Co-ops Vote! 2024 San Juan County Council candidates
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Orcas Power & Light Cooperative reached out to all San Juan County Council candidates to ask them a series of questions related to reliable energy and internet. These services are critical to our quality of life on the islands. With climate change and energy shortfalls looming, San Juan County and OPALCO must work together to ensure reliable and affordable power is available to island residents.
Learn what our local candidates think about the critical energy issues facing our county. Candidates’ responses have not been edited.
District 1 Candidate
Kari McVeigh
Q: The current Utility Element (Section B8) in the Comprehensive Plan states: “Our community strives for energy independence … we use renewable energy.” To achieve this vision will require significant land and water areas to host local renewable energy power sites. What is your vision for the future of energy for San Juan County as a whole?
A: My vision is that San Juan County can generate enough power for itself to run our most critical services and first responders if power from the mainland is interrupted, or unavailable in an outage.
I believe we need to protect ourselves against electricity supply issues, which are starting to occur as the entire region switches to carbon-free power. Our mainland power supply is critical, and we will likely never be wholly self-sufficient, but we need enough capacity that we can protect ourselves and have some control over our costs, and our destiny.
Q: What are you, as a candidate, doing to educate yourself on the complexities and impacts of energy policies on the citizens of San Juan County?
A: When I began running for this office, I immediately began educating myself on the issues that face us as a community. I have talked with all the principal people and groups involved in our energy and climate policy and have read OPALCO’s plans for increasing solar energy production and tidal power exploration.
Q: Where will you draw the line between local energy resilience and island aesthetics?
A: This is always going to be the most difficult issue we face. Of course, our community wants resiliency in the face of mainland outages and supply issues, and nobody wants to see the cost of electricity soar as the regional production of electricity lags behind the demand. But we also need to bring the community along and let their voices be heard about the changes this will mean for our landscape.
Solar panels are part of rural landscapes in many parts of the country, and I believe they will be here. I believe we need to move forward with projects that create local resilience but have an open dialogue so that everyone feels heard.
Q: Do you plan to encourage electrification of transportation in San Juan County, and if so, how?
A: Absolutely we need to encourage electrification of transportation. The greenhouse emissions studies show that transportation is the major contributor to emissions in the County. The County can help in many ways. We can help our citizens make the transition to electric vehicles by collaborating with landowners, OPALCO, and public entities to have more public charging stations, for example.
We can support the school districts in their trials with electric buses, and eventual electrification of their fleets. But the biggest project will be the eventual electrification of the Washington State Ferries. Our job at the County is to be ready for the major construction and permitting efforts that will be required to get megawatts of power to the ferry docks.
That’s going to be huge job involving the County, the State, and OPALCO, and we will need to work together to get it done.
District 1 Candidate
Stephanie O’Day
Q: The current Utility Element (Section B8) in the Comprehensive Plan states: “Our community strives for energy independence … we use renewable energy.” To achieve this vision will require significant land and water areas to host local renewable energy power sites. What is your vision for the future of energy for San Juan County as a whole?
A: No answer. See general response.
Q: What are you, as a candidate, doing to educate yourself on the complexities and impacts of energy policies on the citizens of San Juan County?
A: No answer. See general response.
Q: Where will you draw the line between local energy resilience and island aesthetics?
A: No answer. See general response.
Q: Do you plan to encourage electrification of transportation in San Juan County, and if so, how?
A: No answer. See general response.
General Response: The need for reliable power in the islands is evident.
I applaud OPALCO for investigating all possible resources to provide our county citizens with an affordable reliable power source. We must continue to explore the alternatives in a deep dive to balance the costs and reliability of every option.
The County Council is the legislative authority and has the final say in how to and whether there is a need to amend the directives in the upcoming Comprehensive Plan review. I look forward to receiving more information and more data on the alternatives. The job of the Council with regard to this issue is to balance energy requirements with private property rights.
Many years ago a previous Council adopted the Open Space Atlas, which defines the specific vistas in our islands that must be protected. The adoption of any regulations regarding the siting of solar farms must take the protection of these vistas into consideration.
District 2 Candidate
Rick Hughes
Q: The current Utility Element (Section B8) in the Comprehensive Plan states: “Our community strives for energy independence … we use renewable energy.” To achieve this vision will require significant land and water areas to host local renewable energy power sites. What is your vision for the future of energy for San Juan County as a whole?
A: San Juan County, in partnership with OPALCO and the community need to determine where in the county that the best placement of renewable energy should be and make that land use an outright yes for development both upland and in the aquatic environment.
First the KW capacity of developed land needs to be figured out, followed by land like land fills, schools, parking lots, etc.
