The community-owned electric utility, Central Lincoln PUD, is ready to break ground on a new headquarters in Newport. The facility will be designed to withstand a major earthquake.

The current headquarters is nearly 45 years old. During the 2024 winter ice storm, the backup systems failed, and the building wasn’t usable during recovery efforts. Seismic evaluations indicate it would likely collapse if the “big one” hit.

So, last spring, Central Lincoln’s Board of Directors voted to invest in a new facility.

Eric Chambers is Director of Employee, Customer and Community Services with PUD. He said as an electric utility that has over 40,000 metered customers relying on them, their goal, after a major Cascadia earthquake, is to keep the lights on.

"We know we need to be there for them shoul

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