Oral history interview with Charles F. Luce [Sound Recording 02]
- SR1571_T01S2
- Item
- 1984-09-07
Tape 1, Side 2. This oral history interview with Charles F. Luce was conducted by Gene Tolefson from September 7 to November 20, 1984. The interview was conducted in two sessions. In the first interview session, conducted on September 7, 1984, Luce briefly discusses his early life in Platteville, Wisconsin, his college experience at Yale law school, and clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He talks about his desire to move to the Pacific Northwest and about lobbying for a job with the U.S. Interior Department, which led to his career at the Bonneville Power Administration beginning in 1944. He discusses his role as legal counsel for the BPA, initiatives relating to public utility districts, and helping PUDs get set up. He talks about his appointment as Bonneville Power Administrator in 1961 and describes his new duties. He discusses controversies surrounding the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant; forming treaties with Californian and Canadian power companies; and building dams. He talks about the benefits and drawbacks of hydroelectric power, and his involvement in the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) project.
Luce, Charles F. (Charles Franklin), 1917-2008