News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 18, 2000
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke urges Energy Department to reject California bid to suspend BPA contracts, take Northwest power

OLYMPIA - Gov. Gary Locke today strongly urged the federal Department of Energy to reject a California request to suspend new power contracts by the Bonneville Power Administration so that Congress can consider redirecting low-cost BPA power outside the Northwest.

"With regard to energy, California needs to put its own house in order before it tells Congress how to manage its neighbors' affairs," Locke wrote Energy Secretary Bill Richardson today.

The request, from members of the California congressional delegation, would help lower power costs to California, where energy deregulation has forced electricity costs throughout the western United States to skyrocket. But it would result in higher power costs in the Northwest.

Two California senators and a member of the House of Representatives have asked Richardson to delay an ongoing public BPA process that determines who will buy BPA power and at what cost. The Californians want Congress to review BPA's contractual policies with an eye to supplying BPA power to a "broader constituency in the western United States."

Currently, BPA's primary service area is the Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho and part of Montana. BPA sells surplus electricity to California and other states.

Locke said he was very disturbed by the Californians' request in part because it failed to acknowledge its own "failed experiments in energy restructuring are largely responsible for the dramatic rise in power costs throughout the western U.S. - including my state of Washington."

He noted that prior to the restructuring effort, BPA sold surplus power to California at stable and relatively low prices. That state's restructuring forces utilities to pay much higher prices for power.

Locke said that delaying the process for setting rates and contracts now would "create uncertainty for Northwest communities, businesses and residents who depend upon BPA." The governor noted California deregulation already has caused temporary shutdowns and layoffs at a number of energy intensive businesses in Washington.

"At the same time, it will threaten BPA's ability to meet its obligations to the federal treasury and undermine BPA's efforts to restore our region's endangered salmon," Locke added.

He emphasized BPA ratepayers - Northwest businesses and residents who use electric power - pay for all costs of the system, plus interest. Washingtonians and other Northwest residents have paid more than $4 billion for the power system and will pay another $7 billion into the U.S. Treasury in future years.

"The Northwest is now facing the possibility of power shortages during the winter months," Locke said. "It would be unwise and unfair to compound the challenges facing Northwest ratepayers by forcing them to bear additional costs and burdens of California's failed plan."

» Return to this month's News Releases
» View News Release Archive

Access Washington