This oral history interview with Jim W. Litchfield was conducted by Michael O’Rourke at Litchfield’s office in Portland, Oregon, from September 21-22, 2000. The interview was conducted as part of the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Project, which documented the history and purpose of the Northwest Power Planning Council, now known as the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. The interview was conducted in two sessions; session 2 begins partway through Tape 3, Side 1. A transcript of the interview is available.

In the first interview session, conducted on September 21, 2000, Litchfield discusses his family background and early life in Yakima, Washington, including his education at Yakima Valley College. He talks about his experience studying engineering at the University of Washington and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then speaks at length about his work as a consultant with Battelle in the 1970s, including his work on decommissioning the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant. He discusses his service as power planning director for the Northwest Power Planning Council from 1981 to 1992. He talks about his work on the first power and conservation plan; the people he worked with, particularly Dan Evans; and the early organizational structure of the council. He also talks about the council’s relationship with the Bonneville Power Administration and other electric utilities, about the financial troubles of the Washington Public Power Supply System, and about the council’s first fish and wildlife plan.

In the second interview session, conducted on September 22, 2000, Litchfield continues to discuss his service as power planning director for the NWPPC. He talks about the implementation of and opposition to the council’s Model Conservation Standards, discusses how the power surplus of the 1980s affected the council’s work, and shares his reasons for leaving the council in 1992. He also revisits the topic of the financial troubles of the Washington Public Power Supply System. He talks about his work as a consultant after leaving the council, particularly on the Snake River Recovery Team; about his observations of how the council’s work was affected by the changing state politics of the 1990s; and about the controversy surrounding proposals to remove the Snake River dams. He closes the interview by discussing deregulation of electric utilities.