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Mr. Chairman, at this point I'd like to quickly go through a few key issues confronting 

 Bonneville, and based on our experiences, provide some general comments and 

 recommendations. 



BPA Personnel Reouirments and Repayment Reform : 



Over the years, there have been a number of proposals to transform BPA into a different 

 kind of entity. The most recent being a proposal to create an independent government 

 corporation. 



Our view is that the focus needs to be first, and foremost, on creating an environment for 

 BPA in which it can be quicker on its feet and more responsive to the market. 



At a minimum, I would argue that Secretary O'Leary and the Congress need to help BPA 

 deal with the constraints imposed by federal personnel requirements and other polices that 

 are restrictive and that might impede their recently announced downsizing. 



In conjunction with changes in personnel requirments, it may also be advantageous to the 

 region to allow BPA to swap old U.S. Treasury debt with private financing. 



These changes may not lead to the immediate cost savings some interest groups are looking 



