16 U.S.C. § 837b

(a) Surplus energy; discontinuance of deliveries to maintain ability to meet requirements of Pacific Northwest customers; purchaser’s responsibility for hardships; deliveries by non-Federal utility for use on contiguous distribution system not deemed deliveries for use outside Pacific Northwest Any contract for the sale or exchange of surplus energy for use outside the Pacific Northwest, or as replacement, directly or indirectly, within the Pacific Northwest for hydroelectric energy delivered for use outside that region by a non-Federal utility, shall provide that the Secretary, after giving the purchaser notice not in excess of sixty days, will not deliver electric energy under such contract whenever it can reasonably be foreseen that such delivery would impair his ability to meet, either at or after the time of such delivery, the energy requirements of any Pacific Northwest customer. The purchaser shall obligate himself not to take delivery of or use any such energy to supply any load under such conditions that discontinuance of deliveries from the Pacific Northwest in sixty days would cause undue hardship to the purchaser or in his territory, and, further, the purchaser shall acknowledge full responsibility if any such hardship occurs. Deliveries by a non-Federal utility from its generating plants in the Pacific Northwest for use on its own distribution system in an area outside but contiguous to the Pacific Northwest (not including any extension of its outside service area by merger or acquisition after August 31, 1964 ) shall not be deemed deliveries by such utility for use outside the Pacific Northwest. (b) Conservable electric energy; provisional basis for delivery; return of energy to meet requirements of Pacific Northwest customers; time and extent of return of energy Electric energy generated at Federal hydroelectric plants in the Pacific Northwest which can be conserved, for which there is no immediate demand in the Pacific Northwest at any established rate, but for which the Secretary determines there may be a demand in meeting the future requirements of the Pacific Northwest, may be delivered for use outside that region only on a provisional basis under contracts providing that if the Secretary determines at a subsequent time that, by virtue of prior deliveries under such contract, the Secretary is or will be unable to meet the energy requirements of any Pacific Northwest customer, the purchaser will return the full amount of energy delivered to him, or such portion or portions thereof as may be required, at such time or times as may be specified by the Secretary, except that the Secretary shall not require return during the purchaser’s daily peak periods. The Secretary shall require the return of the energy provisionally delivered hereunder, to such extent and at such times, as may be necessary to meet demands at any established rate for use within the Pacific Northwest. (c) Surplus peaking capacity; termination clause; advance or return of energy; time of return of energy; sale under subsection (a) conditions Any contract for the disposition of surplus peaking capacity shall provide that (1) the Secretary may terminate the contract upon notice not in excess of sixty months, and (2) the purchaser shall advance or return the energy necessary to supply the peaking capacity, except that the Secretary shall not require such advance or return during the purchaser’s daily peak periods. The Secretary may contract for the sale of such energy to the purchaser, in lieu of its return, under the conditions prescribed in subsection (a) of this section. (d) Determination of energy requirements of Pacific Northwest non-Federal utility customer; exclusion of conservable energy; sale of surplus energy to the utility The Secretary, in making any determination of the energy requirements of any Pacific Northwest customer which is a non-Federal utility having hydroelectric generating facilities, shall exclude any amounts of hydroelectric energy generated in the Pacific Northwest and disposed of outside the Pacific Northwest by the utility which, through reasonable measures, could have been conserved or otherwise kept available for the utility’s own needs in the Pacific Northwest. The Secretary may sell the utility as a replacement therefor only what would otherwise be surplus energy.