Sen. Doug Whitsett

[May 11th, 2005] We'll give this week's Rogue, Sen. Doug Whitsett (R-Klamath Falls), an "A" for audacity but an "F'' for fairness and disclosure.

Whitsett is working to protect a sweet deal-of-nearly-a-century for some of his Southern Oregon constituents who farm in the Klamath Irrigation Project. The deal: their electricity costs haven't risen since 1917.

About 2,500 recipients get an annual subsidy from PacifiCorp totaling about $10 million, according to the Oregon Natural Resources Council. That's welfare unavailable to other Oregon farmers, let alone the average ratepayer. (Two of the gravy-trainers are Whitsett and K Falls' private Reames Golf & Country Club.)

The subsidy stems from a deal PacifiCorp's predecessor cut with the federal Bureau of Reclamation: In exchange for rights to exploit hydropower from Upper Klamath Lake, the utility would provide cheap power for irrigation pumps.

Of course, that subsidy doesn't really come out of PacifiCorp's pocket; instead, ratepayers, many of them Portlanders, make up the difference in higher rates.

Faced with expiration of their subsidy next year, the juice hogs appealed to both PacifiCorp and the state Public Utility Commission for some relief. No dice, both said.

So last month, Whitsett introduced Senate Bill 1058, a stealth bailout of the Klamath welfare kings masquerading as a consumer-protection measure.

The bill does not mention Klamath farmers. It does not mention PacifiCorp or any other specifics. It states only that if any group of utility customers faces a price hike of greater than 50 percent in any 12-month period, the PUC will step in to phase in said increase over seven years-which the ONRC says will cost another $20 million.

Whitsett was unavailable for comment.

"There's no justification for this subsidy continuing," says ONRC's Jim McCarthy.