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A Lot of Talk, Not Much Listening by Jeff Heinrichs The Columbian, August 14, 2011

The Bonneville Power Administration officials keep holding public meetings and private talks, and you can be sure they attend all public meetings the residents hold, but to what avail? They feign interest in what we say. They ask for our input, but is anyone seriously listening? They take in comments by mail, posting them on their website (as required by National Environmental Policy Act). They give us pre-constructed pat answers to all our questions, but never give us anything resolute or negotiable.

We've asked BPA time and time again to work with us on alternatives, to consider other ideas, to consider shortening instead of extending deadlines. We have pleaded with them to drop the tangle of unnecessary segments, alternatives and alternates they keep renaming. There are four major proposals for a new power line with a gazillion little nonsensical probabilities, when there should only be two well-defined proposals with limited segmentation.

Here's the statement from the BPA's own website under "Get involved: Engaging the public and developing long-term relationships with communities are critical to the success of the Bonneville Power Administration. BPA invites your involvement on public process, programs and projects."

Give me a break.