National deregulation debate continues

Various House and Senate committees and subcommittees were busily holding hearings before the Memorial Day holiday on the issue of federal electric utility restructuring legislation. On the House side, the Agriculture General Farm Commodities, Resource Conservation and Credit Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee spent the morning discussing the impacts of federal restructuring legislation upon America's rural communities.

The Administration introduced proposed legislation in April that would require full competition in the industry throughout the country by 2003 unless individual states determine that they want to continue under current regulations. The Administration believes that all states would benefit from a federal restructuring mandate. However, the consensus of subcommittee members was skepticism that most rural communities would see any real benefits from such a plan, and could possibly suffer great harm.

"I feel very much like we're being offered a pig in a poke, or pie in the sky scenario," said Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga. "Nobody really knows what this is going to do, if it happens." Other subcommittee members echoed Bishop's skepticism and the need for a "go-slow" approach on federal activity.

During a visit to Washington, D.C. this May, Illinois electric co-op directors and managers urged their congressional representatives to give Illinois' deregulation legislation a chance to work. If passed at all, federal deregulation legislation should grandfather in existing state legislation. This position is in keeping with the Illinois electric cooperatives' position that deregulation is an issue best decided as close to home as possible.

In Illinois, participation in the deregulated utility marketplace is left to the discretion of each locally-owned and controlled electric cooperative and municipal utility. Each has a unique situation and decisions regarding when and under what conditions a co-op will participate will be made by the board of directors elected by the members.

Planning ahead

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Co-ops prove there's strength in numbers

Alone each electric cooperative is relatively small compared to other energy providers. However, that doesn't mean your local electric co-op will not be able to compete against the giants of the industry. Together electric co-ops provide power to 32 million consumers, own more than 2.2 million miles of line, serve 83 percent of the counties in the U.S., and our members own $68 billion in assets.

Co-ops employ more than 60,000 people. You probably know a few of them. They're your friends and neighbors. While the rest of the utility industry merges then purges district offices and employees, co-ops remain committed to serving their communities. Co-ops in fact have been growing three times as fast as investor-owned utilities. Your local electric co-op will remain strong through cooperation with other cooperatives and by remaining true the other cooperative principles.

6 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING • JULY 1999

Restoring old theatres revives small towns

The opera house and movie theatre historically have served both as an entertainment hall and social gathering place for Illinois towns. They have showcased live performances, vaudeville acts, special town events and movies.

Beginning in the 1970s, the same malls that hurt thriving downtown businesses, started draining the movie trade from Main Street. Some towns like Rushville, however, fought back. Rushville is not only restoring its historic opera house, the Phoenix, but also has taken over and restored its historic movie theatre, the Princess, when the big theatre chain moved out of town.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) has prepared a new list of resources for communities interested in restoring a local opera house or movie theatre. Julie J. Stewart of IHPA has compiled a listing of 21 case studies from Illinois communities. In it she has addressed commonly asked questions such as, "What would you do differently if you had it to do over?" Or, "How much did the project cost? To receive "Historic Theatres and Opera Houses, Illinois Renovation and Restoration Projects, call LaDonna Young, IHPA, 217-785-0313.

When a downtown theatre closes, the entire community is affected. While the movie venue may be lost, finding an adaptive reuse for the building, which is often times historic, is important to the community. In Salem, the downtown theatre closed on Labor Day. The owner, Kerasotes Theatres, has agreed to donate the 1937 Egyptian style building to the city for a community or cultural resource-as long as movies are not shown.

Salem Mayor Leonard Ferguson, although sorry to see the theatre close, said, "The theatre building has tremendous potential as a cultural resource for plays, lectures, theatre performances, job training and museum space." For information on the Salem Theatre call Tracey Shelby, Main Street Salem, 618-548-5000.

Hidden energy hogs

Small household appliances currently account for one-fifth of residential electricity use. Appliances that fall into this category include such items as televisions, coffee makers, and aquariums. Waterbed heaters, well pumps, and pool equipment are a few of the largest hidden energy hogs.

The newer waterbeds with perimeter insulation consume only one-third as much energy as the older-style hard-side models. They can save about 500 kwh per year.

Well pump energy consumption varies based on pump size, household water use, pump operating pressure, and the depth of the water table. Proper maintenance and service of the well and plumbing saves both water and energy, and extends the lifetime of the well pump. Leaky faucets, showers, and hoses can increase demand on the pump by two to three gallons per minute. Well pump maintenance ensures the pressure tank is not waterlogged (filled with too much water). Because the start-up phase of the pumping cycle requires the most energy, well pump energy consumption greatly increases.

Perhaps the easiest way to reduce pool pump energy consumption is to make certain that the pump is sized correctly and runs no longer than necessary. Installing accurate timers to control the pumping cycle also saves energy. The best way to prevent debris buildup is to circulate the water in a series of short cycles throughout the day rather than in one long period. Another way is to use a pool cover to keep the debris out. Covers also cut down on pool heating needs.

