6.5.40.030 Findings

The Council hereby finds and declares that:

(a) The Western Area Power Administration ("WAPA") is a power marketing authority under the Department of Energy which acts as a wholesale electricity supplier in the western United States.

(b) WAPA markets and transmits hydropower allocations to customers through long-term power contracts referred to as Firm Electric Service contracts.

(c) In 2004, the Pueblo de San Ildefonso ("Pueblo") and WAPA entered into a Firm Electric Contract to receive an allocation of WAPA power ("Pueblo's Allocation") and the Pueblo and WAPA also entered into a Benefit Crediting Contract to allow Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association ("Tri-State") and Jemez Mountain Electric Cooperative, Inc. ("JMEC") to receive the Pueblo's Allocation of federal electric power and to have JMEC pay the Pueblo for the benefit of that federal electric power.

(d) The Pueblo has been receiving financial payments under the Benefit Crediting Contract since 2004.

(e) WAPA's Firm Electric Service contract with the Pueblo will be expiring on September 30, 2024, and WAPA has reached out to the Pueblo to extend the Firm Electric Service contract through 2057 and to enter into another Benefit Crediting Contract.

(f) The Council has been fully briefed and has reviewed the proposed Firm Electric Service Contract, the Benefit Crediting Contract, and attachments and has determined that it is in the best interest of the Pueblo to authorize the Governor to sign a form of the Firm Electric Service Contract and the Benefit Crediting Contract.