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fish and wildlife provisions in order to get what they wanted in the 

 Power Act, and tney have been quite successful at that. They have 

 used its power of the purse strings to pick and choose among the 

 things that it likes and unfortunately it has used them very effec- 

 tively to intimidate the region's fishery agencies and tribes to buy 

 their acquiescence, Uterally, to its political agenda. 



The most discouraging thing, the most distressing thing, is to see 

 the propaganda campaign that Bonneville has put on, really kind 

 of treating the people of the Northwest like the CIA would treat 

 the citizens of some Third World nation, that they want to disrupt 

 the poUtical process, because Bonneville sees clearly that the more 

 turmoil there is, the less likely decision-makers are going to focus 

 on the real source of the problem — ^not the only source of the prob- 

 lem, but the pivotal source of the problem, that is our inabihty sim- 

 ply to get the fish downstream. 



Bonneville also has squandered tens of miUions of dollars chasing 

 make-believe salmon poachers and doing, quote-unquote "predator 

 control," creating a costly and redundant fish and wildlife bureauc- 

 racy, and frankly cooking the books on the cost of what it is going 

 to cost to solve this problem. Bonneville is great about blaming the 

 weather and salmon recovery for revenue shortfalls actually due to 

 nuclear power plant gambling debts, chronic below-cost power 

 sales, failure to raise rates even to keep pace with inflation, imtil 

 this recent rate increase. I think one source, I beUeve Northwest 

 Power Council, suggests Bonneville's rates declined in real terms 

 something like 23 percent prior to the recent rate increases, and 

 egregious subsidies that simply do not comport with fisced respon- 

 sibility. When you cannot pay your bills, you have got to quit giving 

 money away. 



And then the most distressing thing, of course, as I said earlier, 

 they have really done unto the Northwest tribes and their treaty 

 rights what Buffalo Bill and the boys did by wiping out the buffalo, 

 what it did to the Plains Indians. 



We have got a serious economic and environmental disaster. 

 That is obvious, and that is why you are here and that is why we 

 have got seven or eight or ten lawsuits in the federal courts. People 

 have lost faith in the ability of the system to deliver. I think you 

 are right, the tribes have been extraordinarily patient, but one of 

 these days they are simply going to say, well, if our treaty rights 

 are going to be worth anythmg, we are going to have to do some- 

 thing. And I urge them daily almost to do that, because I fear the 

 system is broken. 



We need the Congress' help; we need the President's help. I 

 think we have got all the laws and all the institutions sind all that 

 stuff we need. What we do not have is any accountability. The Con- 

 gress and the President have basically just looked the other way 

 for a long time about what the Council was doing, and let the 

 Council dither away for 10 years. Bonneville is basically out of con- 

 trol, in my view. I think we need this task force's help in exeimin- 

 ing what is really going on here, what is underlying all this prob- 

 lem. I think we need continuing oversight from the Congress over 

 Bonneville. It needs a firm hand to restore its ethical moorings. 



There are some direct things that could be done right away that 

 I think would help. These are kind of arcane, but from the inside 



