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1.3 THE NEED FOR A RIVER OPERATIONS FORUM 



The need for the Columbia River Regional Forum is to find a better way to integrate 

 multiple-use requirements into Federal decisions on the operation of Federal dams in 

 the Columbia River system. 



The current situation is one where the resources of the Columbia River system are 

 unable to meet all the desired uses of the river system. This sets up intense competition 

 between groups and interests representing the uses of the system. The result is a 

 dedsiorunaking process that can at times be bitterly contested. Decisions are often 

 challenged in the Courts or appeals are made through other processes. Decisionmaking 

 is extremely complex, and although the competing concerns ultimately funnel through 

 the SOR lead agencies, the way decisions are reached is not always visible or 

 understood by the interests or affected parties. 



Because the PNCA is a well defined institutional arrangement and affects river 

 operations, some interests perceive the PNCA as managing all river operations, or at 

 least making decisions that go far beyond power generation and affecting other uses of 

 the river system. In the absence of an equivalent mechamsm for all users to sit dovm at 

 the table, the PNCA looks like an exclusive club in which the "real" decisions get made, 

 although this is not the case. 



From the perspective of the power generators, the problem is that the decisionmaking 

 process does not result in predictable decisions, and is unduly complex. Decisions 

 about new power sources often take five to ten years of lead-time. If decisions about 

 river operations can dramatically alter the amoimt of power generated by the river 

 system from year to year, utility planners find themselves in a quandary about how to 



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