.Interview by Jimmy Jia (www.jimmyjia.com)Music by Sean Hart (www.seanhart.com)Website: www.leversforchangepodcast.comShow Notes“Our philosophy was just - fail fast”“The decisions about major investments were made slowly”Welcome to this compilation episode of the Levers for Change Podcast. I'm your host, Jimmy Jia.As much as we are in a hurry to see change, being thoughtful about it can pay dividends in the long term. Balancing these two forces out - takes real leadership. So who will win the race? The Sustainability Tortoise or the CleanTech Hare?Let us see how our Season 1 guests grappled with the decisions placed in front of them.Shilpa Patel, ClimateWorksA decision that seems to have the support of the team. Because, remember, you very rarely do these things solo. You have teams of people you talk to and you have the overall support of the team. it’s a much easier to take rather than something dissonant.Jimmy Jia (JJ): That was Shilpa Patel, talking about her experience at the World Bank and the International finance corporation. Decisions can be fast if all of the stakeholder engagement has already occurred. This was a running theme across the podcast series. Steve Klein, former CEO of Snohomish PUD, defined his autonomy as what was within the strategic plan.Steve Klein, former CEO, Snohomish PUDI could definitely operate within the bounds of the budget and the strategic plan. I believed and followed through very strongly to be on the same page with the board. So therefore, I put together a strategic plan that wasn’t just grand platitudes. It had specific targets and statements of positions on things so that I would have the flexibility. Then when we set the budget up, I would go to the board and explain how this budget I presented to them carries out this strategyJJ: Some decisions happened surprisingly fast, as Jackie Drumheller of Alaskan Airlines relayed in the removal of plastic straws from the airline.Jackie Drumheller, Sustainability Director, Alaskan AirlinesRemoving plastic straws from people’s cups – almost overnight, it was that simple. It was like, “hey that’s a great idea. Yeah, this is good timing.” - “ok.” - “Let’s use up our stock and then we’re done.” - “Ok”. Once we finally decided now was the time, because we had been talking around and never did it. When we said let’s do it, we just did it!JJ: Even then, there was consensus among the stakeholders. Rich Sonstelie, former CEO of Puget Sound Energy, believed in the power of teams.Rich Sonstelie, Retired CEO, Puget Sound EnergyDecisions that had to be made quickly, and therefore were, had to do with getting the right people into the right place. Any utility executive, whether at the CEO level, the managerial level, vice present, or whatever, is only going to be as effective as his or her subordinates are effective. The CEO’s ability to “get things done” is relatively limited. The thing that had to be done relatively quickly all the time was to get the right people into the right job. If there were people that had to be removed, in the utility industry, you did that rather gently, but you had to do it. You have to get the right people in place. I think people make mistakes in all kinds of companies, including utilities, when they sit there and watch non-performers and don’t do anything about it.JJ: Brewster Earle of Comfort Systems reflected that the executives had much autonomy and making fast decisions was within the scope of the company.Brewster Earle, former EVP Energy Systems, Comfort System USAOur philosophy was just fail fast. If something came in, we’d get the right people into a room and just have at it for whatever it took, an hour, two three, about an opportunity to make some changes and make some decisions. Everybody would get the chance to present their perspective and then collectively we would decide. And if we were gong to amek a decision, we were going to go as fast as we possibly could and then adjust to what happened going forward. If there was change or if it didn’t work out like we thought, we’d simply reassess. We’d literally take the hit, said OK, that was a mistake, we’re going to stop doing that.JJ: So what are the limits to this autonomy? Is the mantra always making fast decisions? Of course not. So when are decisions made intentionally slowly? Brewster?Brewster Earle, former EVP Energy Systems, Comfort System USAThe actual situation in a large company like that was, who else might this impact? If this could have any kind of negative impact on a sister operating company, or even reflect poorly on Comfort, if we were taking that kind of risk, we would move very slowly and we’d engage a whole bunch of people to get other opinions, particularly those who might be impacted.JJ: Thus if fast decisions happen