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CapitalPress.com
Friday, June 17, 2022
SNAKE RIVER
Ag stakeholders: Draft dam report leaves questions unanswered
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Agricultural
organiza-
tions say a draft state-federal
report examining the poten-
tial costs and other impacts
of replacing the benefits
of four dams on the lower
Snake River raises more
questions than it answers.
In fact, the report may
take dam breaching off the
table completely, one organi-
zation’s spokesman says.
The Ice Harbor, Lower
Monumental, Little Goose
and Lower Granite dams on
the Snake River have been
the target of environmental
groups that say they are hin-
dering salmon recovery.
The report estimates it
would cost between $10.3
billion and $27.2 billion
to replace the dams’ bene-
fits, which include barging,
energy, irrigation, recreation
and economic develop-
ment. Anticipated costs are
not available for several
other projects that would be
required.
Kramer Consulting and
Ross Strategic were com-
missioned by U.S. Sen. Patty
Murray, D-Wash., and Wash-
ington Gov. Jay Inslee to
draft the independent report.
Report sources include the
U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers’ 2020 final environ-
mental impact statement and
Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson’s
proposed $33.5 billion plan
for salmon recovery.
“While the (dams) cer-
tainly are not the only cause
of this decline, their impact
on salmon outcomes is sig-
nificant,” the report states.
Replacement of the dams
is possible, the report states,
“at significant cost and
with a major infrastructure
program.”
“Given the potential mag-
nitude of these costs, signifi-
cant federal investment will
be needed,” the report states.
“Funding from the recently
enacted
Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act, for
example, could be applied to
defray the costs of road, rail
and water infrastructure, and
provide economic develop-
ment through improvement
of broadband services.”
“For the folks that want
to make a decision based
off of this, I think it raises
more questions than it actu-
ally answers,” said Heather
Stebbings, executive direc-
tor of the Pacific Northwest
Waterways Association, a
nonprofit trade group that
supports regional economic
development.
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COMMENT ON
THE REPORT
The draft report will
be available for public
review through July 11.
Comments on the draft
report can be provided
through a form on the
project website, via
email, or by mail.
Online comments can be
submitted through the
project website: https://
www.lsrdoptions.org/.
Emailed comments can
be sent to info@lsrdop-
tions.org with the email
subject line “Draft LSRD
Benefit Replacement
Study.”
Written comments can
be sent via mail to:
Draft LSRD Benefit
Replacement Study c/o
Ross Strategic
1325 Fourth Ave., Suite
1600
Seattle, WA 98101
Associated Press File
All comments must be
submitted by 5 p.m. PST
on July 11.
Ice Harbor Dam, one of four dams on the lower Snake River.
According to the report,
breaching the dams would
eliminate all commodity
barging between the Tri-Cit-
ies and Lewiston and Clark-
ston, causing that transporta-
tion to shift to railroads and
trucks. Barging could con-
tinue between the Tri-Cit-
ies and downriver Columbia
River ports.
The report calls for a
more thorough analysis
from the Washington State
Department of Transporta-
tion regarding the move from
barges to roads and railroads,
Stebbings said.
“That’s a significant miss-
ing piece that would have a
lot of associated costs with
it, to get that true picture
of what would need to be
accomplished,” she said.
“Realistic” elements are
also missing from the draft,
Stebbings added, such as the
costs involved with permit-
ting, particularly when cre-
ating additional rail lines, or
building new roads and facil-
ities needed to mitigate the
impacts of dam breaching.
“The reality of mak-
ing that happen is a real
unknown,” Stebbings said,
noting that the new infra-
structure would be need to
be built near water and on
cultural and historic lands.
“To build railroads or high-
ways in some of these areas
could be very difficult.”
Breaching the dams
would permanently drain the
four lower Snake River res-
ervoirs and create “substan-
tial benefits” for area tribes,
the report states.
“It would allow tribal
peoples to renew their close
religious and spiritual con-
nection with approximately
34,000 acres of land where
their ancestors lived and are
buried — and allow them to
properly care for their grave
sites,” the report states.
