So you have landed on a new website that puts Northwest energy and environment issues in one place.
I would like to think it’s a good idea, but I must admit the concept is nothing new.
Northwest policymakers, energy/environment professionals, and others have long observed how energy and environment weave together as one.
Indeed, nearly 30 years ago, the synergy of Northwest energy and environment was clearly expressed in the landmark 1980 Northwest Power Act, which created the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council, with the eight members (two from Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon) appointed by governors.
(A couple of years ago, the Council for some reason never entirely clear to me changed its public name to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. I was surprised they jettisoned the word “planning” in their moniker since planning is the primary reason for the Council’s existence.)
The Power Act directs the Council to adopt every five years a regional energy conservation and electric power plan and a regional fish and wildlife program for the Columbia River and its tributaries. The Act detailed the provisions the Bonneville Power Administration CEO must follow in selling power, acquiring resources, implementing energy conservation measures, and setting rates for the sale and disposition of electric energy.
“I predict the legislation will be viewed in the future as the most important bill ever to have affected the Pacific Northwest,” Oregon Republican Sen. Mark Hatfield told the Senate as the bill neared passage.
The Power Act said the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program must “protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the development or operation of such (hydroelectric) facilities while assuring the Pacific Northwest an adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable power supply.” The Program would be funded by the federal power marketer, the Bonneville Power Administration.
This 1980 legislative language was unambiguous on one major point – it was time for the Northwest, with focused planning and wide public participation, to properly blend energy and environment so one serves the other, and one does not harm the other.
Ground-breaking stuff.
Of course, the Power Act was also a political act and as such was a long way from perfect. The flaws became quite apparent in the 1990s as more and more Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead species ended up being listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. The listings showed that regional fish and wildlife “mitigation,” guided by the Council under the Power Act was not doing the job according to federal law.
With the recovery of wild Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead now a federal imperative under the ESA, the struggle to balance energy with environment has to a large degree moved to the arena of federal Biological Opinions and associated litigation, leaving the Council a bit more on the sidelines than the framers of the Power Act intended.
In fact, some have observed that by not producing a strong enough fish and wildlife mitigation program that avoided ESA listings, the Northwest actually squandered the opportunity handed to it by Congress – significant regional influence over the energy and environmental policies associated with the Federal Columbia River Power System.
But the Power Act still stands. And so do the opportunities it presents.
If they so choose, Northwest Governors and the Northwest congressional delegation, along with sovereign tribes and stakeholders, if reasonably united, can still utilize the Power Act to exert regional will over salmon recovery and power planning – over energy and environment.
The rub, of course, is that regional agreements be in line with the ESA, tribal trust responsibilities, the Power Act, the Clean Water Act, and myriad other statutes and obligations. All potential areas of major disagreements.
But let’s remember that when the bill that would eventually become the Northwest Power Act was first introduced into Congress in April, 1979, all eight Northwest Senators – Republicans and Democrats – signed as co-sponsors, though no single senator agreed with every provision or proposed amendment.
No wonder. The Northwest has not seen a regional battle as intense as the fight in the 1970s over how best to distribute public power from the federal Columbia River power system, and at what cost for whom.
But the Northwest senators hammered out the deal known as the Power Act.
And they set up a process that would allow Northwesterners to continue hammering out deals long after they were gone.
These senators figured if the Northwest didn’t find a way to make regional decisions on how best to balance energy and environment, then somebody else would make the call.
And, really, nearly 30 years later, isn’t that exactly where we stand today?
--- Bill Crampton