B.C. Hydro has agreed to allow U.S. power competition in British Columbia. B.C. Hydro's marketing subsidiary, Powerex, will comply with the ruling by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. B.C. cannot now use all the downstream benefits from the Columbia River Treaty. The U.S. has insisted on fair trade and free trade for hydro power. B.C. Hydro must allow U.S. power companies to sell power in B.C. before B.C. can sell power back to the Americans.
Negotiations are under way.
Instead of the United States building a 150-kilometer transmission line from the Grand Coulee Dam over the border to Oliver, B.C., existing hydro lines will be used. Nothing has changed just the deal is now signed and a less desirable memorandum in September 1995 has been scrapped. Under the treaty the countries were supposed to split the power generated in Grand Coulee Washington by dams storing water on the Columbia River system further upstream. Canada's share of the power is about 1,400 megawatts. Power for the remaining 30 years of the treaty is worth about 5 billion dollars.