The purpose of the short-lived Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), established in 1937, was to distribute and market power generated by the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam. Supporters anticipated that it would soon be superseded by an organization dedicated to comprehensive planning, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. Both the repeated attempts to create a Columbia Valley Authority and the subsequent attempts to demolish BPA were unsuccessful. The organization encouraged consumers to use electricity liberally while selling it at absurdly low costs. 
In an attempt to meet the demand it had helped create, it encouraged the building of further dams. Later, when the river was almost completely blocked, it placed a disastrous multibillion-dollar wager on nuclear power. It was forced to save energy and restore fish runs that the dams had destroyed by congressional mandates in the 1980s.
Listen now to learn more about this controversial venture in the Evergreen State and beyond!

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