01.23.02

Senate increases BPA borrowing authority

Craig-Cantwell will make NW energy system more reliable and secure

WASHINGTON, DC -The U.S. Senate today passed an amendment to the omnibus appropriations bill that will provide an additional $700 million in borrowing authority for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA will use the increase in borrowing authority to ensure the region's energy system is reliable and secure, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joins Senator Larry Craig's (R-ID) and the six other northwest senators in supporting the amendment.

"Increasing BPA's borrowing authority is an investment in the Northwest's energy system," Cantwell said. "With this borrowing authority, BPA will now be able to invest the money necessary to guarantee our system is reliable and secure."

BPA owns and operates 75 percent of the high voltage transmission in the Northwest. Increased borrowing authority gives BPA the ability to make much-needed improvements in the region's transmission grid, modernizing transmission lines and reducing bottlenecks. The borrowing authority will also allow BPA to fund new conservation and renewable energy initiatives and make improvements at existing hydroelectric facilities, to make them more efficient and fish friendly.

Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy Committee, successfully increased BPA's borrowing authority in last year's Senate energy bill. However, the Senate-House conference did not conclude before the end of last year's session.

Key Facts

Bonneville was first given borrowing authority of $1.25 billion in 1974, as part of the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act, when it was made a self-financing agency.

Regional transmission is not keeping up with load growth. The Northwest Power Pool estimates that winter peak load will have grown by 12 percent since 1998. At the present rate of transmission investment, however, the system will have grown only by two percent.

Already, a number of northwest transmission paths are severely constrained, jeopardizing reliability and impeding the region's ability to integrate new generation.