HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter of Support for Mason County PUD No. 1 (Murray) - 030226Co
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Board of County Commissioners
1820 Jefferson Street
PO Box 1220
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Heather Dudley-Nollette, District 1 Heidi Eisenhour, District 2 Greg Brotherton, District 3
HI tirG
March 2, 2026
The Honorable Patty Murray
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Re: Support for Mason County PUD No. 1's Appropriations Request for FY27
Dear Senator Murray,
The Board of Commissioners for Jefferson County, Washington would like to express our support for Mason
County PUD No. 1's appropriations request to fund Hood Canal Grid Resilience Project. PUD 1 has procured other
grant funding through FEMA and U.S. Department of Energy and Washington State Department of Commerce to
rebuild several areas of aging power infrastructure along U.S. Highway 101 along with other major grid resilience
initiatives, like a middle -mile substation. There are still two major project areas that the PUD needs funding
assistance to complete, with a $5.6 million project cost, which is cost prohibitive for only 5,600 electric meters. This
CDS funding would making this project a near -term reality without impacting public ratepayers. This Hood Canal
Grid Resilience Project is important for Jefferson County residents on the Hood Canal because this area experiences
frequent and long-lasting power outages due to the terrain of U.S. Highway 101 and the Olympic National Forest.
These areas are vulnerable to natural hazards like landslides, wind and snow events, and most commonly, fallen
trees from the rainforest canopy.
Mason PUD 1 has a 5.2-mile stretch of overhead 3-Phase power lines on U.S. Hwy 101 that run under the Olympic
Rainforest canopy and along the shoreline of the Hood Canal in the town of Brinnon. This section of line feeds
power to 20% of the PUD's electric customers. The tree canopy, natural hazards, and lack of resilient infrastructure
cause a high number of power outages each year. 84 of the 106 poles in this 5.2 mile have installation dates ranging
from the 1940s through the 1980s. The poles are undersized for modern electrical standards and prohibit the
deployment of rural broadband.
Additionally, the Beacon Point community in Lilliwaup is served by 4.7 miles of old underground power cable,
installed in 1971. This community experiences long outage times due to the time and strenuous excavation required
to locate and repair this old cable. This CDS funding would replace all of the underground cable with new modern
cable as well as facilitate a public -private partnership with a local telecommunications provider to deploy fiber to
home throughout this development. Beacon Point is a broadband desert with poor cell reception and no reliable
satellite access. This fiber deployment not only benefits the customers in that development but would position the
PUD to deploy AMI metering and SCADA by providing the fiber network backbone to support these future grid
resilience projects.
We hope you will agree and select Mason PUD 1's Jorstad Substation Grid Resiliency Project to move forward for
appropriations. We applaud the PUD for proactively and successfully upgrading their power grid to protect
Jefferson County residents and businesses.
Sincer ,
F / j
eath dley-Nollette, Dist. 1 Heidi Eisenhour, Dist. 2
Greg Brotherton, Dist. 3 - Chair
Phone (360) 385-9100 jeffbocc@co jefferson.wams
JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
TO: Board of County Commissioners
FROM: Greg Brotherton, District 3 Commissioner
DATE: March 2, 2026
SUBJECT: Letters of Support for Mason PUD #1
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
Mason PUD #1 provides power to the Brinnon area in South Jefferson County. They are asking for the BoCC
to submit letters of support to our federal delegation for their application for Congressionally Directed
Spending (CDS) to rebuild the 3-Phase mainline in Brinnon (as well as replacing underground line in
Liliwaup.
ANALYSIS:
Our federal lobbyist indicated that this support would not undermine our own request.
RECOMMENDATION
Sign and submit the letters of support as requested.
REVIEWED BY:
(VA�z- ?-*—Ij-
RU Peters, County Administrator Date