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PASCO – Telling Northwest electricity customers how much of their monthly power bill is used to save fish would be useful consumer information, some representatives of businesses, farms and utilities said Friday.
But if knowledge is truly power, then why not take it a step further, countered environmental and tribal representatives. Tell them how much of their electricity bill also goes for irrigation, or supporting the barge industry or paying off failed nuclear plants.
Some of the usual voices in the region's long-running salmon controversy gathered at Columbia Basin Community College on Friday for a special congressional subcommittee hearing on Rep. Cathy McMorris' proposal to make the costs of the Endangered Species Act more "transparent."
If passed, the proposal would require the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets electricity from the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, to tell utilities that buy that power just how much of the cost each month went to saving salmon and steelhead under that landmark law. The utilities could then pass that information on to their customers in the next month's bill.
"Consumers need and deserve open access to this information and how these factors are affecting their pocketbooks," McMorris said.
While the concept is novel, the arguments from a panel of witnesses were familiar – and not always directly on the point of whether electricity bills that arrive in Northwest mailboxes should have a line for salmon costs.
Some farm groups used the opportunity to say Congress should spend more to build reservoirs along the Columbia system, which they contend could help with salmon recovery and provide extra water to generate power when the river is low.
Ricardo Espinoza, president of the Pasco School Board, said rising power costs are cutting into that district's budget. The share of the electricity bill that went for salmon recovery, which he estimated at $1.1 million over the past five years, could have been used to buy books or computers, or hire math teachers to help students pass their Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests, he said.
And several witnesses – as well as McMorris and Rep. Doc Hastings of the Tri-Cities, a fellow Republican and the only other member of Congress in attendance – used the hearing to take a shot at U.S. District Judge James Redden, of Portland, who has consistently said the federal government's plan to save salmon is inadequate.
BPA supplies about 40 percent of the region's power, primarily to public utilities and certain large industrial customers. Some cities, including Spokane, get electricity from private utilities like Avista.
In addressing McMorris' proposal, BPA Administrator Steve Wright said he supports more consumer information, but the bill as written might be difficult. While the agency has spent some $7.8 billion over 20 years on fish and wildlife programs, not all of that is related to the Endangered Species Act. Some programs are required by other laws, and some do double duty, partly for the ESA and partly for those other laws.