Bonneville Boss Search Hitting Snags Bpa Administrator Faces A Host Of Political, Environmental Woes

Even though the job promises control over one of the nation’s biggest energy systems and pays $123,000 a year, officials are scrambling to find someone willing to be the new chief of the Bonneville Power Administration.

The next BPA administrator must steer past economic and political threats while placating utilities, industries and interest groups accustomed to slurping up federal largess.

And the people with the skills to do the job can get a better salary outside of federal government.

“It’s the most thankless, and most difficult, relatively low-paying job around,” said C. Clark Leone, manager of the Public Power Council, a trade association of about 114 publicly owned utilities in the Pacific Northwest. “Somebody always wants something, and no matter what you do, somebody else is unhappy with what you have done.”

Members of the Northwest congressional delegation and regional energy officials looking for candidates have been striking out since late July, when Randy Hardy announced his resignation from the struggling 60-year-old agency.

“I’m willing to look at anybody who has the skills to do this,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who hopes to recommend candidates to the Clinton administration.

The job requires someone with experience in the energy industry, administrative skills and ties to the Northwest. BPA needs someone who can use those skills to balance energy demands with the fish and wildlife interests in the Columbia Basin.

But already, about a dozen potential candidates have been taken out of the running because of their public stands on salmon recovery or the environment. Virtually anyone with views on these issues can draw fire from interest groups.

Roy Hemmingway, energy adviser to Gov. John Kitzhaber, has shown interest in the job, but industry groups oppose him because they view him as too sympathetic toward fish and wildlife issues.

Former Bureau of Reclamation chief Dan Beard faced a similar problem. Supported by environmental groups, Beard’s candidacy faded after he suggested removing Arizona’s Glen Canyon Dam.

Although there are disagreements about candidates’ political acceptability, many energy industry officials who could take on the job’s responsibilities have blanched at its perils and lack of rewards.

The BPA’s six-figure salary still is less than that for executives of smaller public utilities, and it is a fraction of what privately owned utilities pay their chiefs.