A sudden unexplained spike in your electric bill could be caused by a malfunctioning well pump, a pool pump with a broken timer, or an uncovered waterbed in a cold room. For more energy saving ideas call your local electric co-op.

Electric co-ops add propane service

Several Illinois electric co-ops have or are considering adding propane sales and service. There are many similarities between providing electric service and propane. For example, both energy services require careful attention to safety.

Propane service especially makes sense for rural electric co-ops because of its extensive use in agriculture. Farm use accounts for nearly eight percent of all propane consumption.

Propane is used for grain drying, and heating enclosed animal buildings and water heating. Propane is also used for flame cultivation weed control. The cost is equal to other methods but there is no problem with herbicide run-off. Propane is also consumed by a variety of other industries, accounting for nearly 12 percent of propane sales. Residential and commercial use accounts for a third of all propane sales, and three percent is used to power engines.

To assist electric co-ops in this new energy service, Energy Co-Opportunity, a national alternative energy supply co-op, was recently formed. Tom Hentz, president and CEO of EnerStar Power Corp., Paris, is vice chairman of the Energy Co-Opportunity board. The propane startup help provided by Energy Co-Opportunity is only the beginning, said Hentz. "Propane just happens to be one of the first projects," he said, but the alternative energy co-op also has its sights set on natural gas, fuel cells and microturbines. "Energy Co-Opportunity is really all about Btu neutrality," Hentz said.

JULY 1999 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 7

Ethanol facts

• The original Ford Model-T was designed to run on ethanol

• Fuel ethanol production costs generally range from $1 to $1.25 per gallon, excluding taxes.

• Corn used in ethanol production provides both fuel and feed used for live stock.

• There are currently 49 ethanol plants in 18 states capable of producing 1.8 billion gallons of renewable transportation fuel each year.

• Ethanol can be blended with gasoline in concentrations ranging from 5.7 to 85 percent.

• Ethanol is blended with gasoline to extend supplies, increase octane and meet oxygenated fuel requirements for cleaner-burning gasoline.

• Ethanol blends are universally approved at up to 10 percent volume by every automobile manufacturer.

• Ethanol contributes positively to the U.S. trade balance by approximately $1.5 billion a year.

Source: The Clean Fuels Foundation, www. cleanfuels. org

Fly ash a low-cost material for paving feedlot

Deep mud can sap cattle of energy to produce milk. Paving feedlots could help and fly ash, a powdery byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity could provide an economical solution.

Fly ash is normally trucked off to landfills at a high cost to electric utilities. Some of the ash can be recycled into material for making concrete or spread on crop fields to neutralize acidic soils.

But scientists showed it also can be mixed with water and applied to muddy feedlots, offering a low-cost alternative to concrete. Fly ash dries just as hard as concrete but costs roughly $6 per square yard, versus concrete's price tag of $75.

Besides giving cattle a leg up on mud, fly ash paving also helps contain nutrients in the animals' manure. Preventing cattle from getting mired in mud also reduces their exposure to a range of diseases, including a viral hoof ailment called hairy wort, and a costly udder infection called mastitis.
Source: Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Laboratory, University Park, PA Bill Stout, (814) 863-0947, wsl@psu.edu

Heritage tourism projects moving forward

Abraham Lincoln's legacy. The Illinois and Michigan Canal. Mark Twain's beloved Mississippi River. Marquette and Joliet and the Illinois River. Railroads and highways that helped Americans move westward. The Civil War and the Trail of Tears. Immigrants whose contributions helped to build Illinois. These are just a few of the many facets of Illinois' rich heritage and research shows that nearly one-third of Illinois visitors participate in cultural heritage tourism activities.

The Illinois Heritage Tourism Program is designed to help Illinois communities develop or enhance cultural heritage destinations, promote these destinations, and thus help stimulate economic growth. Seven Heritage Tourism demonstration- projects include sites in 59 Illinois counties, from Galena to Golconda. The projects include the I & M Canal Passage: The Water that Built Chicago, presenting a living history of the canal; Crossroads of Illiana, a look at southeastern Illinois with a focus on transportation's role in shaping Illinois history; Ohio River Route:

Where Illinois Began, spotlighting southernmost Illinois' role in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Native American history and the region's heyday in the 19th Century; Illinois River; A Tapestry of Time, recreating the life and times of native and immigrant people who settled along the Illinois River, Immigrants and Ingenuity, tracing the region's development from the Blackhawk tribe to the Italians, Swedes, Germans and others whose ingenuity led to such inventions as the plow, Looking for Lincoln, following in the steps of the Great Emancipator; and Mississippi River: Traces of the Ages, exploring sites in 18 counties bordering the great river immortalized by Mark Twain.

Each demonstration project with a qualifying project ready for development was eligible to apply for a $100,000 Tourism Attraction Development Program grant this summer, and will be able to seek an additional $100,000 grant for an eligible project initiated during Fiscal Year 1999.

8 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING JULY 1999