Hydroelectric Development at Federal Facilities in the Pacific Northwest

Testimony was given on GAO work related to: (1) whether the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the Northwest Power Planning Council should approve Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation hydroelectric projects in the Pacific Northwest prior to their development; (2) whether BPA should be required to repay irrigation project construction costs from its power sale revenues; (3) whether the Bureau and the Corps should allow private parties to develop power producing facilities at federal projects; and (4) the cost-effectiveness of the proposed Elk Creek dam and reservoir. GAO believes that it would be reasonable to have the Council and BPA review and provide comments on hydroelectric projects' consistency with regional power plans and fish and wildlife programs prior to appropriating funds for the projects. Congress authorized BPA to provide irrigation assistance when the costs of such projects are beyond the irrigators' ability to pay, but BPA is required to recover these irrigation costs from power sale revenues. In 1980, GAO recommended that the Bureau and the Corps encourage nonfederal development of hydropower at federal water projects because it would develop power production capability quickly without requiring large federal outlays. In 1982, GAO reviewed a Corps' Elk Creek dam and reservoir cost-benefit study and questioned about 76 percent of the benefits the Corps estimated; therefore, GAO recommended that the Corps reevaluate Elk Creek's economic feasibility. This reevaluation has been completed; however, the Corps had not adjusted its calculations to resolve questions GAO raised in its 1982 report.