Attempts
to keep the Columbia River Fish and Wildlife
Program within a $139 million annual average for
the 2003-2006 period are, for now, right on
track, according to Bonneville Power
Administration officials.
Total
program "expense" for fiscal year 2004 is at
slightly more than $131.6 million. When combined
with fiscal year 2003's $141.6 million expense
total, the average for the two-year period is
$136.1 million. That effectively makes available
above-average spending -- $141.3 million -- in
each of the next two years.
"Which is
good news as we're expecting the BiOp to have an
effect on our budget," BPA's Scott Hampton told
the Northwest Power and Conservation Council
Wednesday. The NPCC administers the fish and
program and makes spending recommendations to
Bonneville. The federal power marketing agency
funds the program as mitigation for effects on
fish and wildlife stemming from construction and
operation of the federal Columbia River
hydrosystem.
BPA has
told the Council that $139 million will be
available annually on average in expense and up
to $36 million can be spent each year on capital
projects during the year. Capital expenditures
during 2004 were $7.3 million.
BPA, as a
federal action agency, is also responsible for
assuring that the hydrosystem operations don't
jeopardize the survival of salmon and steelhead
listed under the Endangered Species Act. A 2000
biological opinion issued by NOAA as ESA
coverage for hydro operations was declared
invalid last year by U.S. District Court Judge
James A. Redden. A new version -- expected to be
submitted later this month to the judge -- may
include additional mitigation measures that
would have to be funded through the program.
The actual
annual program spending -- the accruals -- in
both of the past two years has been below the
level of spending recommended by the Council.
Washington Councilor Larry Cassidy asked for an
accounting of that differential.
"We need
to know what happened -- what programs didn't
get implemented," Cassidy said. The Council
recommendations for 2004 totaled $151.3 million,
according to Hampton.
At least
$4 million of the total differential, and
perhaps much more, is for work that could be
"rescheduled" from 2004 to 2005. When BPA two
years ago switched to an accrual method of
accounting, it allowed for some rescheduling of
uncompleted work from one year to the next. The
new fiscal year began Oct. 1 and already $4
million worth of rescheduling has been
requested.
Hampton
said the agency is doing an analysis of the 20
or so largest projects that underspent their
budgets last year.
Under the
accrual method of accounting, the actual payout
for the year is totaled, regardless of when the
obligation (contract) was made. The Council's
start-of-year program budget recommended $146
million for fiscal 2005.
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