WPPSS
1 Company accused
| of multi-billion i
I dollar robbery
Ed Fadehty
The Washington Public Power Supply
System is committed to a ' multi-billion
dollar robbery” and is now engaged in a
■ pattern of secrecy," say several
observers of WPPSS
U.S. Congressman Jim Weaver. D-Ore,
the general manager of the Springfield
Utility Board, a University economics
professor, and several representatives of
Springfield Fair Share were among those
lambasting WPPSS at a public hearing
Thursday night in Springfield's
WWiamalane Senior Center
Sen. Ted Kulongoski. chairing the
Senate interim energy committee
investigating WPPSS, heard testimony
painting a dismal view of the Washington
power system:
WPPSS contracts are invalid because
WPPSS subverted the people s will and
deceived local utilities State legislation
and a U.S. Congressional investigation are
necessary. The people wHI not rest until
the truth is known Technical
incompetence led to inaccurate energy
forecasts and the way to avoid further
incompetence is to concentrate on
decentralized — not regional — energy
programs.
Kulongoski, D-Junction City, said
representatives from WPPSS and the
Bonneville Power Administration told him
they would appear at the Springfield
hearing but decided not to at the last
minute
"It's very, very difficult for me to get to
the bottom of this, ” Kulongoski said,
adding that "unless these people are more
cooperative” his committee can’t
accomplish much
Of those who did testify, Congressman
Jim Weaver spoke first "If there ts one
salient issue in the WPPSS fiasco it's that
the people's will was subverted ’’ He
vowed to fight a $600 million WPPSS bond
issue in New York, and said, "we must not
cease in our fight” to invalidate the
WPPSS contracts so ratepayers don’t
have to pay
Peter DeFazio, a candidate for
Springfield County Commissioner, said it
was a “totally bankrupt idea" for BPA to
consider selling power to California The
Oregon Legislature should draft legislation
to protect Oregon's citizens from WPPSS
and BPA over and above any litigation
taking place, he said
Robert Fennessy, of the Springfield
chapter of Oregon Fair Share ratepayers
group, gave a short history of WPPSS An
accounting trick called "net billing,” he
said, enabled BPA to buy power not
allowed by Oregon law In 1975, WPPSS
and BPA officials pressured 88 utilities into
financing the WPPSS nuclear plants by
threatening a power shortage, Fennessy
said WPPSS and BPA officials have
refused to attend public information
meetings, revealing a "pattern of
secrecy,'" he added
Glenn Sofge. of Sprtngield Fair Share,
spoke against the "experts’" responsible
for the WPPSS project which is "going to
take the whole Northwest down the
drain."
Energy officials, he said, have used
technical jargon to insulate them from the
people, but not showing up at the hearing
“is the last straw!" Officiate have
attempted a cover-up but "we, the people,
will not rest" until everything is in the
open, Sofge said
Virginia Bristol, of Springfield Fair Share,
said WPPSS is “a multi-billion dollar
robbery " and called for an investigation to
determine whether the inaccurate energy
forecast was an honest mistake or if the
figures were deliberately inflated
"This fiasco is turning into a financial
Holocaust, " she added
Pat Raymond, also of Springfield Fair
Share, called for a "thorough
Congressional investigation" because the
interim committee doesn't have the
resources or the authority to subpoena
witnesses necessary to investigate
WPPSS A Congressional investigation
would have the resources and authority:
"We need that kind of an investigation of
this issue "
Ed \Miitelaw, University economics
professor, said BPA technicians worked
Tad Kulongoskl
out the “niceties of equations" rather than
addressing key issues of energy and
unemployment, per capita income, water
supply, and the trade-off between fish and
hydroelectric power. “We could just as
easily been put in this mess by the
incompetency of a technical army,” he
said
Within a range of two to five years, the
actual need for nuclear plants can vary
anywhere from zero to five plants — while
the time required to build any one plant is
ten years “Small errors are replete in our
analysis," Whiteiaw said Therefore,
decentralized energy programs should be
stressed rather than regional plans, he
said
Steve Loveland, general manager of the
Springfield Utility Board, said SUB
received a "notice of insufficiency" from
BPA in 1975 telling SUB that power
shortfalls would occur in the '80s unless
the WPSS plants were built So it was the
“most prudent" action to support WPPSS,
he said Now, however, SUB thinks
WPPSS has broken the contract, Loveland
said
“We re going to go after them * 1
(Late last week SUB joined 12 other
Northwest utilities in a suit against WPPSS
for mismanagement)
By Ron Hunt
Photos by Bob Baker
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