Only a "few names have emerged" as potential candidates to head the Bonneville Power Administration, a position that "was once considered the top federal post" in the Northwest.
Current BPA Administrator Randy Hardy last month said he would step down from the post.
The person whose name "remains most in play" is Sharon Nelson, former head of the Washington state Utilities and Transportation Commission. Chuck Collins, former head of the Northwest Power Planning Council, has also been mentioned, along with Roy Hemmingway, a salmon and energy advisor to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber (D).
The White House Council on Environmental Quality is "going to want to have [its] say," and it might push for someone who would focus on salmon and wildlife issues, such as National Marine Fisheries Service Regional Administrator Will Stelle.
The BPA supplies about 40% of the electricity consumed in the Northwest and oversees salmon-restoration efforts on the Snake and Columbia rivers (Les Blumenthal, Tacoma News Tribune, 8/24).
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