Marcie Maxwell – A-

Maxwell has served in various levels of government and knows more about energy and environmental policy than many candidates. Her connections would help Renton participate in regional policies that could benefit Renton residents and people throughout the region.

Here are Maxwell’s transcribed and graded answers to each of our questions.

1. Should city government be more involved in energy project planning beyond land use?

(see full question)

As you may know, CENSE was formed to raise critical questions about energy projects that affect neighborhoods in Eastside cities. We are concerned that city governments have very little say about these projects other than the narrow question of whether they comply with land use codes. At a time when citizens are concerned about reliable electricity, environmental impacts, preservation of neighborhoods, and energy costs, should city governments be more involved in energy projects? What specific ideas about energy planning would you bring to our city?

Grade: B-

I think energy projects are definitely a part of our city infrastructure, and even though we don’t provide those, via the city, we need to be a good partner. We need to be good leaders. We need to make sure that our constituents who live in Renton and have their businesses here have a say, and that they get information that they need. We look forward to what our future will bring, and what the needs are. With energy and any environmental issues, it’s really about looking forward, not about looking back, and making sure that we know that we are looking not only at 5 years from now, that we are moving much further than that.

I don’t know if I have any specific ideas about planning in energy, but I do think that we could do a better job of bringing the community together and making sure that we have all the information. It seems sometimes the information that comes in is narrow, or from one or two sources. I think it’s part of a collaborative effort with other cities in the region and with our state and beyond. There are other ideas out there and good opportunities.

2. Do flat forecasts for electricity demand have policy implications?

(see full question)

City Light's normal peak and retail load forecast

Utilities like Seattle City Light, Tacoma Power, and Snohomish County PUD are all forecasting flat or declining consumption of electricity for at least the next decade. These forecasts and Washington’s mandate to transition to a cleaner energy grid have implications for power planning. How might they influence your input to policies implemented at the city level?

Grade: A

Yes, change is moving much faster; technology is moving much faster. This reminds me a bit about in the legislature where a previous governor wanted to build a large building to put in servers as things were transitioning to the cloud. And so we have the building and the building is getting some use, but there’s also space that didn’t need to be used, because with the cloud you just don’t need all that space anymore.

I think that’s like energy that we could look out a bit further, and make sure that we’re listening to what policies we might put in place, what work we might do, and how we might move energy forward. I looked at some of the forecasts that you have online, and with the growth of our cities, with the energy efficiency being used in new buildings, both commercial and residential, and also even with our vehicles, we are doing things much differently, much better. It is having an effect and I think we need to take that into account when we make decisions and policies.

3. What can we do to ensure residents’ safety near the Olympic Pipeline?

(see full question)

Many Renton residents may be unaware that 50-year-old Olympic pipelines carry 13 million gallons of jet fuel and gasoline through our neighborhoods each day. These pipelines have ruptured twice in the past two decades, killing children, sending Renton firefighters to the hospital, and causing millions of dollars of property damage. Recently, a major construction project was proposed within feet of these pipelines, raising the risk of a catastrophic pipeline fire that can’t be extinguished by our fire department. If you are elected, what will you do to ensure the safety of Renton residents, given the magnitude of the risks involved with this energy infrastructure that passes close to schools and homes in our city?

Grade: A-

So just like police and fire are considered public safety, we have other infrastructure, I think are a really important part of public safety.  Like clean water, like we have a pipeline in our city.  I have been around Renton leadership long enough that I sat in the room with Olympic Pipeline and three or four of their representatives, and people from the city, and leaders of the business community, to hear from them as to the condition of the pipes at that time. This was the same time that the Bellingham issue happened, because we wanted to know, and we had people who live in the community who wanted to know. We did hear from them, and we stressed to them how important it was safe, and that we weren’t going to experience the same problem that they had there.

Public Safety, I think is a number one issue that people expect from their cities, and we have to do the best we can. We have to have expectations from a company that is running a pipeline through our city, that it is going to be safe and it’s not going to be out of date, or the maintenance is poor, that we’re going to have a problem there. I think we have to really stay on top of it. It’s important and I don’t want any kids… Yeah, I haven’t heard from them more recently at all. I haven’t really seen too much written recently about the condition of their pipeline, but I know that we had a long meeting that day and discussion afterwards and stressed to them how important it was. I would hope that the city has ongoing concerns with that right now. We’ll find out.

4. What do you think about having a public energy provider?

(see full question)

PSE is owned by foreign investors, and we worry that the company is more focused on increasing revenues for their distant owners than paying attention to local community values and environmental issues. One way to increase the transparency and accountability of our energy utility would be to transition to a public utility, like those that serve Seattle, Tacoma, and Snohomish County. There may be a referendum about this on the 2020 ballot. What is your assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of a private utility? Would you support a PUD?

Grade: B+

I would say I’m interested in more information on this and would look forward to talking with you about it, and hearing about it, and hearing about the referendum. It is the only infrastructure that we have for electrical power and natural gas. It’s important that they see us as more important than their shareholders. Period. And that’s what’s most important to me.