the film forum library tutorial contact

Skipping BPA Payments is Not a Good Idea by Editors Seattle Times - February 12, 2001

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber wants the Bonneville Power Administration to withhold its next $732 million payment to the U.S. Treasury. That's a bad idea any time, and especially during the current energy crisis.

Kitzhaber prefers that BPA hold back water to help salmon runs instead of releasing the water now to generate electricity.

The governor would use the equivalent of BPA mortgage money to buy power instead of the agency producing it. He wants the emphasis on honoring tribal treaty obligations and Endangered Species Act commitments.

Politically, Kitzhaber is the sound of one hand clapping. His was the lone name on a letter last week to the director of the federal Office of Management and Budget asking for payment relief.

Kitzhaber's constituents have the least at stake. More Oregon utility customers get their electricity from investor-owned utilities, not the publicly owned sources that enjoy preferential access to low-cost BPA power.

BPA is not too keen on Kitzhaber's tactic either. The agency believes it can tweak its system to produce more electricity and hang onto water longer for use during the peak of salmon runs.

The idea is to reschedule water releases to make the best of an admittedly bad situation. No one disputes that salmon will suffer because of this extraordinarily dry winter.

The governor's arithmetic is also faulty. Holding back interest and principal payments, which amounted to $716 million last fall, will not buy much power on the sky-high spot market. Enriching out-of-state power generators at the risk of infuriating Congress is a poor tradeoff.

Political fallout is the real danger of Kitzhaber's suggestion. Senators and representatives from high-cost power states would love any excuse to tamper with BPA and the 60-year-old public preference that keeps rates low.

Every session of Congress inspires another covetous assault on BPA. Why poke the bear by not making a payment on what others already see as a scandalous bargain and rare sweetheart deal?

The Pacific Northwest is caught between a dry winter and California's energy debacle. As long as BPA has options for coping with the crisis and money in the bank, don't make a shell-shocked system look any more vulnerable.