Oregon Senator Ron Wyden says problems with hiring practices that discriminated against veterans and other applicants at the Bonneville Power Administration must be fixed as soon as possible.
Wyden, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, says he met with the head of the Department of Energy to discuss how to get the BPA back on track.
A report from the U. S. Department of Energy's inspector general was released earlier this week. It blasted the BPA for consistently manipulating the rating process for applicants and subjecting whistleblowers to retaliation.
The BPA markets power from 31 federal dams in the Columbia Basin and manages much of the region's power grid.
Wyden said Thursday he hopes BPA's hiring scandal isn't used to interfere with BPA policy decisions that should be made in the Northwest and not Washington, D.C.