Northwest RiverPartners Comments
Transfer of Fish Passage Center Functions
December 7, 2005

Thank you for the opportunity to comment today. I’m Terry Flores, Executive Director of Northwest RiverPartners. We are a non-profit, non-partisan coalition of Pacific Northwest interests that include farmers, public and private utilities, businesses large and small, navigation and maritime trade interests.

The people I represent are the ones who have contributed by far the lion’s share of dollars that have been invested in salmon protection and recovery efforts in the region to-date. That investment, according to the Power Council itself, exceeds $6 billion dollars over the past 24 years. The costs have increased to over $700 million annually; in fact, nearly one-third of Bonneville Power Administration’s costs identified in its 2007-2009 rate case are attributable to fish and wildlife.

The stakes are huge, both to the region’s economic health and for the recovery of listed salmon. Northwest RiverPartners is united in our mission to see that the best scientific information is collected and available to all to ensure that the most rationale, cost-effective decisions are made in salmon recovery. Science and experience have shown us that the multiple benefits provided by the Columbia and Snake River systems, electricity generation, irrigation and trade, can co-exist and prosper together with protecting and recovering salmon.

The issue of transferring funding and functions of the Fish Passage Center to other institutions has engendered an enormous amount of emotion and controversy within the region. No matter which side you may take on the issue, we should all be able to agree that it is in the region’s and the salmon’s best interest to have scientific information collected and analyzed by an organization or organizations that is viewed as independent and credible by everyone in the region.

• The fact is that the legislation has passed and is now law. The law and the clear intent of the law is not to simply re-create the Fish Passage Center under another name in a single organization. The clear intent is to create efficiencies in data collection and analysis, and eliminate any bias in such efforts.
• The fact is that there are institutions in the region that are capable of providing the services needed in an efficient, independent manner.
• The fact is that the law does not prevent the state and tribal fish managers from advocating their points of view based on information that will be available from organizations or institutions that will be performing these functions. Bonneville Power customers, however, should not be paying for that advocacy.
• And, the prime fact is that these functions are too critical and too central to our ability to recover listed salmon species, to allow the hint of any advocacy or bias.
• We strongly support the path that Bonneville has taken of issuing Requests for Proposals in an expeditious, competitive process. This will help to ensure that the best proposals come forward and the transition occurs as quickly and efficiently as possible.
• Some major principles that we urge the Council and BPA to take into account as the competitive process and transition moves forward include:
• All salmon data needs to be efficiently collected, transmitted and stored in a central place with access to all interested parties for analysis and evaluation.
• Design of scientific studies and collection methods must be reviewed and approved by independent scientists before being funded and implemented.
• Any analysis funded by federal agencies must be based on the best available scientific methods, protocols and techniques and be peer reviewed to insure scientific validity and credibility.

The best way to meet these key principles, we believe, is within an academic setting e.g. using universities as the foundation for data collection and analysis. Institutions of higher learning are set up to provide the scientific rigor and objectivity needed to make sound decisions. Universities also can provide the academic training and expertise that will enhance our scientific understanding over the long term.

In closing, Northwest RiverPartners is all about ensuring that the best possible science is collected and available to fishery managers, decision-makers and others in the region. Independent, credible science is critical to making good decisions about what measures should be undertaken to protect and recover salmon. Credible science is critical to ensure that the enormous investment being made by my members is the best possible investment and one that will pay ongoing dividends in terms of salmon recovery. Bonneville Power has our support for the competitive process they have initiated and we urge them to continue to stay the course. It will serve the region and the salmon well.