CUB TURNS 30

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Produced by: 
KBOO
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Air date: 
Mon, 12/01/2014 - 10:15am to 11:00am
Citizens' Utitlity Board of Oregon's 30 years of achievements
This month the Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon celebrates its 30th anniversary. CUB has come a long way from its grassroots founding through a ballot initiative in 1984. Then Oregon utilities fought against the measure with a well-funded campaign and slick TV ads arguing that a Citizens’ Utility Board would turn out to be just “a boondoggle”. Far from being a boondoggle, however, in over 30 years of hard work and collaborative effort, CUB has proven, many times over, the need for an independent consumer advocate voice to intervene in utility regulatory proceedings and legislative initiatives.

On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with CUB's executive director Bob Jenks and policy director Jeff Bissonnette, about CUB's thirty years of working for affordable utility services, low-income consumer protection, energy efficiency, environmental stewardship and renewable resources.

Bob Jenks is is the Executive Director of CUB and a national expert on utility-related issues. Bob started working for CUB in 1991, and has participated in nearly every major Oregon Public Utility Commission case since that time, including dozens of cases dealing with utility mergers, rates, and deregulation. He also regularly represents ratepayers before the Oregon Legislature and at regional forums.

Jeff Bissonnette has worked for the Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon since June 1998. Jeff started at CUB leading the Fair and Clean Energy Coalition to create progressive energy policy for the state of Oregon. He has directed CUB’s legislative advocacy efforts since 2001. He has been appointed by the Public Utility Commission to represent CUB on the Portfolio Options Committee, overseeing the utilities’ renewable energy products offered to customers. Jeff’s first political volunteer experience was in 1984 as a freshman student at the University of Oregon working to pass Ballot Measure 3, the initiative that created CUB. Since then, he has dedicated both his work life and volunteer time to community organizing and advocating for public interest issues.

CUB celebrates its 30th anniversary on Thursday, December 4th, 2014 from 5:30-8:30 PM at the Ecotrust Building, 721 NW 9th Avenue, Portland 97209. For more information: http://oregoncub.org/news/posts/youre-invited-cubs-30th-anniversary-party
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