because the consensus was already built, it is the consensus-building process that takes a long time. Rich Sonstelie elaborates:Rich Sonstelie, Retired CEO, Puget Sound EnergyThe decisions about major investments were made slowly. They were made slowly both because the investments tended to be so large, which they are, and utility boards tend to be conservative by their nature, and should be. They should be people who ask tough questions and don’t readily venture out into new ventures. And we have all of these parties that we’ve been talking about, to convince that this makes sense. You don’t just jump into these investments when you can have regulators decide they weren’t prudent and you never recover the costs. Things like that are what brings utilities to bankruptcy.JJ: And when stakeholder agreement requires the entire company’s participation , decisions might seem super slow! Sabrina Watkins noticed this in running Sustainabiltiy at ConocoPhilllipsSabrina Watkins, former Global Head of Sustainability, ConocoPhillipsWhen you think about the sustainability of the company, is the whole company. In some sense, there is a lot of autonomy in a sustainability group because there’s a function that you are responsible for called sustainability. In then if you look at it in a different way, there’s no autonomy whatsoever because in order to actually get anything done, it requires action by folks outside of the group. To actually move the company forward in sustainability, requires the action of people all over the company.JJ: Slow and steady wins the sustainability race. Karen Wayland mentioned the Quadrennial Energy Report as an example. It is a massive report, published by the Department of Energy, that reviewed the energy issues across the entire United States.Karen Wayland, kW StrategiesI think the Quadrennial Energy Reivew. It took us not quite two years to do this huge inter-agency bill, where we had hundreds of different research projects with the national labs that fed in and were synthesized and written and we had many inter-agency meetings and meetings with the White House and stakeholders and that was a long process. The end result was a really incredible report that I’m really proud of having being part of. That turned into legislation that was signed by the president. So it was worth doing it right and doing it comprehensively.JJ: Sustainability is a long-term goal. Jameson Morrell of Jacobs Engineering reminds us to keep an eye on the ball, even when no one else is paying attention to the Sustainability Game.Jameson Morrell, Sustainability Intelligence, Jacobs EngineeringWhere it’s really slow I think are in areas where we’ve stalled. The pressure has changed or progress has been made good enough. These are long-term risks that certainly impact the bottom line and sometimes in those business cycles we stall out. It’s the ability to have the patience to say we got a good strategy, we’ve got a good plan, we understand we need to address that, it’s just the wrong time. There are different material risks that are more pertinent right now to survive as a company, and so it’s trying not to lose sight of those. It’s trying to say ‘these are still a priority, but we’re going to table them this year.”JJ: Steve Kline, you get the last word. It's about expectation setting of any decision, regardless of whether it's fast or slow.Steve KleinI think the key to any CEO is that you never want to surprise the board. You always want to bring the board along. I followed that same theory even when a problem arose. Some people thought I was foolish or silly to do this but I even did it when I was an early supervisor and manager before I was a CEO. When a significant problem would come up, I’d go to my boss and say “I’ve just become informed of this significant problem” And I knew the first thing they’d say. And before they could get it out, I’d say, “Here is the plan I intent to implement to address this and I will keep you appraised if these milestones aren’t met”. They don’t find out about it from someone else. They know I’m on top of it already. So if their boss came to them and said that they’ve heard about a problem, my boss could say, “hey don’t worry about it”.JJ: In summary, take your time in building a stakeholder group correctly. It will help you sprint faster and with a stronger mandate if you do. To find out more, visit us at www.leversforchangepodcast.com and look for the What If Sandbox retreats. It is here where stakeholders meet and collaborate across many cleantech sectors.Thanks again for listening to this compilation episode. Again, my name is Jimmy Jia. The music is by Sean Hart. I hope the advice given by the experts will help you in your journey as you search for your Levers for Change.
