Jasen Bronec: White House secrecy could drastically raise electric rates
By Jasen Bronec
A government for the people, by the people continues to lose its effectiveness. Recent lack of transparency and back-room deals conducted by the White House is likely to lead to leaner bank accounts and dark homes for the American public – especially in the Pacific Northwest.
Secret White House meetings, deliberately closed off from key stakeholders, like public power, have yielded some dangerous and potentially costly proposals. The U.S. government’s proposed “Commitments in Support of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative and in Partnership with the Six Sovereigns” were recently made public.
Public power organizations and advocates repeatedly requested to be involved in these discussions only to be ghosted and ignored. The lack of transparency and blatant exclusion of energy stakeholders is underhanded and flies in the face of cooperation and inclusion.
The commitments spell out the terms of a proposed settlement over long-lasting litigation surrounding the Federal Columbia River Power System – primarily the removal of the four lower Snake River dams.
This proposal undermines clean energy and climate goals, could raise electric rates for families struggling to pay their bills, threatens grid reliability and impedes the economy and food production in our region. Simply put, these agreements could have us paying a great deal more to sit hungry in the dark.
Should these commitments become reality, it is projected that electric rates could skyrocket by 50%. It also means that rolling blackouts, like we have seen in California, caused by clean energy resources being eliminated could be the new normal.
A changing climate is already putting pressure on the electric grid. Couple that with our carbon-free and electrification goals, we need all the resources we can muster. Luckily, we already have an abundant source of clean, renewable energy – hydropower.
Solar and wind are valuable pieces of the resource puzzle, however there are two terms that need to be understood – firm vs. intermittent resources. Firm resources are able to produce around the clock. Wind and solar power are intermittent, which means they only produce energy at the mercy of Mother Nature. If conditions are not right, they don’t produce.
As we move toward electrifying things like transportation, our resources are not up the challenge, even with current energy production.
Trends are showing capacity deficits of roughly 6,000 MW by 2032 during winter and summer months. That deficit is estimated without firm generation being added or taken away. Now let’s throw in breaching the lower Snake River dams. We will be looking at a 7,000 MW deficit. To put that in perspective, that would mean that more than 4.5 million people – or the equivalent of the entire state of Oregon - would lose power.
We have already seen the potential for disaster when it comes to having enough resources in our region. Twice in the last four years, life-threatening cold snaps drained our energy resources to near catastrophic levels. Regional utilities were desperately urged to ask ratepayers to conserve power before we ran out. It was hydropower, primarily the dams on the lower Snake River, that kept our lights on and more importantly heaters running.
President Biden is moving our region, and nation as a whole, toward a green future. Unfortunately, if these recently unearthed commitments are put into play, this green future will hit all our bank accounts extra hard. It is time we take action and tell Washington, D.C., to not move forward with these commitments. We will not stand for paying more for power that isn’t guaranteed to be there when we need it. We urge you to contact Senators Murray and Cantwell to voice your opposition to the White House’s secretive actions and your support of our region’s coveted clean hydropower.
The American people expect more from the president. We deserve and demand better.
Jasen Bronec, of Spokane, is CEO of Inland Power, the largest nonprofit electric cooperative in Washington state. It serves more than 40,000 members in 13 counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.