Laserfiche WebLink
<br />03~u <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />o Request that the Inspector General of the Department of <br />Energy audit the transmission project accounts of the <br />~lestern Area Power Administration, to verify the financial <br />status of all major hydropower transmission projects <br />administered by WAPA. <br /> <br />o Revise the Secretarial Order delegating approval of ~IAPA <br />rates to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to <br />include the authority to adjust such rates and take other <br />remedial actions to assure that the taxpayers' investment <br />in Federal hydropower projects is repaid in a reasonable <br />period of time in accordance with sound business principles. <br /> <br />Recommendations for the Congress <br /> <br />He recommend that the Congress respond to the demonstrated <br />mismanagement of water project repayment requirements in the <br />following manner: <br /> <br />o The House Government Operations Committee and the Senate <br />Government Affairs Committee should hold oversight hearings <br />on the disposition of the seven Reclamation project audits, <br />including both the administrative response of the <br />Department of the Interior and the follow-up activities of <br />the Office of the Inspector General. <br /> <br />o The House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs a.nd the <br />Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources should <br />hold oversight hearings on Reclamation repayment policy, <br />including cost allocation, contract negotiation, interest <br />rate selection, and ability to pay ~riteria, and should <br />report legislation necessary to correct past abuses. <br /> <br />o In the absence of additional contractual commitments by <br />non-Federal interests to repay all reimbursable costs, the <br />Congress should withhold further appropriations for the <br />Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project and the San <br />Felipe Division of the Central Valley Project, and <br />reallocate such funds to those projects where local <br />interests have demonstrated a greater willingness to meet <br />all repayment obligatisns in a timely manner. <br /> <br />o To insure greater consistency and improved financial <br />management, the Congress should require that the most <br />acceptable methods of cost allocation for Reclamation <br />projects shOUld be determined through a formal agency <br />rulemaking, with opportunity for public notice and comment <br />as provided by the Administrative Procedures Act. <br /> <br />14 <br />