Finally, necessary capacity and placement of that capacity needs to be identified and agreed upon by county residents, so permits will be approved quickly.
I would propose renewable energy overlay districts that will identify and locate the desired acreage for solar fields.
I support Rural Farm Forest (RFF) designation to be a yes for allowable development.
I will push locally and at the state for renewable energy placement to be considered AG activity.
Q: What is your vision for the future of energy for San Juan County as a whole?
A: The future follows the OPALCO long range plan where power prices per KW will increase dramatically, demand on the clean hydro power in the NW will exceed supply and who knows how the new Bonneville power contact will work out. OPALCO and San Juan County will need to start now and buildout as close to 50% of energy used via local production.
OPALCO will need to create large scale solar and tidal power, San Juan County and local business will need to cover all buildings with solar panels and back up batteries and all residents will need to deploy solar panels where possible.
The future will see blackouts and struggles to keep year round power available with out locally produced and sustainable power generations.
Q: What are you, as a candidate, doing to educate yourself on the complexities and impacts of energy policies on the citizens of San Juan County?
A: I have been a renewable energy supporter for many years and have installed 85 KW of solar panels on residential and commercial buildings. In addition, when I was on the San Juan County Council from 2013-2020. I do my best to be current on all forms of renewable energy.
Q: Where will you draw the line between local energy resilience and island aesthetics?
A: I support local energy resilience and feel this is a priority, but there needs to be a community process to determine where future renewable energy would be supported.
Q: Do you plan to encourage electrification of transportation in San Juan County, and if so, how?
A: When I was in office, we began purchase of electric vehicles for San Juan County employees and plan to expand that long time purchase plan, goal will be to have all fleet vehicles to be electric or hybrid.
I 100% support the hybrid, electric ferry construction and conversion of existing ferries to hybrid capabilities. Also will work with OPALCO for the deployment of electric charging stations around the county and support resident conversion from gas powered vehicles to electrical/ hybrid options.
District 2 Candidate
Justin Paulsen
Q: The current Utility Element (Section B8) in the Comprehensive Plan states: “Our community strives for energy independence … we use renewable energy.” To achieve this vision will require significant land and water areas to host local renewable energy power sites. What is your vision for the future of energy for San Juan County as a whole?
A: It’s not immediately feasible for San Juan County to be energy independent.
We will continue to depend on the lowcost hydro power “extension cord” from the mainland as the foundation to meet our energy needs. However, San Juan County should embrace as much renewable generation as it can to provide a stabilized power supply for times of disruption and help manage our total demand for power.
Achieving this goal will require us to balance the clear need for energy with the concerns of our residents related to land use.
My vision for the future of energy in San Juan County is a mix of 1) low-cost renewable hydro power from the mainland; 2) lowering our demand for energy through efficiency gains which will improve our housing stock and affordability; 3) supporting transportation systems which reduce emissions and provide alternatives for our residents ; 4) supporting local renewable generation wherever it makes sense: rooftop solar, community solar – even tidal generation if funded by grants.
Q: What are you, as a candidate, doing to educate yourself on the complexities and impacts of energy policies on the citizens of San Juan County?
A: I’ve met with members of the County Climate and Sustainability Committee to understand the work that is currently in progress, studied the Comprehensive Plan, and met with leadership of OPALCO to learn from their expertise in the area. As a building contractor, I’m very familiar with the benefits of efficiency measures, requirements for building codes and the trade-offs of balancing todays investments with tomorrow’s uncertain energy landscape.
Q: Where will you draw the line between local energy resilience and island aesthetics?
A: As a small family farmer and longtime 4H supporter, I understand the conflict between preserving agricultural land and potential impacts from renewable energy projects. I believe we will find ways to do both. OPALCO’s Bailer Hill Project is an example of a site where solar can potentially coexist with grazing and soil improvement for future agricultural use of the land. The line between resilience and aesthetics will evolve as people better understand the emerging energy climate (with decarbonization requirements and increasing climate impacts) and become more familiar with renewable energy. It’s my hope that we can strike an acceptable balance in our community by clearly defining parameters in the code that preserve open space while allowing us to grow our own power and keep ourselves safe during mainland disruptions.
Q: Do you plan to encourage electrification of transportation in San Juan County, and if so, how?
A: Yes. In my discussions with County stakeholders, support of individual vehicle electrification and public electric transportation systems were both key issues. I will support and encourage the County’s efforts to electrify fleet vehicles as viable, support electric vehicle charging infrastructure and continue to advocate as a member of the WSF Ferry Advisory Committee for creation of transportation solutions that allow will us to reduce the number of cars transiting to and from our County.
