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Letter From Bud Tracy 



Raft River Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc., 



Malta, ID, March 13, 1995. 

 Hon. Dirk Kempthorne, 

 Congress of the United States, Washington, DC. 



Hon. Senator Kempthorne: The impact of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to 

 our area through the hsting of the Northwest Salmon alone, possibly has and will 

 have as concentrated affect on the Mini-Cassia area as anywhere. 



It is important to recognize and acknowledge up front that "none" of the anad- 

 romous fish ever made it as far up stream as our county and the neighboring 

 Minidoka county due to natural God made barriers. 



Our state was established, and its local economy developed, with an irrigated ag- 

 ricultural base. 



In the early 1960's the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) agreed to bring 

 preference power (PF) to Southern and Eastern Idaho (the upper Snake River drain- 

 age). A large portion of Cassia and Minidoka Counties are served with BPA's PF 

 power through the following utilities: City of Burley, City of Declo, City of Albion, 

 Unity Light & Power Co., South Side Electric Lines, Inc., Raft River Rural Electric 

 Co-op., East End Mutual Company, LTD., City of Heyburn, Farmers Electric Co., 

 Rural Electric Company, City of Rupert, City of Minidoka, Riverside Electric Com- 

 pany. 



In addition to the public entities, the balance of the counties are served by the 

 investor utilities Idaho Power Company (IPCo) or Utah Power (UP & L). 



Thus with such a predominate Hydro base in our area the Endangered species 

 Act (ESA) listing has placed an exorbitant burden on the local economy as well as 

 the unprecedented attack upon our water and water rights. With the assumption 

 that the surface and ground water resources are a conjunctive resource the release 

 of any Upper Snake Water will jeopardize not only the surface but continue to de- 

 plete the underground aquifer. 



Assuming the rule of thumb that for every $25 million BPA requires in revenue 

 the wholesale cost to the preference utilities increase by 1 percent. 



With the BPA fish and wildlife budget at $350 million and the National Marine 

 Fish and Wildlife Service (NMFS) biological opinion recently released asking far an 

 additional $148 million, the cost of "fish alone" to the wholesale cost of electricity 

 has an economic impact of over 20 percent. 



Now what does that really mean in the real world of our rate payers and what 

 effect will this have upon their ultimate cost of power. 



In our Cooperative the average annual residential bill in 1994 was $1,106.34. 

 Their fish cost would be approximately $12.53 per month. 



The average irrigation bill was $10,802.42, their fish cost would be appoximately 

 $244.61 per month. 



Another way to look at this would be to say our total wholesale cost for BPA 

 power in 1994 was $5,070,726.28. The cost of the present $350,000,000 Fish and 

 Wildlife budget. Raft River's share of this would be approximately $709,900. This 

 would be $705.67 per member per year or $58.81 per month. 



With the additional Biological Opinion costs of $148,000,000 the total cost to Raft 

 River Rural Electric per member, per year or $83.67 per member per month. 



As you are fully aware averages can be confusing and misleading. With this in 

 mind please consider the following. Real Examples: 



Example No. 1: A small irrigator with an annual bill of $3,000 his fish cost would 

 be $67.93 per month. 



Example No. 2: A large irrigator with an annual bill of $400,000, his fish cost 

 would be $7,400 per month. 



The first and obvious impact is on the farmers with an increased production cost. 

 However, the ultimate impact is born by the entire infrastructure of the Burley-Ru- 

 pert Area. Their mere existence is dependent upon water and agriculture. 



Therefore, away of life from local hot dog and hamburger shops, to banks and 

 clothing stores will be asked to pay the price. Which will, with out a doubt, have 

 to pay the ultimate price with the loss of their business. 



When this commences there will be a domino effect which will have the death spi- 

 ral effect on local and county government by reducing property values which will 

 be the final blow. 



With respect to the total State of Idaho as President of the Idaho Cooperative 

 Utilities Association, I can without reservation express the same impact is happen- 

 ing all through the State, as well as impacting all of the local Cooperatives and Mu- 

 nicipalities. 



