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b) Chaneiniz the membership, structure, or authorities of the Council. 



The Alliance holds the position that state governors should retain the right to appoint 

 Council members, to represent their states. The Alliance will always encourage state governors 

 to gauge Council appointments on merit and competence and the ability to present energy and 

 natural resource positions that would actually be supported by a majority of their constituents. 



The Alliance membership perceives liitle value in attempting to "re-structure" the Council 

 at the present time. The Council members will best serve their states and the region if they place 

 primary attention on the technical, environmental, and economic benefits and costs of recovery 

 measures, rather than become engaged in resource planning by political edict. 



The existing Council authority should not be extended beyond its current form. To do 

 so implies that the major responsibilities of the region's federal resource agencies should be 

 negated, and that the Council would somehow "do a better job" than the resource agencies 

 presently involved. The Council's reluctance to set priorities for fish and wildlife projects and 

 expenMtures strongly suggests that added authority would not bring with it added 

 accountability or a greater probability of success for meeting the salmon recovery objective. 

 \Vhat it does imply is tiie creation of more bureaucracy, less direct accountability for the actions 

 being taken, and higher levels of uncontrolled spending for fewer meaningftjl fish and wildlife 

 benefits. 



c) Incorporating salmon recovery measures into the Pacific Northwest Coordinating 

 Agreement. 



Hydro system management actions for salmon mitigation/recovery actions— whether 

 implemented by federal and non-federal project operators— are directiy integrated into the aimual 

 operating regime specified by the Pacific Northwest Coordination Agreement. 



The Coordination Agreement does not determine federal or non-federal project 

 management policies for fish-related flow releases. It serves as the technical, operational 

 agreement among hydro project operators to coordinate project operations, based on available 

 water resources, as dictated by the annual water rim-off and policy directives. 



Because the "end-effect" of management policies are already a direct factor within the 

 Coordinating Agreement aimual operations, the "need" underiying this question would appear to 

 be satisfied. 



Adopting a new agreement or creating a new regional entitv among BPA. the Corps of 

 Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Council and other to administer annual river 

 operations. 



Raising the prospect of creating a "new regional entity" begs several questions. For 



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