View source for Southwestern Power Administration

{{Short description|Regional power administration of the U.S. Department of Energy}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name    = Southwestern Power Administration
| type           =
| nativename     =
| nativename_a   =
| nativename_r   =
| logo           = SWPA logo.jpg
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| formed         = {{Start date|1943|9|01}}
| preceding1     = 
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| dissolved      =
| superseding    =
| jurisdiction   = [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]]
| headquarters   = [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], U.S.
| coordinates    =
| employees      =
| budget         =
| minister1_name =
| minister1_pfo  =
| minister2_name =
| minister2_pfo  =
| chief1_name    = Mike Wech
| chief1_position= Administrator
| chief2_name    =
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| parent_agency  = {{flagicon image|Flag of the United States Department of Energy.svg|size=23px}} [[United States Department of Energy|U.S. Department of Energy]]
| child1_agency  =
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| website        = {{URL|https://www.swpa.gov/|swpa.gov}}
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[[File:Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) map of hydroelectric dams and transmission lines.jpg|thumb|right|Map of the 24 dams and transmission lines of the Southwestern Power Administration.]]
The '''Southwestern Power Administration''' (Southwestern) is an agency of the [[U.S. Department of Energy]].  Southwestern's mission was established by Section 5 of the [[Flood Control Act of 1944]]. The agency is a [[power marketing administration]] responsible for marketing the [[hydroelectric power]] produced at 24 [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] multipurpose [[dam]]s.  By law, the power and associated energy are marketed to publicly held entities such as rural electric cooperatives and [[municipal]] utilities. Southwestern has over one hundred such "preference" customers which ultimately serve over 10 million end use customers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.swpa.gov/PDFs/who%20we%20are%20flyer%20final%20clean.pdf |title=About Southwestern |website=Southwestern Power Administration |access-date=16 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117070441/https://www.swpa.gov/PDFs/who%20we%20are%20flyer%20final%20clean.pdf |archive-date=2019-01-17 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Southwestern operates and maintains 1,380 miles of [[high-voltage]] [[transmission line]]s, 24 substations, and 46 [[microwave]] and [[VHF]] radio sites from field offices.  Around-the-clock power scheduling and dispatching is conducted from the Operations Center.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swpa.gov/PDFs/SWPA_FY2008_annual_report.pdf |title=Annual Report 2008 |website=Southwestern Power Administration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010055614/http://www.swpa.gov/PDFs/SWPA_FY2008_annual_report.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-10 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Southwestern's rates, by law, are designed to recover the costs of producing the power.  These costs include repayment of the dams' initial construction, with interest; repayment of the transmission system construction, with interest; major replacements; and both the Corps of Engineers' and Southwestern's annual operating and maintenance expenses.  Annual revenues vary with water conditions, but generally average about [[US$]]100 million.  Southwestern returns the revenues to the [[U.S. Treasury]], and of that, about US$40 million is applied toward interest and repayment of the Federal investment.

==History==
[[File:SWPA 75 years logo.jpg|thumb|left|Logo used to commemorate 75 years of the Southwestern Power Administration]]
[[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Sam Rayburn]] of Texas and Representative [[Clyde T. Ellis]] of Arkansas spearheaded the effort to make all federal dams constructed by the [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] in the region to stay owned and operated by the military while the hydroelectric power stations were to be managed and marketed by the new Southwestern Power Administration. In the late 1930s Rayburn and Ellis were able to secure dams in [[Denison Dam|Denison, TX]] and [[Norfork Dam|Norfork, AR]] in separate independent projects for their House district constituents. The two representatives pushed for a 'mini-[[Tennessee Valley Authority]]' system for the states of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri (and a few more states who would be customers to these dams' energy production) but only for the federally-built dams and their hydroelectric power plants. Other power plants like fossil fuel plants were not going to be owned and managed by the SWPA like Tennessee's power plants. The reason for the creation of the SWPA was the fear that the federal dams, which are multipurpose in terms of flood control and water storage for recreation and human use, would be poorly managed by private businesses and also because utility companies during the 1920s and 1930s hiked up electricity prices in rural areas far higher than in urban areas.

