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Western Governors Confer on Energy Crisis by Angela Galloway & Neil Modie Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 12, 2001

Gov. Gary Locke will convey his concern about the cost of California's energy crisis on Washington state when he meets with California Gov. Gray Davis today.

Locke and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber are to meet with Davis in Sacramento for an hour today. The three will discuss regional pricing plans and conservation methods, including Locke's call for a 10 percent energy use reduction.

Yesterday's extension of an emergency order by U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson that generators make power available to California until midnight on Wednesday is likely to be a hot-ticket item in that conversation, Davis' spokesman Roger Salazar said.

"I'm sure that's going to be a primary topic," Salazar said. Locke and Kitzhaber reportedly opposed the order.

The Bonneville Power Administration doesn't expect the Northwest to be affected by Richardson's order because "we don't have a surplus," said Dulcy Mahar, a spokeswoman for the regional power marketing agency in Portland.

Locke and Kitzhaber also hope to stress to Davis that California's energy shortage -- attributed to deregulation of power producers and other factors there -- is a regional problem, Locke's office said. The Northwestern governors hope to convince Davis the three states must work together if they expect to persuade the federal government to impose temporary caps on wholesale electricity prices.

Davis and Clinton administration energy officials plan to resume talks over the weekend on possible solutions to the energy crisis.

"It will probably cover the gamut," Locke spokeswoman Dana Middleton said of the meeting. "This isn't just California's problem. You have to be serious and you have to be together."

Middleton said it's in Davis' own interest to consider the interests of his northern neighbors. California will turn to the Northwest this summer when that state's power usage peaks, she said.

"You wouldn't want to jeopardize any relationships," Middleton said. "(And) you wouldn't want to threaten the (future) supply."

Kitzhaber spokesman Jon Coney said the three are making progress on a "unification of the three West Coast states.

"They're making some headway," Coney said. " . . . I think it's significant that Gov. Davis has clearly made this a real priority."

California yesterday narrowly averted rolling blackouts resulting from a storm that crippled a nuclear plant, coupled with maintenance shutdowns at other electric generating stations. But the crisis was expected to have no impact on the Northwest, which shares a West Coast intertie with the Golden State.

BPA was scheduled to send 1,500 megawatts to California last night to help it through the immediate crisis. But the Northwest is to be paid back double -- with California returning 1,500 megawatts within 24 hours and another 1,500 within 21 days.

Mahar said the loan is voluntary, and the Northwest is required only to sell surplus power.

"Right now we simply don't have surplus power . . . We need the power here; we're skating on thin ice here in the Northwest, and fortunately the first half of January is being milder than normal.

"But we don't have any flexibility in our system if we should face a cold front."

Bonneville interprets its statutory mandate as requiring it to "do nothing to jeopardize our Northwest power resources," Mahar said.

In fact, with the 2-for-1 power swap, California's woes will actually improve the Northwest's tight energy supply.

Not only will this region's power needs not be jeopardized, "but it's fewer megawatts that we don't have to withdraw from our power system . . . because we're getting double back from California," Mahar said. "The more we get back from California, the less we have to draw down our own reservoirs."