Jobs. They are on the top of everyone's minds, and sustainability jobs even more so. Millennials are even willing to take a fairly substantial pay cut in order to move in a job with more sustainability responsibilities.My name is Jimmy Jia. In this bonus episode of the Levers for Change Podcast, we compile the advice and suggestions given by our Season 1 experts on how to best enter the sustainability workforce as well as what expertise the sector needs.To hear the full interviews, please go to www.leversforchangepodcast.com. Season 2 will be launching this Fall of 2020 and we will announce more details soon.Let us start with Jackie Drumheller of Alaskan Airlines, who told us what to do; and Jameson Morrell of Jacobs Engineering who told us what not to do.Jackie Drumheller, Sustainability Director, Alaskan Airlines· I get a lot of intern application. You can be looking at 300 applications and I would throw out every single one where the person didn’t reach out to me independently during the resume process. Because there’s no point. You have to be a self-starter, you have to have initiative and you have to have drive.· If you’re just sending in an application to our giant HR-in-the-cloud, you’re not demonstrating any sort of initiative. Show me that you’ve started a composting collection in your school or you’ve persuaded management in your job to get rid of water bottles. Because then you know what it really takes to implement sustainability initiatives in the workplace. Then you really understand what it took to relay the business case or how to influence people or how the organization works. And then you have the passion and persistence to get it done.JJ: Thanks Jackie. So Jameson, what shouldn't we do?Jameson Morrell, Sustainability Intelligence, Jacobs Engineering· The biggest mistake I see? You go into LinkedIn or a job description on a job board and you google search for “sustainability”. And you see the name “Sustainability Manger” or “Sustainability Director” or something like that. It’s like the front door of a crowded restaurant.· There’s a lot of people who are focused on that word. You can easily walk around the back and become a cook for a year, and move right into that sustainability job. And so that’s my advice. Study something that you love and augment it.JJ: It’s good to know that there are many impactful jobs, even if they don't have sustainability in the job title. So then what type of job titles should you be looking for? Sabrina Watkins of ConocoPhillips tells us where to look.Sabrina Watkins, former Global Head of Sustainability, ConocoPhillips· Everywhere! It’s a silly answer but it’s actually quite true. I have had so many mentoring sessions with professions who want to do more in sustainability but they are in information technology, or they want to do more in sustainability but they are a mechanical engineer. Honestly, all of those skillsets are needed to move the company forward in sustainability.· We need to have interest and aptitude. It takes an engineer to sort out a new piece of equipment that could reduce emissions and to understand what sort of emissions monitoring equipment is best suited for our operations.· It needs people who are good at social engagement to work with communities to really understand what they’re expectations are of the company and not someone who isn’t skilled at that sort of conversation and just clams up.· I think there’ slots of way to contribute to sustainability. If you want to be in a sustainability group, then it requires both academic work in sustainability as well as depth of expertise in a particular industry.JJ: Brewster Earle of comfort systems debunks the notion that sustainability jobs require a college education, saying we need more technicians.Brewster Earle, former EVP Energy Systems, Comfort System USA· It’s purely technicians. The technical tradespeople. The workforce is aging. It is quite interesting and shocking. The notion that college is the preferred path, I can’t debunk that enough. It’s simply not true. Some people would be great at trades and can make a good living. That’s the big challenge in the industry at the whole. We need more tradespeople that can look at a plot of land and make something out of nothing. make some grow out of nothing.JJ: Steve Klein couldn't agree more. He used to be the CEO of Snohomish PUD, a major utility, and he had to hire many tradespeople.Steve Klein, former CEO, Snohomish PUD· We put so much emphasis on college and getting advanced degrees and here we are dying to find line electricians and meter technicians that, with overtime, make over $120,000 a year and we can’t find people to fill those jobs. Certainly, it’s a very fulfilling career. And based on today, it’s not swinging a hammer. It’s some physical work, but it’s still a lot of mental work because everyone carries a laptop nowadays. All of these systems are complex so even if you’re tweaking it with a screwdriver, you got to understand the technology.