To Congress and citizens of the Pacific Northwest:
This document is the annual report of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to Congress for Fiscal Year 2012, Oct. 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The annual report is required by the Northwest Power Act of 1980, the federal law that authorized the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington to create the Council.
The report provides an overview of the Council’s plans and actions regarding electricity in the Northwest and fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin in Fiscal Year 2012, as well as information about salmon and steelhead returns in calendar year 2011 and the effectiveness of the Council’s Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.
Guided by the Council ’s Sixth Northwest Power Plan, the Northwest increased its energy-use efficiency by 280 average megawatts in 2011. Expressed as generated power, that would be enough for 189,000 Northwest homes. It was a one-year record achievement, and the average cost of the efficiency was about 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour. That is about half the cost of power from the most efficient natural gas-fired power plant using the least-expensive natural gas.
The Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program directed $311 million for projects to boost fish and wildlife survival and abundance in the Columbia River Basin in Fiscal Year 2012. The largest share — $141 million — was for habitat-improvement efforts.
Thank you for your interest in the Council and its work.
Sincerely,
Stephen L. Crow, Executive Director
