Reviewed by: The Wired Northwest: The History of Electric Power, 1870s–1970s by Paul W. Hirt Richard Hirsh (bio) The Wired Northwest: The History of Electric Power, 1870s–1970s. By Paul W. Hirt. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2012. Pp. x+ 461. $49.95. Having a significant social impact in the last 125 years, the electric power system has attracted much scholarly attention. While The Wired Northwest (1983) does not offer novel insights into the process of electrification, as did groundbreaking works such as Thomas Hughes's Networks of Power and David Nye's Electrifying America (1990), it adds clarity to the complex nature of that process as it occurred in America's Pacific Northwest and in Canada's British Columbia. Early chapters describe trends in electrification since the 1870s that others have described elsewhere. Indeed, Hirt graciously demonstrates his appreciation to Hughes, Nye, and other scholars such as Ronald Tobey, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, and Craig Wollner. The author makes original contributions by contrasting events occurring in the Pacific Northwest with those occurring elsewhere. For example, unlike regions that drew on fossil fuels to power electrical generators, the Pacific Northwest benefited greatly by exploiting hydroelectric resources. Though building dams to harness the water's energy incurred large initial costs, it enabled the region to enjoy low electricity prices by relying on a free, natural resource. But cheap power also fostered a culture of abundance—one that inhibited adoption of a more sustainable mindset, especially after the 1973 energy crisis. Thomas Hughes asserted that cross-national studies constitute the equivalent of controlled experiments to social scientists. If that assertion is true, then Hirt has run some insightful experiments with comparative histories of electrification in northwestern American states and in British [End Page 1090] Columbia. For example, in his analyses of the financially solvent Canadian companies of the 1920s, he implicitly challenges claims (made by contemporary American entrepreneurs) that utility firms needed to employ highly leveraged holding companies to enable expansion and good service. On the other hand, America seemed more committed to rural electrification starting in the 1930s. Viewed as an effort to bring equity, progress, and modernity to millions of non-urban residents, New Dealers in Washington, D.C. invested heavily to create public-power resources (such as the Bonneville Power Authority). To be sure, electricity from the newly constructed dams and transmission wires served citizens in cities. But the power also went through newly installed distribution lines operated by Rural Electrification Administration–funded cooperatives and pre-Depression-era public utility districts to energize an increasing number of farms. By contrast, Canada's federal lawmakers did not share America's zeal for public funding or farm electrification. British Columbia's rural residents therefore lagged behind America's until the 1950s, demonstrating the importance of federal policy in the pace and extent of regional electrification efforts. Hirt also spotlights important trends that changed the flavor of the region's electrical system. For example, as in another federally touched region of the United States—the Tennessee Valley—the initial and widespread exploitation of water resources eventually ran up against limits. To deal with the continually increasing demand for power, several utilities created the Washington Public Power Supply System, which sought to finance a series of nuclear power plants. Management, technological, and macroeconomic problems stressed the WPPSS, causing it to default on its bonds in 1982 and to seriously curtail construction plans. Partly as a result, the region began altering its culture of abundance to one that favored conservation and energy efficiency—a culture that thrived especially in Oregon and Washington. Though written as a historical monograph in a constructivist mode, The Wired Northwest also serves as a useful resource for policymakers. Hirt appropriately focuses on the activities of a large number of stakeholders and how some have been disadvantaged throughout the region's history (such as fishery owners and others affected by the poorly managed dammed rivers). He also suggests that the complexity of the region's socio-technical system requires the careful use of government regulatory bodies to negotiate the claims of stakeholders. While one may quibble with Hirt's relatively uncritical characterization of regulatory commissions, arguing that they may have...
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Mar 1, 2017
Thomas P Gilson + 2
Open Access
