OPINION
Wallowa County Chieftain
A4
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
The Lower Snake River dams: time for big, bold thinking and collaborative action
Wallowa County’s
salmon can’t wait
any longer.
T
he four dams on the
Lower Snake River
are distant and may
seem irrelevant to Wallowa
County. So why is the Chief-
tain running a bunch of stories
about them?
Because every single
salmon and every single steel-
head in the Imnaha, the Wal-
lowa, the Lostine, Hurri-
cane Creek, the Minam, the
Grande Ronde and other Wal-
lowa County streams must
navigate those dams. And
the populations of these fish
are plummeting. The rea-
sons are complex, and include
climate-driven changes in
ocean conditions, lower and
warmer stream flows, a pleth-
ora of predators and the pro-
tracted misery of navigating
the gauntlet of dams and their
slack water from the Snake
River to the ocean and back.
The last four dams are often
where upstream mortality
takes its greatest toll on these
marathon-runner fish.
How to save these fish, our
fish, is a critical question that
must be addressed by every-
one. As David Konz, presi-
dent of the Columbia River
Towboat Association said,
“Salmon recovery is the most
important thing. We need to
start with that. If your con-
cerns just start with the
(Lower) Snake River dams,
we’ll just spin our wheels and
stay where we are.”
There is nothing easy or
simple about resolving the
issues surrounding the four
Lower Snake River Dams.
For fish, the best and most
obvious fix is breaching the
dams and returning the lower
Snake to a free-flowing river.
But this would create havoc
for the infrastructure that
wheat growers and agricul-
ture have come to depend on,
including transportation of
supplies upstream, commod-
Idaho Dept of Fish and Game
In 2019, about 16,100 Chinook salmon made it across Lower Granite Dam — the uppermost of the four Lower
Snake River dams. Their numbers were down almost 10% from the previous year, and 60% from the five-year
average of 40,434. While 16,000 Chinook may seem like a lot, these fish disperse through the Clearwater, Salmon,
Grande Ronde, Wallowa, Minam and other streams, with hundreds of miles remaining before they spawn.
ities downstream, and access
to irrigation that ensures
productivity.
Economic study after eco-
nomic study funded by agri-
cultural or transportation
interests underline the obvi-
ous: breaching dams will
challenge and change local
economies. The most recent,
funded by the Pacific Water-
ways Association, reanalyzed
existing data. It predictably
found that removal of dams
and river-based transportation
would result in an additional
23.8 million miles of truck
travel annually, a cost of $5.9
million for increased injuries
and fatalities due to increased
truck and train mileage, and
increased carbon and other
emissions which will cost
more than $7.1 million per
year. All told, this most recent
forecast predicts an annual
cost of $155 million per year
to the nation. There would
also be an estimated loss of
$76 million per year to farm-
ers, or as much as $2.3 billion
over the next 30 years.
Health care signups still
strong, but down slightly
Oregon Department of Business
and Consumer Affairs
SALEM — More than 145,00
Oregonians signed up for health
plans for 2020 through Health-
Care.gov.
During the 45-day-long open
enrollment period in Novem-
ber/December people could buy
health insurance for the coming
year and many receive subsidies
through HealthCare.gov estab-
lished by the Affordable Care
Act.
“In many cases, Oregonians
whose health and future might
have been in jeopardy because
they did not have access to insur-
ance find that the plans and sub-
sidies available through Health-
Care.gov help make insurance
more affordable for them” said
Chiqui Flowers, administrator
of the Oregon Health Insurance
Marketplace, the state-level
partner to HealthCare.gov.
Oregon’s uninsured rate has
dropped almost 11 percent since
2009. About 94% of Oregonians
and 98% of Oregon children
have health insurance.
“Oregonians will receive the
care they need and live lon-
ger, better lives because of
the work done by the Oregon
Health Insurance Marketplace,”
said Lou Savage, director of the
Department of Consumer and
Business Services, the state’s
largest consumer protection and
business regulatory agency, of
which the Oregon Health Insur-
ance Marketplace is a part.
This year’s enrollment of
145,264 Oregonians is a 2 per-
cent decrease from last year’s
148,180.
For those who helped Ore-
gonians find health insurance
through the Marketplace this
year, their job is not complete.
“Our focus now that open
enrollment is over is to remind
Oregonians who signed up
for coverage that they must
pay their premium when they
receive their January bill in
order to make their coverage
effective,” Flowers said. “In
addition, though open enroll-
ment for 2020 is now closed,
Oregonians who experience life
changes such as losing job-cov-
ered insurance or Medicaid,
becoming pregnant, or getting
married may qualify for a spe-
cial enrollment period.”
The sole exception to the
is based partly upon the gen-
notion that removing dams
eral public’s cultural value
would irreparably harm Wash- for salmon and their willing-
ington’s economy is a June,
ness to shoulder higher costs
2019 study by EcoNorthwest, for power and commodities in
funded by Vulcan Inc. — a
order to save fish.
subsidiary of Paul Allen’s
On Jan. 10, the Washing-
Microsoft. The study deter-
ton governor’s office spon-
mined that “Dam removal
sored a meeting and panel
would result in a reduction
of stakeholders in Clarkston.
in spending in some sec-
The question repeatedly asked
tors (e.g. grain farming and
by panelists was “which set of
dam operations and mainte-
figures do we believe?”
nance), however the physical
Over the 40 years since the
costs of removing the dams
dams were built, the answer
also produce a set of posi-
has lain with how you earned
tive economic impacts, albeit your living. Farmers can
potentially for a different pop- prove that dam removal might
ulation. Removing the Lower be catastrophic. Support-
Snake River Dams will result ers of salmon and prosperous
in a net increase of $505 mil- river ecosystems can prove
lion in output, $492 million in that dam removal is the better
value added, $408 million in
option for all.
labor income, and 317 annual
With a court-mandated fed-
jobs.” The report finds that
eral environmental impact
“the benefits accruing to the
statement looming that will
public from a restored natu-
address the environmen-
ral river system and a reduced tal impacts of each of the 14
extinction risk of wild salmon major dams on the Colum-
outweigh the net costs of
bia River system, its time to
removing the dams by over
step out from our hardened
$8.6 billion.” This estimate
positions and find a real solu-
Lawmakers try to rebuild greenhouse gas proposal
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Less than a month
before legislators convene again,
a new proposal to cap Oregon’s
greenhouse gas emissions is taking
firmer shape.
