Northwest Power and Conservation Council

Based in Portland, Oregon, the Council was created in 1980 when the U.S. Congress passed the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act.

[1] The council's main task is to develop a 20-year electric power plan that will guarantee adequate and reliable energy at the lowest economic and environmental cost to the Northwest.

As a planning, policymaking and reviewing body, the Council develops the program, and then monitors its implementation by the Bonneville Power Administration, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the United States Bureau of Reclamation, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and its licensees.

The Northwest Power Act directs the council to develop its program and make periodic major revisions by first requesting recommendations from the region’s federal and state fish and wildlife agencies, appropriate Indian tribes (those within the basin) and other interested parties.

The council then issues a draft amended program, initiating an extensive public comment period on the recommendations and proposed program amendments that includes extensive written comments, public hearings in each of the four states, and consultations with interested parties.