While the Senator placed more emphasis on the economic and national security aspects of renewable energy than he did on the environment, it was still fairly close and I came away feeling he seemed more reasonable in person than I’ve read in the media. Besides, I fully understand the importance of the economy and national security, so it’s a very reasonable stance to take.

Throughout both the unstructured and structured portions of the discussion, the senator asked reasonable questions that I thought showed he was interested in the topic at hand. And while he did congratulate himself for recent activities, it was only very briefly.

The main goal of the meeting was to discuss geothermal energy, and apparently I’m way too uninformed as I wasn’t familiar with all the really cool stuff under way at OIT. Also, I wasn’t aware that the Senator had somehow gotten a million dollars earmarked for OIT’s geothermal aspirations. (I have to wonder if this was included with the “pork” totals that were recently touted in the media? I really need to find out more about this money.) Anyway, OIT is trying to drill a five thousand foot (approximately) geothermal well here on campus. The three hundred degree water this will yield will power a 3 megawatt (max) power plant that will supply ALL the power needs of the campus. The campus is already heated geothermally, so this would result in net negative energy consumption if constructed. The “cool” hundred and seventy degree (roughly) waste water from this is piped into a smaler, cooler power plant. Hot water could also be used to heat greenhouses that could serve as incubators for companies interested in geothermal, and possibly other geothermal-powered applications. All of this of course could be worked into curriculum on campus, and all of it would become a showcase for real geothermal application to encourage more investment in the technology.

The downside? Two and a half million to drill, two and a half million for the power plant equals a big number for a place like OIT. Fortunately there’s the million from the Senator, a two million grant opportunity for higher education application of geothermal that was just recently signed into law, and given the previous two amounts enough startup money to interest investors in the project.

All told I came away impressed with the Senator’s conviction that the country needs to supply its own energy and his interest in the different opportunities and their positive effects for Oregon. Apparently other people were impressed not just by him, but by myself as well, as I was congratulated by several other people that attended the meeting for my contribution. It was a positive and unique experience, one I’m glad for having.

While I don’t expect much more than a handshake and an introduction, I’m already gaining first hand experience with how the system *really* works. When I tried to get the rest of the team working with me on biodiesel invited to the event, this is the response I received from the OIT administrator coordinating the event. Please note, this is not at all a criticism of her, she is just working within the confines imposed upon her.

Drew, here is the itinerary. How many students are on the team? Senator Smith is specifically interested in geothermal energy on this visit, as he has supported our federal appropriations toward the power plant. Congressional delegation visits are usually fairly structured, which prevents opportunity for us to deviate much from the Senator’s agenda. His aide wants to keep the group small. I’ll need to brief him on Monday, if we add more people. Please provide names of those attending, as I need to get them to Jason. Thanks. Take care.

While on the one hand this is all pretty reasonable given practical limitations, on the other it’s a little disappointing that he’s not more open to actually learning from his constituents rather than setting the agenda himself and preventing deviation. How can you represent people that you won’t listen to and actively avoid? I hope this attitude is somewhat unique to Senator Smith, but I suspect this is the attitude taken by most/all figures in national politics.

Regardless, I’m still looking forward to the opportunity, and I really hope the Senator is impressed by OIT, however little he sees of it, and remembers when it comes time to vote on educational funding.

The meeting with President Dow this morning went even better than the meeting with Valeree. While initially somewhat reserved and “polished” (fake) President Dow quickly warmed and opened up to my concern for the engineering programs and my desire to know more about what she does. She seemed quite excited about starting a President’s Blog and I talked with her about making it open and honest rather than a PR piece. President Dow also talked with me about some of the history of OIT and how when Purvine was built in 1988 the medial majors expressed concern that THEY were the ones getting the short end of the stick.

All in all I was impressed with President Dow’s recognition of importance of both the medical AND engineering programs, and am really looking forward to what she has to say in her weekly publications. She might also be working with me in promoting this for OIT, as we are a technology school and blogging is a somewhat new technology related activity that I don’t think many other university administrators engage in.

On a side note President Dow informed me that there absolutely was not a large grant offered to OIT from Boeing that was later withdrawn because it wasn’t going to be used for engineering. Apparently Boeing’s contributions to OIT focus around equipment rather than outright money, I’m really not sure where or how that rumor was started but everything I’ve found so far points to it being false.