· Then you go beyond that, utilities get involved with everything. They have accountants. They have biologists, particularly here in the Northwest where with hydro projects, we are managing fish protection. In terms of the electrical energy side, there are many different sides of it. When I was in college, you had to specialize in power engineering. Now there’s many different areas to look at.JJ: What if you're looking for a promotion rather than looking for a new job? As Rich Sonstelie, retired CEO of Puget Sound Energy says, take an interest in how the business works beyond your day-to-day duties.Rich Sonstelie, Retired CEO, Puget Sound Energy· For those like me who came in like I did with an MBA, prove that you’re really interested in the utility business. This concept of MBAs coming into companies and thinking that they’re prepared to go into top management immediately, boy, what a way to alienate everybody around you.· Again, show that you’re interested in the big picture. Quiz your leaders about why we’re doing this. Tell me who else is involved.· I think the older business people delight in young people who ask questions. There’s a lot to learn from the mid-career, late career folks. It’s very flattering really.· I had people in the latter part of my career, who came and ask for a meeting and my assistant always knew that my door was always open. Some great people came to ask some really great questions. And I got to know them a little as well. And I don’t think it hurt either of us.JJ: Learn the business process, yes. Also, learn the political process, as Karen Wayland who spent a career in Congress and the Department of Energy, reminds us.Karen Wayland, kW Strategies· I think everybody should have a stint in Washington. I look on Facebook and Twitter and I listen to the conversations I have when visiting friends and family outside Washington and they really, truly do not understand the process. I think it’s useful to have a better understanding of the process so that you’re more forgiving of the process and not so cynical about it or misinformed about it.· For instance, the framers of the constitution, envisioned things moving fast in the House and things moving slow in the Senate and of the thousands of bills that are produced every year by the 535 members, very few of them ever become law, by design.JJ: Where you find a job might be surprising. The most unexpected companies might be hiring people with expertise in climate. Shilpa Patel of ClimateWorks elaborates:Shilpa Patel, ClimateWorks· There’s so many entry points now. I think the financial sector as a whole recognizes that this is a critical thing we have to deal with. You can do it in banks, certainly the investment banks, the private equity or funds that are focused on environment and climate.· You can do it through philanthropy, a think tank, like WRI, you can certainly do it through a multi-lateral development bank. All of them have climate as a priority.· The corporate world is very much looking into this. And very frankly, even the oil and gas majors are looking at climate and what it will do to their business. I think you can influence and work on climate finance in so many different was now.JJ: Lastly, here are some skills to succeed.Jameson Morrell· Understand system thinking. Understand what’s new.· Get your foot in the door of an organization you want to work for. And when your foot’s in the door, find those people because the teams are in there and they’re cross-functional teams and they’re moving somewhere.· And then from there, you can move all over the place.JJ: To summarize, it's not about looking for a sustainability job title. It's about turning your job into a sustainability job. I have heard of CFOs going to Green Team meetings to find people to promote because those who attended were working towards the company succeeding, not just their own careers. Those people cared about how the business worked, improving its functions and building cross-functional teams. In essence, they were learning how to lead.Thanks again for listening to this compilation episode. Again, my name is Jimmy Jia. I hope the advice given by the experts will help you in your journey as you search for your Levers for Change.Visit our website at www.leversforchangepodcast.com for additional podcasts, books, courses, and other resources.Interview by Jimmy Jia (www.jimmyjia.com) Music by Sean Hart (www.seanhart.com)Website: www.leversforchangepodcast.com
First is the importance of taking initiative.Rich Sonstelie, Retired CEO of Puget Sound Energy,- People worry about being noticed for mistakes but they forget that they also need to be noticed for successes as well. Always ask questions and take on new challengesJackie Drumheller, former Dir. Of Sustainability at Alaska Airlines- Take initiative. If you don't reach out beyond the resume process, what's the point? That's not showing initiative to get things done. You have to be a self-starter, be independent and take initiative.Finding the right balance between taking initiative and innovations.Shilpa Patel, currently of ClimateWorks, spent many years at the World Bank- Somehow, the World Bank was very innovative on the inside. It's easy to say the pace of change is slow inside of a large, bureaucratic institution. But the pace of change to adopt new ideas in the market, isn't that fast on the outside either.Rich Sonstelie- Utilities faced de-regulation as a challenge to their business models in the 1990's and 2000. Today they face EV, batteries, and solar panels as disruption to their business models. Embrace it rather than feel threatened by it. There is so much opportunity.Steve Klein, Former CEO of Snohomish PUD- Business model needs to change from volumetric charge to a fee for service - service for shipping your