(PORTLAND, OR) - On the heels of its seventy-fifth
anniversary, the Bonneville Power Administration offers a rare inside look at
difficult decisions and turning point over the past 30 years in the power
industry in the Pacific Northwest with a new, full-color book of little-known
stories and behind-the-scenes intrigue:
- How the fractious region pulled together through conservation to weather the West Coast power crisis that nearly bankrupted BPA and other utilities.
- BPA Administrator Peter T. Johnson’s emotionally charged encounter with angry construction workers who would lose their jobs when he canceled BPA financing of new nuclear plants.
- How one tree and a cascade of glitches in BPA’s system blacked out much of the western United States.
The 300-page book, “Power of the River,” tracks the
Northwest’s efforts since 1980 to equitably share low-cost hydroelectric power
from the Columbia River while responding to evolving environmental values and
building out the regional power grid. Filled with spectacular photographs, it
tells the stories vividly through the lens of BPA, the federal power marketing
agency that sells and transmits hydroelectric energy from federal dams on the
Columbia and its tributaries.
“The book demonstrates how BPA successfully evolved,
sometimes in the face of crisis, to become an even more durable and resilient
organization,” said Bill Drummond, the administrator for BPA. “I hope through
this wealth of stories, we can motivate people to embrace new approaches and
thereby find their own place in history.”
Review copies of the book are available upon request.
Publication of the book caps BPA’s 75th anniversary year and picks up in 1980,
roughly where an earlier book published for BPA’s 50th anniversary left off.
“If you wonder how electricity could be interesting, take a
look at this book,” said Michael Milstein of BPA, who oversaw the book’s production.
“The Northwest enjoys some of the cleanest, lowest-cost electricity in the
country, but that makes it so valuable that plenty of drama and controversy
surrounds it.”
Power of the River offers a revealing look at BPA’s trials
and triumphs, recognizing, for instance, that the agency nearly did itself in
by promising too much inexpensive hydroelectric power to too many in the run up
to the power crisis that hit in late 2000. It even recounts how Al Gore’s
appearance on David Letterman’s late night talk show helped BPA cut red tape
and pass on savings to Northwest electric ratepayers.
Beyond the suspense, the book also recounts the numerous
inventions and innovations BPA engineers brought to efficient power line design
that are now used around the country and named after Northwest rivers and
mountains such as Toutle and Deschutes.
The book is available in a PDF format on BPA’s website at: http://www.bpa.gov/news/pubs/Pages/Power-of-the-River-BPA-History-Book.aspx.
