Western's History

   Congress established Western on August 4, 1977 under Section 302 of the Department of Energy Organization Act. Under this statute, Western assumed power marketing responsibilities and transmission system assets from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Consequently, Reclamation retained responsibility for water sales, as well as dam and powerplant construction and facility operation and maintenance.

   Most Federal hydroelectric powerplants in the West were constructed in the early- to mid-1900s by Reclamation or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as features of multi-purpose water development projects. These projects were primarily built to store water for irrigation and to provide for navigation and flood control. The secondary purpose was to provide for recreation and fish and wildlife. Powerplants were constructed at the dams to pump irrigation water to customers and to provide revenue from power sales to help repay many project costs.

   Although power generation and revenue are vital to the financial success of these multi-purpose projects, the law requires that other authorized project purposes take priority over electrical generation.