Projects and Related Studies
The Distribution of Minority and Low-Income Populations of the Western-Sacramento Region (Western Area Power Administration)
The Western Area Power Administration (Western) was founded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Organization Act of 1977 to market and transmit federal hydroelectric power to all of the western US except the Pacific Northwest, which is served by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Western is divided into five Power Marketing Areas including the Sacramento Area (Western-Sacramento), the focus of this study.
Western-Sacramento currently markets approximately 1,480 megawatts of power to 77 customers in northern and central California. These customers include investor-owned utilities, public utilities, federal agencies, military bases, and irrigation districts. The Central Valley Project (CVP) and the Washoe Project provide the primary power resources marketed by Western-Sacramento. Western-Sacramento also purchases and markets power generated by BPA, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and various power pools.
All existing contracts for power delivery to these customers expire at the end of 2004. Western-Sacramento is developing a 2004 Power Marketing Plan to analyze options of renewing or replacing these contracts. To comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), Western-Sacramento is producing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as part of the plan that establishes a range of power marketing alternatives and measures their environmental impacts.
The Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) regulates water management in central California. It mandates 23 provisions for fish and wildlife restoration within the CVP's jurisdiction, which includes the Western-Sacramento Region. The CVPIA provisions may affect the baseline water resource conditions used to forecast hydroelectric generation potential for the alternatives to be analyzed in Western-Sacramento's 2004 EIS. Actions resulting from Western-Sacramento's contract renewal and replacement process may cause environmental impacts in addition to those attributed to the CVPIA. The CVPIA requires that the US Bureau of Reclamation file an EIS documenting environmental impacts of the CVPIA provisions. Analysis presented in a report prepared by Battelle economists applied only to populations potentially affected by Western-Sacramento's actions.
Battelle prepared a report on the distribution of minority and low-income populations, which will be used to supplement documentation on the characteristics of the population potentially affected by Western-Sacramento's 2004 Power Marketing Plan, and will be directly cited in Western-Sacramento's EIA.
Project contact: Dave Anderson