PREFACE That Bonneville Power Administration exists at all is historically surprising. It came into being in 1937 on a temporary basis, pending establishment of what some hoped would be a Columbia Valley Authority patterned after the Tennessee Valley Authority. The near completion of Bonneville Dam construction necessitated a quick arrangement for selling the power. The Congress adopted the Bonneville Project Act as a stopgap, to create a "provisional" agency. This is one explanation of why the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) was created. Other impressions exist. For example, the BPA library has an official legislative history of the Bonneville Project Act of August 20, 1937, but of some 40 bills introduced starting on January 3, 1935, the legislative history treats only the last bill and its signing into law. The legislative history does not treat the alternatives considered, the issues debated, and the controversies; and thus is too limited. Three other histories exist. In 1942 Lillian Davis, of the BPA library, assembled accounts from various sections of BPA covering the first five years. Her effort remains in rough draft. Again in 1944 Lillian Davis assembled drafts under the title The Bonneville Power Administration and the War. This work also is in draft form. Most recently Vera Springer prepared a compact history in response to a request from the American Public Works Association. Her work was published in 1977 with the title Power and the Pacific Northwest. These earlier writings proved helpful to the present effort. In 1974 the incumbent Administrator Donald Paul Hodel requested a different kind of history. He asked: When and how did Bonneville's major policies originate? He envisioned a history of policies useful to the general public and specifically for people dealing with BPA, as well as for use by the staff. He noted the large exodus of retirees including top officers who knew why many policies were adopted. The record verifies the basis for his concern. In the six years 1970 through 1975 BPA had 1093 separations; 575, or almost 100 per year left for retirement. In short, a whole generation of older employees was leaving. In contrast to the customary 30-year generation of mankind, the time cycle for a generation of top management is likely to be only 5 or 6 years. With the passage of over four decades it appears appropriate to undertake a history of the policies of the Bonneville Power Administration, and to examine whether the policies have relevance to the future. The time has come to open the 1937 time capsule, so to speak, and also to think about the present-day capsule that another generation might open four decades hence. Energy planners often use 2020 and 2050 as target dates for long-term planning. How good will the present day planning prove to have been? Administrator Hodel laid down two guidelines for the proposed history: First, follow the facts wherever they lead, or the history will not have credibility, and second, where appropriate and feasible, evaluate the policies for their relevance for the future. As to the scope of the history, an important question arose about starting the history in 1937 with the Bonneville Act as passed, and going from there, or to go behind the Bonneville Act to search out the origins of the various policies of the Act. The latter view was concurred in by the late Bernard Goldhammer, then Power Manager. His approach was adopted and he supervised the early stages of the historical research. In seven conferences prior to his retirement at the end of 1974, he approved three guidelines: First, he urged the identification of BPA's major policies and the selection of representative, significant policies; Second, he emphasized the need to trace each policy back to its genesis although some antedated the creation of BPA: Third, he asked for a description of the setting and politics at the time each policy was adopted. As it turned out, the historical settings became the basis for dividing the history into 10 parts as shown in the table of contents. The first part concerns the time before 1929; the second 1929-1934; and the third 1935-1937. Part four covers the start of BPA operations in 1938 and 1939. The next five parts deal with the subsequent four decades. The tenth and last part relates to the future. The first chapter in each part describes the historical setting. Generally, a policy responded to the then current political climate. The ten parts follow one another chronologically. Each chapter on a given policy or program also uses chronological order. Chapters appear so as to credit the policy to the historical period in which the policy was adopted. The first three parts and perhaps the fourth part trace the earlier policies to their genesis. The background was provided as far as necessary to explain the situation. The conservation heritage comes from the previous century. The evolution of the Federal policy on internal improvements goes back even farther. These national policies and other factors had to evolve before the Federal Government could build its first dam. It required many more debates before the Congress resolved on how to handle the generation and marketing of electric energy. A slow evolution took place from the many decades of wasteful exploitation of resources to a national conservation policy. The chapter on the Conservation Learning Curve suggests much work and much research remain to be done to improve and refine the concepts of conservation. Conservation proves to be a fundamental thread that runs through the history as a positive continuity. The history involves many themes. The title suggests a broad theme of Columbia River power for the people. The authority to build transmission facilities, the policies on widespread use, postage stamp rate, anti-monopoly, and preference all facilitated rural electrification, low rates, multiple purpose river development, and industrial and economic betterment. The transmission grid system, one of the Nation's largest, illustrates regionalism, a decentralized approach, and many technological achievements. The operation of the grid opened the door for power management services far beyond the mere marketing of Federally generated power. Finally BPA has evolved institutionally as a member of a pluralistic, regional electric system of public, cooperative, and private utilities, and large industrial customers, with major inter-regional and interagency relationships. More than two thousand years ago the Greek historian Polybius declared that the purpose of history is not satisfied by mere narrative and chronology. He held that history can and should be instructive: that we should be able to learn from history. Most scholars have since approved of Polybius. Much more recently, in the last century, the nature of history has changed from preoccupation with kings, generals, wars, and dates, to a study of the underlying evolution of political, social, economic, and cultural forces. Today few subjects and few aspects of modern living escape the curiosity of historians. The history of BPA touches engineering, technology, research, public administration, construction, economics, accounting, business, regionalism, planning, and natural resources. A balanced, adequate and meaningful history involves all such areas. It must also serve the generalist. A policy history must focus on policy and must address the question of "why?" What need gave rise to the policy? What caused the policy? Many definitions of policy exist. Commonly, policy is a guide for action; an intent to achieve a goal or objective. Professor Ira Sharkansky defines policy in government as the action itself: policy is the action from its inception to the completion of the program and its evaluation. The total action is the policy. Policy is viewed differently by individuals as opposed to governments. One is micro-policy, the other is macro-policy. The policy of the Bonneville Act is a cluster of policies, interrelated, interwoven, and mutually supportive. The Bonneville Act, the Columbia River development program, the treaty with Canada, the West Coast interties are examples of broad programs comprising many policies. This history emphasizes election results. The BPA organization encompasses many skills, each important. The engineer may wish to shun politics. But every two years the Nation goes to the polls and adjusts the political climate in which the BPA organization lives and works. BPA must respond to need and to the political process. Policy arises from need and the political process expresses the need, whether formally or informally, clearly or vaguely, specifically or generally. In writing this history many people have helped or provided encouragement. Information became available from many sources. Hector Durocher especially provided technical advice, and Russ Holt editorial review. The writer, of course, must be responsible. The references guide the reader to sources for further detail. A final word about policy. No work was found to serve as a guide for preparing a formal policy history. Since about 1968 the field of policy has emerged in several graduate schools. They began offering masters degrees in public policy, policy analysis, and indeed policy science. Three academic journals on public policy are being published. Several dozen books exist on the nature of policy. Nonetheless the field is quite new. The most important policy is the spirit and morale of the people who pioneered the development of the Columbia River and formulated the plans to transmit the benefits to the public. Many people had the vision, the sense of mission, and dedication to public service. Many retirees talked about the spirit of BPA. They were happy in what they had helped build. John Baldino had started with BPA in 1938 in a survey crew, retiring in 1976 after serving as deputy administrator. At his retirement luncheon he said this: "I feel like only yesterday I got into a Model T Ford and now |