The SWPA was a hallmark of Rayburn's campaign to provide electricity to all farmers and rural Americans. He previously succeeded in the landmark [[Rural Electrification Act]] of 1936 to establish rural cooperatives to supply very cheap electricity to rural Americans. The SWPA (as well as the establishment of the other three [[Power Marketing Administration]]s) and the guaranteed cheap electricity from dams helped the REA's goals to be realized. Rayburn first persuaded President Roosevelt to sign an [[executive order]] establishing the SWPA in July 1943. This was crucial because private utility companies were hoping for the dams to be turned over to the [[Federal Works Agency|Federal Works Administration]] during [[World War II]]. Most public projects that were turned over to the FWA were scheduled to end up in private companies' hands after the war. Executive orders are only temporary so Rayburn was able to get the SWPA to be permanently established in the [[Flood Control Act of 1944]]. This act also established the similar [[Southeastern Power Administration]]. From 1943 to 1984 twenty-four dams were built for the SWPA.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30240993 |title=Sam Rayburn and the Development of Public Power in the Southwest |last=Brown |first=D. Clayton |date=October 1974 |journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly |volume=78 |issue=2 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |pages=140-154 |jstor=30240993}}</ref>

==List of dams==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%;"
! Name
! Capacity (MW)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalenergyobservatory.com/list.php?db=PowerPlants&type=Hydro |title=List of Hydro PowerPlants - GEO |website=www.globalenergyobservatory.com |access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref>
! Year of completion
! Location
|-
| [[Denison Dam]]
| 80
| 1943
| [[Bryan County, OK]] / [[Grayson County, TX]]
|-
| [[Norfork Dam]]
| 80.4 
| 1944
| [[Mountain Home, Arkansas]]
|-
| [[Fort Gibson Dam]]
| 48
| 1949
| [[Fort Gibson, Oklahoma]]
|-
| [[Bull Shoals Dam]]
| 380
| 1951
| [[Bull Shoals, Arkansas]]
|-
| [[Narrows Dam]]
| 25.5
| 1951
| [[Murfreesboro, Arkansas]]
|-
| [[Lake Whitney (Texas)|Whitney Dam]]
| 43<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/new-turbines-keep-lake-whitney-in-hydropower-business/article_7a1d102f-ce04-5b93-9c98-b7e09ef07d5b.html |title=New turbines keep Lake Whitney in hydropower business |website=www.wacotrib.com |access-date=15 January 2019}}</ref>
| 1951
| [[Whitney, Texas]]
|-
| [[Tenkiller Ferry Lake|Tenkiller Ferry Dam]]
| 34
| 1952
| [[Gore, Oklahoma]]
|-
| [[Lake Ouachita|Blakely Mountain Dam]]
| 75
| 1953
| [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]]
|-
| [[Steinhagen Reservoir|Town Bluff Dam]] 
| 8
| 1953
| [[Jasper, Texas]]
|-
| [[Table Rock Lake|Table Rock Dam]]
| 200
| 1958
| [[Branson, Missouri]]
|-
| [[Greers Ferry Dam]]
| 96
| 1962
| [[Heber Springs, Arkansas]]
|-
| [[Eufaula Dam]]
| 90
| 1964
| [[Eufaula, Oklahoma]]
|-
| [[Sam Rayburn Reservoir|Sam Rayburn Dam]]
| 52
| 1965
| [[Jasper, Texas]]
|-
| [[Beaver Lake (Arkansas)|Beaver Dam]]
| 112
| 1966
| [[Eureka Springs, Arkansas]]
|- 
| [[Broken Bow Lake|Broken Bow Dam]]
| 100
| 1968
| [[Broken Bow, Oklahoma]]
|-
| [[Keystone Lake|Keystone Dam]]
| 70
| 1968
| [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]]
|-
| [[Stockton Lake|Stockton Dam]]
| 52<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.swpa.gov/news18.aspx |title=Southwestern Power Administration |website=www.swpa.gov |access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref>
| 1969
| [[Stockton, Missouri]]
|-
| [[Robert S. Kerr Reservoir|Robert S. Kerr Dam]]
| 110
| 1970
| [[Sallisaw, Oklahoma]]
|-
| [[Webbers Falls Lake|Webbers Falls Dam]]
| 60
| 1970
| [[Webbers Falls, Oklahoma]]
|-
| [[Lake Dardanelle|Dardanelle Dam]]
| 160.8
| 1971
| [[Russellville, Arkansas]]
|-
| [[DeGray Lake|DeGray Dam]]
| 68
| 1972
| [[Arkadelphia, Arkansas]]
|-
