382 



professional, hard-working, expert and eager to carry out the agen- 

 cjr's proper duties. But the Northwest simply cannot afford such an 

 obese BPA. 



Heavy at the top level, BPA has so many deputy administrators, 

 assistant administrators, executive assistant administrators, dep- 

 uty assistant administrators, assistants to the administrator, that 

 the BPA acronym apparently stands for "big pile of administra- 

 tors." 



Similarly, the agency carries an expensive fish and wildlife staff 

 of 60, when we can rely upon BPA's customers and several of these 

 gentlemen on this panel, to complain about fish and wildlife costs 

 early, loudly and often. 



Either the Clinton Administration or Bonneville itself should ag- 

 gressively downsize the top-level management and biology stsS" 

 which apparently has nothing better to do than convince itself that 

 free-flowing rivers kill fish. BPA will survive and probably thrive 

 without so many assistant executive deputy administrators, who 

 plan their way into a 15.7 percent rate hike. 



Following current law and trimming its bloated bureaucracy 

 would take BPA farthest and fastest toward reform. In this hght, 

 all these various proposals such as BPA's competitiveness project 

 and its 10-year fish and wildlife implementation plan, re-inventing 

 BPA into a government corporation, designation of a salmon czar 

 or changes in institutional flow charts, fi*ankly sounds like too 

 much hasty rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic, if not a 

 threat by the captain to aim the boat straight at the iceberg. 



Instead of competitiveness, Bonneville should develop some com- 

 petence and should, for once, simply do its job. Instead of reward- 

 ing BPA for its 15.7 percent rate hike, the Congress should reject 

 the proposed conversion of Bonneville into a government corpora- 

 tion and should reassert the role of the Northwest Power Planning 

 Council as BPA's board of directors. 



If BPA cannot hear or will not listen to this message, then the 

 Congress must prescribe stronger medicine to reform the agency. 



One last point, Mr. Chairman, everything that I have said about 

 BPA in this testimony, especially downsizing top-level manage- 

 ment, goes double for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 



Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the task force. I 

 welcome your question. 



Mr. DeFazio. Thank you, Mr. Baker. Mr. Wright. 



[Prepared statement of Mr. Baker and attachments follow:] 



