51 



Mr. DeFazio. Thank you. Mr. Grace, I would invite you to speak 

 and divide your time as you wish between yourself and Mr. Duncan 

 or if you're going to make the entire presentation, however you 

 wish. 



STATEMENT OF STAN GRACE 



Mr. Grace. Good morning. My name is Stan Grace. I'm Chair- 

 man of the Northwest Power Planning Council With me is Mr. 

 Angus Duncan, an Oregon member of the Council. 



I want to thank you, Chairman DeFazio, Congressman Smith 

 and members of your staff for your review of the Bonneville Power 

 Administration and for inviting the Council to testify today. 



We appreciate this opportunity to summarize our views on the 

 strengths and weaknesses of Bonneville's resource acquisition pro- 

 gram and on whether the program has complied with the mandates 

 of the Northwest Power Act. This inquiry is extremely timely be- 

 cause this region critically needs new resources and because of 

 Bonneville's ciurent financial crisis. 



We believe Bonneville and most other parties in the region are 

 committed to carrying out the mandates of the Northwest Power 

 Act and the Council's 1991 power plan. Bonneville has taken sev- 

 eral important steps called for in our plan. Bonneville has begun 

 wind and geothermal demonstration projects, has agreed to look at 

 wholesale tiered rates, and has made a commitment to acquiring 

 its full share of our regional conservation goal. 



We applaud expressed commitments in these first steps, but we 

 must be realistic about the barriers to delivering on these goals. Is 

 the region, not only Bonneville, but other utilities. State agencies 

 and the Council, making sufficient progress in addressing these 

 barriers? 



We're concerned about whether Bonneville will be able to fully 

 exploit its conservation goals, as well as power generation and fish 

 and wildlife goals, given the Administrator's recent rate and budget 

 decisions. And, of course, we are concerned about the underlying vi- 

 tality of the region's economy. 



Let me begin with your question about the Council's strengths 

 and weaknesses. The Northwest Power Act of 1980, which called on 

 Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Washington to create the Northwest 

 Power Planning Council, created a public process for regional elec- 

 trical power planning that is unique to the Nation. 



The Act charged the Council with developing a long-term re- 

 gional electrical energy plan and developing a progrEun to protect 

 and enhance the fish and wildlife resources in the Columbia River 

 Basin. 



The Act also says we must develop a broad public involvement 

 process to help us make these decisions. The Coimcil brought to re- 

 gional power planning a degree of public involvement that simply 

 never existed before. This is one of the Coimcil's key strengths. 



The public has the opportunity to present information and views 

 to the Council before any major decisions are made. The Council 

 must regularly inform the public of our objectives and activities 

 and conduct pubUc hearings in all four States before adopting or 

 amending the power plan or the fish and wildlife program. 