“They could return to more
than 600 to 700 locations
where they were accustomed
to live, fish, and hunt; har-
vest plants, roots and ber-
ries, conduct cultural and
religious ceremonies, and
pursue other aspects of their
normal traditional lives.”
Restoration of salmon
abundance would also
greatly benefit tribal fish-
eries, both commercial and
subsistence, the report states.
Salmon and steelhead are
the primary food sources for
Columbia Basin tribes today,
and have been for thousands
of years, with many eat-
ing fish at rates higher than
non-native populations.
Matt Harris, director of
governmental affairs for the
Washington Potato Com-
mission and chairman of the
Columbia Basin Develop-
ment League, said the $27
billion price tag doesn’t nec-
essarily cover ecological
damage from removing the
dams, including the cost of
dredging and maintaining
sediment on the river and the
impact on salmon recovery
“if you displace or change
the environment in such an
erroneous fashion.”
Harris also wants to know
about the higher energy costs
consumers and irrigators
would pay. He cites reports
estimating residents could
see a 23% increase to their
energy bills.
The report talks in
regional fashion, Harris
added, but doesn’t address
the broader impact beyond
Washington on the Western
Interconnection power grid,
which extends from south-
ern Canada to Mexico. Nor
does it address the effects of
increased atmospheric car-
bon due to more truck traf-
fic. Also, the roads are not
designed to carry the num-
ber of trucks that would be
needed to replace the barges,
he said.
“There’s a lot there that
this study just does not
encompass and it really
needs to be re-focused,” he
said. “It’s a bigger conversa-
tion than what this study has
presented.”
“The whole issue is about
a lot more than just cut-
ting a check to ‘reimburse’
people for their losses that
could occur if the dams were
breached,” said Sean Ellis,
spokesman for the Idaho
Farm Bureau. “Entire indus-
tries, including agriculture,
depend on the dams for their
livelihood and those dams
have provided the region
with low-cost electricity for
decades. Just writing a check
and calling it a day does not
come close to undoing the
damage that would occur if
those dams were removed.”
Idaho Farm Bureau mem-
bers “wholeheartedly” sup-
port ongoing efforts to
improve salmon runs but
continue to “adamantly”
oppose dam breaching, Ellis
said.
“There is no evidence
to support the claim that
breaching the dams would
save the salmon but it’s quite
clear that doing so would
have a major negative effect
on the region’s economy and
put a lot of farmers out of
business,” Ellis said.
For Darryll Olsen, board
member for the Colum-
bia-Snake River Irrigators
Association in Kennewick,
Wash., the report boils down
to one half-sentence on page
2 of the report’s executive
summary:
“Congressio-
nal authorization would be
needed for the Army Corps
to pursue breaching the
dams.”
“If that’s their political
position, they have effec-
tively taken dam breaching
off the table — it’s gone,”
Olsen
said.
“Congress
will not be approving dam
breaching in any appreciable
timeframe. Not going to hap-
pen. It’s certainly not going
to happen between now and
November, and it’s not going
to happen after November.”
Murray and Inslee are
slated to make their final rec-
ommendation this summer.
Murray and Inslee “know
what they’re doing,” Olsen
said. “These are not incom-
petent people. They real-
ize they’ve effectively taken
dam breaching off the table.”
Olsen expected “quite a
bit more structure” in the
report, to serve plaintiffs and
defendants as environmental
groups challenge NOAA’s
biological opinion in court.
“That’s missing, that’s
kind of not there,” he said.
Olsen also questioned the
value of listing the potential
cost range. But “it wouldn’t
matter if you said $270 bil-
lion as long as they have
made that statement, they
want congressional authori-
zation,” he said. “That is not
going to happen.”
The draft report is avail-
able to the public and for
comment through July 11.
“We continue to approach
the question of breaching
with open minds and without
a predetermined decision,”
Murray and Inslee stated.
“We each remain firmly com-
mitted to saving our salmon.
We also know that the dams
provide significant benefits
to our region’s economy and
communities. In the com-
ing weeks, we will carefully
review and consider pub-
lic input, tribal consultation,
and other engagement from
stakeholders before making
any recommendations.”
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CHAPTER 87
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SANTANDER CONSUMER USA
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