Snohomish PUD should object to BPA’s market plan

Published 1:30 am Sunday, August 3, 2025

Thank you to The Herald for the recently published informative piece about poor decisions by the Bonneville Power Administration (“BPA adds to long history of poor resource management,” The Herald, July 19). It deserves careful attention; the consequences of those decisions will have wide impact for your power bills as well as for salmon. Unfortunately, our Snohomish PUD is aligned with the bad decisions and need to hear from us about that. Email them at Commissioners@Snopud.com.

Tell the Snohomish PUD to withdraw support for the more costly, less reliable and less environmentally friendly plan that BPA has selected. Remind them that Seattle City Light has recognized the superiority of the alternative plan from the Northwest Energy Coalition. There are good reasons that a lawsuit has been filed against BPA; they have violated the cost-effectiveness mandates of the Northwest Power Act and evaded the environmental analysis required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

As the authors say, “this is wonky stuff,” but we need to listen to those with the experience and knowledge to unpack the details. Check the credentials of Bill Arthur and Marc Sullivan; note their decades of working for policies that keep salmon from going totally extinct in the Columbia Basin. If you missed their Opinion piece, read it now and you will be amazed at the evidence provided about damaging policies promoted by BPA.

Marjorie Fields

Edmonds