I frequently read newspaper articles claiming that the Bonneville Power Administration has spent at least $17,000,000,000 (that’s $17 billion) attempting to recover Columbia Basin threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. This claim needs clarification.
Federal law requires BPA to be self-sustaining. A more accurate statement: private citizens and business owners across the Pacific Northwest have paid the lion’s share of that $17 billion, month by month when they pay their electricity bills.
Fish and wildlife costs make up 24 percent of BPA’s nearly $3 billion annual budget, or around $700 million each year. Meanwhile, BPA is $15 billion in debt, recently burned through $900 million of its financial reserves, raised power prices by 30 percent over eight years, and will soon max out its over $7 billion credit card from the U.S. Treasury. Add to the mix aging assets that require increasingly greater capital expenditures, along with falling prices for BPA’s surplus energy.
Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, has crafted a proposal that would give BPA a chance for financial survival. Ignore or oppose Simpson’s proposal and Pacific Northwesterners stand to lose more than Snake River salmon and steelhead.
