Employees of the Bonneville Power Administration received the same buyout offer from the Trump administration as millions of other federal workers, staff have confirmed to RTO Insider.

The move came despite the federal power marketing administration’s status as a self-funding entity and its key role in Northwestern electricity generation and transmission and regional fish conservation efforts.

BPA also operates a balancing authority area covering about 300,000 square miles, which encompasses large parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, and smaller sections in California, Nevada, Wyoming and Nevada.

The agency is headed by Administrator John Hairston, who has served in that role since January 2021.

The Trump administration emailed the buyout offers to about 2.3 million federal employees through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in a Jan. 28 message titled, “Fork in the Road.”

The message instructed recipients to type the word “Resign” into the subject line and reply if they want to accept the offer of the “deferred resignation” arrangement, with the promise they’d be provided a severance package consisting of eight months’ pay and benefits through Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. Employees were directed to respond by Feb. 6.

The email explained that the move is part of an effort to “reform” the federal workforce around “four pillars,” consisting of a policy to require most remote workers to return to their physical offices five days a week; a “performance culture” that will “insist on excellence at every level”; a “more streamlined and flexible workforce” resulting from downsizing; and “enhanced standards of conduct” intended to retain “employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy and who strive for excellence in their daily work.”

The administration has said it expects 5 to 10% of the federal workforce to accept the offer, which observers have said looks to be modeled closely on the approach that Elon Musk used with employees at Twitter (now X) after he assumed ownership of the social media platform in 2022. Trump picked Musk to lead efforts at the unofficial “Department of Government Efficiency,” charged with reducing the size of federal operations.

‘Ridiculous Deal’

A BPA employee who spoke on background to RTO Insider said fellow staff members had expressed concern about the unexpected development but generally were “keeping their heads down” and continuing to perform their duties amid the uncertainty.

Portland-based BPA employs more than 3,000 people and manages the output from 31 hydroelectric dams in the Federal Columbia River Power System with a combined capacity of about 22,440 MW. The agency also operates more than 15,000 miles of transmission lines — about 75% of the Northwest grid.

Asked to comment about the potential impact of the order, a BPA spokesperson referred RTO Insider to the agency’s parent agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, for a response.

DOE did not respond to a series of questions seeking clarity on several points, including:

• • What steps DOE is taking to evaluate the operational impact on BPA and the other three PMAs of potentially high staff turnover in such a short period of time.
  • Whether DOE is aware of how and when OPM will inform the department and the PMAs about specific resignations at the agencies.
  • Whether DOE has been provided guidance by the administration about how BPA and the other PMAs should implement the “four pillars” outlined in the buyout memo or been given a time frame for doing so.
  • Whether DOE expects BPA, the other PMAs and the Tennessee Valley Authority to be in any way insulated from the measures laid out in the email based on their self-funding models.

In an email to RTO Insider, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Trump “has no authority to offer this ridiculous deal, nor does he have authority to guarantee it. If folks take this so-called deal, they could be left high and dry by the president.

“Nonpartisan BPA professionals work hard to provide reliable, affordable electricity across the Pacific Northwest, and citizens and local businesses depend on the agency for its critical services.”

The offices of Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.

Scott Simms, executive director of the Portland-based Public Power Council — whose membership consists of BPA’s “preference” customer base of publicly owned utilities that purchase low-cost power from the agency — said the group is “gravely concerned” by the development.

“BPA is funded by Northwest ratepayers and not taxpayers, and its mission supports the Northwest economy; ensures the flow of reliable, domestically produced electricity; and provides employment in rural areas,” Simms said in an email. “I think if certain decision-makers knew that, they would do everything possible to retain this valuable workforce. This will be important for us to emphasize in the weeks and months ahead so we don’t suffer unintended consequences to our power system and our region’s communities that depend on it.”