
(8)	Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Matters

PacifiCorp is party to a variety of legal actions arising out of the normal course of business. Plaintiffs occasionally seek punitive or exemplary damages. PacifiCorp does not believe that such normal and routine litigation will have a material impact on its consolidated financial results. PacifiCorp is also involved in other kinds of legal actions, some of which assert or may assert claims or seek to impose fines, penalties and other costs in substantial amounts and are described below.

FERC Investigation

During 2007, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council ("WECC") audited PacifiCorp's compliance with several of the reliability standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC"). In April 2008, PacifiCorp received notice of a preliminary non-public investigation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") and the NERC to determine whether an outage that occurred in PacifiCorp's transmission system in February 2008 involved any violations of reliability standards. In November 2008, PacifiCorp received preliminary findings from the FERC staff regarding its non-public investigation into the February 2008 outage. Also in November 2008, in conjunction with the reliability standards review, the FERC assumed control of certain aspects of the WECC's 2007 audit. PacifiCorp has engaged in discussions with FERC staff regarding findings related to the non-public investigation, which includes the WECC's findings that are now being processed by the FERC. PacifiCorp does not believe that the outcome of the non-public investigation will have a material impact on its consolidated financial results.

Environmental Laws and Regulations

PacifiCorp is subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations regarding air and water quality, renewable portfolio standards, emissions performance standards, climate change, coal combustion byproduct disposal, hazardous and solid waste disposal, protected species and other environmental matters that have the potential to impact PacifiCorp's current and future operations. PacifiCorp believes it is in material compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

Hydroelectric Relicensing

PacifiCorp's hydroelectric portfolio consists of 44 generating facilities with an aggregate facility net owned capacity of 1,145 megawatts. The FERC regulates 98% of the net capacity of this portfolio through 15 individual licenses, which have terms of 30 to 50 years. PacifiCorp expects to incur ongoing operating and maintenance expense and capital expenditures associated with the terms of its renewed hydroelectric licenses and settlement agreements, including natural resource enhancements. PacifiCorp's Klamath hydroelectric system is currently operating under annual licenses. Substantially all of PacifiCorp's remaining hydroelectric generating facilities are operating under licenses that expire between 2030 and 2058.

Klamath Hydroelectric System - Klamath River, Oregon and California

In February 2010, PacifiCorp, the United States Department of the Interior, the United States Department of Commerce, the State of California, the State of Oregon and various other governmental and non-governmental settlement parties signed the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement ("KHSA"). Among other things, the KHSA provides that the United States Department of the Interior conduct scientific and engineering studies to assess whether removal of the Klamath hydroelectric system's four mainstem dams is in the public interest and will advance restoration of the Klamath Basin's salmonid fisheries. If it is determined that dam removal should proceed, dam removal is expected to commence no earlier than 2020.

Under the KHSA, PacifiCorp and its customers are protected from uncapped dam removal costs and liabilities. For dam removal to occur, federal legislation consistent with the KHSA must be enacted to provide, among other things, protection for PacifiCorp from all liabilities associated with dam removal activities. If Congress does not enact legislation, then PacifiCorp will resume relicensing at the FERC. In addition, the KHSA limits PacifiCorp's contribution to dam removal costs to no more than $200 million, of which up to $184 million would be collected from PacifiCorp's Oregon customers with the remainder to be collected from PacifiCorp's California customers. An additional $250 million for dam removal costs is expected to be raised through a California bond measure or other appropriate State of California financing mechanism. If dam removal costs exceed $200 million and if the State of California is unable to raise the additional funds necessary for dam removal costs, sufficient funds would need to be provided by an entity other than PacifiCorp in order for the KHSA and dam removal to proceed.

PacifiCorp has begun collection of surcharges from Oregon customers for their share of dam removal costs, as approved by the Oregon Public Utility Commission ("OPUC") and is depositing the proceeds in a trust account maintained by the OPUC. PacifiCorp will begin collection of surcharges from California customers for their share of dam removal costs, as approved by the California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC"), upon the establishment of two trust accounts.

As of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, PacifiCorp's property, plant and equipment, net included $120 million and $125 million, respectively, of costs associated with the Klamath hydroelectric system's four mainstem dams and the associated relicensing and settlement costs. During 2010 and 2011, PacifiCorp received approvals from the OPUC, the CPUC and the Wyoming Public Service Commission to depreciate the Klamath hydroelectric system's four mainstem dams and the associated relicensing and settlement costs through the expected dam removal date. The depreciation rate changes were effective January 1, 2011 and will allow for full depreciation of the assets by December 2019 for those jurisdictions. PacifiCorp is seeking similar approval in Idaho and expects to seek approval in the next Washington general rate case. As part of the July 2011 Utah general rate case settlement that was approved by the UPSC in August 2011, PacifiCorp and the other parties to the settlement agreed to defer a decision regarding the acceleration of the depreciation rates for the Klamath hydroelectric system's four mainstem dams to a future rate proceeding, at which time the associated relicensing and settlement costs would be addressed.

FERC Issues

Northwest Refund Case

In October 2011, the FERC issued an order on remand by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in which it determined that additional procedures are needed to address possible unlawful activity that may have influenced prices in the Pacific Northwest wholesale spot market during the period from December 2000 through June 2001. PacifiCorp was a participant in the Pacific Northwest wholesale spot market during this period. The FERC ordered an evidentiary trial-type hearing before an administrative law judge to permit parties to present evidence of alleged unlawful market activity. However, the FERC held the hearing in abeyance pending settlement discussions with all parties, which will be the subject of a November 16, 2011 status conference with the appointed settlement judge. Because, among other things, the scope of the proceeding has not been defined, PacifiCorp cannot predict the outcome of this proceeding and any impact on PacifiCorp's consolidated financial results, if any.

Purchase Obligations

In May 2011, PacifiCorp issued a notice to proceed with the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the 637-MW Lake Side 2 combined-cycle combustion turbine natural gas-fired generating facility. The notice to proceed resulted in purchase obligations for the years ending December 31 of approximately $181 million in 2011, $206 million in 2012, $126 million in 2013 and $8 million in 2014.