02.07.07

Under Questioning from Cantwell, Energy Secretary Admits Bush BPA Plan Is A Little Bit Like Groundhog Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Wednesday at a Senate Energy Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) questioned Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on the administration's rehashed plan to raise Northwest electricity rates. The plan, included in the president's fiscal year 2008 budget proposal, would reverse the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) decades-old policy of using revenue from the sale of surplus power to lower electricity rates for Northwest consumers and invest in regional electricity delivery infrastructure.

"Last year, a bipartisan coalition of Northwest senators made it very clear that we will not allow the administration to use BPA as the deep pockets to pay for the president's irresponsible deficit," said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy Committee. "A year has not changed my mind or the minds of my colleagues. This illegal plan will go nowhere in the Congress and I'm not sure why the administration is wasting our time with this proposal."

At Wednesday's hearing, Cantwell asked Bodman whether the administration even has the legal authority to implement the proposal:

Cantwell: "Obviously my colleagues from the Northwest articulated our groundhog day frustration with revisiting, again, the BPA privatization by the administration... Do you really think that the administration has the legal authority to do this, on its own?"

Bodman: "I don't know the answer to that question. I do think that it is a—you and I had this discussion a year ago as I remember—it is a little bit like groundhog day I think in that sense..."

Senators Larry Craig (R-ID) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), who sit on the Energy Committee as well, also expressed their frustration with the administration's continued attempts to implement the proposal. Cantwell and her colleagues successfully defeated similar plans in both the 2006 and 2007 budget proposals.

Tuesday, the Washington Public Utility Districts Association (WPUDA) met in Cantwell's office to discuss the administration's ill-advised proposal.

"Once again, the Office of Management is raiding Northwest resources to increase revenues to the Treasury," said WPUDA Executive Director Steve Johnson. "Last year, they surprised us all. This year, they tried to mask it. We are not fooled. This proposal is nothing more than a hidden attempt to gouge the Northwest's ratepayers to the tune of about $1 billion, and at the worst possible time."

The BPA has the authority to sell surplus power to customers both inside and outside the Northwest. The revenue from surplus power sales outside the Northwest is then used to lower BPA's electricity rates within the Northwest. Currently, about 70 percent of the electricity consumed in the State of Washington is BPA power, sold at cost-based rates. The proposal included in the administration's fiscal year 2008 budget would divert some revenues from surplus power sales to the U.S. Treasury, preventing them from being used to make Northwest electricity rates more affordable.

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