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Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. My 

 name is Lorraine Bodi, and I am Co-Director of the Northwest 

 Regional Office of American Rivers. American Rivers is a national, 

 nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and restoration 

 of America's rivers. In the Pacific Northwest, American Rivers 

 focuses on the restoration of endangered salmon runs. 



American Rivers appreciates this opportunity to comment on 

 restructuring the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) . This is 

 a issue with important consequences not only for the future of BPA, 

 but also for the future of the Columbia Basin's once great salmon 

 runs. 



The Columbia Basin has been home to salmon for thousands of 

 years. Before the advent of federal dams, the Columbia and Snake 

 Rivers together supported the largest chinook salmon runs in the 

 world, fish that migrate far north into the waters of British 

 Columbia and Alaska. Federal dams converted these wild rivers to 

 slack water reservoirs and harnessed their force for power 

 generation, heedless of the impact on the natural cycle and 

 ecosystem of the salmon. 



Today, only a few hundred thousand wild fish remain where as 

 many as 16 million once swam. Even with partial fish mitigation 

 programs in place, federal dams remain responsible for at least 80 

 percent of human-caused mortality to endangered Snake River salmon. 



For decades, whether and how to reduce the lethal effects of 

 hydropower dams on fish have been hotly debated in the Northwest. 

 Notwithstanding this debate, until the recent listing of Snake 

 River salmon under the Endangered Species Act, the hydro system was 

 consistently operated to maximize power production, even at the 

 expense of the fish. BPA, the overseer of the hydro system, 

 consistently rejected requests from fishery agencies and tribes to 

 provide adequate flows for fish and other measures that would alter 

 power operations in any significant way. 



Thirteen years ago, the Northwest Power Act attempted to 

 balance the scales, to halt the domination of power issues in BPA 

 decisions and elevate fisheries to new priority. To strike this 

 balance, BPA was given a new substantive mandate, to provide 

 equitable treatment to fish and wildlife, including their spawning 

 grounds and habitat. After the passage of the Act, fishery 

 agencies jokingly referred to BPA as the Bonneville Power and Fish 

 Administration. 



This turned out to be an overly optimistic assessment. 

 Despite the requirement for equitable treatment, BPA did not change 

 its institutional approach to fish and wildlife issues. BPA 

 continues to accord its power responsibilities much higher priority 

 than its fishery responsibilities. BPA has responded to its fish 



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