NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Survey shows broad support for keeping Snake River dams
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
VANCOUVER, Wash. — A new
survey commissioned by Northwest
RiverPartners indicates broad public
support for keeping the Snake River
dams.
Less than 30% of respondents
favor removing the four dams.
DHM Research, an independent
and nonpartisan research firm in
Portland, conducted the survey from
July 26 to Aug. 3, reaching 1,200
Northwest residents — 400 each in
Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
According to the survey, 60%
of respondents indicate support for
“the use of hydroelectric dams on
the lower Snake River to produce
electricity” while 17% oppose it, and
23% don’t know.
Only 29% of respondents agreed
that the dams should be removed
to protect wild animals and their
habitats. The rest opposed removal
or didn’t know, according to the
survey, which did not indicate the
percentages for other answers.
Asked to rank their top concerns
about removing the dams, respon-
Associated Press, File
dents most often highlighted higher
electricity costs, losing a source of Ice Harbor Dam, one of four dams on the lower Snake River. A survey DHM Research of Portland conducted in
carbon-free energy and impacts on summer 2021 shows broad support for keeping the Snake River dams.
agriculture.
About 14% said they had no the results,” Miller said of the Murray’s federal-state assess- a smaller minority that believes
concerns about the potential survey. “I was heartened, grati- ment of salmon recovery, includ- this would be good policy for the
fied to see that.”
ing dam breaching, as reasons for Pacific Northwest.”
removal of the dams.
He pointed to messaging from his uncertainty.
Miller hopes policymakers such
Kurt Miller, executive director
“People are being told that their as Inslee and Murray pay attention
of Northwest RiverPartners, told the advocacy groups and media atten-
Capital Press he wasn’t sure what to tion surrounding Idaho Rep. neighbors essentially support dam to the survey’s findings.
“We want to find the most
expect prior to commissioning the Mike Simpson’s proposal for breaching, and I don’t think that’s
dam breaching and Washington the case,” he said. “It’s important productive ways of helping salmon
survey.
“I was definitely pleased with Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty for the public to know it’s only without harming society,” he said.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
Riders located after getting lost
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Periods of snow,
1-3 inches
Very cold; a little
morning snow
Very cold with low
clouds
High clouds and
very cold
A little icy mix in
the morning
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
39° 26°
BAKER CITY — A group of Baker County
snowmobile riders rapidly shifted from recre-
ationists to rescuers the day after Christmas
when a group of riders from Washington got
lost during a blizzard in the Wallowa Moun-
tains north of Halfway.
The locals, members of
the Panhandle Snowmobile
Club in eastern Baker County,
found the five snowmobilers,
none of whom was injured,
and escorted them back to a
parking area about four hours
after the rescue operation
Ash
started.
The episode showed the
value both of the GPS-equipped emergency
transmitter the Washington snowmobilers
carried, and of having a local cadre of riders
who are familiar with the terrain and willing to
help others, Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash
said Monday, Dec. 27.
“They made a pretty seamless transition
from enjoying their day to a rescue mission,”
Ash said of the Panhandle Snowmobile Club
members.
The incident started about 5:28 p.m. Dec. 26
when Ash received a phone call from Brandon
Christensen, a Washington man who is friends
with the five snowmobilers. Christensen told
the sheriff that his friends, who had limited cell
service, had called to tell him they were lost
in the Fish Lake area, about 14 miles north of
Halfway.
Christensen said he is an experienced snow-
mobiler who has participated in search and
rescue missions, involving snowmobiles, with
the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office. Chris-
tensen said he was riding his snowmobile in
the Tollgate area, north of Elgin, on Dec. 26
Panhandle Snowmobile Club
helps sheriff find lost group of
snowmobilers near Fish Lake
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
34° 15°
23°
2°
25° 16°
32° 28°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
34° 18°
26°
7°
24° 15°
43° 27°
26° 22°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
42/25
22/9
25/13
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
29/14
Lewiston
40/27
29/18
Astoria
43/31
Pullman
Yakima 19/11
38/23
27/19
Portland
Hermiston
41/31
The Dalles 34/18
Salem
Corvallis
41/30
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
29/19
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
41/33
35/25
31/25
Ontario
28/17
Caldwell
Burns
20°
18°
42°
28°
59° (2018) -14° (1990)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
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Last year to date
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Albany
39/28
0.08"
1.64"
1.04"
6.71"
4.46"
8.56"
WINDS (in mph)
30/19
30/15
0.16"
1.71"
1.41"
9.09"
13.06"
13.14"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 27/17
42/32
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
34/15
36/23
17°
13°
41°
28°
65° (1975) -13° (1990)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
35/24
Aberdeen
17/1
14/7
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
35/25
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
37/33
Fri.
