Energy & Environment
Feds Told: Back Off N.W. Dispute
A bipartisan group of Northwest lawmakers wants time to work out a regional solution to the trade-off between hydropower and wind energy without the involvement of federal regulators.
Rep. Doc Hastings
In a Jan. 24 letter, 18 senators and representatives said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission might have overstepped its authority when it struck down a Bonneville Power Administration policy that balanced excess hydro and wind generation.
The group warned in a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu that a new plan is urgently needed because the same conditions that ignited the furor last year could reoccur when snowpack melting begins in a few weeks. BPA is part of the Energy Department.
“BPA Administrator Steve Wright has been working for several months with diverse stakeholders in the region on settlement discussions. These settlement efforts should be given every chance to succeed before any further regulatory or judicial decisions are made,” according to the letter. It also was sent to Wright and FERC commissioners.
The signatories included House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and congressional representatives of both parties from Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
They were highly critical of FERC’s Dec. 7 order that said BPA was unfairly treating wind generators by curbing some generation during a glut of hydro production as part of its “high wind, high water” environmental redispatch.
BPA defended the policy as essential to keeping a balanced load on the grid, while ensuring proper water flows to comply with laws governing endangered salmon populations in the region.
The elected officials supported BPA’s request for a rehearing, which also has been backed by co-ops and consumer-owned utilities.
“While we may have different views about the specific path forward, we fundamentally agree that the resolution of this dispute can and should come from the Northwest,” they said. “We ask that you make every effort to support the ongoing discussions, and we expect regional stakeholders to remain at the table and bring forward a settlement that can avoid protracted litigation,” they said.
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Tags: Bonneville Power Administration, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Hydroelectric Power, Wind Energy