By TONY SCHICK and COURTNEY SHERWOOD/Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Bonneville Power Administration could lose nearly 20 percent of its workforce because of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, according to agency figures released Thursday and interviews with staff. That’s raising concerns among current and former employees about the agency’s ability to ensure the reliability of the region’s electrical grid.
About 200 of the agency’s more than 3,000 employees have accepted the Trump administration’s offer to resign and receive eight months of severance pay, which the administration sent via an email with the subject line “Fork in the Road.”
BPA administrator John Hairston announced that number Thursday during the agency’s quarterly outlook presentation. An additional 90 job offers at BPA were rescinded as a result of the administration’s freeze on federal hiring. Chief financial officer is among the open positions held up by the hiring freeze.
Current and former BPA staff anticipate another 350 to 400 probationary employees could be cut — though one current employee said agency leadership have fought to keep that number below 150. E&E News reported Thursday that the Department of Energy planned to lay off most or all of its probationary employees.
The employees taking the buyout include linemen, engineers, substation operators and power dispatchers — positions that take years of apprenticeship to learn.
“I can’t overemphasize the fact that this is a serious, serious, operational problem,” Randall Hardy, an energy consultant and former administrator of BPA, said about the staff losses. “The reliability impacts of this could be very serious. I mean the lights go out. Unplanned outages.”
Losing a large chunk of its highly trained workforce will hinder the agency’s ability to perform core functions, the BPA staff members said. Those functions include distributing hydropower from 31 federal dams and operating 75 percent of the Northwest’s power grid, ensuring reliable electricity for millions in the Northwest.
The Newport-based Central Lincoln Peoples Utility District, whose service area covers most of Lincoln County and stretches south to North Bend, gets its electricity from the BPA.
OPB also spoke about the staff losses with three BPA employees who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. OPB verified their identities using a variety of publicly available records.
“I’m sighing a lot,” the person added. “I feel so defeated. Every day is an emotional roller coaster.”
During Thursday’s quarterly outlook presentation, Hairston said BPA leadership was working closely with the Department of Energy to carry out the president’s directions.
“I want to express my appreciation to Bonneville’s workforce for navigating these changes with professionalism, maintaining focus on BPA’s critical mission and advancing our strategic initiatives,” Hairston said, adding that the Trump administration had “made it clear that it’s a national priority to increase the abundance of affordable, reliable, and secure energy to strengthen the grid and to enable the projects that will improve people’s lives.”
BPA officials did not respond to emailed questions about how the reduction in its workforce would affect efforts to strengthen the grid and provide affordable and reliable energy, how many transmission-related employees were leaving the agency, or whether ongoing transmission upgrades would be slowed because of the loss of staff.
The BPA employees OPB spoke to said it would be unlikely the agency could strengthen and expand the grid as promised.“No way, we’ll be in damage control and literally trying to keep the lights on,” one transmission employee said. While employees are already dealing with limited resources and increasingly extreme weather, wildfires and rapid increases in electricity demand, this person said, “Having one hand tied behind our back means putting the communities we serve at risk.”
Scott Simms, executive director of the Public Power Council, which represents BPA power customers, said the personnel losses were very concerning, and that the council would be sending letters and seeking meetings with the Trump administration to express the critical role of BPA’s functions for Northwest energy.
“It’s a huge duty and it’s extremely important and so we’ve got safety as an issue,” Simms said. “You’ve got mission critical aspects in terms of dam operations, in terms of you’re making sure that those wires are safe, etc. so we wanna make sure that those folks who are highly trained remain in those jobs.”
The Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment.
The staff reduction at BPA is part of Trump’s vow to make substantial cuts across the federal workforce.
Trump signed an executive order earlier this week requiring federal agencies to work with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the operation led by billionaire Elon Musk. The order installs at each federal agency a “DOGE Team Lead” who has oversight over hiring.
Hardy, the former BPA administrator, said he considered the Bonneville staff reductions to be ironic because the agency is self-funded. It receives no money from taxpayers and funds all of its staff and programs with its power and transmission sales.
“So the administration isn’t saving a thing with these,” Hardy said. “ It doesn’t save one penny towards reducing the Federal deficit.”
