STATE & NATION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
Debate over Snake dams heats up
■ Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson calls for removing the four dams on the lower Snake River
By Nicholas K. Geranios
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. —
Nearly two decades ago,
Republican President George
W. Bush stood on a bank of
the Snake River near Pasco,
Washington, and declared that
four hydroelectric dams would
not be torn down on his watch,
though many blamed them for
killing endangered salmon.
This month, Republican
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson of
Idaho issued a bold plan
that called for removing
those same dams to save the
salmon. In between those two
acts were decades of litigation
that show no sign of ending
and $17 billion worth of im-
provements to the dams that
did little to help fi sh.
Now the question is: Can
Simpson’s plan win approval
from Congress and the Biden
administration and help save
an iconic Pacifi c Northwest
species from extinction?
Other Republicans are vow-
ing to save the dams. Demo-
crats have come out in support
of Simpson’s plan, which calls
for spending $33 billion to
breach four dams, replace the
lost hydroelectric energy with
other sources and ensure that
irrigation, river navigation
and fl ood control will continue
as before.
The issue of what to do
with the Snake River dams
has long divided the Pacifi c
Northwest, with Democrats
generally siding with saving
the salmon and Republicans
dams, has long fought to pre-
serve the structures.
“Spending more than $33
billion to breach them — with
no guarantee that doing so will
restore salmon populations —
is a drastic, fi scally irrespon-
sible leap to take,” she said.
Conservation and tribal
groups issued statements sup-
porting Simpson’s proposal.
“We’ve spent decades
making minor improvements
and adjustments that simply
haven’t worked, and what we
really need is serious funding
and a major overhaul,” said
Liz Hamilton, executive direc-
tor of the Northwest Sport-
fi shing Industry Association.
Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
“Healthy populations of
The Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River is seen in 2019 from the air near Colfax,
wild salmon and steelhead
Washington. U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, has proposed removing four hydro-
are essential for Northwest
electric dams in the Northwest, including the Lower Granite Dam, as part of a sweep- tribes, local economies and
ing plan to save salmon populations and to provide aid to farmers and others.
the region’s way of life — and
they’re running out of time,”
saying it’s foolish to remove
into committee leadership
website Saturday, saying, “The said Collin O’Mara, president
hydropower resources in the
positions for the fi rst time in
current system is clearly not
and CEO of the National
era of climate change.
years, he said.
working.”
Wildlife Federation.
But Lindsay Slater, Simp-
“There is all this seniority
Four Republican House
The plan calls for the
son’s chief of staff, said the
in the Northwest,” Slater said, members — Cathy McMorris removal of the Lower Granite
political winds are blowing
pointing to Washington Sens. Rodgers, Dan Newhouse and Dam near Colfax in 2030,
in favor of a solution to this
Patty Murray and Maria
Jaime Herrera Beutler, all
with removal of three other
decades-long controversy.
Cantwell and Oregon Sen.
from Washington, and Rep.
dams — Ice Harbor, Little
For one thing, the Biden
Ron Wyden.
Russ Fulcher of Idaho — op-
Goose and Lower Monumen-
administration is preparing a
“This is lightning in a bottle. posed Simpson’s plan.
tal — in 2031. The dams were
massive economic relief pack- It really is,” Slater said. “We
“The hydropower devel-
built in the 1950s and 1960s
age for the nation, and Simp- are telling stakeholders this is oped in the Pacifi c Northwest to provide power, fl ood con-
son wants the Northwest to
a once-in-30-years opportunity. benefi ts every resident, family, trol, irrigation and to make
designate this solution to the Do we want to grab it?”
and business in our region,”
navigable a portion of the
salmon issues for the region’s
Simpson was motivated
they said in a joint statement. Snake River from Lewiston,
share of the package, Slater
by the prospect of continued
“Without it, life as we know it Idaho, to the Tri-Cities of
said. For another, Democratic litigation even as salmon die
in our region would cease to
Richland, Kennewick and
control of the Senate has
off, Slater said.
exist.”
Pasco in Washington, and
propelled numerous longtime
Simpson unveiled the
McMorris Rodgers, whose
downriver to Pacifi c Ocean
senators from the Northwest plan in a video posted to his
district has several of the
ports.
County commissioners reset hearing on zoning changes
By Samantha O’Conner
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Baker County Commissioners de-
cided Wednesday, Feb. 17 to resched-
ule a public hearing for proposed
changes to the county’s zoning ordi-
nance to their next regular meeting,
March 3.
In other business, commissioners
unanimously approved the agree-
ment between the Sheriff’s Offi ce
and Equature for recording calls
at the 911 dispatch center. Sheriff
Travis Ash said the fi ve-year main-
tenance agreement costs $6,950 per
year.
Commissioners also unanimously
approved applying for $131,400 from
a state transportation program on
behalf of Community Connection,
which would use the money to pro-
vide transportation for seniors and
residents with disabilities.
Commissioners also discussed a
separate state transportation that
both Community Connection and
Elkhorn Taxi are interested in apply-
ing for.
Commissioners will continue their
discussion on that program, which
has $636,000 available, during a
March 10 work session.
“We are on the hook for everything
that’s spent and I would just like to
clearly understand,” Commissioner
Mark Bennett said.
In the meantime the county will
send in an application, leaving the
fi nancial allocations blank pending
the March 10 discussion.
