Eugene’s Water Keeper
Of all the adjectives that could be used to describe John Brown, ‘observant’ might be the most fitting. As an adolescent fishing the McKenzie River, he couldn’t help but notice the water get murky and discolored the closer he drifted toward a paper manufacturing plant. Decades later, during a visit to Central Oregon, he’d spot thousands of old railroad ties discarded and partially submerged on the bank of the Deschutes River. Not one to sit idly by, Brown confronted the corporations behind the pollution with the goal of cleaning up Oregon waterways. A real estate appraiser by trade, Brown’s after-hours water advocacy earned him the prestigious Eugene First Citizen award in 2014.
In this interview, Brown discusses how his passion for water protection inspired him to serve on the Eugene Water and Electric Board, what it’s like to manage a $200 million budget as a volunteer, why after 16 years of service he thinks the next four will be the most challenging, and how it feels to represent people who are mostly indifferent to the issues he cares so much about.
Brown is one of five volunteers on EWEB. He represents approximately 30,000 people in Wards 4 and 5. The interview is supplemented with notes from Brown’s fellow board member, Sonya Carlson, who represents Wards 6 and 7. Her comments begin with ‘SC’.
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Why did you choose to volunteer on the Eugene Water and Electric Board?
I have to go back to 1969. I had a choice of either staying three more months in Vietnam or going back to school because I got drafted. I chose school and I took an English class where I wrote a paper called Weyerhaeuser vs. The McKenzie: The Rape of a Virgin. I absolutely despised Weyerhaeuser which is now International Paper. They were dumping thousands of gallons of waste into the McKenzie River every day. So I wrote a pretty scathing paper and it got me interested in water issues. I got on the board because that’s our drinking water and a passion of mine.
I believe that if you’re going to talk about it and you can do something about it, you should do it. I was born here. I’m gonna die here. I’m going to do my little bit to help it.
What does a typical month look like as an EWEB volunteer?
The board is required to meet the first Tuesday of the month. The meetings usually last four to five hours and they can be challenging. It’s a non-compensated position and it’s highly technical. Electricity is the most volatile commodity in the world. It’s a three-year learning curve just to figure out what a kilowatt is, you know? Then there’s trading and wheeling and all this other stuff. Water is more simple, but to me it’s much more important. I can live without electricity. I can’t live without water.
So, the meetings, we usually start around 5:30 p.m. and go through things and budgets. We manage a billion dollars in assets. We’ve got dams and all sorts of things. And so it’s never a dull topic, but it’s highly technical and can be controversial.
SC: Before each board meeting, we get info packets that are between 200 and 400 pages. It usually takes four to five hours to prepare.
How engaged are your constituents in EWEB topics?
Most do not get into the details. But they do say: ‘When I turn the water on, I want it cold, I want it affordable. And when I flip the light switch, I want electricity there.’ But the minute we start deviating — like we’re trying to go to smart meters now — small groups start coming out of the walls saying we’re going to kill them with electromagnetic fields and everything. Garage door openers emit higher electromagnetic energy than a smart meter. The smart meters transmit for less than a second at 2 o’clock in the morning. Still, we spent a year dealing with the outcry.
Would it be helpful to have broader participation from your constituents for a more balanced perspective?
It would. But it’s such a complex thing. I could spend an hour trying to explain to them why their rates are going up. We haven’t raised rates for five years. We have to raise them this year. It’s for two reasons: 1. We’re going to build a new $90 million water treatment plant; and, 2. Bonneville, where we get 65% of our power, all their contracts are up this year and they’re going to raise their prices. We can’t buy something for a buck and sell it for eighty cents. That’s how you go out of business.
Do you have a public relations department to get messaging out about projects?
Yeah. Right now they’re focused on a $200 million gorilla in the living room, up the McKenzie, the Leaburg Canal. We used to generate power from it, but the Fed shut us down because it’s leaking and we can’t walk away from it. And so we have to spend at least $200 million fixing it and it’s not an easy fix. It’s kind of like owning a cemetery that’s full. Money goes out and nothing comes in forever. That’s the analogy I use.
SC: The one project that keeps me up at night is the Leaburg Canal. It is a complicated situation and there are no real winners.
[Editor’s note: The Leaburg Canal was built in the 1920s. Water is diverted from the McKenzie River to the canal at the Leaburg Dam. From there, the canal flows for five miles, collecting water from several tributaries along the way. By the time it reaches its terminus at the Leaburg Powerhouse, canal water spills down 80 feet, turning two turbines that generate electricity. Several homes have been built between the McKenzie and the canal that sits above. Inspections in 2018 revealed structural deficiencies that if left unaddressed could cause the canal to fail, flooding the houses below in a worst case scenario. EWEB cannot abandon the canal because it provides stormwater conveyance for the tributaries it intercepts. It will cost $200 million to make the canal structurally sound and much more to sustain hydropower operations. EWEB is reviewing alternatives now.]
With all of these complex considerations, do you think the customer-owned utility model is the best (rather than having private industry take the lead)?
Yeah, absolutely. Because if decisions were left up to to just people in the industry and they were investor-owned, the main focus would be on profits. EWEB is making what’s called an IRP, an integrated resource plan, for the next 10 years. And it is based on our values as a community.
We got a really good functioning board right now. The good thing is we know what we don’t know. I mean, basically, you get the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker running this place. Where’s our electrical expertise? There isn’t any. So our goal is to be macro rather than micro and we set the values and then and we let we let the staff explain the technical stuff so we can see what solution is the best fit.
SC: I think it’s important to have a non-technical board because we represent the average person and bring the customer experience. When people use jargon and acronyms, we ask for them to boil it down and that simplified language is what makes it out to the public.
How much longer will you serve on the board?
I just ran again. In January, I get sworn in and have four more years. After that, I’m done. That’ll be 20 years and that’s enough. They need a new fresh voice and perspective. I want to see through Leaburg because it’s gonna be the biggest decision that board has ever made in 100 years. I kind of wanna get through that and a few other things and then if it’s two years into my four-year term and we got a really good candidate, I’d resign and let them take it.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I really appreciate younger people asking the old people what’s going on. Because if somebody doesn’t come in and take our positions with a passion and try to figure out the balance between what’s livable and necessary for the environment…I mean our generation has screwed the next generation, unfortunately. We’ve sucked the life out of a lot of the natural resources. Hopefully some of us can have the vision to try and stop that wrong and make it right.
