PSE ads wrap around The Bainbridge Island Review. Influencing editorial? Review does not support the public power feasibility study by the Bainbridge City Council.
Welcome to Bainbridge Puget Sound Energy (PSE) Island. Its like Safeco Field or any other company-paid entity. You might not have noticed, because Madge, “you’re soaking in it.” It’s all around us like the Matrix. Oh, speaking of all around us. Look at how the PSE ads wrap around The Bainbridge Island Review like a tasty sandwich (above). And, no surprise that the editorial opinion piece about the public power feasibility study is siding with PSE: “Study Won’t Win Hearts or Minds.” So shocking! Not really. We’ve been bought.
PSE Logo on Harbour Pub menu.
Speaking of tasty sandwiches, PSE’s logo is now on the Harbour Pub’s menu explaining how they have helped to install a biodigester at the Pub. The biodigester outputs about 90 percent fertilizer and 10 percent gas for electricity or boiling water. (PSE is paying the lease on it.)
PSE has a full page ad in the latest issue of Park & Recreation District catalog featuring the biodigester.
PSE sponsored “free” swim canceled due to a power outage – ouch!
Speaking of Parks and Rec, PSE even sponsored a FREE swim last November, when anyone could come to the pool and swim without paying the entrance fee. They had to reschedule due to a power outage. Oops.
Some days it just feels like Thurston County all over again! PSE will spend whatever it takes to buy public opinion: Under the Radar: How a Multinational Corporation Quietly Bought a County-Wide Election
Actions Speak Louder than Advertising
PSE runs ads in all the local papers: The Bainbridge Review (digial and print), the Bainbridge Islander, 98110, and the Kitsap Business Journal (back cover). They started running ads right after Friends of Island Power announced their campaign in May 2015.
Before you start thinking they’re a benevolent corporation that likes to spend its free time spreading money around our community ($14,000 to the Downtown Assoc.) in the form of BBQ giveaways, door prizes and refreshments, look where they’re really putting their money:
- PSE gave $125,000 to the No on 732 Sponsored by The Assoc. of WA Business. (Initiative 732 was a carbon tax with a goal to reduce the CO2 in our atmosphere and help mitigate climate change.)
- PSE is suing the Department of Ecology over the recently introduced Clean Air Rule. (The Clean Air Rule covers about two-thirds of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, which is 62.4 million metric tons.)
- PSE Colstrip Cleanup – oops! Ratepayers are covering the cost on that.
Their parent company as of 2007, Macquarie Bank, has fossil fuel projects that range from fracking in the UK to opencast coal mining in Australia. Its hard to imagine PSE is really a friend of the environment. However, they have gotten friendly with our community.
Smiling Faces Sometimes…
PSE employees are on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, they had an employee on the board of Sustainable Bainbridge for years. And, of course they have employees at the following meetings at City Hall: City Council, Utility Advisory Committee, Comprehensive Planning, and Planning Commission. Enmeshed, friendly, but do they have our best interests at heart? Or, do we live on a company island?
