Under a draft proposal by the Western Area Power
Administration, over 600 publically owned utilities and rural
electric associations must add renewable resources and energy
efficiency to their planning procedures or forfeit their right to
buy cheap federal hydropower. WAPA’s Draft Energy Planning and
Marketing EIS, released March 25, would require all utilities that
buy subsidized power from the West’s vast network of 50 federal
hydroelectric dams to switch to Integrated Resource Planning. The
proposal is required by the 1992 Energy Policy Act and represents a
fundamental shift in managment for many rural co-ops and municipal
utilities. Under Integrated Resource Planning, utilities must open
their planning procedures to broad public involvement; compare
traditional power sources such as coal-fired power plants to
alternative sources such as wind, solar, cogeneration and energy
efficiency; use those alternatives with the least economic and
environmental costs; and monitor both economic and environmental
performance. The draft EIS lists 12 alternatives, which include
exemptions for smaller utilities. WAPA will hold public hearings on
the proposal April 12 through May 3 in seven Western states. For
more information about meetings, copies of the 230-page draft EIS
or a 16-page summary, contact Bob Fullerton, WAPA, P.O. Box 3402,
Golden, CO 80401 (303/275-1610).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Rural co-ops must change.
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