Impact of White House’s BPA plan difficult to predict

WASHINGTON – The way the Bonneville Power Administration spends its money is unique, and the amount it collects is subject to many variables, an expert in the history and finances of the federal agency said Thursday.

So when asked about the likely impact of a White House proposal to change the way BPA sells some of the surplus power out of its Northwest dams, Roger Seifert replied: “It depends.”

Some organizations say the proposed change could raise rates to the customers of Northwest public utilities that get their electricity from BPA by 7 percent; others say 10 percent. But those are just estimates, said Seifert, a deputy director who has been with the BPA for more than 25 years.

Factors such as the amount of surplus power produced in a year with heavy snow and rain, or even the price of other sources of energy like natural gas, could affect the actual figure. And with congressional opposition to the Bush administration proposal, there’s no telling when, or whether, this would happen.

“This is not over by any means,” he said. “It’s possible for a compromise between the two sides.”

At least there are no proposals to sell off the system of dams and transmission lines, which have surfaced in past presidential administrations, he said.

Seifert gave a delegation of Inland Northwest business and government leaders a primer on BPA financing Thursday during the group’s second day of a “lobbying blitz” in the nation’s capital.

A day earlier, members of Congress from Washington and Idaho said they had delayed any changes until next April and plan to fight the proposed change after that.

The Columbia and Snake rivers dam system creates about $3 billion each year in revenue, Seifert said, but BPA has about $1.8 billion in debt. Thanks to the region’s political clout since the first dams were built in the mid-1930s, BPA operates with more ability to borrow money and build its system than any other federal power marketing agency.

“In the long run, the system is getting older,” Seifert said. BPA needs to find ways to be flexible with its money and maintain its system.

The federally built dam system has protected Northwest customers from rate shocks seen in the rest of the country, he added. In nearby Maryland, homeowners are looking at an electric rate increase of 39 percent, and in Baltimore, that increase could be as high as 72 percent, he said.

Earlier in the day, the delegation emphasized a united front to improve roads on both sides of the Washington-Idaho border as they showed congressional aides a list of road projects seeking federal money.

Included among them are a plan to consolidate rail lines along a 42-mile stretch of the Spokane Valley and eliminate some 75 rail crossings, more money for the North Spokane corridor and improvements to U.S. Highways 95 and 395 to move more goods between Canada and Mexico.

Missy Small, an assistant to U.S. Rep. Butch Otter, R-Idaho, said her boss puts his top priority for money on dangerous roads, which is why he has backed improvements to U.S. 95.

But while the group’s projects are strong, Small said, Congress is looking at new ways to handle its spending bills, making it harder to slip in “earmarks,” a term for specific amounts for a senator or representative’s pet projects back home.