45 



the organization but does two things: They vote on members to the 

 Executive Board, and they terminate plants. 



I think if you put it to a vote of the Full Board today it would 

 not be unanimous, but I am pretty sure you would have a majority 

 that would favor termination, and I am confident that is the deci- 

 sion the Full Board will reach. But we will not be ready to present 

 that decision to them until we have all of our legal ducks in a row, 

 which is probably later this year or early next year. 



Mr. DeFazio. Okay. And you don't expect any additional expend- 

 iture requests from WPPSS to undertake further study or other 

 things regarding this subject? 



Mr. HijlDY. We don't need to study this subject any more. We 

 know what the answer is; we have just got to do it. 



Mr. DeFazio. Okay. I appreciate that. It has been a long time 

 coming. I am glad to hear it. We may finally put a stake in the 

 heart of the vampire here and keep it from rising again. That 

 would be great. 



You alluded to the $150 million in bond revenues in the construc- 

 tion fund, and I guess there is about $100 million in fuel and en- 

 richment options or commitments. I assume that we will be hear- 

 ing more about that as we move through this process, the potential 

 uses to which that money could be applied after other obligations 

 are satisfied, 



Mr. Hardy. That is true. The figures are more like $100 million 

 in the construction fund, and $100 million, give or take, fi-om the 

 potential sale of fuel and other assets, but we need to use the de- 

 claratory judgment action to clarify the purposes for which we can 

 use both of those funds. 



The bond fund trustee basically has to agree with how we will 

 dispose of those or how we will use those fiinds in a way so that 

 the bond holder's interest is protected. That will be a major pur- 

 pose of the declaratory judgment action, to structure those so we 

 will get the maximum amount of flexibility in how we use those 

 funds. 



Mr. DeFazio. We have made an awful lot of lawyers rich and 

 kept a lot of judges really busy. Does everyone agree and believe 

 that we need this declaratory judgment? Aren't there legal theories 

 out there, looking at the agreements and otherwise, that perhaps 

 that is not necessary? 



Mr. Hardy. We have to address that question with both of the 

 bond fund trustees. There are two different trustees. Seafirst is the 

 trustee for Plant 3, and Morgan is the trustee for Plant 1. If both 

 of them agree, perhaps we could short-circuit this, but that is a dis- 

 cussion we have yet to have with them. We did make a commit- 

 ment when we did the refinancings to do a declaratory judgment 

 action. That was necessary for them to give the approval to go for- 

 ward with those refinancings. So if there is any way to short-circuit 

 that, we certainly will do it, but we want to make sure we get the 

 right answer here. 



I share your desire not to have more folks earn more legal fees 

 fi-om what has already been a very profitable endeavor for much 

 of the legal profession in this country at the expense of Northwest 

 ratepayers. But I want to make sure we get the right answers be- 



