Utilities and lawmakers in the Northwest agree the Bonneville Power Administration’s next administrator must focus on building transmission and take risks to make that happen.

Republicans in the U.S. House introduced a bill to increase the salary for the head of the Bonneville Power Administration in an attempt to make the position more competitive and attractive as the agency searches for its next leader.

The Bonneville Power Administration opened the selection process for the agency’s next administrator via an online job posting, prompting questions about the salary range and the level of input Northwestern lawmakers will have.

The Bonneville Power Administration faces monumental challenges in implementing actions to meet the Pacific Northwest’s needs once it lifts its pause on transmission planning.

Former BPA Administrators collaborated on a public letter distributed in the Pacific Northwest about the “tremendous risk being created” in the region by workforce reductions at the federal agency.