Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have demanded the Trump administration explain and justify recent actions that could drastically cut staff at the Bonneville Power Administration and compromise the federal power agency’s ability to maintain grid reliability in the Pacific Northwest.

In a letter dated Feb. 14, the state’s two Democratic U.S. senators warned President Donald Trump that moves by his newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could result in the “imminent departure” of 20% of BPA’s workforce and pose “a direct and immediate threat to the reliability of the electrical grid that serves millions of American families and businesses” in the region.

The 20% figure appears to have its origin in a Feb. 13 Oregon Public Broadcasting article that said BPA could see the firing of an additional 350 to 400 “probationary” employees on top of the 200 staffers who agreed to accept DOGE’s “deferred resignation” buyout offer made to the entire federal workforce last month. (See BPA Committed to Trump’s Energy Goals, Hairston Says.)

BPA staff were offered the buyout despite the fact that its operations are self-funded through its power sales, made primarily to the Northwest’s large number of publicly owned utilities that rely on the agency for low-cost power generated by the region’s extensive network of federally owned hydroelectric dams.

BPA also has rescinded 90 job offers following the federal hiring freeze Trump imposed after his inauguration Jan. 20.

“Employees on the ground are already warning that these actions will make it nearly impossible to strengthen and expand the grid as needed,” Merkley and Wyden wrote. “Instead, BPA will be forced into ‘damage control’ mode, struggling just to ‘keep the lights on.’ This is not speculation; it is the reality voiced by those who operate our energy infrastructure every day.”

The senators called the cuts “reckless” and “financially ludicrous,” particularly in light BPA’s status as a self-funding entity.

“If the administration’s goal is truly to ensure reliable, secure, and affordable energy, then why are you actively dismantling the most effective and self-sustaining power system in the country?” they wrote.

The senators’ letter also demanded Trump answer a series of “critical” questions by Feb. 28, including:

• • How the administration can justify the cuts given BPA’s self-funding status.
  • How it plans to address operational and safety risks “posed by the loss of experienced linemen, engineers, and dispatchers” and avoid grid failures in the face of the expected growth in electricity demand stemming from new data centers.
  • Whether the administration will commit to lifting the hiring freeze on “mission-critical” positions at BPA that would prevent “de-stabilization” of the Northwest grid.

The letter also asks Trump to explain the role of DOGE in BPA’s staffing decisions and describe its “qualifications in managing complex energy infrastructure.”

Some of the senators’ questions overlap with those RTO Insider asked the U.S. Department of Energy last month upon learning that BPA staff had been among the federal workers offered buyouts. DOE has not responded to or acknowledged those questions. (See BPA Employees Confront Trump’s ‘Fork in the Road’.)

Politico on Feb. 17 reported that 30 “Department of Energy” employees who work on grid maintenance for BPA had been asked to return to their jobs after having been terminated.

BPA confirmed to RTO Insider that those employees are in fact BPA staff.