Montana and Washington members will lead Council in 2010

January 13, 2010

PORTLAND — Council members today elected Bruce Measure, a Montana member, Chair of the Council for 2010. Measure, who lives in Kalispell, has been the Council vice chair for the last two years. The Council also elected Washington member Dick Wallace as vice chair.

“I am honored to be elected to chair the Council,” Measure said. “It is an exciting time with the expected release of a new power plan that contemplates meeting nearly all of the region’s load growth with conservation, and a new spirit of collaboration in salmon recovery. I look forward to working with the Council members, states, tribes, ratepayers, and the public in general on the important matters of energy and fish and wildlife mitigation in the Columbia Basin.”

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer appointed Measure to the Council in January 2005. Measure has been a practicing attorney in Kalispell since 1988. Prior to 1988 he was employed in the forest industry and served as vice president of the East Side Forest Practices Committee in 1984 and 1985. Measure served in the Montana House of Representatives from 1991 to 1993 and served on the Natural Resources; Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; and Judiciary committees. Before joining the Council, Measure was president of the Board of Trustees of the Flathead Electric Cooperative. His undergraduate degree in political science, and his law degree, are from the University of Montana.

Dick Wallace was appointed to the Council in February 2008 by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. Wallace, a former regional director with the Washington Department of Ecology, has more than 25 years of experience in natural resource issues, including water and watershed management, agriculture, forestry, storm water, and salmon recovery. A native of Montana, Wallace graduated from Whitman College with a bachelor of arts in biology and environmental studies.

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.

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