Cantwell: Stop Bush from Raising Northwest Electricity Rates

Cantwell: Stop Bush from Raising Northwest Electricity Rates

Senator launches online petition, encourages Washingtonians to let president know their opinion on backdoor rate hike

Friday at Nucor Steel, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) stood with Washington state consumers and businesses to announce an online petition calling on the president to halt plans to impose a backdoor rate hike on the Pacific Northwest. Cantwell called on citizens of Washington state and the entire Northwest to join her in signing the petition, posted on her website at http://cantwell.senate.gov/.

"The people of the Northwest will not tolerate this backdoor rate hike," said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "For decades, our region has acted as a responsible steward of its own resources. Now the administration is trying to take away this right. That's why we're sending the president a clear, unified message that his plan to increase our region's electricity rates is unacceptable."

The administration's plan would reverse a decades-old Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) policy of using revenue from surplus power sales to lower electricity rates for consumers in the Pacific Northwest. The petition, which brings Northwest ratepayers together to demand that the president end his ill-considered plan, is available on Cantwell's website at http://cantwell.senate.gov/

"This plan would short-circuit our ability to provide the affordable electricity needed for our region's economy to grow," said Cantwell. "I'm calling on this administration to stop trying to squeeze extra dollars out of Northwest businesses and families at a time when our economy can least afford it."

During an Energy Committee hearing Thursday morning, Cantwell grilled Energy Secretary Sam Bodman about administration plans. Last year, Bodman promised not to unravel BPA's system of cost-based rates without Congressional approval. The recent proposal contradicts that promise.

Currently, BPA has the authority to sell surplus power and use the revenue to lower electricity rates throughout the Northwest. The proposal included in the administration's Fiscal Year 2007 budget would prevent certain surplus sale revenues from being used for this purpose and could raise Northwest power rates by an estimated $924 million over the next 10 years. A preliminary analysis estimated that the plan would lead to a loss of 1,120 jobs. Nucor Steel, the site of Friday's event, is Seattle City Light's largest customer.

Cantwell is leading a bipartisan coalition of Pacific Northwest senators in opposition to the Bush Administration plan. In a letter to the president's Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—the agency in charge of the president's budget proposal—all eight senators from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana called for the immediate cessation of efforts to implement the plan without Congressional approval.

[The text of Cantwell's online petition follows below]

Stop the Bush Budget From Raising Northwest Electricity Rates

The Bush Administration recently announced a plan to increase Northwest electricity rates by up to 10 percent. It would cost the region almost $1 billion over the next decade by reversing a decades-old Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) policy of using revenue from surplus power sales to lower electricity rates for local consumers.

Their plan would short-circuit our ability as a region to decide how we meet our fiscal responsibilities, provide affordable electricity vital to the Northwest's economic growth, and invest in our energy future.

Energy prices are already through the roof, and now the administration is trying to squeeze extra dollars out of Northwest businesses and families, just when our economy can least afford it. This is nothing more than an underhanded billion dollar tax hike on the Northwest economy.

Make a Statement. Sign the Petition.

If you agree with the effort to stop the Bush budget from raising Northwest electricity rates and would like me to pass your name and support along to the President, please add your name to the petition by filling out the form below.

The Honorable George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20500

Mr. President,

During your State of the Union Address you said that lower energy prices are the key to moving our economy forward. I agree.

That's why I stand in strong opposition to your new budget proposal to raise Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) electricity rates, and take away our region's ability to act—as it has for more than two decades—as responsible stewards of its own resources.

Please immediately stop your efforts to implement this plan. A backdoor rate hike of nearly $1 billion would cost jobs, weigh down our economy, and hurt working families throughout the Northwest.

Sincerely,

Maria Cantwell United States Senator

If you agree with the effort to stop the Bush budget from raising Northwest electricity rates and would like me to pass your name and support along to the President, please add your name to the petition here

http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=251484&&days=30&