392 



various proposals such as designation of the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service as a salmon "czar," "re -inventing" BPA into a government 

 corporation, or changes in institutional flow-charts — frankly — sound like so 

 much hasty rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic. The simplest and 

 most efiFective way for the Congress to send an immediate reform message to 

 the agency is to: 



1.) Restore full funding for the Council's Fish and wildlife program in the 

 BPA appropriation for fiscal j^ear 1993-94; and 



2.) Appropriate funds to operate John Day Reservoir at minimum operating 

 pool by ^ril, 1995, and to modify Lower Granite Dam in order to test 

 reservoir drawdown operation of that project below minimimi operating 

 pool by April, 1995. 



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

 must prescribe stronger medicine to reform the agency. "Rie prescription 

 might include: 



1.) Payment of fish and wildlife funds in armual lump-sums to the resource 

 agencies and Tribes, eliminating BPA discretion and de facto decision- 

 making: 



2.) New authorities \»^ich give the Northwest Power Planning Council 

 "teeth" to force BPA to implement the regional power plan and the Colimibia 

 Basin fish and wildlife program; and /or 



3.) New authorities for the U.S. Fish and >A^ldlife Service or for the Columbia 

 Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority to mandate salmon recovery actions. 



If the agency and its customers consider this bitter medicine, then they can 

 take preventative steps, as outlined in my testimony today, "to the maximum 

 extent practicable." 



One last point, Mr. Chairman: Everj^ing that I've said about BPA in 

 this testimony, especially about a major Reduction in Force at the top 

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



In summary, the Columbia Basin hydropower system — the most 

 sophisticated in the world — can operate for electricity and fish. The 

 Northwest can avert a public policy "train wreck" over salmon recovery. We 

 can save Columbia Basin salmon from extinction. But we can do all this only 

 if either the agencies themselves or the Congress bring overdue change and 

 reforms to BPA and the Corps before it's too late. 



Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify before the Tksk 

 Force. I welcome your questions. 



Sierra Club — Page 10 



