BPA Seeks to Restaff Workforce
The federal Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) lost hundred of employees due to federal cuts and buyouts
By Zoë Buhrmaster
Correction: This story has been updated as of March 17, 2025 to reflect that no Kalispell BPA linemen were lost due to federal cuts.
The federal hydro-powerhouse Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is looking to restaff its ranks after losing hundreds of employees to nationwide reduction-in-force measures last month.
The Oregon-based hydropower company provides the northwest’s largest supply of clean energy, selling power from 31 dams operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation to utility entities across the western states, including Flathead Electric Cooperative (FEC).
As part of the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to governmental agencies, BPA fired at least 89 probationary employees, those still in the first or second year of their position with fewer civil service protections.
Additionally, around 300 employees – including line maintenance workers and control center dispatch personnel – accepted the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)’s “Fork in the Road” offer to resign and receive a substantial severance payout.
Last week, the Department of Energy (DOE) granted the BPA permission to hire back 89 of the probationary employees fired, and a BPA spokesperson stated that the agency is “seeking exemptions from any further staff reductions that would negatively impact our operations.” The BPA is still under a federal hiring freeze, however, meaning they must wait to hire back for the positions of those who took the federal buyout offer.
BPA is a self-funded, nonprofit federal agency within the DOE, and its costs are covered through charges to ratepayers, a point former BPA administrators Randy Hardy and Steve Wright emphasized in a letter on the impacts of losing staff, which the former officials said “does not save U.S. taxpayers one dime.”
“The basic problem Steve and I highlighted still exists,” Hardy said. “They’re still down almost 20% of the dispatchers which is the most critical position, those who run the control center in Spokane.”
Hardy served as BPA’s top administrator from 1991 to 1997 and Wright served at the helm from 2000 to 2013.
BPA declined to answer any questions, deferring to the DOE.
Flathead Electric buys around 80% of its electricity from hydropower generated by the BPA’s Federal Columbia River Power System. The BPA oversees these electrical lines, meaning that when there’s an outage it is BPA line workers who are responsible for fixing it. BPA doesn’t work with FEC on a daily basis, with the exception being an issue with the power supply.
Whether or not any downstream effects will materialize for FEC, which services the greater part of the valley, has yet to be seen.
Courtney Stone, communications and marketing supervisor for the co-op, said that they are staying up to date with the BPA news and have yet to hear about any potential impacts to service from the BPA.
“Any reduction in BPA’s workforce is concerning to Flathead Electric,” Stone said. “The good news is that BPA announced they’ll bring back the employees who were laid off. Flathead Electrical Co-op was happy to hear that because the jobs at BPA are pretty specialized.”