- This story originally appeared Feb. 13, 2025 on Oregon Public Broadcasting.
More evidence of the mindless removal of federal workers without regard for logic, effectiveness, analysis, or concern for future harm. Trump is a rogue President doing tremendous harm to the country to satisfy his desire for retribution; he sees enemies everywhere. As a resident of Arizona but frequent visitor to Oregon, we are saddened to watch the dismantling of our society and the Constitutional order. Resistance is necessary in whatever ways are available and legal—though it appears Trump is determined to flout the law as well.
If the private sector can get by eliminating jobs then the federal government can too.
Nonsense. The federal government does jobs that the private sector doesn’t do because the private sector only does something if it makes money.
I disagree with your premise that it’s Trump’s fault. Get over your frustration and blaming Trump for doing what voters want regarding government overspending accountability.
I haven’t seen any polls indicating that a majority of residents of the US oppose all the types of spending that Trump, et al have targeted. Some might like to see a better funded IRS that can not only process returns of those who work for wages, salaries, but have sufficient staff to regularly audit the returns of large corporations–they have very complex returns. https://www.vox.com/politics/2024/2/7/24063380/irs-inflation-reduction-act-audit-returns “A new report released by the Treasury Department on Tuesday argues that those economists had a point, that we have been understating the revenue this new IRS funding will bring in. They argue that it will bring in over $170 billion more than they previously thought over an 11-year window and that, if Congress extends this funding for the IRS, the ultimate revenue gain could be more than double initial estimates.” Wouldn’t you like to see that money available to pay down the deficit? I sure would.
And some might want to see the US spend alot less on “defense” or increasing the profits of defense contractors, and more on making health care more affordable, housing more affordable (which Trump’s tariffs won’t accomplish), and making it more possible for more people to earn a decent living or improved socio-economic mobility. “Defense” budget has increased most years. And how many enlisted people do you think want to become prison guards at Gitmo? US Army’s having enough difficulty w/recruiting as it is, although that may be partly because the most of the budget increases in the defense budget don’t go to increase wages/salaries of enlisted people. And the Reuters/ ProPublica series on the problems w/military housing (now managed by “contractors”) exposed poor living conditions for members of the military & their families (mold, pests, etc) and almost no tenant rights. That series finally prompted the DoD to at least consider some increase in tenant rights & slightly increased review of contractor performance. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-military/
BPA is funded from power and transmission rate payers, so they receive no funds from government spending. Please educate yourself before asserting that these actions are related to government overspending.
BPA is public power. BPAs mission is to market the power from the Federal Columbia River Power System, giving preference pricing to non-profit, publicly owned utilities. Portland General Electric and Seattle City Light don’t get preference pricing, they pay the going market rate, but Central Lincoln Electric Coop, like many other small rural electric utilities, does enjoy preference pricing. And therein lies the rub. Ironically, public power benefits rural communities much more than it does urban communities – and it was designed to do so.
But Republicans don’t believe in public power, or public health, or public radio, or the public in general – rural or otherwise. They want to shrink government until it can be straggled in a bathtub. A bathtub full of cold water.
Way too much blaming the Republicans for all the failures of the Democrats.
Public Power utilities in the Pacific Northwest have some of the lowest power rates in the country. Not sure why that is viewed as a failure of the Democrats.
How does decimating the federal workforce and privatizing essential governmental functions uncover fraud?
I’m all for cracking down on fraud (remember the $25 hammers DOD was buying 20 years ago?).
Although the federal civil service workforce is about the same as in the 1970s, the agencies’ budgets increased substantially because Reagan privatized the services provided by the government.
Rather than growing a federal workforce, we paid contractors (civilian and defense) to do the work at significantly higher cost than would have been incurred by keep the jobs in-house.
Privatization made federal workers contract managers. As the appropriated budgets for contracts increased, the number of contract managers did not.
Private contractors were paid much more than federal employees, but rather than providing a pension, 401(k) plan, or health insurance, the firms were enriched.
The work of keeping the lights on has to continue, but terminating the federal workforce means more essentially governmental functions will be privatized. DOGE will not save money or uncover fraud.
BTW, about 350+ federal employees and their families are our neighbors.
Think about it.