28 



specifically identified for immediate acquisition in the 1991 Northwest 

 Conservation and Electric Power Plan. Additionally, Bonneville found that the 

 proposed acquisition is consistent with the relevant provisions of the Council's Fish 

 and Wildlife Program. 



The Environmental Impact Statement is proceeding on schedule and the draft EIS 

 will be released in the summer of 1993. After the draft is released, Bonneville will 

 hold public meetings around the region. The Final EIS will be available in early 

 1994, and a Record of Decision should be issued by the spring of 1994. 



Bonneville has agreed to treat as exempt from public disclosure certain aspects of 

 the Tenaska power purchase agreement, including the fixed set of prices to be paid 

 during the life of the contract and certain displacement provisions. This 

 information provided by Tenaska is confidential commercial information exempt 

 from disclosure under the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1905, and 

 exemptions 4 and 5 of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec 552 (b). 

 The contract contains no escalator clauses. 



Bonneville believes that this treatment as exempt from public disclosure is 

 appropriate. In the first place, Bonneville made sufficient information available to 

 evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the resource proposal. Second, independent 

 power producers and regulated utilities are extremely reluctant to make business 

 sensitive information public. This is especially true of price information for gas 

 combustion turbines, which use a well known technology and have well known 

 construction costs. Competitors can easily calculate gas prices and a project 

 sponsor's competitive edge, if nominal prices are revealed. Therefore, it is 

 standard industry practice in the Pacific Northwest for public utility commissions 



