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Pacific Northwest Waterways Association 



statement of glenn vanselow, ph.d., executive director 



Senator GORTON. Dr. Vanselow. 



Dr. Vanselow. Mr. Chairman, the 140 members of the Pacific 

 Northwest Waterways Association appreciate the opportunity to 

 testify at this committee today. 



You, Senator Hatfield, and your colleagues in the Senate have 

 played important roles in bringing the parties together to solve 

 both biological and economic issues surrounding salmon recovery, 

 and we are hopeful that the results of today's committee hearing 

 will help add to that progress. 



PNWA represents a wide range of economic interests throughout 

 the Northwest. Our membership includes both public and private 

 industries on and off the Bonneville system as well as the Direct 

 Service Industries. 



They were well represented here today. You have heard their tes- 

 timony, and we support the testimony that they have given. 



So I will speak today on behalf of the other river users that are 

 PNWA, the public ports, tug and barge operators, steamship opera- 

 tors, river and deep draft grain elevators, the grain growers, forest 

 products manufacturers, and others involved with economic devel- 

 opment in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 



These are the entities that translate the river into economic and 

 recreational benefits for our region. Our members help keep Amer- 

 ican products competitive in overseas markets by using the river 

 as the lowest cost, most environmentally benign transportation sys- 

 tem. 



Let me say that these commodities do not just come from the 

 three Northwest States. They assist exports from more than 40 

 States throughout the United States. 



My written testimony includes comments on the biological effec- 

 tiveness of NMFS biological opinion, and I have submitted that to 

 staff earlier, and assume that will be included in the record. I 

 would like to focus my remarks on how to manage the costs associ- 

 ated with salmon recovery. 



The Bonneville Power Administration and the region's ratepayers 

 will see the cost of salmon recovery measures grow from $30 mil- 

 lion in 1981, to over $500 million in 1995, if the NMFS biological 

 opinion is implemented. 



Randy Hardy and BPA has a right to seek relief, but I want to 

 be clear that the answer cannot be found by shifting costs to other 

 Northwest entities. The National Marine Fisheries Service, 0MB, 

 or other seeking a new set of deep pockets to supplement BPA 

 funding must understand that the region simply is tapped out. 



To discuss this situation of some of those other entities, the ports 

 are public bodies, and nearly all of them are supported by local tax- 

 payers. 



For the tug and barge industry, we estimate the gross revenues, 

 not profits, but gross revenues from the tug and barge operations 

 above Bonneville are less than what the 0MB is offering in annual 

 relief through 4(h)(10)(c) of the Power Act. 



The grain elevators operate on very, very small margins of less 

 than a penny a bushel in their trades, and the grain growers com- 



