Business energy conservation credited with preventing rolling blackouts in Mt. Vernon

By: 
Steve Chapman

Mayor Jason Haymes (left) stands with David McCann (center) and Jim Shepherd, of the Lawrence County Farm Bureau, following his reading of the Thank a Farmer Week proclamation. The proclamation, which declared Sunday, Feb. 28, through Saturday, March 6, as “Thank a Farmer Week,” honored America’s farmers for their contributions to the nation’s economy and protection of the environment. (Photo by Steve Chapman)

During the five-day winter storm that plagued most of the nation with extremely frigid temperatures and heavy snow, many municipalities experienced rolling blackouts as power grids were strained and local utilities struggled to provide power. Mt. Vernon, however, managed to avoid that situation.
At the Mt. Vernon Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday, Feb. 23, City Administrator Max Springer credited energy conservation by local residents and businesses, including local manufacturers Midwest Milling, Schreiber Foods, Continental Conveyors, T & C Stainless, Cutting Edge Machine, Positronic and Reyco Granning, whom Springer said made adjustments to help avoid using too much electricity.
“All of them worked very well,” Springer said. “They controlled, they conserved, and we didn’t exceed our peak.”
Springer said he first heard from the Missouri Public Utility Alliance (MPUA) and Spire on Sunday, Feb. 14, that “energy conservation measures” needed to be taken due to the frigid temperatures.
“My first message came from Spire Gas and MPUA asking everybody to conserve,” he said. “This is the first time in (the Southwest Power Pool’s) history that the grid reached its max, and they were pulling reserves. They were using all the reserves and some other things due to the frigid temperatures and a couple of power plants that froze up, and the demand on the gas supply reached its critical limit.”
 Springer also reported that the frigid temperatures had driven the cost of electricity up from $3,000 per megawatt hour to $3,821.05 per megawatt hour on Thursday, Feb. 18. He said there might be some impact on the energy bills, but at that point, he could not say what it would be.
“We may not have any increase, but I would expect some, I just don’t know what it is,” he said. “We’ll have a meeting in about a week and a half with MPUA to figure out what the cost is going to be.”
While discussing the impact of the winter storm, Mayor Jason Haymes suggested the city should take some measures to protect itself should another winter storm strike in the future.
“What if we were blacked out, like they were in Texas or someplace like that?” he asked. “We would have probably had people who wouldn’t have made it, just like they did down there.”
Haymes suggested the city might look into a backup power system that could be unplugged from the grid and provide power to homes and businesses in the event of such a blackout. He also clarified his remarks to say he was not proposing the city build a power plant.
In other business:
In his report, Springer told the board that Beau Barnes, who lives across Highway 174 from the municipal golf course, asked if the city would be willing to partner with him in putting in a driving range. Members of the board expressed interest in the idea, but took no action on it during the meeting.
The board passed an ordinance restricting parking on the west side of Hickory Street between Center and Water streets to two hours, and also approved a change order to the Spirit of ’76 Park Restrooms.
Also during the meeting, Haymes read a proclamation declaring Feb. 28 through March 6 as “Thank a Farmer Week” as a means of celebrating the contributions of farmers and ranchers to America’s economy and ecology. Prior to reading the proclamation, Haymes stated that many who do not live on farms but purchase a hamburger from a fast food restaurant or beef from a grocery store might not realize the amount of “dedication, capital investment and sweat equity that goes into every ounce of beef” that Americans consume.
 

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Lawrence County Record

312 S. Hickory St.
Mt. Vernon, MO, 65712
www.lawrencecountyrecord.com

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