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You have demonstrated a keen recognition of the importance of implementing 

 the Act and a willingness to commit time and resources to becoming part of the 

 solution. I would venture to say that there is nothing wrong with the institutions that 

 are responsible for implementing the Act that cannot be cured by the continuing 

 interest and determination of pubUc officials like you and public interest organizations 

 like those we represent. 



Few things have as much impact on the economic and environmental well- 

 being of the people of this region as the energy decisions that BPA and the Council 

 make. So why aren't people paying attdtition? Because energy is not something that 

 people generally choose to think about until it occasions some sort of disaster. It is 

 not an end in itself; it is a means to other ends. As long as the lights stay on, the bills 

 stay low, and nobody is building a power plant nearby (or a nuclear plant anywhere), 

 most people would rather not be bothered about energy. It's hard to blame them. 



People are especially disinclined to grapple with energy problems here in the 

 Northwest, where power is still relatively cheap, and where people are still smarting 

 from the WPPSS default. Remember, the last time utilities proclaimed an energy 

 crisis in the Northwest, they were selling a solution we didn't like (WPPSS) to a 

 problem it turned out we didn't have (energy shortages). People are understandably 

 reluctant to become part of a solution to a problem they don't believe they have. 



For the better part of the last decade, that kind of indifference didn't cost us 

 much. Overbuilding in the seventies left us with a huge, expensive regional power 

 surplus, so construction of new plants ceased. The Power Council's plans set the 

 standard for the nation, but the surplus rendered them moot. 



Quite suddenly, however, the need for least-cost planning - and, more 

 importandy, least-cost action - has become real and urgent Rapid growth and the 

 failure of existing resources quickly eroded the surplus. Columbia Basin wild salmon 

 stocks, once the world's most prolific, declined precipitously to the brink of extinction. 

 Meanwhile, the region's existing and mothballed nuclear plants proved uneconomic to 

 run, let alone build. And the growing risk of global climate change makes increased 

 reliance on fossil fuels an unappealing and potentially very costly option. Amidst all of 

 this, water conditions have been exceptionally poor and aluminum prices (for which all 

 Northwest energy consumers bear the risk) have bottomed out. 



This extraordinary combination of pressures on the regional power system will 

 put our far-sighted regional energy policy to the test. It is, in many ways, the moment 

 of tnith for the visionary experiment in cooperative regional energy and natural 

 resource planning that began in 1980. 



To your tremendous credit, you have identified that problem before it has 

 become a disaster, as it did in the late 1970s. Because of your foresight we still have 

 time to look at tiiese pressures as an opportunity, rather than simply a threat. We can 

 still use the decisions before us as a springboard for the decisive and enthusiastic 

 implementation of the Act We still have a chance to reaffirm our commitment to the 

 Act's vision of an economically and environmentally superior energy program. You 

 have initiated this effort just in the nick of time. 



Testimony of K.C. Golden, NCAC BPA Task FWce 



July 12, 1993 Pase^ 



