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California Wants in on Cheaper Power from BPA by Ross Anderson Seattle Times, November 6, 2000

Powerful California lawmakers are dead serious about their bid for a share of cheap federal hydropower from Columbia River dams. And their Northwest counterparts vow to resist that effort and keep the power in the region.

California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Democratic Rep. George Miller last month asked the Clinton administration to prevent the Bonneville Power Administration from signing new long-term power contracts until Congress can review how the BPA allocates low-cost megawatts from Northwest dams.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, the legislators complained that California utilities recently have been charged up to 21 cents per kilowatt-hour for surplus BPA power that sells for one-tenth that amount - 2 cents per kwh - to Northwest customers.

It is unfair, they said, for a federal agency to show such preference in selling power to West Coast consumers - the same people whose taxes financed Grand Coulee and other hydroelectric dams on the Columbia.

Northwest lawmakers responded that California has no claim to BPA power. In a letter to Richardson, eight Northwest senators said: "Rather than seeking scapegoats beyond the borders of their state, Californians would do well to fix their failed electricity-restructuring plan."

U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., cautioned last week that the Californians are "very serious" about their bid. "This is the grandchild of California's attempts to steal Columbia River water 30 years ago," he said.

"And as long as I'm in my current position, they will not get Bonneville."

Bonneville is the federal agency set up in the 1930s to allocate power from Columbia River dams - an average of 8,000 megawatts each year, which is about seven times the power consumed by the city of Seattle.

Under law, it is required to give preference to regional utilities, especially those publicly owned. But the BPA has also sold power to California utilities, particularly in the summer when Northwest dams produce more electricity than the region can consume. This past hot summer in California was no exception.

In recent weeks, Bonneville has been negotiating new, long-term contracts with Northwest utilities - all at prices far lower than those paid by California. Meanwhile, the BPA projects a steady increase in electricity demand in the Northwest from population and industrial growth and has warned its California customers that power may not be available in the future at any price.

Those warnings appear to have triggered the California response.

"The letter was not intended as an attack on Bonneville," said John Lawrence, a House staffer and adviser to California Rep. Miller. "I don't blame people in the Northwest for saying `no' to California, but everybody helped pay for these projects."

Craig Gannett, a Seattle energy lawyer and former staff counsel to the Senate Energy Committee, warned that the Californians wield political clout and can make "a plausible case" for BPA power.

Whether they succeed may depend on the Northwest's own clout - particularly in the Senate, Gannett said.

While U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and other Northwest senators oppose California's bid, Gorton's seniority and membership on the Senate Energy Committee make him a formidable political force.

U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Gordon Smith, R-Ore.; Larry Craig, R-Idaho and Conrad Burns, R-Mont., also serve on the energy panel, but with much less tenure.

Gorton argued last week that Northwest electricity customers continue to pay off the Columbia River loans through their power bills and that the region is under no obligation to help California deal with its energy shortage.

Meanwhile, Bonneville continued last week to finalize new contracts with utilities across the region, according to BPA spokesman Ed Mosey.

Bonneville will continue to provide surplus power to California, Mosey added, but less of it.

"We are now facing an energy shortfall for several months this winter and for essentially all of the period from 2002 through 2006," he said. The Northwest expects to fill the gap with power purchased from California.

"Even now, the power we sell to California constitutes less than 1 percent of their load," Mosey said. "Obviously, Bonneville is not going to solve California's energy problems."