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a service that they don't want in order to buy another service that they do want, or using one 

 service to subsidize another service that your customers don't want. It does not mean blocking 

 access by your customers to competing providers or preventing your customers firom satisfying 

 their own needs. These things are in fact anti-competitive and the PGP wants to emphasize that 

 we are not at all interested in seeing BPA start to operate in an anti-competitive fashion. 



Instead, the PGP believes that the first step toward making BPA more competitive is deciding 

 what services BPA will — and won't — provide in view of its customers' needs, its capabilities, and 

 the available alternatives. Then BPA should focus on providing each service to its customers as 

 efficiently as possible. My remaining remarks will focus primarily on this first step, identifying 

 the services that BPA should provide. 



BPA Provides Three Basic Services 



The PGP believes that BPA's fundamental services can be grouped into three general categories. 

 First, BPA markets power from the existing Federal Base System resources, mainly the Corps 

 and Bureau hydroelectric facilities on the Columbia River system. Second, BPA provides bulk 

 transmission of both federal and nonfederal power within the Pacific Northwest and between the 

 Northwest and other regions. Third, BPA is responsible for working — in partnership — with its 

 regional customers to acquire regionally cost-effective new resources needed to serve the Region's 

 needs. 



Of course, within each of these three broad categories BPA has, over time, accumulated various 

 specific responsibilities. For example, BPA funding for fish and wildlife restoration activities is 

 mainly associated with its marketing of power generated at federal hydro facilities. Similarly, 

 BPA funding for research on EMF is part of its responsibility as a regional transmission service 

 provider. But the important point to consider here is that each of BPA's specific programs can, 

 or at least should be, legitimately attributable to one of its tiiree primary services — marketing 

 FBS power, transmitting federal and nonfederal power, and working with regional customers to 

 acquire new resources. 



So, that is a simple answer to the question regarding BPA's basic services. By looking at each 

 of BPA's three main services in a bit more detail additional Task Force questions can be 

 addressed. 



One; Mariceting FBS Power 



First, the PGP believes that BPA needs to refocus on its core service of marketing power from 

 existing FBS resources. The federal Columbia River hydroelectric facilities are a tremendous 

 resource for the Pacific Northwest providing not only power but also flood control, navigation. 



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