BPA Feedback Dear Rain, , I fear Lee Johnson's article Roll on Columbia did not make it clear that the BPA "can no longer be viewed as the . local federal 'bad guy'." I ask you: - How many wind machines has the BPA ordered? - Has the BPA taken a position against those poisonproducing, resource-wasting nuclear power plants? - Did the BPA admit that with moderate conservation measures the electrical growth rate goes from 6 percent to zer ? Munro may be preferable to Hodel, but bureaucracies are hu.reaucracies and c~ange slowly if at all. It is most inappro pnate to start painting the BPA with white hats and horses until its/their actions merit it. And in the tradition of folk music, let me pass on some newer verses to Woody's song: Up on the river is the Grand Coulee Dam The ugliest damn thing ever built by man To run the great factories that screw lip the land Roll on, Columbia, roll on. Down in the valley the apple trees stand Feedmg a nation on irrigated land But bow did we let it get so alit of hand? Roll on, Columbia, roll on? joe Lubischev Bainbridge Is., Washington Dear Rain, Lest anyone take seriously Lee Johnson's naive evaluation of Sterling Munro as a breath of fresh air in the Bonneville Power Administration, I suggest that observers of Mr. Munro (1) carefully think about the differences between style and substance, and (2) study Mr. Munro's remarks concerning EPA's decision to deny the Colstrip Consortium a permit under under the PSD provisions of the Clean Air Act. Lee Johnson seems to have been captivated by Sterling Munro's "nice guy" approach to his job as Administrator, in high contrast to Don Hodel's "thug" act. ~n ~ speech gi~en to the Pacific Northwest Waterways As soclatlO.n at Sunnver, OR, on June 20 of this year, Munro spent hIS time bemoaning EPA's decision to enforce the orthcrn Cheyenne Tribe's desire to maintain the current air quality on their reservation hy not permitting that air quality to be d~graded br t~o 7?0-megawatt coal-fired generators a eon ortlUm of utlhtles WIshed to build on the Tribe's doorstep. In h!s speech Munro raised the specter. of blackouts and droughts If the 13 nuclear and coal-fired power plants now scheduled for completion between now and 1989 aren't constructed and in operation on schedule. He lauded the utilities' tary Schlesinger would be successful in getting federal legislation passed that would speed up the lead time required for new power I:>lants. As far as alternative renewal technologies go, Munro SIted the NEPP "optimistic case," which projected a solar ~ower.capability in the region of 2 million kW by 2000, dIsplaCing 2 nukes (remember, Munro is worried about how to f.aci.litate the construction of 13 fossil fuel power plants WIthin the next ten years). "But the year 2000 is a long way off when you're trying to find a supply for the needs of the 1980s." Also, "Some, but not a whole lot, of wind power possibly could be brought on line within 5 years - and we must try." The next day, Mr. Munro was in Bellingham, Washington, talking to the Washington State Grange Annual Convention. Here's some of what he had to say: "I hope you will help assure adequate supplies by supporting more nuclear and coal-fired thermal power plants-if that's what it takes. There are 13 such plants-9 nuclear and 4 coal-scheduled for completion between now and 1989. But even if all 13 are completed on schedule, the region will be power short in any year between now and 1990 in which streamflows fall to or near the low levels of 1973 and 1977. We could be short in some years by as much power as it takes to serve 2-1/2 cities the size of Seattle. "Worse, at least two of the scheduled 13 plants are in danger of not being built because of environmental objections. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has denied permits to the builders of two coal-fired plants at Colstrip, Montana, which are numbers 4 and 5 on the list of 13. The matter is before the courts. If the decision stands, conservation w~ll be put to more of a test than even I, with all my enthUSIasm for conservation, am confident it can pass...." Imagine, the EPA having the gall to deny a power plant because of environmental objections, as if it were important that some Montana residents would rather not have the air they breathe degraded so that consumers 800 miles away can continue to consume twice the per capita national average of electricity. No, I don't think the BPA has changed a whole lot from Don Hodel's days. Oh, it's fashionable to talk about "the exotics" ?ecause that sells politically, but when you get right down to It, the Hydro-Thermal Power Program is still BPA's agenda. They.'ve simp.ly learned some folksy PR techniques, and are learning the fight phrases to voice to a public anxious for a change. ~~d I'~ s~re Sterling Munro really is a nice guy. But that coal IS Just sitting under the ground in eastern Montana, and there's all those beautiful 30,000 megawatt transmission corridors just waiting to have those 500 and 765 kV lines built through them. Hardly anyone lives out in eastern Montana anyway, just a few rednecks and Indians. As far as nukes go, well there are some problems, but gosh and golly, we're going to build 9 BIG ones in the next ten years . .. Sincerely, I?ad growth forecasts as an ac urate predictive tool, and be David Alberswerth littled con ervation as a "placebo." He hoped that DOE Secre- Billings, Montana
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