Idaho’s U.S. Sen. Frank Church wrote BPA’s rulebook. It demands reliable power, too.

By: Will Hart, Kurt Miller

Outlets: Idaho Capital Sun

Published: May 7, 2026

Words: 779

Last Updated: 1 month, 2 weeks ago

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Frank Church’s conservation legacy deserves respect. But the federal law that Frank Church and his U.S. Senate colleagues passed — the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980 — does not ask the region to choose salmon over reliable power. It requires an “adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable” power supply, alongside fish and wildlife protection under the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program.

Forty-five years later, the harder question …

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