Trump wants Bonneville Power Administration sell-off

EVERETT — The White House wants to sell off the Bonneville Power Administration and other hydropower systems throughout the country, moves critics warn would push up electricity rates for consumers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

The plan from President Donald Trump also would change the way Bonneville Power sets its rates.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District buys about 80 percent of its electricity from Bonneville Power, which was created by the federal government in the 1930s. It’s one of four power marketing administrations that deliver and sell hydro-electric power from federal dams to much of the country.

“Selling off BPA’s transmission system and abandoning cost-based rates would raise electricity rates and throw sand in the gears of the Northwest economy,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., in a statement. “Northwest consumers already cover the full costs, with interest, of building and operating our region’s hydropower system. I will be working with all my Pacific Northwest colleagues to once again stop this bad idea in its tracks.”

The issue is in the senator’s wheelhouse; Cantwell is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

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