Umatilla Electric gets $5 million for CDA from state

Published 5:00 pm Friday, July 25, 2025

HERMISTON — The Columbia Development Authority is set to benefit from the $5 million set aside for the Umatilla Electric Cooperative from the state’s “Christmas Tree Bill.”

House Bill 5006 increases a 2023 biennial general fund allocation to the Umatilla Electric Cooperative Association Industrial Site by $5 million. That money will then be distributed to the Columbia Development Authority for a road construction project.

During the CDA meeting June 24, Executive Director Greg Smith, who also serves as the state representative for House District 57, said the language was going to be “very clear and in statute that UEC will be able to utilize those dollars for the road project” even though the money was tagged for infrastructure and utility improvement. The road construction counts toward that, Smith confirmed.

In a comment July 25, Smith said the money was funded in 2023 for utility development. This year’s bill “simply clarifies the definition of utility to include roads,” he said.

The Oregon Legislature passed the bill June 27, affirming $5 million for UEC that could be used for road construction.

Morrow County Commissioner Jeff Wenholz serves on the CDA board and is a UEC director. He said the collaboration between the two makes sense.

“Everybody is interested in economic development of that property out there,” he said. “ Umatilla Electric doesn’t necessarily do economic development work, but we’re providing the infrastructure. Normally that’s electric service, and that’s what Umatilla Electric views its role as in economic development.”

The funding from the Christmas Tree Bill will be on top of $7 million from a 2017 House bill to increase road access to CDA property on both sides of the county line.

“We found out that that wasn’t going to be enough,” Wenholz said, “so (Smith) went and worked to make sure that that $5 million he got for infrastructure that had gone to Umatilla Electric — but was earmarked to be used out to CDA — could actually be used to continue on the road project.”

Smith said the engineering firm in charge of the project, IRZ Consulting, told him with the additional $5 million, the project could be “an east/west industrial road across the entire depot,” which would create better access.

Without the new roads, the only way to access CDA property is through the Oregon National Guard’s entrance. The construction should move forward the process of creating independent access to the land.

On the Umatilla County side, the construction is on the Interstate 82 intersection to the main gate. For Morrow County, construction will head west from the main gate with the aim of reaching the CDA property without requiring entrance through the National Guard checkpoint.

“Obviously, there will be a lot more road work that needs to happen out there through the years,” Wenholz said. “This won’t accomplish all that, but at least the main accesses to the properties will be taken care of.”