153 



Any limit on fish recovery costs must include all impacts on the 

 operators of the coordinated system, including non-Federal parties. 



In our view, Congress must address the level of statutory respon- 

 sibility Bonneville has to fund salmon recovery directly. Bonneville 

 simply does not have unlimited ability to absorb all costs being as- 

 signed it currently for salmon mitigation. 



Further, we urge you to resist any proposals to transfer fish costs 

 to transmission or other nonpower revenue sources. We do not sup- 

 port attempts to correct the funding problems by simply shifting 

 the burden to other payment mechanisms such as exit fees or 

 transmission rates. 



On the last point, Mr. Chairman, what I would like to do is take 

 this opportunity to enter into the record of this hearing a copy of 

 this letter, which is addressed to President Clinton. 



It is being hand delivered today to the White House. It is signed 

 by all of the Northwest investor-owned utilities, several of the 

 major publicly owned utilities, and the direct service industries. 



What it stresses is with respect to the point on transmission that 

 Bonneville should provide open access at rates that do not bear 

 costs to subsidize a generation system. 



Senator Hatfield. We will include that in the record. 



PREPARED STATEMENT 



Mr. Crisson. Thank you, sir. Let me just conclude by saying that 

 I appreciate the opportunity today to discuss these vital issues with 

 the committee, and public power extends its commitment to work 

 with you to save the salmon, and assure the continued viability of 

 the Bonneville Power Administration. 



Thank you. 



Senator Hatfield. Thank you, Mr. Crisson. 



[The statement follows:] 



Prepared Statement of Mark Crisson 



Thank you Senator Hatfield. I am Mark Crisson, Director of Utilities for the City 

 of Tacoma. I am here today as a spokesman for my utility and over 100 other 

 consumer-owned utilities in the Northwest. Public power has a huge stake in the 

 outcome of your hearing on the costs of salmon recovery and Bonneville Power Ad- 

 ministration's future competitiveness. We are concerned that because of run-away 

 salmon costs, BPA will no longer be able to provide predictable and reliable supplies 

 of power at stable and competitive rates. 



Since the first federal dams were built in the 1930's, the customers of consumer- 

 owned utilities have relied on the Bonneville Power Administration as their major 

 supplies of electricity. Most public utilities receive all of their wholesale power from 

 BPA, and even those of us with our own generation rely on Bonneville to supply 

 a large share of our load. This partnership between the federal system and the pub- 

 lic has been a cornerstone of our region's prosperity and growth. 



Over the past months, a number of us have contributed our time and energy to 

 helping Bonneville Power Administration sort out the issues that threaten its future 

 competitiveness. We keep coming back to one overriding concern — the impacts of the 

 radical salmon recovery measures are threatening to put BPA out of business. 



Without certainty of electricity generation from the coordinated hydropower sys- 

 tem, the Northwest's electricity supply is less reliable and more costly. The Colum- 

 bia River system's hydro projects are operated in a coordinated manner that in- 

 creases the overall benefits to Northwest citizens. In turn, we are all affected when 

 massive operational changes are mandated in an ill-advised and unscientifically 

 based attempt to restore the weak salmon runs. 



Don't misunderstand, we support environmentally responsible fish and wildlife 

 protection. In the past we participated in your Salmon Summit and joined with you. 

 Senator Hatfield, and other Northwest leaders in support of the plan developed by 



