FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 19, 2002
CONTACT: LaVerne Kyriss, 720-962-7051, kyriss@wapa.gov

LAKEWOOD, Colo.—On Dec. 21, Western Area Power Administration will celebrate its 25th anniversary as a Federal power marketing administration. Formed on the heels of the mid-1970s energy crisis, Western was born as part the establishment of the U.S. Department of Energy in 1977. The Department of Energy Organization Act carved a new agency, not yet named, from the power marketing functions managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Today, Western markets Federally generated hydropower from 55 powerplants in a 15-state region of the central and western United States, including all or part of Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Powerplants at Hoover Dam in Nevada, Glen Canyon Dam on the Nevada-Arizona border, the Central Valley Project in California and a series of dams on the Missouri River in the Upper Great Plains produce the energy that Western transmits to its customer utilities across its nearly 17,000 miles of transmission lines.

To celebrate its anniversary, Western developed an agency history documenting its first quarter century. It is posted on Western's Web site at http://www.wapa.gov/newsroom/history.htm.

Western sells its power to public utilities, such as municipalities, rural electric cooperatives, state and federal agencies, Native American tribes, and irrigation and public utility districts. In 2001, Western sold 40.8 billion kilowatthours of electricity and collected $875.8 million in revenues.

For more information about Western, visit our Web site at http://www.wapa.gov.