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None of the problems chat we have identified is insurmountable. For many of 

 the same reasons that we have led the world in least-cost planning, we have every 

 hope of being able to lead the world in least-cost acdon. We start with the distinct 

 advantage of having the nadon's most economical and reliable power system, in large 

 pan because of our historical reliance on a renewable resource. We now have a fateful 

 choice before us: We can depart with the tradition that makes our power system the 

 envy of the world by betting our energy future on fossil fuels and continuing to use our 

 existing, renewable supplies wastefully. Or we can stay with our winning strategy by 

 squeezing more work out of our existing renewable supplies and prudently developing 

 new renewables as necessary to meet demand and replace old resources. 



The latter path is the choice you made over a decade ago, when you passed the 

 Regional Act's resource priorities. But the region's energy institutions have not yet 

 followed through with the dollars and deeds to make that choice stick. Thirteen years 

 after the Act was passed, we have almost everything we need in order to move 

 forward. The missing ingredient isn't a good policy, a good plan, or good people. We 

 have all of those in abundance. The missing ingredient is commitment. It's a 

 determination on the part of the public and public officials to actively support effective 

 implementation and insist on results. It's the clear recognition that the energy 

 decisions we make now will have profound and lasting impacts on our economic and 

 environmental well-being for decades to come. It's a commitment to stay focused on 

 the solution even when the problem isn't rearing its head in the form of huge rate 

 increases and WPPSS-like construction fiascoes. Without these things, even the best 

 BPA acquisition mechanisms will fail. 



In describing who will be responsible for the solution, we use the subject "we" 

 purposefully. It is all too easy and common to cite BPA as the offender when regional 

 energy matters go astray. But Bonneville is no more and no less than what the region 

 has made it. If BPA's performance has been erratic, it is in part because we have sent 

 it too many conflicting messages. If we want BPA to do better, then we - the region's 



public interest organizations, political leaders, utilities, business leaders all of us - 



need to commit ourselves to the solution, rather than using BPA as the convenient 

 scapegoat. We need to gather around the table when regional energy decisions are 

 made not as competitors angling for a bigger slice of a shrinking regional pie, but as 

 collaborators in baking a bigger one. We, the citizens and consumers of the region, 

 will reap the benefits of BPA's success and bear the costs of its failures. Ultimately, 

 we will have only ourselves to congratulate or to blame. 



By convening this effort, you have demonstrated your resolve to make 

 Congress an active part of the solution. Your consistent commitment to hold us 

 accountable for the conservation and renewable resource mandates in the Act will 

 make all the difference. We pledge to do our utmost to make the public a full parmcr in 

 this effort. With your leadership, we can and will mobilize the resources and 

 enthusiasm of the region's public interest organizations and progressive utilities in an 

 enthusiastic, constructive, and determined effort to build a brighter energy future. 



Thank you again. 



Testiinony of K.C. Golden. NCAC BPA Task Face 



July 12. 1993 fagt9 



