138 



Let me try to clarify some of those numbers. In 1994, Bonneville will spend 

 about $80 million on projects in our fish and wildlife program. In addition, the Council 

 estimates Bonneville will have to spend another $120 million to buy power that it 

 cannot generate at the dams because that amount of water was used to increase river 

 flows and provide spill to aid fish. 



Bonneville also has budgeted $40 million to reimburse other federal agencies - 

 the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service — for salmon recovery operations such as barging fish. And Bonneville will 

 pay the U.S. Treasury $65 million on money borrowed for past capital projects such as 

 hatcheries, and fish ladders and screens at the dams. 



The water in our rivers has many uses. Water diverted by irrigators won't go 

 through dams to generate electricity, yet the cost of replacing that lost hydropower is 

 not widely available. Similarly, certain reservoirs behind dams are kept at certain 

 levels for recreation purposes. The cost of keeping that water in the reservoirs, rather 

 than using it to generate power or boost flows for fish, also is not widely available. 

 Nor do we have an understanding of the value of water held in reservoirs for flood 

 control. 



The Council believes that a true perspective on the economic impact of salmon 

 recovery must display the power costs of all water uses. 



Our fish and wildlife program recognizes that salmon recovery is a regional 

 concern — not just the responsibility of Bonneville ratepayers ~ and that recovery 

 actions will take place around the region and include agencies that are not funded by 

 Bonneville. United States taxpayers contribute through the actions of federal agencies 

 such as the Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Forest Service, Bureau of Land 

 Management and the Soil Conservation Service. In 1993, for example, the federal 

 government, through seven agencies, contributed about $100 million to the salmon 

 recovery effort, and the amount will be higher in 1994. Much of this will be repaid by 

 regional ratepayers over time. Other equitable means of sharing the cost are being 

 investigated. 



Progress under the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program 



The results of expenditures made for fish and wildlife under the Council's program 

 since 1982 have been significant. Some salmon runs began a steady rebuilding in the 

 mid-1980s, but these gains were reversed between 1989 and 1991 as the result of a 

 number of causes. These included the El Nino weather condition, which resulted in 

 poor ocean feeding conditions for fish, and the drought and its effect on stream flows in 

 tributaries and the main Columbia River. 



Some promising developments have occurred. For example, chinook salmon are 

 returning to the Umatilla River, a Columbia tributary in eastern Oregon, after a 70-year 



