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SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 108
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Passed Legislature - 1985 Reg
State of Washington 49th Legislature 1985 Regular Session
By Senators Williams, Benitz, Bottiger, McDermott, McManus, Halsan, Bailey, Wojahn, Kreidler, Granlund, Rasmussen, DeJarnatt, Owen, Thompson, Stratton, Warnke, McCaslin, Saling, Bauer, Goltz, Peterson, Garrett, Barr, Bender, Bluechel, Cantu, Conner, Craswell, Deccio, Fleming, Gaspard, Guess, Hansen, Hayner, Johnson, Kiskaddon, Lee, McDonald, Metcalf, Moore, Newhouse, Patterson, Pullen, Rinehart, Sellar, Talmadge, Vognild, von Reichbauer and Zimmerman
Read first time 1/31/85 and referred to Committee on Energy & Utilities.
TO THE HONORABLE RONALD REAGAN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
WHEREAS, The regional economy and energy use patterns of the State of Washington developed because of the availability of dependable low-cost electrical energy; and
WHEREAS, Residential electricity usage is more than three times that of the national average and rapidly increased electricity prices would cause extreme hardship to citizens in the State of Washington, especially the poor and elderly; and
WHEREAS, Commercial businesses in the State of Washington are more dependent upon electricity than those in the United States as a whole and would suffer severe economic impacts if the rates were rapidly increased; and
WHEREAS, Major industries located in the State of Washington because of an assured supply of reliable low-cost electricity and many would cease operation if major rate increases were imposed, causing massive unemployment; and
WHEREAS, Agriculture plays a major role in the State of Washington, beneficially contributes to the national economy, and is dependent upon electrically pumped irrigated water and large increases in electricity rates would cause severe distress; and
WHEREAS, The State of Washington is dependent upon electricity produced by hydroelectric generation provided by the Bonneville Power Administration; and
WHEREAS, The electrical generation produced by hydroelectric power is based on streamflow which, in turn, is based upon rainfall, snowmelt, and other natural phenomena not under the control of the Bonneville Power Administration, and Bonneville Power Administration revenues fluctuate significantly as a function of weather conditions; and
WHEREAS, The wholesale rates charged by the Bonneville Power Administration have increased over seven hundred percent in less than five years, contributing to an unemployment rate which is substantially higher than the national average; and
WHEREAS, Federal investment in electrical generation is required to be fully amortized within fifty years from the time the asset comes into service, thirty-five or forty-five years for transmission and twenty years for conservation, and the Bonneville Power Administration has met all of its obligations to repay within the fifty-year period for generation and the thirty-five or forty-five year period for transmission; and
WHEREAS, The Office of Management and Budget proposal to put the Bonneville Power Administration on a fixed annual amortization schedule, accelerate repayment of irrigation debts, and raise interest rates from loans agreed upon in good faith, would cause rate increases of fifty to seventy-seven percent; and
WHEREAS, The further rate increases would drive many or all of the aluminum companies out of the region, restrict other major industries, cost the region 23,000 to 70,000 jobs, and trigger massive economic dislocation that could border on a depression in the Northwest;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray, That:
(1) The President of the United States direct the Office of Management and Budget to withdraw the proposal to place the Bonneville Power Administration on a fixed repayment schedule and to raise interest rates on all the older, low interest loans.
(2) If the Office of Management and Budget does not withdraw the proposal to place the Bonneville Power Administration on a fixed repayment schedule and raise interest rates on all the older, low-interest loans, the Congress of the United States consider the vast harm this will cause to the State of Washington and the Pacific Northwest.
BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.