The aim is to reduce the state’s
overall emissions from electric-
ity, fossil fuels like natural gas and
diesel, and industrial processes
like making cement, steel and
semi-conductors.
Together, those three sectors
account for about 80 percent of the
state’s greenhouse gas emissions,
according to a briefing provided
Thursday by two Democratic state
senators.
In a nod to industry, the new
plan does not enact limits on natu-
ral gas emissions from high-emis-
sions factories. Key industries
would still remain subject to lim-
its on other emissions from their
production. And to cut the impact
on rural Oregon, the new plan still
limits emissions attributable to fuel
suppliers, but first in Portland and
then just in other populous areas.
The proposal hinges on a sys-
tem of emission allowances —
essentially permits to emit green-
house gases — that can be bought
and sold.
“In terms of those who are
directly going into the market to
purchase allowances, aside from
the utilities, we’re really just look-
ing at about nine or so industrial
customers at this point,” said state
Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Port-
land. “Everyone else, it will be
done through their utilities. And
the big fuel importers.”
The bill aims to reduce Oregon
emissions 45 percent below 1990
levels in the next 15 years, and to
80 percent below 1990 emissions
levels by 2050.
The legislative concept is
expected to be posted on the Leg-
islature’s website on Friday, Jan.
10. A legislative committee is
expected to consider the legisla-
tion on Monday, Jan. 13.
Dembrow said in an interview
that they are proposing four big
changes from last year’s effort that
derailed the Legislature.
The first change, Dembrow
said, is that capping emissions
from gasoline and diesel would
be phased in over the next several
years. Fuel importers would not
have to get emissions allowances
with respect to rural areas of the
state, though those areas could opt
in to the regulations if they want.
Starting in two years, fuel sup-
pliers in the Portland metro area
must obtain allowances. Three
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
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VOLUME 134
USPS No. 665-100
P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828
Office: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore.
Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921
Contents copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
tion. The loss of salmon in
the Snake River, the Clearwa-
ter, the Salmon River and ulti-
mately in Wallowa County is
unacceptable. This year, as
outfitter Dustin Aherin pointed
out, there were only 161 Chi-
nook redds in the Middle Fork
of the Salmon River. In 1962,
before the locks on the Lower
Snake River dams closed,
there were at least 23,000.
This year our steelhead returns
are near an all-time low, and
wild fall Chinook nearly
non-existent in the Wallowa
River and tributaries. The
dams are not the only factor,
but they are a factor.
It’s time to find a real solu-
tion that saves these fish
and honors America’s trea-
ties with the Nez Perce and
other tribes. This would not
be the first time that agricul-
ture and tribes successfully
collaborated on a major proj-
ect to restore salmon and their
habitat. For example, in the
late 1980s the Umatilla Basin
Project restored stream flow
to a river which was dried up
by summer irrigation with-
drawals. It was not cheap. In
1984 dollars it cost $64 mil-
lion for planning and con-
struction, and much more
in landowner and commu-
nity costs. Some farmers and
ranchers had to change their
practices, and for a time may
have lost money. But today,
the project is a success.
This was a big, bold proj-
ect. At the time, like the larger
problem of the Snake River
Dams, it was opposed and
criticized. Today the project
works successfully for farm-
ers and tribal members alike,
enhancing recreation, provid-
ing irrigation, increasing pros-
perity for farms and restoring
fish.
We need big, bold thinking
again, not withdrawal into our
comfort zones on either side,
and fear of change. Wallowa
County’s salmon can’t wait.
And, as Donald Trump has
noted, “Nothing is easy. But
who wants nothing?”
General manager, Jennifer Cooney, jcooney@wallowa.com
Editor, Ellen Morris Bishop, editor@wallowa.com
Publisher, Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com
Reporter, Stephen Tool, steve@wallowa.com
Reporter, Bill Bradshaw, bbradshaw@wallowa.com
Administrative Assistant, Amber Mock, amock@wallowa.com
Advertising Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com
years later, in 2025, suppliers
delivering to areas receiving more
than 10 million gallons of fuel
would be covered by the program
and face new limits.
The second change corresponds
to how industrial users of natural
gas would be regulated. The utili-
ties or marketers supplying the gas
would deal with the corresponding
allowances.
The new plan would also set
aside money for environmental
initiatives like wildfire preven-
tion and forest health, and task
the Department of Environmen-
tal Quality with regulating the
system.
Lawmakers dropped the idea
of setting up a new state agency to
manage the program.
State Sen. Arnie Roblan,
D-Coos Bay, said that change
emerged out of conversations with
legislators opposed to the program
last year, many of whom were
worried about creating a new state
agency at a cost of millions.
“I really see this as one of the
ways in which we have eliminated
creating new bureaucracy in the
state,” Roblan said.
Various iterations of the pro-
posal have been passed around the
Capitol in recent months. One ver-
sion dated Dec. 23 spanned 100
pages of dense text.
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