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Northwest Seeks California Energy Reciprocity by Chris Mulick, Herald staff writer Tri-City Herald, December 4, 2000

Northwest power managers who interrupted fish spill operations at hydroelectric dams this summer to scratch California power companies' backs may have a hard-to-reach spot of their own.

That's why regional power officials plan to ask if the Golden State will be willing to sacrifice its environmental standards this winter if the Northwest gets caught in a pinch.

Although there's enough water in the Columbia and Snake rivers to power the region if a cold snap hits, the margins may be too thin for a prolonged severe chill. November brought snow to the mountains but very little rain that could be stored in reservoirs to power turbines later.

"We're dry, all right," said Ed Mosey, a spokesman for the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets almost half the power consumed in the Northwest. So, BPA is looking for potential backup power.

Typically, the Northwest supplies its neighbors to the south with power in the summer, and the south returns the favor in the winter.

This summer, the BPA even briefly interrupted fish spill operations to generate more power to send to California -- helping the state narrowly escape rolling blackouts on several occasions.

But several large gas-fired plants in California have been forced to cut back operations because they've used up their allotment of pollution credits.

And that has left some in the Northwest wondering if California will allow those power plants to begin cranking out more juice -- and pollution -- if the Northwest needs power this winter.

"The question is, if we were to get an arctic episode, would they crank those up again?" Mosey said. "We were putting fish under stress to help them out."

Bonneville plans to send a team to California to talk to power authorities this week. Representatives from other Northwest groups are expected to follow later.

"We're wondering, 'What are they going to be able to do for us?' " said Don Badley, systems operations manager for the Northwest Power Pool, which was organized to analyze regional electricity supply. "Sure, we're looking for a tit for tat."

That's the kind of trade environmental groups would like to stamp out.

The Northwest Energy Coalition, a collection of regional environmental groups, criticized Bonneville during the summer for ceasing fish spills. The group doesn't want California to compromise its environmental standards, either, saying both states should be better prepared for power shortages so such measures aren't necessary.

"We don't think California should do it," said Mark Glyde, a coalition spokesman. "Those environmental laws are there for a reason."

Power managers are putting the finishing touches on a warning system to alert the public to possible power shortages, hoping it would increase energy conservation. If need be, authorities could put it to use immediately, though they'd like to test it first, Badley said.

Despite the dry fall, Badley is confident the Northwest could get through a prolonged cold snap if one arrived this week. But that's if there are no unexpected plant outages or transmission failures.

And it was the unexpected shutdown of several Western power plants, including the 1,157-megawatt Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant north of Richland, that nearly put California in deep peril in June.

Though temperatures have cooled in California, power prices haven't. The ramping down of the power plants, reportedly costing the state about 2,000 megawatts, and the shutdown of others for maintenance, has thinned supply and driven up prices in the state's deregulated market.

Prices last week lingered around 24 cents per kilowatt-hour, eight times what they were a year ago. By comparison, Tri-Citians pay about 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour for their power. That comes to about 5 cents when transmission costs and administrative charges are added.