BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION'S 

 PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 1994 BUDGET 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1993 



House of Representatives, 

 Task Force on Bonneville Power Administration, 



Committee on Natural Resources, 



Washington, DC. 



The task force met, pursuant to call, at 1:00 p.m., in room 1324, 

 Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Peter DeFazio [chairman of 

 the task force] presiding. 



STATEMENT OF HON. PETER A. DeFAZIO 



Mr. DeFazio. I think we are going to get started. It is one 

 o'clock. You may certainly seat yourself. Randy. I have an opening 

 statement. Since this is the first meeting of the task force, I am 

 going to read an opening statement, something I don't usually do, 

 and then I will recognize other members of the task force as they 

 come in, and then we will go to your testimony and then questions. 



Today the Natural Resources Committee's Bonneville Power Ad- 

 ministration Task Force holds its first hearing. I particularly want 

 to thank Chairman Miller for the creation of the task force and for 

 naming me its chairman. I am looking forward to the hearings that 

 we will hold over the next six months, and I want to play a creative 

 and active role in helping the BPA to meet the challenges it faces, 

 both in the near term and during the next decade. 



Today's hearing will focus on BPA's near-term financial condi- 

 tion. A unique set of circumstances have forced BPA to consider a 

 rate increase that could exceed 20 percent. But the BPA's short- 

 term problems will not go away with a few good water years or 

 higher world aluminum prices. The problems are much deeper than 

 that, and the fix must be more fundamental. So regardless of the 

 facts of the current situation, I believe we would be here today no 

 matter what. 



In 1937, just over 50 years ago. Congress created the BPA to 

 market power fi*om the federal projects on the Columbia River. In 

 1974, BPA was made a self-financing agency and given power to 

 borrow money fi-om the Federal Treasury. Then in 1980, Congress 

 passed the Northwest Power Act which expanded the BPA's mis- 

 sion to include responsibility for acquiring resources to meet the re- 

 gion's energy needs. Energy conservation and renewable resources 

 were given priority over other forms of generation, and fish and 

 wildlife were given parity with power production. 



The Northwest Power Planning Council was created to develop 

 plans for the orderly acquisition of conservation and other electric 



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