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Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to present testimony on behalf of 

 the state of Idaho at this hearing. At the outset let me extend our thanks to the 

 Bonneville Power Administration Task Force of the U.S. House Committee of Natural 

 Resources for holding a regional field hearing in Idaho. 



The committee today is hearing testimony on an issue of tremendous 

 significance for our region — recovery of salmon stocks in the Columbia River basin. 

 Protecting salmon populations is among the most important responsibilities and 

 greatest failures of the Bonneville Power Administration and other federal agencies 

 that have a role in the management of the Columbia River system. 



Congressional oversight of the federal agencies in this region is long overdue, 

 and we believe it needs to extend beyond the report this committee will issue. After 

 all, the mandate of these agencies is to protect the anadromous fish runs of the 

 Columbia River. It is an unfulfilled mandate. 



Idaho is convinced these agencies have agendas of their own: to maintain the 

 status quo at the expense of the salmon. Their agendas run contrary to the law. 



BPA is a mismanaged, over-staffed and deeply entrenched member of the 

 Northwest establishment that is only selectively following the laws that set forth its 

 charter. It needs an administrative overhaul to reduce its size, and it needs to be held 

 accountable for perpetuating policies that run contrary to the Northwest Power Act 

 and the values of the people who live in the region. 



Congress, which established BPA, needs to scrutinize the performance of this 

 agency and of the body it empowered to oversee it ~ the Northwest Power Planning 

 Council. 



Idaho is committed to the recovery of anadromous fish in the Snake River, the 

 largest tributary of the Columbia. Idaho's goal, also held by Native American tribes 

 of the region and recognized in federal law and in treaties, is the restoration of the 

 fisheries, the economies, and the culture that once depended on fishable populations of 

 anadromous fish in this vast basin. 



We have reached a dire point in the Snake River basin. The anadromous fish 

 stocks have declined so dramatically that one species, the Snake River coho, is 



