Two top Bonneville Power Administration executives — including COO Joel Cook — are among the approximately 200 agency staff who accepted the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation” offer made to the entire federal workforce last month, BPA confirmed to RTO Insider Feb. 20.

The resignations of Cook and Senior Vice President of Transmission Richard Shaheen are the latest in a series of unsettling developments at the federal power agency and — now — its sister agency in Northwest hydroelectric dam operations, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

BPA is responsible for operating about 75% of the transmission in the Northwest and marketing output from the region’s extensive network of federally owned hydro projects, most of which are managed and maintained by USACE.

During a quarterly business review call Feb. 13, BPA Administrator John Hairston said about 200 agency employees — or 6% of the workforce — had accepted the administration’s buyout offer, while 90 job offers had been rescinded following a federal hiring freeze announced Jan. 20. (See BPA Committed to Trump’s Energy Goals, Hairston Says.)

Scott Simms, executive director of the Public Power Council, told RTO Insider that he estimates BPA faces a loss of about 400 staff, which includes resignations and the firing of “probationary” employees. (Under federal hiring rules, “probationary” status applies to both recent hires and those who have transferred into new positions within the past year, including those receiving a promotion.)

But Simms also pointed to a parallel development at USACE, which some industry stakeholders thought might be protected from Trump’s cutbacks because of its association with the military. He said “multiple informed sources” have told him the agency has about 2,000 probationary employees nationwide, including 500 to 600 workers in the Northwest who hold jobs that require extensive technical training — such as dam operator.

“We’re still gathering data,” Simms said.

Impact Uncertain

BPA could not confirm a timeline for the departure of the two executives or of other staffers who accepted the resignation offer. The departures come just weeks before the agency is expected to release a draft decision on whether to join SPP’s Markets+ or CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market.

Cook was appointed COO in April 2021 after having served as BPA’s senior vice president of power services since 2017. Cook previously held executive and management roles at Talen Energy, PPL EnergyPlus and Montana Power, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“As the head of power services, Joel has been on the front lines of our cost-control efforts,” Hairston said in a statement announcing Cook’s appointment in 2021. “His leadership and experience will serve the agency and our utility customers well as we explore new energy markets and look for opportunities to maximize the value of the federal power and transmission systems.”

Shaheen has served in his current role since 2014, after joining BPA in 2013 as vice president of engineering and technical services. According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously worked in various positions at Florida Power and Light for 25 years.

Shaheen has overseen BPA’s increasingly overburdened transmission planning processes, with the agency now confronting more than 65 GW in transmission service requests, up from 5.9 GW in 2021. He recently told stakeholders the agency had to pause certain planning processes because they had been “crippled” by the volume of interconnection requests. (See BPA Halts Some Tx Planning Processes Amid Surge of Service Requests.)

Shaheen also has managed BPA’s Evolving Grid Project, which the agency launched in April 2023 to address Oregon and Washington clean energy targets, renewable resource additions and the increased electrification of transportation, industry and buildings — as well as the growing need to harden the grid in the face of extreme weather events. (See Stakeholders Seek More Details on BPA’s ‘Evolving Grid’ Projects.)

In a letter dated Feb. 14, Oregon’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden warned President Donald Trump that moves by his unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, could result in the “imminent departure” of 20% of BPA’s workforce. The senators said the development poses “a direct and immediate threat to the reliability of the electrical grid that serves millions of American families and businesses” in the Northwest. (See Ore. Senators Ask Trump to Justify ‘Reckless’ Job Cuts at BPA.)