electrons from your solar panel to your neighbor across the street. Just like the doughnut van rides on top of the roadway that is built off of taxes.The second point is systems thinking. If everything’s connected, where do you start?Karen Wayland, Senior Policy Advisor to Nancy Pelosi- The Quadrennial Energy Review was successful because it saw the connections. We looked at the energy system and how it connected to the non-energy topics. People bored with energy found the energy/water nexus fascinating. Or were really engaged with the cybersecurity issues.Jameson Morrell, Sustainability Intelligence at Jacobs Engineering- The systems are connected but you can't impact the whole system at once. You impact the part that you're touching and work on the issues that are material to that part. From there, you trace the red threads through the systemsInterconnected systems create implementation challenges thought!Brewster Earle, former President of Energy Services at Comfort Systems- The handoff is critical - from the architects to the mechanical contractor and then to the operators. There are cracks in each transfer of knowledge. Someone needs to unify it. That person can be an Owner's Commissioning Agent, when constructing a new buildingSabrina Watkins, former Head of Sustainability, ConocoPhillips- Over 300 Oil & Gas companies, some focus on mining and extraction (upstream), some on just the refining (midstream), and others on marketing and consumer sales (downstream), and still others do all three. Each have a different definition for sustainability and work towards slightly different goals. Coming to agreement as an industry can be extremely difficult, beyond the broad strokes of the concept.Steve Klein helped bring it all together- We train electrical engineers, accountants, financers, lawyers to work in utilities. But who's going to figure out a tidal project, where don't even know who the regulator will be? Someone has to take the lead and someone has to have the skill set to pull the project together. That was the motivation in the creation of the WWU Energy Institute.Thanks again for listening to our podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast for new episodes and please share with a friend!Visit our website at www.leversforchangepodcast.com for additional podcasts, books, courses, and other resources.Remember, as you are trying to change the world, search for your levers for change.
![Splunk [Industrial IoT | Mobile | SignalFx | VictorOps] 2019 .conf Videos w/ Slides](https://ivyfm.s3.amazonaws.com/i320/821523.jpg)
Splunk [Industrial IoT | Mobile | SignalFx | VictorOps] 2019 .conf Videos w/ Slides
AV and conference technology may seem trivial to the traditional IT OPS engineer, but it is one of the most visible and expensive parts of an enterprise. Everyone from the CEO to even the new hires on their first day use the technology. At PSE we were able to leverage Splunk to help us build, maintain, and manage our enterprise AV program (and save a lot of money in the process). In this session you will learn how we used Splunk to make data-driven decisions that influence and shape a multi-million dollar AV program. Speaker(s) Chris Ramsay, IT Facilities Engineer , Puget Sound Energy Slides PDF link - https://conf.splunk.com/files/2019/slides/IOT2134.pdf?podcast=1577146262 Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk for Industrial IoT, Splunk Mobile Track: Internet of Things Level: Intermediate
![Splunk [Enterprise] 2019 .conf Videos w/ Slides](https://ivyfm.s3.amazonaws.com/i320/821521.jpg)
AV and conference technology may seem trivial to the traditional IT OPS engineer, but it is one of the most visible and expensive parts of an enterprise. Everyone from the CEO to even the new hires on their first day use the technology. At PSE we were able to leverage Splunk to help us build, maintain, and manage our enterprise AV program (and save a lot of money in the process). In this session you will learn how we used Splunk to make data-driven decisions that influence and shape a multi-million dollar AV program. Speaker(s) Chris Ramsay, IT Facilities Engineer , Puget Sound Energy Slides PDF link - https://conf.splunk.com/files/2019/slides/IOT2134.pdf?podcast=1577146229 Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk for Industrial IoT, Splunk Mobile Track: Internet of Things Level: Intermediate
![Splunk [All Products] 2019 .conf Videos w/ Slides](https://ivyfm.s3.amazonaws.com/i320/821514.jpg)
AV and conference technology may seem trivial to the traditional IT OPS engineer, but it is one of the most visible and expensive parts of an enterprise. Everyone from the CEO to even the new hires on their first day use the technology. At PSE we were able to leverage Splunk to help us build, maintain, and manage our enterprise AV program (and save a lot of money in the process). In this session you will learn how we used Splunk to make data-driven decisions that influence and shape a multi-million dollar AV program. Speaker(s) Chris Ramsay, IT Facilities Engineer , Puget Sound Energy Slides PDF link - https://conf.splunk.com/files/2019/slides/IOT2134.pdf?podcast=1577146224 Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk for Industrial IoT, Splunk Mobile Track: Internet of Things Level: Intermediate
![Splunk [Internet of Things Track] 2019 .conf Videos w/ Slides](https://ivyfm.s3.amazonaws.com/i320/821524.jpg)
