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WYDEN OBTAINS PROMISE FROM ENERGY NOMINEE TO OPPOSE PRIVATIZATION
OF BONNEVILLE POWER
Senator continues efforts to protect Northwest
ratepayers, Oregon energy resources
January 19, 2005
Washington, DC – U.S.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today asked for and received a commitment
from Secretary of Energy nominee Samuel W. Bodman that Bodman
does not support the sale or privatization of the Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA). Wyden and Bodman’s exchange occurred
during Bodman’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bodman also assured the
Senator that to his knowledge, the Administration agrees that
BPA should not be sold or privatized.
“This is good news for
Oregon,” said Wyden. “The future of the Bonneville
Power Administration is the key to our state’s energy future
and it greatly comforts me to hear that the nominee committed
today that he would oppose selling off or privatizing BPA.”
Wyden has worked for years to
protect Oregonians’ access to the cost-based power rates
BPA provides. In February of 2003, the Bush Administration released
a statement that seemed to indicate that the White House would
move BPA towards privatization. At a hearing the following month,
Wyden reiterated Oregonians’ strong opposition to privatization
to White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director
Mitch Daniels, noting the economic blow it would deal to the already
hard-hit state. Daniels gave Wyden his word that BPA would not
be privatized.
Privatization of BPA could range
from the sale of the entire agency to the contracting out of work
now done by BPA employees. By law, BPA charges customers a cost-based
rate; the privatization of BPA to a for-profit utility or for-profit
contractors could result in major price hikes for Northwest consumers,
who would have to pay for the new owner’s or contractors’
profits as well as for the cost of power.
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