| Ozark-Jeta Taylor Lock and Dam
| 100
| 1974
| [[Ozark, Arkansas]]
|-
| [[Truman Reservoir|Harry S. Truman Dam]]
| 160
| 1979
| [[Tom Township, Benton County, Missouri|Tom Township, Missouri]]
|-
| [[Mark Twain Lake|Clarence Cannon Dam]]
| 58
| 1984
| [[Monroe City, Missouri]]
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Depictions of Southwestern Power Administration==
{| style="width: 100%; border: none; text-align: left;"
| {{Multiple image 
| align             = left
| direction         = horizontal
| width             = 300
| caption_align     = center
| image_gap         = 10
| image1            = DenisonDamPowerhouseUSACE.jpg
| alt1              = Denison Dam of North Texas
| caption1          = [[Denison Dam]] is the oldest dam in the SWPA. It was completed in 1943.
| image2            = Ozark-Jeta Taylor Lock and Dam.jpg
| alt2              = Ozark-Jeta Taylor Dam
| caption2          = The Ozark-Jeta Taylor Lock and Dam in Ozark, Arkansas is a part of the Southwestern Power Administration. It is unique in that it is the only hydroelectric power station in the SWPA that doesn't create a reservoir like the other 23 dams. It is a [[low head dam]]
}}
|}
{| style="width: 100%; border: none; text-align: left;"
| {{Multiple image 
| align             = left
| direction         = horizontal
| width             = 275
| caption_align     = center
| image_gap         = 10
| image1            = Bull Shoals Dam aerial photo.jpg
| alt1              = Bull Shoals Dam of Arkansas-Missouri border
| caption1          = Bull Shoals Dam of North Arkansas
| image2            = U.S. Department of Energy - Science - 264 033 001 (15635009400).jpg
| alt2              = Southwestern Power Administration substation of East Arkansas
| caption2          = SWPA [[Electrical substation|substation]] in Clarksville, Arkansas
| image3            = U.S. Department of Energy - Science - 264 035 001 (15819853495).jpg
| alt3              = Southwestern Power Administration electrical distribution of Oklahoma
| caption3          = SWPA switchyard in Oklahoma
}}
|}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/4925387.1935.001.umich.edu/page/172/ |title=Executive Order No. 7037 ~ The Establishment of the Rural Electrification Administration |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |date=May 11, 1935 |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |pages=172-175}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/209882 |title=Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Executive Order 9366 - Relating to the Operation and Disposition of Electric Energy at the Denison Dam, the Grand River Dam, and the Norfork Dam, in the States of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas" July 30, 1943 |author1=Peters,Gerhard |author2=Woolley, John T |work=The American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California - Santa Barbara}}
* {{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015023452819 |title=Southwestern Federal Power Program--Financial Progress and Problems |author=U.S. General Accounting Office |date=November 22, 1972 |trans-title=Report to the Congress by the Comptroller General of the United States |website=HathiTrust Digital Library |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office}}
* {{cite journal |url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1752023/m1/66/ |title=Electricity for a Region: The Southwest Power Administration |last=Ford |first=Jeanette W. |year=1982 |journal=[[The Chronicles of Oklahoma]] |volume=60 |issue=4 - Winter 1982-83 |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |lccn=23027299 |oclc=655582328 |pages=448-459}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.swpa.gov}}
* [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/southwestern-power-administration Southwestern Power Administration] in the [[Federal Register]]

{{DOE agencies}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Public utilities of the United States]]
[[Category:United States Department of Energy]]