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2020 PNUCC

CHAIR’S MESSAGE

ANNUAL MEETING

As I write this, I am struggling with how to
fully capture the essence of this past year
without sounding trite or underwhelming.
Many will describe the year beginning with
a sense of optimism—the economy was
humming along at near-record stock market
highs and exceptionally low unemployment
figures. Yet those early days in January may
have been a signal of the struggle 2020
would become as the cloud of the presidential
impeachment hearings loomed and we
heard about the emergence of a deadly virus
spreading across China.
By early March, normalcy was upended, and
it was clear that the global pandemic was
in our midst hitting the Puget Sound area
particularly early and hard. Our economy
plummeted as unemployment rapidly rose,
reaching levels not seen since the 1930s.
As weeks of pandemic uncertainty turned
into months of adaptation, the country was
rocked by another crisis—the tragic killing of
George Floyd and ensuing demonstrations
for racial justice.
Then came Labor Day. The traditional end of
summer brought new horrors to our region
in the form of once-in-a-century wind storms
that decimated parts of our electricity
system, caused major fires, and resulted in
what may be the largest single event loss of
life and property in Oregon’s history.

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