123 



about perhaps some regionzil involvement on the part of the De- 

 partment. 



So I think all those things can go forward. The NAPA report can 

 go forward immediately. The Power Planning Council will move 

 forward pretty expeditiously. 



In fairness, I have to get to a point within the executive branch 

 of having the Department, at the Secretarial level, be able to look 

 and make some calls as to what kind of a structure they would at 

 least suggest in tentative form and have 0MB involved in that dis- 

 cussion to some extent. Our biggest constraint right now is the nor- 

 mal executive branch clearing process. Quite appropriately 0MB 

 and the Department don't want us out talking in the region about 

 a potential piece of legislation that they haven't even seen. 



Hopefully, we could have some policy discussion at the Secretar- 

 ial level in the Department. We could agree on an outline that 

 would be specific enough that it would inform people as to what it 

 was or wasn't. The three-page outline discussing what is in the leg- 

 islation, which was provided to you and virtually everybody else in 

 the region, is currently under review by DOE General Counsel. Ev- 

 erybody has looked at that and said, "Well, yes, that sounds okay, 

 but the devil is in the details here." 



Where is the legislation? We are in fact constrained from releas- 

 ing it given normal executive branch clearance procedures. If we 

 could find some compromise there, I think we could have a much 

 more productive dialogue about what should or shouldn't be part 

 of the construct of this, not just the principles, but in fact how do 

 you achieve the kind of balance that we are seeking between not 

 changing or loosening any of the accountability that Bonneville and 

 the Administrator has in a policy sense, particularly to the regional 

 institutions and to the Congress, but at the same time be able to 

 free Bonneville from some of the administrative entanglements 

 which currently interfere with our business operations. 



Mr. DeFazio. In fact, the Council volunteered that they felt they 

 were capable of generating some wide public participation too. 



Mr. Hardy. I think they are. 



Mr. DeFazio. You will want to incorporate them in your plan- 

 ning. 



One thing you mentioned, it was a sort of a discordant note, was 

 in talking about TVA as a model, TVA has a pretty abysmal his- 

 tory of dealing with the employees who have the integrity to come 

 forward and blow the whistle. There have been a number of docu- 

 mented whistleblower firings and other labor violations with TVA. 



So I don't know exactly what protections we want to build in, but 

 I think there are certainly parts of the TVA model that we don't 

 want to emulate. I would urge we have some model protections for 

 employees in those sorts of situations. 



You are freeing yourself or potentially freeing yourself of some of 

 the constraints of the federal civil service procedures, and I can 

 certainly understand how that will enhance your flexibility. On the 

 other hand, you are not a profit-making corporation, and you still 

 have a wider charge than your average utility in terms of your re- 

 sponsibilities, and I think that needs to be recognized in how you 

 construct your personnel policies and other things. 



