Protecting and enhancing the environment is at the forefront of our business strategy. Utah Power believes in building an increasingly sustainable energy supply and delivery business. Our sustainable efforts include investments in:

• Renewable energy generation
• Air quality
• Environmental service programs
• Habitat protection
• Waste recycling and reuse

Renewable energy

Utah Power aims to be the region’s leader in new renewable resource development and sales. The company has strong commitments to producing renewable energy. Utah Power's parent company, PacifiCorp, stated in its Integrated Resource Plan that it aims to bring 1,400 megawatts (mw) of renewable power online within the next 10 years. In addition, the company has made other investments in renewable power:

• PacifiCorp worked with  The Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO) to bring a new wind farm online. In June 2003, the utility signed an agreement to purchase power from the Eurus Combine Hills I wind farm, which will be built in northeastern Oregon. The 41-mw project will be operational in December 2003 and provide energy for 11,900 homes in the Utah Power and Pacific Power service areas.

• Utah Power purchases nearly 33 mw of the 41-mw Wyoming Wind facility. The company buys almost 20 mw for its regulated customers and markets the rest.

• Rock River I is a 50 mw facility near Arlington, Wyo. Utah Power has agreed to purchase 100 percent of the facility’s output for the next 20 years.

• PacifiCorp Power Marketing, Inc, a nonregulated affiliate of ScottishPower (Utah Power is a ScottishPower company), is marketing power from the 264-mw Stateline Wind Project, located on the Oregon-Washington border.

Blue Sky

We also introduced our Blue Sky renewable energy program in 2000 to give customers a choice in how their energy is produced and to help create a greater demand for renewable energy.  As of January 31, 2002, nearly 7,300 customers have purchased nearly 14,900 blocks of Blue Sky energy. In 2001, Blue Sky stepped up from 10th to 7th on the U.S. Department of Energy’s top 10 list of utility green programs in customer participation.

ISO 14001 registration

More than 5,500 mw of PacifiCorp’s coal-fired generation — seven power plants in Utah and Wyoming — have earned the ISO 14001 registration for their environmental management systems (EMS).

PacifiCorp is the second utility in the nation to have its entire fleet of coal-fired power plants ISO 14001 registered. It encompasses more megawatts of generating capacity and more plants than any other U.S. utility. These plants include the Jim Bridger, Dave Johnston, Naughton and Wyodak plants in Wyoming; and the Carbon, Hunter, and Huntington plants in Utah.

ISO 14001 is an international, voluntary, environmental management standard. To receive ISO registration, each power plant must prove it has the necessary processes in place to understand its impact on the environment and the community, along with the methods to continuously improve its environmental performance.

The ISO 14001 standard was developed to achieve uniform quality in the environmental management systems of industries around the globe. Though fairly common for industries in Europe, ISO 14001 registration is still relatively rare in the United States.

Air quality

Utah Power employs innovative air quality initiatives to reduce our environmental impact. We are currently working with environmental stakeholders and policymakers to reduce emissions impacting visibility in national parks. Working together helps us strike a balance that protects the environment while allowing for the efficient use of coal resources to produce electricity. To this end, we are working to develop new clean coal technologies and clean up our existing technologies. We also provide toxic release inventory standards to educate the public about releases in the environment.  

Offsetting the environmental impact of releasing carbon dioxide also plays an important role in our effort to address climate change. We are addressing concerns about climate change by reducing our emission rate (CO2/mwh) through commitments to build additional renewable generation and new gas resources. Projects we are involved in to improve air quality include:

• Funded the reforestation of many acres of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine in Wash., and Ore., which absorb or sequester additional CO ₂.
• Preserving more than 1.5 million acres of rainforest in Belize and Bolivia.

These projects, developed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and other local partners are expected to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 40 million metric tons over the life of the project.

GreenCorps

Our GreenCorps program provides grants to employee projects focused on preserving, improving and encouraging education about the environment. Since 1993, we have provided more than $400,000 to more than 200 projects including:

• Planting trees
• Building schoolyard wildlife habitats
• Restoring stream beds
• Building salmon-shaped solar collector prototypes

Habitat protection

As a responsible environmental steward, we collaborate with the public and resource agencies to identify sensitive species and their habitats and to implement management plans that promote their preservation. We have programs addressing wildlife protection, hydroelectric facilities’ impact on fish and relicensing, and bird interactions with   power lines and wind turbines. We also reclaim land after completing our mining operations to restore habitat.

Utah Power contributed $475,000 towards to purchase of Eagle Island on Washington’s Lewis River to help preserve salmon habitat and ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act. The island, located seven miles downstream of the Merwin dam covers about 260 acres. It is considered essential because more than 75 percent of the fall Chinook salmon’s present rearing habitat is associated with the island.

Waste recycling and reuse

We are dedicated to minimizing our environmental footprint through our waste reuse and recycling programs. Metals such as aluminum, copper and steel are recovered from most of our service locations. Many transformers and other electrical equipment are also repaired and sold for reuse. Select used oil is also reused in rebuilt equipment, while other oil from our vehicles and electrical equipment is recycled for energy recovery. Paper, cardboard, wood and plastic are also recycled where possible.

For a more comprehensive look at the company’s environmental stewardship, go to our parent company, PacifiCorp’s Web site.