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John Hairston gets Top Job at Bonneville Power Administration by Staff East Oregonian, January 13, 2021

WASHINGTON -- John Hairston, a three-decade veteran at the Bonneville Power Administration, has been named the agency's new administrator and chief executive.

Hairston has served as the interim administrator and CEO since September 2020. He will lead BPA, the Pacific Northwest's Federal Power Marketing Administration, which generates about $4 billion annually, provides roughly 27% of the electric power generated in the Pacific Northwest and maintains more than 15,000 circuit miles of high-voltage transmission line.

"I am truly honored and humbled by the opportunity to lead BPA during this dynamic time. We will continue to deliver on our strategic goals in order to remain a long-term provider of choice for low-cost, reliable, and responsible carbon-free power," Hairston said. "I will continue to work closely with BPA's utility customers, federal partners, state and local elected officials, tribal leaders and other stakeholders in the region to ensure the federal power system continues to meet a diverse set of needs and purposes as we address the energy and environmental challenges facing the Northwest."

Hairston has served in multiple capacities in BPA's power services and regulatory and compliance organizations, including chief operating officer, during his 29-year career.

"John has made a lasting and significant impact on the Bonneville Power Administration over the past 29 years, and I am proud to announce him as the new Administrator," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. "BPA is an important provider of reliable, renewable hydroelectric and clean nuclear power in the Northwest United States, and John's commitment to serve BPA will support the Department's critical energy mission."

Bonneville sells the electricity from 31 hydroelectric dams and a nuclear plant in the region and operates three-quarters of its high-voltage transmission system. It is the primary supplier to more than 130 publicly owned utilities and cooperatives, including Umatilla Electric Cooperative, in the region. BPA's territory includes Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Western Montana and small parts of Eastern Montana, California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

"On behalf of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, we congratulate John Hairston as the new administrator for BPA," said Kathryn Brigham, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Board of Trustees chair. "We have a strong relationship with Mr. Hairston and look forward to working with him as co-manager of natural resource and in protecting our Treaty Rights in accordance with the Treaty of 1855."