Hardy To Step Down After Six Years At Helm Of Bpa Resignation Sparks Scramble To Identify Replacement Candidates

Northwest lawmakers appealed to the Clinton administration Thursday to pick a new head of the Bonneville Power Administration who has a keen awareness of the region’s electric market and dwindling salmon runs.

Randy Hardy’s resignation as BPA administrator Thursday, effective Oct. 1, sent senators and congressmen scurrying to come up with replacement candidates.

Meanwhile, Inland Northwest utility officials praised Hardy’s efforts to transform BPA from an organization with a bureaucratic mind-set to one more attuned to the demands of a free market.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty right now,” said Bob Crump, general manager of Kootenai Electric Cooperative Inc. in Hayden.

He said Hardy adeptly balanced the demands of BPA’s many constituencies. His successor must be equally skillful as deregulation opens energy markets, and new demands are made for the vast resources BPA brings to those markets.

Inland Power & Light Co. Assistant General Manager Dave Clinton said he was saddened but not surprised by the announcement given the heavy personal toll the job has exacted from Hardy.

He credited Hardy for the work done to pull BPA back from the brink of financial ruin as new competition threatens to rob the agency of some of its largest customers.

Inland buys all its electricity from Bonneville, which markets power produced by federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Those projects produce about half of all the electricity used in the region.

“I think Randy has done a fine job,” said Washington Water Power Co. President Les Bryan, who particularly praised Hardy’s efforts to position the Northwest for deregulation of the electricity industry.

He said the biggest unresolved issue facing Hardy’s successor is controlling salmon recovery costs so customers know their potential exposure.

Although Bryan said he hopes a nominee emerges quickly, he added that Deputy Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Moler has a good grasp of issues important to the Northwest.

The region’s lawmakers say the selection is crucial because the BPA faces critical times in coming years.

While lawmakers from the region have played a lead role in picking the BPA’s boss in the past, the Clinton administration may want to have more say than usual over the appointment because of the salmon issues and pending deregulation of the electricity industry.

Hardy’s successor will need experience running a large organization as well as a commitment to providing affordable power to Northwest citizens, restoring salmon runs and promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy resources, said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent a letter Thursday to Energy Secretary Federico Pena urging him to pick someone with a core knowledge of the electric utility industry, including deregulation issues and the role of federal power in the Northwest.

She wrote that the new administrator must have a “high regard for BPA’s need to carry out its power responsibilities, particularly with respect to fish and wildlife protection.”

Among those mentioned as possible candidates:

Chuck Collins, former member of the Northwest Power Planning Council, the eight-member board that oversees the region’s energy and fish-recovery policies, and leader of its recent regional review.

Mark Crisson, director of the Tacoma Public Utility District.

Roy Hemmingway, a former member of the Northwest Power Planning Council who is Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber’s adviser for energy and environmental issues.

Mike Kreidler, a former Democratic congressman from Washington who now sits on the Northwest Power Planning Council.

Sharon Nelson, former chairwoman of the Washington Public Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Gary Zarker, general manager of Seattle City Light.

Hardy said he’s quitting to spend more time with his family. He also said he wants to give his successor a jump on the anticipated deregulation of the electric industry and other challenges facing Bonneville.

He has no immediate job plans and intends to take up to a year off, including several weeks to volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico.

Hardy, 53, has commuted between Seattle and BPA headquarters in Portland since he took the job nearly six years ago. He emerged from Murray’s office Thursday with a picture of a balloon his son, Christopher, 4, had drawn with the caption, “If I were a balloon, I would fly to Portland because my Dad is there.”

“This picture is worth 1,000 words,” Hardy said. “I need to spend more time with my wife and my son.”

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