Opinion ID: 778481
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: M-S-R's Petitions

Text: 30 Bonneville freely concedes that it considered projected power contracts when forecasting available excess federal power. M-S-R contends that Bonneville was obligated to base its ten-year forecasts of excess federal power solely on its then-current contracts and that its failure to do so rendered those forecasts invalid and the consequent termination of the Sales Agreement null and void. We disagree. 31 In the Excess Federal Power Act, Congress defined and authorized the sale of excess federal power but did not address the factors BPA must consider in forecasting its availability. 16 U.S.C. § 832m. In fact, Congress did not even require that BPA issue annual ten-year projections of excess federal power. Instead, Congress implicitly delegated to BPA the authority to develop the necessary procedures to implement the marketing of excess federal power. The mechanisms adopted by BPA in its EFP Policy and EFP-Decision represent the fruits of this delegation. 32 The EFP Policy provides that Bonneville will produce a 10-year annual average energy ... forecast of its then-current Firm Contractual Obligations. 9 The purpose behind a ten-year forecast is to enable the sale of excess federal power under contracts calling for delivery months or years in the future. Bonneville's ability to negotiate these delayed delivery contracts depends at least in part on the accuracy of its long-range forecasts. To ignore anticipated or known but unexecuted contracts in a forecast that purports to determine these obligations would have been patently unreasonable. Moreover, Bonneville issued its 1999 and 2000 forecasts at a time when few, if any, signed power sales contracts were in effect beyond 2001. Thus, in these circumstances, it was eminently reasonable for Bonneville to ground its forecasts in the best information available at that time, i.e., predictions of future energy demand derived from its subscription process. BPA's consideration of these factors was neither arbitrary nor capricious. 33 We reach the same result in reviewing Bonneville's determination that it would not have sufficient excess federal power to serve M-S-R's needs in operating year 2005. Bonneville was obligated to serve M-S-R under their Sales Agreement through October 1, 2004. After that date, the obligation was conditional, based on the availability of excess federal power. In its 1999 forecast, Bonneville anticipated 504 aMW of excess federal power for operating year 2005. BPA's unconditional excess federal power obligations for 2005 — i.e., those contracts with customers who, unlike M-S-R, had unconditional claims to excess federal power — amounted to 751 aMW. Consequently, Bonneville determined that it could not serve M-S-R's needs for that year. We see nothing arbitrary or capricious about BPA accounting for its unconditional obligations before its conditional ones. Accordingly, we deny M-S-R's petitions challenging BPA's forecasts of excess federal power.