Forty years after adopting a public involvement policy, the Bonneville Power Administration is reviewing the document with an eye toward modernizing it.

BPA held a workshop Feb. 3 to start gathering feedback on the 16-page policy, issued in 1986.

“It is quite aged. There are things in it that are not really part of how anybody does business anymore,” said Kim Thompson, BPA’s vice president of Northwest requirements marketing.

The policy was written before the arrival of spellcheck, and one task will be to correct typos.

At the same time, BPA wants to rewrite the policy so it holds up in coming years despite changes such as technology advancements.

BPA wrote the policy in response to requirements of the 1980 Northwest Power Act. The policy applies to “major regional power policy formulation.” It also allows for varying levels of public involvement on issues such as transmission, renewable resources, energy conservation, and fish and wildlife.

The public involvement policy exempts certain other processes, such as ratemaking and major resource acquisition, which follow their own specific procedures. The policy also preserves the BPA administrator’s discretion to react quickly when warranted.

BPA plans to review the 1986 document’s definition of “major regional power policy,” as well as the list of exemptions. Tariff changes under the Federal Power Act are a possible new exemption.

Another area for review is the best method for publishing notices of intent. Depending on the situation, BPA might publish a notice in the Federal Register, mail it to landowners or use another means.

One workshop participant said it would be helpful to Bonneville’s “core audience” if notices were included in BPA tech forums — an email distribution group — even if they’re published in other ways.

Another attendee asked if notices could include links to relevant documents so stakeholders could get a head start on reviewing materials.

A section that’s being eyed for deletion pertains to public comment forums, in which members of the public gather to comment on an issue in person. A verbatim transcript of the forum is then prepared to be added to the record.

Although BPA still occasionally holds a public comment forum, written comments have become the standard.

The 1986 policy specifies a 30-day window for submitting written public comments, a period that allowed for mailing materials back and forth, BPA representatives said. Even though comments may now be submitted more quickly by electronic means, workshop participants seemed to favor keeping the comment period at 30 days.

“It’s not just about the time it takes to review and write comments,” said Fred Heutte, senior policy associate with the NW Energy Coalition. “Many organizations have internal processes that they have to go through to respond to an important formal proposal by Bonneville.”

BPA plans to hold at least one additional workshop on its public involvement policy. A draft policy would then be released in early April followed by a public comment period. BPA hopes to finalize the policy around July 1.

Feedback on the scope of policy changes may be submitted by Feb. 11 to communications@bpa.gov.