Roll on, Columbia Cynical e~vironmentalists may not want to read this, for by its end it will be clear that the Bonneville Power Administration can no longer be viewed as the local federal ·"bad guy" totally unresponsive to new regional energy goals, however much ~his characterization was deserved under the previous administrator. Though it still has a long way to go toward implemen.ting a sensible, citizen-oriented, all-renewabl~ energy system based on conservation and the Columbia River, even the most rabid and paranoid eco-freak should applaud and support BPA's first steps in that direction. Let's examine why this is so. • The New Administrator Sterling Munro seems to be eit_her an incongruously sensitive politician or a humane administrator who is open to and listen-. ing for all Northwesternets' suggestions on energy policy, rather,than those of only the aluminum companies or nuclear power advocates. Either' way he is spreading his attention· much more widely than the last BPA chief, having little to lose and much t.o gain in doing so. Certainly none of his public remarks (dr the private ones we've heard about) have wallowed in the-divisive attacks indulged in by the former administrator, _with his polit_ically stupid anti-environmentalist scare tactics. Even before he ieft BPA it was painfully obvious that Don Hodel's in.famous "Nay to the Slow Energy Growth Doomsayers" speech was simply a futile last gasp meant to buck up the besieged electric utili- ~ ties who could not yet see great profits in the dark and unknown tunnel of energy cqnservation and formerly "exotic" solar energy sources, including wind energy and bioconversi0n. Now even utilities, if they are financially rational, see the dollar benefits of staving off the need for costly new power plant construction if money c·an be made through weatherization. And, after SUN Day, solar power in the region has become .too obviously popular to long ignore by "studying it to death." Think about it. Have you ever before heard of nation-wide demqnstrations by 20 to 30 million Americans in favor of the greatly increased use of a specific energy technology? All this, on top of the growing disenchantment with and escalating costs of nuclear po.wer, the nation's least-liked energy technology, has led to important political shifts both in co·ngress with its growing,"Solar Coalition" and in our Northwest state legislatures ... aH of which BPA and its new leader are adjusting to. ' BPA: The Renewable Energy Agency Recent speeches and newsletters by Mun~o have struck poetically deep into the myth, lore and practical wisdom of our bio-region. He has given us a chance to heal the wounds left by Hodel's inconsiderate sl~shing of our mutual social fabric and that trust of good will it builds on. The new man at BPA has appropriately reminded us of our greatest shared solar energy resource .... the-Columbia River. If I were to talk about the virtues of the Columbia River system in the poetic style of Indian treaties, I would say: "So long as the sun shines and the winds blow, so long as the rains fall and the mountairzs so~r, so long as the snows melt,and the waters run to the :sea, the Pacific Northwest will always enjoy a special bounty from nature." That bounty, the Columbia River and its tributaries, blesses our region with an abundant source of clean, safe, ,, cheap and inexhaustible energy. I think of that poetic style for describing this bounty because it deserves nothing July 1978 RAIN Page 15 - Lee Johnson less. I thi.nk, too, of that part of the Indian herttage which tells us to show love·and reverenc.i! for the land and·its resources-and how all of us share a responsibility to_manage our river system with great care, with fairness, _and • with respect for history and tradition}. Beyond this evocation of native American Indian consciousness, the administrator also lays out the importance of the River_to the practical' operation of wind and solar energy. Today, as we search for answers to truly monumental . energy problems, we think of many solutions-but perhaps not enough of the Columbia River as a major solution. Just looki_ng at what the Columbia River.·has done for our region to this point, it is easy to say as I have many #mes that the Columbia is our region's greatest asset. But do you realize how much more the Columbia can do for our region as we and the nation move into new alternate energy sources that emphasize renewable resources such as the sun and wind and tides? The main reason is that th'e Columbia River Power Syst.em has enormous'flexibility; permitting it to ~-e operated as needed to fill the gaps in the intermittent power flow from new sources. The sun doesn't always shine and the'wind doesn't always blow-, but the Columbia has those big storage dams to act as a g'iant storage battery. Whe,n . the new methods are producing electricity, water can be held back in the reservoirs of the Columbia -and its tributaries, then later released to meet demands when the new sources are not producing. The Columbia will give us an advantage no other region possesses when it comes to making maximum use of the • alternate energy sources of.tomorr,ow-solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, biomass, co-generation, whatever,2 . As to specifics, Munro's first newsletter stated,. Preliminary analysis shows that in seven areas of Oregon, Washington and Nevada, plus poteniial demon-.. stration sites near Toe Dalles and Goldendale, at least 2,100 megawatts of wind-generated energy could be installed and generate approximately 5. 7 billion kilowatt hours of electrical energy annually. 3 • ' 1 These ideas are clearly in line with the regional energy goals expressed by our three states, all of which stress the transition to diverse, inexhaustible energy sources as rapidly a~ possible. What we must now do is simply hold BPA's administrator to the tantalizing glimp~es he has given us of a safer, less expensiye, more environmentally benign, renewable energy future integrated with the astute BPA manageme_nt· of the river's power: for energy storage. Wind Power Use Slows Electric Rate Increases Recently the nation's wind power researchers have found a new topic for conversation that may seem a rather obvious I continued .. 1. "Principles for a Regional Power Plan," speech by Sterling Munro before Wenatchee (Wiisb.) Chamber of Commerce, May 15, 1978. ,2. "Yes, Virginia, There Is an Energy Policy," speech by Sterling • Munro before students at Central Wash. Univ., May 12, 1978. 3. BPA Administrator's Newsletter, March 1978, p. 6, available from Public Information Office, BPA, Portland.
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