Splunk [Internet of Things Track] 2019 .conf Videos w/ Slides
AV and conference technology may seem trivial to the traditional IT OPS engineer, but it is one of the most visible and expensive parts of an enterprise. Everyone from the CEO to even the new hires on their first day use the technology. At PSE we were able to leverage Splunk to help us build, maintain, and manage our enterprise AV program (and save a lot of money in the process). In this session you will learn how we used Splunk to make data-driven decisions that influence and shape a multi-million dollar AV program. Speaker(s) Chris Ramsay, IT Facilities Engineer , Puget Sound Energy Slides PDF link - https://conf.splunk.com/files/2019/slides/IOT2134.pdf?podcast=1577146206 Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk for Industrial IoT, Splunk Mobile Track: Internet of Things Level: Intermediate
On this weekend's edition of 'Open House with Team Reba' radio show, Reba and Eric welcomed Andy Wappler, from Puget Sound Energy, to talk about the proposed ban on gas in new construction in Seattle. They also give an update on 'Energize Eastside' and planning for winter storms.
Andy Wappler from Puget Sound Energy on Seattle natural gas policy // Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- closing lanes this weekend to fix a Revive I-5 mistake // Jim Downs, author of Sick from Freedom // Hanna Scott on new protections for Seattle hotel workers // Dose of Kindness -- a request for beer money turns into thousands of dollars for sick kids // Sports Insider Danny O'Neil, aka Coach Carroll's injury report translator // David Fahrenthold live on the Medal of Freedom/ the president's tax filings
This week, Indivisible's plans for 2020 and beyond. We talk with Indivisible's Director of Democracy Policy, Meaghan Hatcher Mays about the many ways progressives can fight to restore our democracy once Trump and the GOP are out of power, and it all starts with filibuster reform. Every legislative item on the progressive agenda likely won't be possible without getting rid of the filibuster. Then, continuing our series of discussions from Indivisible's National Campaign Network, we have our conversation with Indivisible co-executive director Ezra Levin about the very real possibility of flipping his native state of Texas blue. Come join us for Border to Border with Love to #DefundHate! Next week is Indivisible's week of action to #DefundHate. Groups all over the country will be taking part in actions to push our members of Congress to vote to draw down the budgets for ICE and CBP in the upcoming budget vote for fiscal year 2020. And as part of this, here on the west coast, we're going to be taking part in a caravan that will going from the Canadian border all the way down to the Mexican border to draw attention to the issue. Starting Saturday, September 7th, a banner will begin traveling south from the Peace Arch in Blaine, gathering signatures from Indivisible members and other affiliated groups along the way. We'll be making a number of stops here in Washington state, where people can sign the banner and also make videos for their member of Congress, urging them to DefundHate. Stephan will personally be bringing the banner to stops in Kirkland, Bellevue, Lakewood, Olympia, and Chehalis, and will be also recording segments with people who come out for the podcast about why this issue is important to them. For more information, email us at indivisiblepodcast@gmail.com. Hope to see you out there! Links: Senator Jeannie Darneille's testimony to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency as to why they should deny PSE an operating permit for a fracked natural gas plant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyiTTPCffFw Add your voice to deny Puget Sound Energy's Tacoma LNG permit: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/deny-the-lng-permit/
CEO Podcasts: CEO Chat Podcast + I AM CEO Podcast Powered by Blue 16 Media & CBNation.co
Kevin Wilhelm is the one of the world's preeminent business consultants in the field of sustainability and climate change. He is the CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting, a Seattle-based consulting firm focused on demonstrating the bottom-line business benefits of sustainability and then leading companies through successful implementation. Kevin brings two decades of experience working with businesses ranging from Fortune 500 multinationals to medium-sized businesses. His clients include Nordstrom, REI, The North Face, Alaska Airlines, Redbox, Expeditors, Drugstore.com, Puget Sound Energy and more than 75 others. Website: https://sustainablebizconsulting.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA @KevinWilhelmSBC Kevin-Wilhelm.com Twitter: @SBC_Consulting Facebook: facebook.com/SustainableBizConsulting/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/sustainable-business-consulting-llc BOOKS Sustainability Jobs: http://ow.ly/5hca30ohtp1 Making Sustainability Stick: http://ow.ly/K01n30ohtof Return on Sustainability: http://ow.ly/EsWI30ohtng
This week on ‘Open House with Team Reba’, we talked with Leslie Meyers, the Customer Outreach Manager for South King County at Puget Sound Energy, about their upcoming program where they provide FREE lighting to business owners. Listen to the show below, and as always we start with your mortgage and market update!
