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7 



Because of the complex life cycle of the salmon, and the many of agencies that 

 are supposed to be involved in their protection, there is ample opportunity to avoid 

 responsibility. 



We have long been concerned about Bonneville's actions — or inaction — as it 

 affects salmon recovery. While Bonneville does not own the dams, in effect it drives 

 the river system. 



As the marketing agency for the electricity produced by the dams, Bonneville 

 also has at its disposal the resources to truly help the salmon. For too long, however, 

 it has used its resources to divert attention away from the mainstem survival problem 

 and talk about harvest, habitat and hatcheries ~ areas over which BPA has no 

 responsibility. When it does come to mainstem survival issues, Bonneville can be 

 relied upon to advocate further study that takes years to yield results that will likely be 

 as inconclusive as the present evidence. Smoke is substituted for meaningful action. 



During final debate on the Northwest Power Act, Congressman John Dingell 

 said the Power Council would defer to state and federal agencies and not become a 

 super fish and wildlife agency. Congressman Dingell's prediction did not hold true 

 for BPA. Bonneville's Fish and Wildlife Program staff now employs 77 full time 

 people, exceeding the entire staff of the Power Council. 



Then there are the large amounts of money spent on contracts with the 

 University of Washington for development of a juvenile salmon passage model, and 

 with Resources for the Future on a cost-effectiveness study for restoring the salmon 

 upstream of Bonneville Dam. 



We question the soundness of these actions because the work duplicates life 

 cycle modeling projects of the Power Council and the region's fishery agencies and 

 tribes. 



There is also a recently completed nine-volume Bonneville "Recovery Plan" 

 developed by private consultants for the agency. This recovery plan was developed 

 after the Power Council's Strategy for Salmon . It would be useful to know how much 

 money was spent on an effort that appears to duplicate work already completed by the 

 Power Council and soon to be completed by the NMFS Recovery Team. 



