68 



cost; certainly, not at the destruction of Bonneville. I would hope 

 not at the destruction of the irrigated economy of the State of 

 Idaho. 



I would hope not at the destruction of the transportation systems 

 in the slack waters of the Columbia and the Snake, which you have 

 helped to build. But we are verging on that, and we have to, if we 

 only allow ourselves to stay at the whims of a judge, we may well 

 march on down that trail. 



If not, I would hope that you and I and the rest of us can come 

 together to look at the big picture, and the narrow picture, and all 

 of the pieces, and this is but one piece that we are looking at today, 

 to begin to fashion a solution that maintains the productivity of the 

 multitude of the economies of the region, along with the hopes of 

 saving the salmon, I say the hopes of saving the salmon, but it is 

 now legitimate that we, at least from my opinion, ask and at what 

 price. 



Thank you. 



Senator Hatfield. Thank you, Senator Craig. 



Senator Kempthorne. 



STATEMENT OF HON. DIRK KEMPTHORNE 



Senator Kempthorne. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. May 

 I note, too, just for those that are here and see some of us coming 

 and going, it is not discourtesy, it is the nature of being double and 

 triple booked in other locations as well, other committees. 



I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. I 

 share with you a common commitment to restoring the endangered 

 salmon stocks. 



I believe that we also share a common commitment to recovery 

 measures that will actually help the salmon and still take into ac- 

 count the economic and other needs of people in Idaho, Oregon, and 

 Washington, and I would like to make just a few points. 



First, the market situation for hydropower is radically different 

 today than 10 or even 5 years ago. It is a highly competitive mar- 

 ket, and Bonneville Power must be able to compete in that market. 



Hydropower should be required to pick up and pay for the exter- 

 nal environmental costs of its activities. Other power producers 

 have been asked to do this, but it is not appropriate to interpret 

 every mitigation or recovery option as something that should be 

 bank rolled by hydropower and its ratepayers. 



The costs absorbed by hydropower should be directly related to 

 its contribution to the salmon's endangerment and what they are 

 asked to do should be well grounded in science or specifically de- 

 signed to fill gaps in our scientific knowledge about what recovery 

 methods will work. 



Unfortunately, the Federal Government is inclined to experiment 

 with Idaho water, for example, spill regimes, and drawdowns in a 

 way that prevents us from learning from these experiments. 



It does this with little regard for the costs of these experiments 

 to the people of the Northwest, and while shutting the door on 

 meaningful information that points us in other directions. 



Second, we sometimes forget in Washington the effect that Fed- 

 eral policies have on real people. I recently received a letter from 



