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This is the Council's Monthly Spotlight e-newsletter. Each month, you'll receive the latest news from Council meetings, including recent decisions, news from state offices, and updates on energy and the environment.

May 2004 Issue

Council Approves Recommendations on Bonneville's Future Role in Power Supply

The Council recommends that customers be responsible for meeting their own load growth beyond what can be served by the federal based system. This change would preferably be implemented through long-term, 20-year contracts. Bonneville plans to initiate its own public process on this issue in June. Read recommendations and news release.

Below Normal Spring Water Supply Forecast at Snake and Columbia Rivers

Summary: A difficult water year has resulted in some changes in hydro operations at Lower Snake projects.

Detail: Cathy Hlebechuk, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, briefed Council members on the current status of the hydrosystem. She noted that due to the low water year and early runoff, spill at several of the Lower Snake projects was curtailed at the end of April. The NOAA Fisheries 2000 Biological Opinion provides for curtailment of spill at the Lower Snake collector dams when seasonal average flows in the Snake River are projected to be less than 85,000 cubic-feet-per-second. The BiOp also calls for maximizing fish collection and transportation under these circumstances. See presentation (50k PDF).

Steady Investment in Conservation Could Reap Cost and Risk Benefits; Conservation may reduce costs to the power system by as much as $500 million and reduce risk by $1.5 billion

The Council's preliminary analysis for its draft Fifth Power Plan, scheduled for release this summer, has helped to underscore the value of conservation as a resource, both in terms of its cost-effectiveness and as a tool to moderate price risk. See presentation (1.2m PDF).

Council Briefed on 2004 Federal Summer Spill and Reservoir Operations

Greg Delwiche, Bonneville Power Administration, described the collaborative process regarding the impacts and offset analyses with NOAA Fisheries and tribal staff. He did not have a specific date when a final proposal would be released to the public, but said it would be soon. Following its release, the regional executives will meet to discuss the proposal, and a final decision will be made on summer operations shortly thereafter.
 

        

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