Central Montana Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. v. Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration

Central Montana Electric Power Cooperative and Upper Missouri G & T Electric Cooperative (the Cooperatives) challenge the decision by the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to deny its request for an allocation of electricity produced at the Libby Dam and Reservoir (Libby). We conclude that the action is justiciable for review, original jurisdiction lies with this Court, and that the controlling statutes set forth no Montana preference for Libby power.

FACTS

Libby is a federal hydroelectric project located in western Montana. The Administrator of the BPA is the federal marketing agent for all electric power produced by the United States government in the Pacific Northwest, which includes energy generated at Libby. In May 1986 the Cooperatives, on behalf of their member cooperatives serving consumers in eastern Montana, applied to the Administrator to purchase power from the Libby project under an asserted “Montana reservation.” The BPA denied the requests, reasoning that it had no authority to provide Montana users with a preference to power from Libby because Congress had not established a Montana reservation for Libby power.

The Cooperatives…