WNW 6-12
WSW 7-14
SW 3-6
WSW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
31/21
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:36 a.m.
4:20 p.m.
4:00 a.m.
1:37 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Jan 2
Jan 9
Jan 17
Jan 25
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 89° in Harlingen, Texas Low -33° in Hallock, Minn.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
“If we’re concerned about the will
of the people, it’s certainly the will
of the people to keep the dams in
place.”
Miller said he believes the survey
results show residents understand
the energy challenges ahead, citing
100% clean energy objectives,
initiatives for electric cars and other
forms of transportation and the loss
of fossil-fuel resources such as coal
and natural gas generation plants.
“I think what people see there is
that resources that are carbon-free
and can produce electricity 24-7 are
going to be really important in the
region’s future,” he said. “I think
people can do the math.”
Efforts to breach the dams,
especially Inslee’s and Murray’s
proposed initiative, represent
a “significant clear and present
danger” to the future of the dams,
and eventually the entire hydro-
power system, Miller said.
“A lot of the arguments that
are made in favor of breaching the
lower Snake River dams are often
not based on complete information,
or even (based on) inaccurate infor-
mation,” he said. “Our concern is
that those same questionable argu-
ments will be applied to other dams
if these dams go.”
Northwest RiverPartners serves
not-for-profit, community-owned
electric utilities in Oregon, Wash-
ington, Idaho, Montana, Utah,
Nevada and Wyoming and
represents partners that support
clean energy, low-carbon transpor-
tation and agricultural jobs.
and had just returned to his cabin when he got
a phone call from Mike Kelly, a friend from
Burbank, Washington, near the Tri-Cities.
Kelly said he and four other riders, all of
them friends with Christensen, were riding in
the Fish Lake area north of Halfway and were
lost in a storm that brought fog, snow and gusty
winds that eradicated their tracks. The riders
couldn’t find their way back to the trailhead
in the dark.
“I immediately started making phone calls,”
Christensen said.
One of those was to the Wallowa Avalanche
Center in Joseph, where a staff member gave
Christensen a phone number for Ash.
Kelly used his cellphone to send Chris-
tensen a digital map ostensibly showing their
location. But the map showed them to be in the
Catherine Creek area, more than 15 miles to
the west. At about 5:43 p.m., the Baker County
Sheriff’s Office received an SOS alert from a
Garmin satellite device. The message stated
that several snowmobilers, one of whom had
a medical condition, were lost. The message
pinpointed the group’s location near Fish Lake.
Ash said it was clear this was the same group
that Christensen had called him about.
Christensen said another member of the
group, John Mecham, of Kennewick, brought
the Garmin InReach satellite device. Ash said
he told Christensen, who had intermittent cell-
phone contact with Kelly, to tell the group to
stay where they were since the GPS message
had established their location.
Christensen said his friends had ridden in
the area several times, but were unable to get
their bearings in the storm. They did have mate-
rials to start a fire, as well as some food.
Ash said that after confirming the group’s
location he called Duane Miles, of the Panhan-
dle Snowmobile Club, who immediately started
assembling riders while Ash was en route from
Baker City to Halfway.
The club members reached the five Wash-
ington men about 9:10 p.m. They were cold and
tired but otherwise OK. They rode back about 9
miles to the Clear Creek Sno-Park on the road
to Fish Lake.
IN BRIEF
Trio jailed after failed burglary
SUMMERVILLE — The Union County
Sheriff’s Office in a press release Monday, Dec.
27, reported the arrest of three people on Christ-
mas Eve as they removed items from a resi-
dence in Summerville.
A deputy who was patrolling Summer-
ville Road about 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 24
recognized a suspicious vehicle at the resi-
dence, and a call to the property manager
found there should not have been anyone
there.
The investigation led to the arrest of Nickole
L. Thamert, 47, of Summerville, Jon M. Weath-
ers, 51, of La Grande, and Emily A. Wilson,
38, of Summerville. According to the sheriff’s
office, the three were in the process of remov-
ing items from the residence and were loading
them into a vehicle.
—EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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