PR 09-22                                                                                               BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION
                                                                               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022
                                                                                                 CONTACT: Doug Johnson, 503-713-7658
                                                                                                                                                or 503-230-5131

Portland, Ore. – The Bonneville Power Administration completed its annual U.S. Treasury payment Oct. 4, on time and in full. The total payment was $950.6 million for fiscal year 2022.

This payment, along with actions taken as part of BPA’s 2022 Financial Plan, reinforces the agency’s financial strength and demonstrates the agency has met all of its financial commitments. This year’s payment to the U.S. Treasury includes $694.2 million in principal and $193.9 million in interest. The remaining $62.5 million covers a variety of other costs, including irrigation assistance that BPA provides to help irrigators repay their share of certain Bureau of Reclamation projects.

“I am pleased to announce our 39th consecutive annual treasury payment. Completing the annual U.S Treasury payment is a significant milestone that demonstrates BPA’s ability to meet all of its financial obligations on an ongoing basis,” said Marcus Harris, BPA’s chief financial officer. “Our recently released 2022 Financial Plan places BPA on stronger financial footing, which positions us to continue making treasury payments into the future in the face of an evolving market landscape.”

BPA is a self-financed power marketing administration that receives no annual appropriation funding from Congress. Instead, BPA recovers its costs primarily through the sale of electric power and transmission services.

Each year BPA pays back to the U.S. Treasury a portion of the taxpayers' investment in the Federal Columbia River Power System, which includes the federal hydropower dams that produce renewable electricity and the transmission system. BPA sets its rates to maintain an annual 97.5% probability of making this payment.

About BPA 

The Bonneville Power Administration, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit federal power marketer that sells wholesale electricity from 31 federal dams and one nuclear plant to 143 Northwest electric utilities, serving millions of consumers and businesses in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and parts of California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. BPA delivers power via more than 15,000 circuit miles of lines and 261 substations to 546 transmission customers. In all, BPA markets about a third of the electricity generated in the Northwest. BPA also funds one of the largest fish and wildlife programs in the nation, and, with its partners, pursues cost-effective energy savings and operational solutions that help maintain affordable, reliable and clean electric power for the Northwest. www.bpa.gov

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https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/rebuilding-salmon-and-steelhead-in-columbia-river-basin

NOAA Fisheries, with input from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has finalized the Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead report. It identifies a comprehensive suite of actions with the greatest likelihood of making progress toward rebuilding Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead to healthy and harvestable levels. The final report follows the draft, which was released in July, and incorporates feedback from state and tribal fishery co-managers.

The recommended suite of actions to rebuild Columbia Basin stocks include: increasing habitat restoration, reintroducing salmon into blocked areas, breaching dams, managing predators, reforming fish hatcheries and harvest and reconnecting floodplain habitat.

“This is a crucial time for the Columbia Basin’s salmon and steelhead. They face increasing pressure from climate change and other longstanding stressors including water quality and fish blockages caused by dams,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries and acting assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere at NOAA. “The report identifies goals for the recovery of salmon and steelhead that will require a sustained commitment over many decades.”

The actions reflected in the report convey the urgency behind the Columbia Basin Partnership’s 2020 recommendations that merely avoiding extinction of native salmon and steelhead is not enough. Instead, the Partnership called for healthy and harvestable numbers that contribute fully to the culture, environment and economy of the region. The report is not a regulatory document, but rather is intended to inform and contribute to regional conversations and funding decisions.

The Columbia Basin Partnership expressed the hope that in 20 years, the people of the Columbia Basin would view the Partnership's work and the resulting efforts as “a turning point for the return of healthy and abundant salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River.” The report represents one step toward that important goal. 

The final report will inform ongoing dialogues about salmon restoration and decisions regarding allocation of resources for recovery actions. The rebuilding actions can also help restore fish populations to meet long standing commitments to Columbia Basin tribes.

Resources: 

Final Report: Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead 

A Vision for Salmon and Steelhead: Goals to Restore Thriving Salmon and Steelhead to the Columbia River Basin

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council will hold its Fish and Wildlife Committee meeting on October 4, and Power Committee meeting on October 5, both by webinar.

See the agenda and how to attend.