In 1967, a new Seattle City Light dam opened in Pend Oreille County in the northeast corner of the state. The Boundary Dam, only a few miles south of the Canadian border, was built on the Pend Oreille River. It generates anywhere from a third to 60 percent of Seattle's power, and when electricity supply exceeds demand, the surplus is often sold on the open market, reaping millions for Seattle-rate payers. The dam is not without controversy; Pend Oreille county fiercely opposed the building of the dam. In fact, the city of Seattle pays to mitigate the impact of the dam, recently to the tune of about $1.3 million a year.

But this money no longer satisfies Pend Oreille's civic leadership:

Seattle officials say their contribution more than covers the community's costs associated with the dam: road maintenance, public safety, additional students in the schools. Boundary Dam, Seattle says, provides good jobs in a place where opportunities are scarce.

Seattle took a risk by building the dam in 1964-67, said City Light Chief of Staff Sung Yang. Now Seattle residents should reap the benefits.

Besides the impact fee, Seattle City Light sells power wholesale to the Pend Oreille County Public Utility District, saving Pend Oreille ratepayers almost $20 million last year, by City Light's estimates.

For a while, at least, it seemed that the city of Seattle had the advantage. Without an agreement on impact fees in place, Seattle had refused to pay anything until securing a long-term deal. And Seattle—a city of over half a million people—should have the advantage.

Pend Oreille is home to approximately 12,900 residents, many whom are retirees. The voters of one Pend Oreille school district have seen fit to reject a bond measure to refit a school seven times. Northwest Washington is also quite conservative politically. As much as Seattle is Democratic Seattle, conversely, Pend Oreille is GOP country. (But this doesn't stop Pend Oreille County Commissioner Linda Merrill from trumpeting, on her blog, the award of federal "stimulus" dollars for county projects.)

Recently, the legislature has taken up a bill sponsored by Rep. Joel Kretz and Sen. Bob Morton. who represent the 7th legislative district, which contains Pend Oreille County. The is meant to dictate terms to the two sides, creating a new formula which could result in much larger payments by Seattle to cover the dam's impact on the community. With Pend Oreille possibly having that much more leverage, Seattle City light has caved and will pay Pend Oreille $1.6 million to avoid paying more later.

While Eastern Washington Republicans are solid in their backing of this bill, Rep. Ross Hunter explains his tacit support for this shakedown:

"All I want is a level bargaining field," said Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, whose amendment would require Seattle to make payments during negotiations. "I can make the negotiations fairer, and I'm sticking up for the little guy here."

I'm sure Seattle City Light rate payers, feeling their wallets that much lighter, will not be so appreciative of this kind of "fairness." Seattle City Light, whose rate payers are themselves "little guys," are being punished for making savvy long term investments like the Boundary Dam. Its a shame that Seattle-area legislators like Hunter think they're being magnanimous for "sticking up" for Pend Oreille, when he should be playing hardball, and it feeds in to a terribly destructive relationship; the more they shake us down, the more we pay. The more we pay, the more they resent us for doing so.