Free T-shirts, a parade, fire trucks, art projects, a visit with a therapy dog, bubbles, a sing-along -- sound like fun? It's KiDiMu Play Day, a wonderful celebration of KiDiMu's 15th birthday. In this podcast, Susie Burdick, KiDiMu's executive director, tells us about all the fun -- and FREE -- activities that have been planned for this year's celebration. All are invited to kick off the festivities with the “Kids for KiDiMu” family fun walk for kids and kids at heart. Island Fitness instructor Tamera Roza will invite all for a warm-up on the plaza at 10 a.m. Then participants, led by the Bainbridge High School Bands musicians will head out to celebrate the power of play with KiDiMu, the whole town and tourists, as they stroll through Winslow and then return to KiDiMu after a short loop. After the walk, families can engage in exhibit play at KiDiMu, meet Project Canine's therapy dog, who will teach children how to safely approach four-legged friends, or participate in a BIMA-led art project. Starting at 1 pm children can decorate pillowcases for their emergency kits with Blocks, Inc., collaborate on an outdoor mural or play with bubbles. And throughout the day Puget Sound Energy will be hosting a safety tent offering activities and books. At 3:15 p.m. - for the day's finale – KiDiMu's new interim education director, Judi Neumann, will lead all in a sing-along to live autoharp music. For a detailed schedule of events and to get your free t-shirt, pre-register for the KiDiMu walk at KiDiMu.org
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is Washington's largest private utility. They provide electricity, natural gas, and generation to their territory. Among other assets, PSE manages over 2,000 miles of linear transmission network in the Pacific Northwest and the company has recently been conducting pilot tests with drones. Our guest, Mitch Droz, is a Commercial Development Manager in the Emerging Technologies group at Puget Sound Energy and is a certified Part 107 pilot. Mitch and Ian take a deep dive into the myriad of ways in which drones are being used in the energy and utilities sector today. Mitch explains the use cases and value drivers which drones help Puget Sound Energy discover while using drone technology on dams, transmission lines, monitoring vegetation, inspecting transmission towers, and more. This episode was brought to you by the Energy Drone Coalition Summit whose inaugural event is taking place in Houston, Texas on June 20th and 21st, 2017. Commercial Drones FM podcast listeners get 20% off tickets by using discount code "CDFM20". Visit the website at http://stonefortgroup.com/energy-drone-coalition-2017/
Two years ago in late April, we hosted a podcast with Jane Lindley and Steve Johnson of Island Power about their efforts to encourage Bainbridge Island to own and control its own electric utility. Join us as we bring you up to date on what's happened since then. Our Apr 13 broadcast on the subject experienced software issues, so we're doing a recast.
Ever wonder what you can do to have a more energy efficient home? How about what programs Puget Sound Energy has to help you? Listen in today to hear from PSE’s Energy Efficiency Team and all the programs and products they have for the consumer.
In this episode of 'Open House', Team Reba talk with Andy Wappler from Puget Sound Energy and their new project, Energize Eastside, and how it will impact you.
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has a complicated history on Bainbridge Island. There are frequent power outages and a need for more infrastructure, but push back from a community with an interest in reducing its carbon footprint, concern about aesthetics, and a new desire via the Island Power initiative to own and control its own nonprofit electric utility. Andy Wappler is vice president of Corporate Affairs for Puget Sound Energy, and leads groups that are charged with coordinating customer/community outreach and enhancing data capability. He is also chairman and president of Puget Sound Energy Foundation, dedicated to promoting safety and emergency preparedness within PSE’s service territory. Join a conversation about PSE's history with the island, plans for the future, and what's being done to prevent the number of outages.
