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http://www.omniture.com --> Sections Home Page Local News AP News Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Photo Gallery Readers Photo Gallery Sports Tempo Weather Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Readers' Choice Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Neighborhoods Employment Guide Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend October 23, 2006 Click image for larger view David Chapman is a proponent of a plan to use city-owned land in the east hills of Ashland below Grizzly Peak for renewable energy and organic (Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta) A GREEN-ENERGY VISION Production would decrease oil dependence, combat rising power rates, proponents say By John Darling for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Imagine the bare, sweeping, south-facing slopes of Grizzly Peak being used for solar and wind generation to the city of Ashland, as well as for organic farming, maybe even grape growing. These are some of the visions Ashland City Council members have for the huge, city-owned tract of 360 acres situated directly across the freeway from town and sitting idle since an effluent spray project, proposed for the area in the 1990s, went belly-up. After substantial costs from the Ashland Fiber Network project, most Ashlanders would shriek at the suggestion, but Councilman David Chapman says it could and should be done with private investors, forming an energy-generation company to help the city achieve sustainability and protection from expected large rate hikes. It's in the early "blue sky" stage, says Chapman, but he and Councilwoman Kate Jackson hope to get it on the council goal-setting agenda for 2007, with an eye to creating a model project, generating power with an array of the latest technologies in wind, solar and methane created from city sewage solids and burned to run generators. "It would be a gas to show all the different kinds of alternative energy. I definitely think we ought to do it. The council needs to talk about an energy-sustainability plan in the next year," said Chapman, "and the land's potential for the far future in incredible." Advertisement The motive for green power is not just because of fears over dwindling oil supplies but also because Bonneville Power Administration is likely to raise power rates significantly in coming years, he added. The city operates its own electric utility, and BPA provides the power it uses. The city bought the land, zoned exclusive farm use, for $946,000 in 1996, according to county records, as a site to spray and sanitize sewage wastes. However, the land has sat idle since that project was abandoned, occasionally giving rise to talk about using it for affordable housing or selling it to help pay off the $15 million debt from Ashland Fiber Network. The parcel is now assessed at $3.8 million. Council members Kate Jackson and Alice Hardesty say they support converting the land to green-energy production and organic farming — adding that it doesn't make sense to sell it because a few million dollars won't make much of a dent in the AFN debt burden — and residents value it for its open space and views. "It would be very expensive to provide sewer and water to the area. It's outside the urban growth boundary and we (the city) have no intention of going across the freeway to create a new community," said Jackson. The big parcel would not be eligible for partitioning under Measure 37 because its sale to the city (and by the city, if that were done) broke the chain of ownership, said City Manager Martha Bennett. However, Chapman said he wants to see if the city can divide the clay-heavy land into five or 10-acre parcels for lease to organic farmers, who could have their grower's market at the foot of the land on Eagle Creek Road. Short of organic farming, Chapman said the sunny, sloping land could be leased to wine grape growers — and Bennett noted she'd had an inquiry on that already. It's not beyond possibility, Chapman added, that revenue from that use could go to retire AFN's debt. The land is presently being leased for cattle grazing. Farming on the land could be watered by 2 million gallons a day from the city's nearby wastewater treatment plant, water that's now dumped into Bear Creek — often at temperatures close to environmental limits, said Chapman. In addition to the more familiar solar and wind generators, Chapman is suggesting parabolic mirrors that focus sunlight on water pipes, making steam to run generators. Sunlight could also be focused on Stirling engines, which operate not on fuels, but on external temperature differences. Another cutting-edge alternative energy form is generating electricity from methane off-gassed by "wet organic solids," such as sewage waste, said Chapman, who recently learned of the process on a visit to the Department of Energy's Hanford site in Washington state. It's called high-pressure, low-temperature gasification, something Hanford researchers have tried on other substances, but not sewage, said Chapman, who is checking out the possibility for Ashland. "I'm thinking we could do something cool with those 14 cubic yards a day of sewage, instead of trucking them to (the waste transfer station) in White City," Chapman said. "Ashland could make money and buy cheaper power and my plan is to have it (the green energy farm) run in partnership with private investors and have all the energy go just to Ashland." Bennett called the green energy proposals "real creative and interesting, but solar is expensive and takes a long time to pay itself off. David (Chapman) is hot on solar and has a goal of getting Ashland off external energy — and I'm real comfortable with that." All three council members and Bennett said that if the plan becomes feasible, and studies show sufficient sunlight and windy days, there would have to be a "big picture community discussion and see how it pencils out," in Bennett's words. City residents greatly value their scenery, so any community discussion would have to cover potential visual and noise impacts, Bennett added. Chapman said much of the energy hardware could be concealed in the large gully behind the power lines, visible on a long ridge halfway up the mountain. Council members say their wheels got turning as they paced the vast stretch of land, researching a proposed, six-mile city trail to run from Eagle Mill Road up past the big power lines half-way up Grizzly Peak, then back down to Butler Creek Road, roughly following the perimeter of the city parcel. Proposed by the Ashland Woodlands and Trails Association, it aims at getting trail easements in place soon, in case the city sells its land, said city forestry and trails supervisor Jeff McFarland. The city and AWTA hope to get easements through private ranching land above its tract so it can connect up with the BLM's Grizzly Peak trail, which approaches the mountain from the back and loops around the top. This would enable all-day hikes from Eagle Mill to the Grizzly Peak crest — a longtime desire of hikers. John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. Would you like to respond to this story? If so Click Here to visit our forums. Advertisement Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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