Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon

Preserving Voter-Owned Elections in Portland

CUB has been a long-time supporter of Portland's Voter-Owned Election program. We supported the program as a strong reform when it was first proposed to the Portland City Council back in 2005. We questioned the role of utilities when big business interests tried (unsuccessfully) to repeal the system in 2006. And now we're encouraging Portland voters to approve Voter-Owned Elections when it comes to the ballot in November.

CUB Policy Center Seeks Project Manager

The CUB Policy Center (CPC) is undertaking a consumer education project (CUB CONNECTS) that will help Oregon consumers with better tools and information to explore and compare various telecommunication services and prices. The CPC is seeking a Project Manager for this project. CUB CONNECTS will encompass the design and maintenance of an interactive web site, a telephone hotline and community outreach workshops. The Project Manager will coordinate the daily functions of the project. For more information about the position, please go here.

UPDATE: It's Official: TracFone Loses Attempt to Kick CUB Out of Docket

Last week, we wrote about TracFone's attempt to kick CUB out from the docket where TracFone is trying to provide telecommunications services by accessing the Universal Service Fund. CUB is raising serious questions that need to be answered about TracFone's business model and whether they provide good value for ratepayers who are contributing to the Universal Service Fund through their phone bills. Rather than fully and completely answer our questions, TracFone asked the PUC to throw us out.

Just a couple hours ago, the administrative law judge overseeing this docket ruled on TracFone's motion. The decision, in short:

No dice.

Closing a Coal Plant is Good for the Environment, Right?

Then Why Does DEQ Want to Provide an Option to Keep Boardman Open until 2040?

We've written before about the effort to close Boardman, Oregon's only coal plant. CUB has been actively engaged in the process to find a solution that meets three specific goals: 1) protect ratepayers by keeping the costs of closure and replacement power under control; 2) protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by shuttering a coal plant early and developing a clean energy solution for replacement power; and 3) perhaps provide a path for other, more heavily coal-dependent utilities to follow in shutting down their coal plants early.

The process has taken a twist that has CUB very concerned. Frankly, we need your help to get it back on the right track. We explain how you can help at the end of this article. But first, let's start with some background.

If They're Trying to Kick CUB Out of the Case, You Know We're On to Something

'Way back when in 1999, US West (the forerunner of Qwest) filed a request in a court docket that CUB not be permitted intervenor status in a case appeal. The court said definitively, quoting from the statute that voters approved to create CUB, that "CUB may intervene as of right as a party or otherwise participate in any proceeding which includes the review or enforcement of any action by an agency." (Emphasis ours.)

Since then, no one has even hinted that CUB doesn't have the right to represent customers in a proceedin....until now. TracFone filed a motion at 4:37 pm last Friday afternoon asking the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to deny CUB's right to intervene.