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General Harrell. I would like to turn to some of the questions 

 that you asked in your letter of invitation. 



You asked if the Northwest Power Planning Council's Strategy 

 for Salmon is an appropriate £ind sufficient framework for salmon 

 recovery efforts in the basin. I beUeve the Council's program has 

 provided a planning framework for efforts to protect, mitigate and 

 enhance fish and wildlife affected by the hydroelectric facilities on 

 the Columbia River and its tributaries. 



However, the Council's authority to oversee specific implementa- 

 tion measures, from my view, is Umited. The federal operating and 

 regulating agencies — I am talking now about the Corps, the Bu- 

 reau, Bonneville and FERC — are directed by Congress to act in a 

 manner consistent with the piupose of the Power Act and other ap- 

 plicable laws, to provide equitable treatment for fish and wildlife. 

 While operators of non-federal projects, water and land managers, 

 fish and wildhfe managers and resoiu-ce users, whose activities af- 

 fect the salmon in their rearing and ocean areas, can only be en- 

 couraged to implement program measures. I think others have said 

 that in so many words. 



The Coimcil's fish and wildlife program is considered by the fed- 

 eral agencies as part of their responsibiUties under the Power Act. 

 And as some salmon stocks have been Hsted under the Endangered 

 Species Act, the federal agencies must also meet the requirements 

 of that Act and consider the Council's program in that context. 

 Likewise, other litigation related to the Endangered Species Act 

 has the potential to stipulate actions outside the Council's planning 

 framework. 



Your second question concerns timely completion and federal 

 agency coordination in implementing the Council's Strategy for 

 Salmon. The Council's fish and wildlife program has set out a num- 

 ber of planning, design, engineering, construction and operations 

 measures for the Corps to implement. The Corps has worked close- 

 ly with the Council and the other federal agencies to address those 

 measures. For example, the Council has called upon the Corps to 

 continue construction of juvenile fish bypass and transportation fa- 

 cihties at lower Columbia and Snake River projects. The Council's 

 plan has also called upon the Corps to transport juvenile fish, as 

 well as to carry out fish passage research and to improve adult 

 salmon passage conditions. In all cases, we are fully implementing 

 those measures. 



Currently we are conducting the Snake River drawdown plan- 

 ning and testing as called for in the Council's recent amendments. 

 The effort will take longer than the Coimcil's program could foresee 

 to accommodate the extensive environmental processes, engineer- 

 ing considerations and biological studies needed as part of the anal- 

 ysis. We are working closely with the Coimcil and its Drawdown 

 Committee to ensure a fiill understanding of schedules and activi- 

 ties as we proceed. 



Concerning water conservation and other water management 

 changes that could be made to provide increased flows for power 

 production and salmon recovery, the Corps, BPA, and the Bureau 

 are currently undertaking a joint Columbia River System Oper- 

 ation Review — I will refer to that as the SOR. The SOR is examin- 

 ing a number of options for operating the federal facilities in the 



