September 22, 2004

PORTLAND, Oregon — The Council today unveiled its draft Fifth Northwest Power Plan, a blueprint for an adequate, low-cost and low-risk energy future in the wake of the West Coast energy crisis of 2000/2001.

"We all remember the high prices and threats of shortages during the energy crisis," Council Chair Judi Danielson of Idaho said. "Four years ago the Northwest was not positioned to ensure adequate resources and preserve low rates and low costs. As a result we were exposed to considerable risks, and the region has not yet fully recovered. This plan will put the Northwest back on track to control our energy future."

The draft power plan is available for public comment through Friday, November 19. Public hearings will be conducted on the draft plan throughout the Northwest, beginning in Missoula, Montana, at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, October 12, at the DoubleTree Hotel, 100 Madison. A schedule of additional hearings will be announced early next week.

The draft plan lays out a strategy for reducing risks while ensuring an adequate and affordable power supply. Key elements of that strategy are:

1. Begin now to aggressively develop conservation — the more efficient use of electricity — as well as programs to reduce demand temporarily when the power system is stressed. These are the lowest cost, least environmentally damaging resources available to the region.
2. Prepare to begin construction of new power plants — primarily wind power, as well as coal-fired power plants — by the end of the decade. Having projects planned, sited and permitted gives the region options to quickly develop new resources when needed or to defer construction if the need does not materialize. (Although the Northwest currently has a surplus of power supply, individual utilities may not be able to satisfy their future resource needs with existing regional resources).
3. Resolve key policy issues that could impede resource development. These include deciding the future role of the Bonneville Power Administration in power supply so that the responsibilities and incentives for power development are clear, and adopting voluntary regional standards and reporting criteria to ensure the power supply remains adequate and affordable.

"This plan is important for the Northwest, as none of us wants to be victimized by energy shortages again," Danielson said. "We believe that by following the plan the Northwest will avoid underinvestment — and overinvestment — in new power plants and reduce the risk of shortages and high prices in the future."

The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to prepare a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin affected by hydropower dams while also assuring the region an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.