Project Overview

In the early 1990s, BPA recognized that it needed an adaptive policy to guide the agency in meeting both its business and public service missions, in light of the increasingly competitive wholesale electricity market. Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), BPA undertook an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process to assist in developing such a policy, and in June 1995, released the two-volume Business Plan EIS.

BPA recently reviewed the Business Plan EIS through a Supplement Analysis (SA) to determine the following:

• If there are substantial changes in the proposed action (our BPA's business activities) that are relevant to environmental concerns; or
• If there are significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts.

The process included a comment period, which opened in December 2004 and closed on March 1, 2005. Six commenters responded. A summary of comments and text of the comments received are available below.

Getting Involved

As we review the Business Plan, we asked interested parties to submit comments that would help us frame:

• substantial changes in the proposed action that are relevant to environmental concerns; or
• significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts.

The comment period opened in December 2004 and closed on March 1, 2005. Six commenters responded. A summary of comments and text of the comments received are available below. Analysis of the existing EIS will continue until September 30, 2005, when the Supplement Analysis is targeted for release.

Thank you and check back often for new information.

Comment Summary (51Kb pdf)
Text of Comments (2.2MB pdf)

Current Status

In April 2007, BPA released the SA to the Business Plan EIS. The SA found that there are no substantial changes in the proposed action or significant new circumstances or information, as described above, and therefore no further NEPA review is needed. You can find the SA on the Business Plan EIS site.