SUSPECTS
Continued from Page 3A
Judge Vitolins said in
the Feb. 10 hearing, after
reviewing the interview
tapes, that Mobley read
Miranda rights to Isaac
Connery quickly and
did not ask if he under-
stood those rights before
immediately beginning
questioning. Several
minutes into the interview
Isaac Connery requested
a lawyer.
On the stand, Mobley
said he is required to stop
questioning a suspect if
they request a lawyer but
is not required to stop talk-
ing to them.
Instead of stopping the
interview, Mobley said he
told Isaac Connery how he
planned to proceed, by ar-
resting two of his siblings
and a family friend in con-
nection to the murders.
“I believed I had prob-
able cause for the arrests
of them,” Mobley said on
the stand.
Mobley said he then
told Isaac Connery during
the interview that Oregon
was a death penalty state,
which he said he believed
was accurate at the time.
Mobley said Isaac
Connery then told him
he would talk but only if
Jones and Komning left
the room. He said the oth-
ers left, and Isaac Connery
confessed.
Isaac Connery’s attor-
ney, Geoffrey Gokey, said
Mobley used “deceptive
police tactics.”
Carpenter said in his
release that Oregon’s law
regarding Miranda rights
is clear, and he expected
the court to rule as it did.
“We have to deal with
the facts as they exist, not
as we would like them
to be,” Carpenter said.
“Connery had the right to
be advised of his rights in
a way that he understood,
and the right to have an
attorney present when he
requested one. The police
must recognize those
rights and proceed accord-
ingly.”
Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh dies
COUNCIL
Continued from Page 1A
Councilors discussed writing a joint letter of support,
By Matt Sedensky
AP National Writer
and individual letters, supporting the continued employ-
ment of a school resource offi cer, a city police offi cer who
Rush Limbaugh, the talk
works primarily in schools.
radio host who ripped into
liberals and laid waste to
Councilor Lynette Perry, talking about safety in
political correctness with a
Geiser-Pollman Park, said she’d like to see the city have
gleeful malice
someone patrolling the park regularly during the summer.
that made
Perry said she’s seen a lot of drug activity there.
him one of the
Councilor Heather Sells said she likes the idea of col-
most powerful
laborating with the county to patrol the Adler Parkway, the
voices in politics,
paved path that follows the Powder River.
infl uencing the
Under the water/wastewater category, councilors said
Limbaugh rightward push
they want to prioritize thinning forests to reduce the wild-
of American
fi re risk in the city’s 10,000-acre watershed in the Elkhorn
conservatism and the rise of
Mountains.
Donald Trump, died Wednes-
Under the self-suffi ciency category, Mayor Kerry Mc-
day. He was 70.
Quisten said she feels the city is at “the mercy of things we
Limbaugh said a year ago
shouldn’t be” in regards to state and federal mandates.
that he had lung cancer. His
Councilors said they want to speak with multiple groups,
death was announced on his
including the American Red Cross, the county’s emergency
show by his wife, Kathryn.
management department and Oregon Trail Electric Coop-
Unfl inchingly conservative,
erative, about emergency preparedness and what the city
wildly partisan, bombastically
could expect if it was cut off during a disaster.
self-promoting and larger than
“If something catastrophic happened it’d be nice to say
life, Limbaugh galvanized lis-
OK, it doesn’t matter what the rest of the state is doing,
teners for more than 30 years
we’re in a bubble and we’re safe,” McQuisten said. “We
with his talent for sarcastic,
have enough to get people by for two weeks, six months,
insult-laced commentary.
whatever.”
He called himself an enter-
In discussing livability, Councilor Johnny Waggoner
Sr. suggested that City
Manager Jonathan Can-
non could “get some input
from department heads in
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10
tainer, but his rants during
his three-hour weekday radio
show broadcast on nearly
600 U.S. stations shaped the
national political conversation,
swaying ordinary Republicans
and the direction of their
party.
Blessed with a made-
for-broadcasting voice, he
delivered his opinions with
such certainty that his fol-
lowers, or “Ditto-heads,” as he
dubbed them, took his words
as sacred truth.
“In my heart and soul, I
know I have become the intel-
lectual engine of the conserva-
tive movement,” Limbaugh,
with typical immodesty, told
author Zev Chafets in the
2010 book “Rush Limbaugh:
An Army of One.”
Forbes magazine estimated
his 2018 income at $84 mil-
lion, ranking him only behind
Howard Stern among radio
personalities.
Limbaugh took as a badge
of honor the title “most dan-
gerous man in America.” He
said he was the “truth detec-
tor,” the “doctor of democracy,”
a “lover of mankind,” a “harm-
less, lovable little fuzz ball”
and an “all-around good guy.”
He claimed he had “talent on
loan from God.”
Limbaugh often enunciated
the Republican platform bet-
ter and more entertainingly
than any party leader, becom-
ing a GOP kingmaker whose
endorsement and friendship
were sought. Polls consistent-
ly found he was regarded as a
voice of the party.
His idol, Ronald Reagan,
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wrote a letter of praise that
Limbaugh proudly read
on the air in 1992: “You’ve
become the number one voice
for conservatism.” In 1994,
Limbaugh was so widely cred-
ited with the fi rst Republican
takeover of Congress in 40
years that the GOP made him
an honorary member of the
new class.
During the 2016 presi-
dential primaries, Limbaugh
said he realized early on that
Trump would be the nominee,
and he likened the candidate’s
deep connection with his
supporters to his own. In a
2018 interview, he conceded
Trump is rude but said that
is because he is “fearless and
willing to fi ght against the
things that no Republican has
been willing to fi ght against.”
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