M-S-R Public Power Agency v. Bonneville Power Administration

Pursuant to its 1996 Excess Federal Power Policy, the Bonneville Power Administration (“BPA” or “Bonneville”) issues annual ten-year forecasts of the amount of “excess federal power” it anticipates will be available for sale to its customers during those years. Among those customers are the Petitioners: M-S-R Public Power Agency (“M-S-R”), a public entity located in California, and several aluminum companies (“Aluminum Companies”) located in the Pacific Northwest. 1 M-S-R filed a timely petition challenging (1) BPA’s method for calculating its 1999 and 2000 ten-year forecasts of excess federal power, (2) the timeliness of BPA’s 1999 and 2000 written notices of available excess federal power, and (3) the timeliness of BPA’s 2000 final ten-year forecast of excess federal power. The Aluminum Companies also challenged BPA’s method for calculating excess federal power, but based their petition on different grounds than M-S-R.

This Court has original jurisdiction over these petitions pursuant to section 9(e)(5) of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (“Northwest Power Act”), 16 U.S.C. § 839f(e)(5). We deny M-S-R’s petitions challenging BPA’s forecasts of…