Bainbridge Island citizens have the opportunity to own and control its own nonprofit electric utility, as do more than 50 other Washington communities. Consumer owned utilities, from the City of Blaine to Seattle City Light, provide lower cost, cleaner and more reliable power than Puget Sound Energy (PSE). In 2008, Jefferson County (Port Townsend) voted to give electric authority to their public utility district, Jefferson PUD, and buy out PSE. Today they have their own 100% carbon-free, locally controlled, nonprofit power system. Is it possible on Bainbridge Island?What are the pros and cons?How much will it cost?Who will run it?What about hydropower and droughts?Why not partner with PSE's Green Power initiative? Join us as we answer these questions and more with Jane Lindley and Steve Johnson of Island Power.
In a podcast interview recorded on Earth Day (April 22, 2015), experts on financing and installing solar panels explain why there has never been a better time for homeowners or business owners to install solar panels on their rooftop. Our guests explain that you can both counteract climate change AND save money with a relatively quick payback period. In this interview, we meet Anders Hellum-Alexander, a representative from solar panel installation company A&R Solar (a-rsolar.com), and Shannon Ellis-Brock, chief operating officer from Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union (psccu.org). Our third guest is Kellie Stickney, the community engagement specialist from the City of Bainbridge Island. Our guests were on their way to the dedication of an array of newly installed rooftop solar panels at the City's Waterfront Community Center, where Puget Sound Energy funded the project as an award for the Bainbridge community's high rates of adoption of PSE's "Green Power" Program. A&R Solar installed panels at Waterfront Community Center, and also at the Grow Community, which has solar on 100% of the neighborhood roofs and has won several awards for its green buildings. This 25-minute podcast provides details of the many financial and technical advantages that are now available for owners considering solar installations: the availability of low-interest loans (currently, as low as 4.25%) from the Credit Union for the full amount of the project, with up to 15 years to repay simple flexible terms on Credit Union loans, often with same-day decision-making Washington State incentive payments that pay a property owner as much as 54 cents for each kilowatt hour produced by panels and inverters made in Washington waiver or reduction of state sales tax on solar installations federal tax credit that currently reduces the overall project cost by 30% the State's “net metering” allowance that lets you credit surplus solar energy to days in the year that are less sunny new types of inverters that make panels effective on rooftops that are partly shaded the significant decline in the price of panels in recent years; and the greater efficiency of installation techniques. Credits: BCB host, editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.
In a podcast interview recorded on Earth Day (April 22, 2015), experts on financing and installing solar panels explain why there has never been a better time for homeowners or business owners to install solar panels on their rooftop. Our guests explain that you can both counteract climate change AND save money with a relatively quick payback period. In this interview, we meet Anders Hellum-Alexander, a representative from solar panel installation company A&R Solar (a-rsolar.com), and Shannon Ellis-Brock, chief operating officer from Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union (psccu.org). Our third guest is Kellie Stickney, the community engagement specialist from the City of Bainbridge Island. Our guests were on their way to the dedication of an array of newly installed rooftop solar panels at the City’s Waterfront Community Center, where Puget Sound Energy funded the project as an award for the Bainbridge community’s high rates of adoption of PSE’s "Green Power" Program. A&R Solar installed panels at Waterfront Community Center, and also at the Grow Community, which has solar on 100% of the neighborhood roofs and has won several awards for its green buildings. This 25-minute podcast provides details of the many financial and technical advantages that are now available for owners considering solar installations: the availability of low-interest loans (currently, as low as 4.25%) from the Credit Union for the full amount of the project, with up to 15 years to repay simple flexible terms on Credit Union loans, often with same-day decision-making Washington State incentive payments that pay a property owner as much as 54 cents for each kilowatt hour produced by panels and inverters made in Washington waiver or reduction of state sales tax on solar installations federal tax credit that currently reduces the overall project cost by 30% the State’s “net metering” allowance that lets you credit surplus solar energy to days in the year that are less sunny new types of inverters that make panels effective on rooftops that are partly shaded the significant decline in the price of panels in recent years; and the greater efficiency of installation techniques. Credits: BCB host, editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
