The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is seeking public comments on the seventh annual report to the Northwest governors on Bonneville Power Administration expenditures to implement the Council's program to protect and rebuild fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.

The report (http://www.nwcouncil.org/library/2008/2008-03.htm) details Bonneville's spending from 1978 through 2007.

In Fiscal Year 2007, BPA spent a total of $716 million to mitigate the impacts of hydropower dams on fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin, says the report.

Of this amount, $139.5 million was for direct spending to implement the Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The remainder was money Bonneville reimburses the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation for fish-related dam operations ($60.3 million); interest, amortization, and depreciation (these are called "fixed expenses") on capital investments in facilities such as hatcheries and fish passage at dams ($112.9 million); forgone hydropower revenues that result from dam operations that benefit fish but reduce hydropower generation ($282.6 million); and power purchases to replace the forgone hydropower ($120.7 million).

The 2007 expenditures bring the grand total of Bonneville's fish and wildlife spending, from 1978 when the expenses began, through 2007, to $9,378,800,000.

Here, in descending order, is a breakdown of the expenditures, 1978-2007:

--- $3.02 billion for power purchases to meet load requirements in response to required river operations that reduce hydropower generation.

--- $2.06 billion in forgone revenue, the calculated value of hydropower that could not be generated because of required river operations to assist fish passage and improve fish survival, such as water spills at the dams when salmon and steelhead are migrating to or from the ocean.

--- $1.84 billion for the Council's direct program. As noted above, the direct-program expenditures do not include annual expenditures from the separate capital-investment budget. With capital expenditures added, the total for 1978-2007 is $3.97 billion.

--- $1.49 billion in fixed expenses for bonds issued by Bonneville to pay for capital investments in fish-passage facilities at the dams.

--- $922.5 million to reimburse the U.S. Treasury for the power-generation share of other federal agency expenditures to mitigate the impact of hydropower on fish and wildlife.

Comments will be accepted through the close of business on Friday, June 6, 2008. Comments should be directed to Mark Walker, Director of Public Affairs, Northwest Power and Conservation Council, 851 S.W. Sixth Avenue, Suite 1100, Portland, OR, 97204, or submitted by e-mail to comments@nwcouncil.org.