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| Council OKs $140 million in fish and wildlife
projects following intensive scientific review
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The Northwest Power Planning
Council this week completed its recommendations for funding fish and
wildlife recovery projects in the Columbia River Basin in
2000. The recommendations total about $140 million, which
represents the majority of spending on fish and wildlife recovery in
the Pacific Northwest. This year's funding recommendation process was marked by an unprecedented use of independent scientific evaluation of proposals for fish and wildlife recovery projects. All project proposals were assessed by the 11-member Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP), in conjunction with 27 additional scientists organized into peer review groups. The projects also were reviewed by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority (CBFWA). The vote this week culminated a three-month process of acting on the ISRP recommendations. Specifically, in September the Council approved projects that were recommended by both the ISRP and the CBFWA. In October, the Council rejected projects that were not recommended for funding by either group. In November, the Council approved a number of projects that initially were rejected by the ISRP but were revised by their sponsors and approved by the ISRP in a second review. This week, the Council approved several projects that were the subject of policy-level discussions between the Council and the sponsors. In all, 398 projects were reviewed for Fiscal Year 2000. A total of 266 were approved, 88 were rejected and 44 will be decided at the January Council meeting. Of the remaining 44, all but three are in the ?new and innovative? category, for which the Council set aside a total of $2 million. The ISRP prioritized these projects, and the Council anticipates there is enough funding within the $2 million cap for about a dozen of them. In January, the Council will begin amending the fish and wildlife program with a new scientific foundation for decision-making. The Council also plans to change the project review process next year, bringing even more intensive scientific scrutiny, including site visits, by reviewing projects in groups of adjacent watersheds. By dividing the entire basin into three groups of adjacent watersheds, the Council would address one group each year and, thus, review all projects in the program once every three years. |
| Find new electricity supplies or face potential
shortages in the next few years, study concludes
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The first phase of a regional
electricity reliability study concludes the Pacific Northwest has a
problem. Without new sources of electricity, the region faces
a nearly one-in-four chance of being unable to fully meet demand for
power during coming winters. The dimensions of the deficit
range from minutes to hours and from a small amount of power to
thousands of megawatts, depending on combinations of weather, demand
for power, availability of existing power plants and the ability to
import electricity. To reach a 5-percent probability of being
unable to meet demand -- a more acceptable risk -- the region needs
to add nearly 3,000 megawatts of new generating resources and/or
controllable demand reduction, according to the Council's
study. That is roughly enough power for three Seattles. The Council's study, requested last year by the Bonneville Power Administration, involved a months-long analysis using the most sophisticated computer models available. The Council analyzed 50 years of Columbia River water records, more than 500 combinations of possible winter weather conditions and more than 1 million hours of electricity demand scenarios. The modeling showed there would be a problem of some magnitude in 120 of the 500 winters, unless the new resources were acquired or built. In the next phase of the study, the Council will work with parties in the region to investigate possible solutions to the problem, including construction of new power plants, voluntary power load reductions and other responses to ensure an adequate and reliable power supply and energy conservation. |
| Paper discusses options for BPA acquisition of
energy conservation in 2002-2006 rate period
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In an issue paper now
available for public comment, the Council discusses several options
the Bonneville Power Administration might use to acquire
cost-effective energy conservation during its next rate period,
2002-2006. The staff identifies a potential $235 million benefit for Bonneville from acquiring 150 megawatts of conservation during the five-year rate period. The Council recommends that Bonneville seriously consider modifying the proposed Conservation and Renewable Resource Discount to serve as a platform for acquiring conservation from its customers. The Council also recommends that Bonneville acquire conservation through a competitive bidding process to supplement any direct utility funding of conservation programs. The issue paper, document 99-18, is available online. The deadline for comments is the close of business Friday, January 21, 2000. |