Bonneville Power Administration

Bonneville Power Administration - Going Down...

Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is one of the flagship power marketing agencies of the Federal government. BPA's job is to distribute electric energy from the Columbia River system in the Pacific Northwest.

BPA has always given other peoples money away to special interests in the Pacific Northwest. But Columbia River is so vast, and the electric power so incredibly cheap, that until very recently it was unimaginable that they could screw up badly enough to crash the system.

No more. BPA is going down, and the lifeboats are reserved for their special friends. The end game is underway, and you, dear taxpayer, are about to lose a bundle.

The latest scoop, Updated often
Here's the latest word on this unfolding drama. Facts, rumors and innuendo to get your blood boiling.
How we got here, September 1995
Once upon a time, BPA was a shining example of big government at its best. The Columbia River powered the transition of the Pacific Northwest from a backwater colony to a major industrial economy in a single generation. BPA made it happen, establishing public control and local empowerment as a fundamental mandate along the way. This is a brief introduction to how it happened, and what went wrong.
Why Bonneville Power Administration will default, October 1995
BPA claims that if they can just give away more money, everything will be just fine. They're dead wrong. Here's why.
Really Simple Toolkit for estimating Bonneville Power Administration probability of default, July 1995 (requires Microsoft Excel)
BPA owes the US government about $20 billion dollars. BPA has put together a really big spreadsheet model that analyzes the risk of missing their payments to the Federal Treasury. Convergence Research put together a spreadsheet model using the same dataset which reduces their entire analysis to a single probability distribution. The results are identical, but this model is faster, more flexible, has nicer graphics, and is 2% of the size.
Where the money goes, September 1995
A brief summary of who gets the goodies.
Rogue's Gallery - a sampling of who's who in the BPA special interest game, September 1995
Ever wonder where BPA officials go when they leave the agency? You'll wish you never asked.
GAO Report on the Tennessee Valley Authority, August 1995
The only other federal power marketing agency with a big stake in dead nuclear plants is the Tennessee Valley Authority. Guess what? They're in trouble too.
Operating and Financial Status of Power Marketing Administrations, US General Accounting Office, October 1995
How big a deal is the collapse of BPA, anyway? Check it out. Also available in Acrobat format.
How to save BPA, September 1995
It doesn't have to be this way. For over three years, a coalition of state agencies and public interest groups have been advocating a way out of this mess that positions BPA to be a competitive player forever.