To Congress and the citizens of the Pacific Northwest:
In Fiscal Year 2006, the Council issued the first electricity resource adequacy standard for the Northwest, a standard that will guide Northwest utilities and Bonneville Power Administration to ensure that the electricity supply remains affordable and reliable. The Council also began work with regional utilities and Bonneville to ensure that the region’s rapidly developing supply of wind power is integrated into the baseload power supply in a manner that does not erode the reliability of the regional transmission system or the power supply.
In 2006, the Council also supervised the solicitation and independent scientific review of more than 500 project proposals to implement the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, which is designed to mitigate the impacts of hydropower dams on fish and wildlife. For the first time, beginning in Fiscal Year 2007 projects will be funded for three years at a time. This will provide project sponsors more surety about funding, and it also will provide the opportunity for projects to demonstrate progress toward objectives consistent with priorities identified in subbasin-specific plans adopted by the Council in 2005.
The Council provides Northwest citizens an opportunity unique in the nation to participate in and influence decision-making regarding the region’s electricity supply and Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife. Through implementation of its performance-based fish and wildlife program, and through the careful and collaborative development of regional energy policy, the Council continues to ensure that Northwest electricity ratepayers enjoy the benefits of the low-cost federal hydropower system while responsibly addressing the impacts of the system on fish and wildlife populations, which have economic and cultural importance to the region.
I am pleased to submit this report on the Council’s major activities in Fiscal Year 2006.
Sincerely,
Tom Karier
Chair, 2006
