Well, I had a rude awakening Monday. I had previously written about the hoped for income from the electrical sales to the soon-tobe open Diamondback facility just outside the city of Watonga.
Digging a little deeper, I discovered the facility is NOT powered by the city, nor even by Cimarron Electric. No, indeed not. It seems behemoth utility OG&E serves the facility, when Watonga needs that income here.
Apparently, the Corporation Commission, in its infinite wisdom, has a large load exception that allows a retail electric supplier to serve customers that require a megawatt (1,000 kilowatts) or more even in areas typically supplied by another provider. Allegedly the rule is to provide for competition and spur economic development.
At first blush, that sounds reasonable. But on further scrutiny, not so much.
What it sounds like is tipping the scales in favor of the big companies because they have the cash on hand to build the infrastructure- like transmission lines needed to service big customers. I guess that is fair. But is it fair to allow a megacorporation to swoop in and cherry pick the high value customers? Does that company even pay a fee to operate here and siphon money out of the city?
Totally understandable to dump more money into those coffers to disappear forever instead of helping improve this community in ways that would impact the everyday lives of the citizens for years to come. Maybe with that income the city could build infrastructure to service other, larger customers. Talk about spur economic growth, what would that do for this town?
That doesn’t seem right or fair. I am hopeful – probably foolishly so – that the city might find some way to access some of that income.
I have also learned that some of the towns where detainment facilities for migrants are located are collecting fees from the owneroperators of those facilities. Perhaps Watonga can explore that idea and at least soothe the sting of not selling power to the detention center.
Putting aside the right or wrong of the immigration situation, the prison reopening is a chance for this town to start recovering from years of kicking the maintenance and upgrading can down the road. For the most part, those decisions were financially based.
That argument – we don’t have the money is being eroded a little at a time. If we act now, we can poise ourselves for growth and economic stability.
PS – It was a very good weekend in Blaine County. The Christmas tree lighting Friday night at Centennial Park, followed by a hayride around town to see some of our beautiful historic buildings brought some of the wonder of the season home. The next morning, kids had breakfast with Santa inside one of those buildings, the Noble House, in support of another building, the Ferguson Home Museum.
Then it was on to the fairgrounds where the annual holiday bazaar was held. Speaking to some vendors, they noted it was much more lively than last year, with more customers, more booths and more sales. Then, Sunday, there was the school band concert.
It could be the holiday season working on us, but I want to believe it is another component – hope. Hope that the town is turning around, that attitudes are changing and we are beginning to find our way out of a decades-long depression of spirit and economy. Hope that we will no longer be a pitstop on a roadmap and instead, a place people come to visit, live, work and enjoy. A place where they come to build a life with affordable abundant housing and good schools. Wide streets and walkable or bikeable neighborhoods. A town with a diverse economy no longer tied directly to oil and gas exploration’s boom and bust cycle, but able to ride out the bust and enjoy the boom.
I believe the chance for all this is right here, right now. All we have to do is seize the opportunity.