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<p style="line-height: 0.203892in;"><font color="#000000"> </font></p>
<p style="text-align: center; line-height: 0.217485in;"><font
color="#000000"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span
style="font-size: 14pt;">October 1, 2008</span></span></font></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span
style="font-size: 17pt;">OREGON PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION SEEKS
TO COUNTERMAND OREGON SUPREME COURT
AND LET PGE KEEP OVER $200 MILLION IN
UNLAWFUL PROFITS</span></span></span></font></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 17pt;">ON DEAD
TROJAN NUCLEAR PLANT</span></span></font></p>
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<p style="line-height: 0.1903in;"><font color="#000000"> <span
style="font-size: 11pt;">Yesterday the Oregon Public Utility
Commission (OPUC) issued an order in 3 combined
rate cases that refuses to return to ratepayers more than a small
fraction of the
money they have paid Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) to enable the
company to
earn huge profits on the Trojan nuclear power plant for more than a
decade after it
permanently closed in 1992. Such profits are banned by ORS 757.355,
enacted by
voters as Measure 9 of 1978. This ban was reaffirmed by voters in 2000,
who by
referendum rejected the Legislature’s attempt to repeal this statute by
a vote of over
88% on Measure 90. The cases were back before the OPUC because of
numerous
successful appeals of OPUC rate orders since 1995 to the courts by the
Utility Reform
Project and Class Action Plaintiffs.</span></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.203892in;"><font color="#000000"> </font></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.1903in;"><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">"The $33.1 million refund ordered by the
Commission is only a small fraction of what
ratepayers are owed by PGE for its unlawful charges for Trojan profits
after the plant
broke down and permanently ceased to function," said Dan Meek,
co-counsel for the
ratepayer-plaintiffs in numerous cases involving the Trojan profits.</span></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.203892in;"><font color="#000000"> </font></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.1903in;"><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">"The Commission's order is based on legal
theories that were never presented or
advocated by any party in the proceeding, including PGE, and are
contrary to Oregon
statutes," added ratepayer-plaintiffs' co-counsel Linda Williams. "The
Order consumes
many pages stating the Commission's disagreement on legal issues with
the Oregon
Supreme Court, which has acknowledged ratepayers' rights to class
action remedies. The Commission appears not to understand that rulings
of the Oregon Supreme Court
are binding on the Commission."</span></font></p>
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<p style="line-height: 0.1903in;"><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">Attorneys for the ratepayer-plaintiffs said
they fully expect to appeal this decision to
the courts, where they have succeeded in overturning the Commission's
earlier
decisions involving the Trojan profits. Those decisions were issued in
1995 and 2002.</span></font></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.203892in;"><font color="#000000"> </font></p>
<p style="line-height: 0.203892in;"><font color="#000000"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;">The Commission's press release misstates the
history of the cases in several ways. It
fails to note that the Commission expressly allowed PGE to charge
ratepayers over
$33 million per year in profit on Trojan during a 5.5-year period
starting in 1995, more
than 2 years after the plant permanently closed. The press release
incorrectly
characterizes a "settlement" among only some of the parties to the case
in 2000 as
"entirely removing the Trojan investment from rates," which the
Commission's
approval of the rump settlement most certainly did not do.</span><br>
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<p><font color="#000000"><a
href="http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/S52217.htm"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span
style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span></span></a><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span
style="font-weight: bold;"><span
style="font-family: 'BankGothic Md BT',sans-serif;"><span
style="font-size: 19pt;">Utility Reform Project</span></span></span></span></span></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span
style="font-size: 14pt;"><span
style="font-family: 'BankGothic Lt BT',sans-serif;"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.utilityreform.org">www.utilityreform.org</a></span></span></span></font></p>
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<p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Daniel Meek</span></span></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Attorney</span></span></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">503-293-9021 <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dan@meek.net">dan@meek.net</a></span></span></font></p>
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<p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Linda Williams</span></span></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Attorney</span></span></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">503-293-9099</span></span></font></p>
<p><font color="#000000"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:linda@lindawilliams.net">linda@lindawilliams.net</a></span></span></font></p>
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