United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-03-31 monographic deposited born digital 118 p. GA 1.13:RCED-97-48 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48 P0b002ee180376f57 f:rc97048 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48 RCED-97-48 Hydroelectric powerplants Hydroelectric energy Property disposal Surplus federal property Interagency relations Electric utilities Privatization Native American rights Endangered species Utility rates Bureau of Reclamation Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program DOE Richard B. Russell Project Chapter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the: (1) profiles of three power marketing administrations, including their similarities and differences and their interactions with the agencies that operate federal water projects; (2) general parameters of the process by which federally owned assets can be sold; and (3) factors that would have to be addressed in a divestiture of federal hydroelectric assets, such as the relationship between power generation and the other purposes of federal water projects.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) while the Southeastern, Southwestern, and Western Power Administrations all market the hydropower generated at federal water projects, they serve different geographical areas and have different assets; (2) their customers vary in size and in their electric energy purchases; (3) PMAs are not the main source of electricity for most of their customers; (4) the three PMAs in GAO's report supply about 7 percent of the electricity requirements of their customers; (5) the PMAs have a close working relationship with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers; (5) these interactions are based in part on written agreements and on flexible arrangements that recognize the operating agencies' role in managing water releases in a way that balances a project's multiple purposes; (6) two principal objectives have typically been cited by other nations and by the United States for selling government assets: (a) eliminating or reducing the government's presence in an activity that some view as best done by the private sector; and (b) improving the government's fiscal situation; (7) as the basis for deciding to divest government assets, these two objectives will affect many subsequent decisions needed to implement a sale; (8) implementation issues include decisions about such concerns as what specific assets to sell, how to group these assets, what conditions and liabilities to transfer to the buyer, and what sales mechanism to employ; (9) if, based on a broad policy evaluation of the pros and cons of privatization, a decision the divest federal hydropower assets is reached, several key issues specifically related to hydropower would need to be addressed; (10) these issues include balancing how water is used among the multiple purposes of federal water projects, assigning the numerous contractual obligations and liabilities of the Bureau, the Corps, and the PMAs, handling Native Americans' claims to water, property and tribal artifacts, and determining the future responsibility for protecting the environment and endangered species--a commitment that already constrains the operations of many projects; (11) the potential effects of a divestiture on wholesale and retail electric rates, which in turn would affect regional economies, are other important issues; and (12) to a large degree, these impacts would be determined by the prevailing wholesale electric rates of the local utilities in the regio* https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48.pdf GAO/RCED-97-48 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-48 Chapter Report GAO/RCED-97-48; Federal Power: Issues Related to the Divestiture of Federal Hydropower Resources; Hydroelectric powerplants Hydroelectric energy Property disposal Surplus federal property Interagency relations Electric utilities Privatization Native American rights Endangered species Utility rates Bureau of Reclamation Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program DOE Richard B. Russell Project H. Rept. 104-46