The House Subcommittee on Water and Power will conduct an oversight field hearing on "Electricity Costs and Salmon: Finding the Balance" on Friday, July 7, 2006 at 10:00 a.m., at The Gjerde Multipurpose Room, Columbia Basin College, 2600 North 20^th Avenue, Pasco, Washington.  Witnesses will be announced at a later date and are by invitation only. For further information, please contact Kiel Weaver or Lane Dickson at 202-225-8331.

A key topic of discussion at this hearing will be an Endangered Species Act (ESA) transparency bill -H.R. 4857, the Endangered Species Compliance and Transparency Act of 2006 - offered by Congresswoman McMorris (WASHINGTON).  This is a bill that would require power companies to list the cost of ESA mitigation on their bills. The Family Farm Alliance Advisory Committee on Friday will consider formal support of this bill.

Over the years, ESA requirements have significantly altered the operations of our federal dams, reservoirs and in siting federal electricity transmission lines.  Under law, those costs are passed on by the federal government to electricity consumers who receive federal hydropower.  This legislation requires the federal agencies who sell federal power to be more transparent in how they list costs associated with ESA compliance.  This is important, considering that most consumers are not aware of how ESA is affecting their electricity bills.  In fact, a recent poll in the Pacific Northwest found that 70% of consumers either didn’t know how much they paid for salmon recovery or believe that less than 5% of their monthly bills go towards salmon recovery.

Attached are three brief documents that provide additional information on Rep. McMorris’ bill.

If you have any thoughts on matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dan Keppen
Executive Director Family Farm Alliance