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THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2022 A3 LOCAL, STATE & REGION Lower Snake River Dams may need to go to help salmon, report finds BY NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS Associated Press SPOKANE, Wash. — The Biden administration on Tues- day released two reports ar- guing that removing dams on the lower Snake River may be needed to restore salmon runs to sustainable levels in the Pa- cific Northwest, and that re- placing the energy created by the dams is possible but will cost $11 billion to $19 billion. The reports were released by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “Business as usual will not restore salmon,” said Brenda Mallory, chair of the council. “The Columbia River system is the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest.” If the four Snake River dams were ultimately re- moved, it would be largest such project in U.S. history. In 2012 the Elwha Dam on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula was removed to re- store habitat. At the time, the National Park Service said the elimination of the Elwha Dam was the largest such project in U.S. history. Many salmon runs continue to decline, which environmen- talists blame on dams, Mallory said, and her office is leading multiagency efforts to restore “abundant runs of salmon to the Columbia River Basin.” Mallory cautioned that the Biden administration is not endorsing any single long- term solution, including breaching the dams. A draft report by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found changes are needed to restore salmon, ranging from removal of one to four dams on the lower Snake River to Associated Press file Ice Harbor Dam is one of four dams on the lower Snake River. reintroduction of salmon to areas entirely blocked by dams. A second report studied how power supplies could be replaced if dams are breached. “These two reports add to the picture — that we are working alongside regional leaders to develop — of what it will take over the decades ahead to restore salmon pop- ulations, honor our commit- ments to Tribal Nations, de- liver clean power and meet the many needs of stakeholders across the region,” Mallory said. More than a dozen runs of salmon and steelhead are at risk of extinction in the Co- lumbia and Snake rivers. Billions of dollars have been spent on salmon and steelhead recovery, but the fish continue to decline, speakers said, and it is time to try a different ap- proach. Dam breaching is opposed by grain shippers, irrigators, power producers and other river users. Dam supporters blame declining salmon runs on other factors, such as changing ocean con- ditions. “We need to go to larg- er-scale actions,” NOAA sci- entist Chris Jordan said in a briefing on the report Mon- day. “We are at a crucial mo- ment for salmon and steel- head in the Columbia River Basin when we’re seeing the impacts of climate change on top of other stressors,” said Janet Coit, an administrator for NOAA Fisheries. Six Republican members of Congress from the Northwest blasted the reports as biased. “They are cherry picking points to justify breaching the Lower Snake River Dams, which will permanently and negatively impact our way of life in the Pacific North- west,” said a statement from U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and Jaime Herrera Beutler, all from Washington, Cliff Bentz of Oregon, Russ Fulcher of Idaho and Matt Rosendale of Montana. Kurt Miller, executive direc- tor of Northwest RiverPart- ners, which is made up of river users, said electricity ratepay- ers will see higher bills if the dams are breached. The rate increases could reach 65%, Miller said. “The study confirms the fact these dams are irreplace- able for the region if we want to meet our emissions reduc- tion objectives and maintain a reliable grid at an affordable cost,” Miller said. The issue has percolated in the Northwest for three de- cades, sparking court fights and political debates over the future of the four dams on the Snake River that environmen- talists blame for the decline in salmon and steelhead. U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, kicked off the lat- est round of debates in 2021, when he released a plan say- ing it would cost $34 billion to remove and replace the dams’ services in order to save salmon. U.S. Sen. Patty Mur- ray and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, both Democrats, are also preparing a report, with their recommendations ex- pected later this summer. Last month, Murray and Inslee announced that re- placing the benefits provided by the four giant hydroelec- tric dams on the lower Snake River in Washington state would cost $10.3 billion to $27.2 billion. Breaching the dams would significantly improve the abil- ity of salmon and steelhead to swim from their inland spawning grounds to the Pa- cific Ocean, where they spend most of their lives, and then back to their original spawn- ing grounds to procreate and die, Murray and Inslee said. Major benefits of the dams include making the Snake River navigable up to Lewis- ton, Idaho, allowing barges to carry wheat and other crops to ocean ports. Eliminating the dams would require truck and rail transportation improve- ments to move crops. The dams also generate electricity, provide irrigation water for farmers and recre- ation opportunities for people. Breaching the dams would re- quire an act of Congress. Ne- whouse and McMorris Rod- gers have introduced a bill to protect the dams, which are located in their districts. In the late 1800s, up to 16 million salmon and steel- head returned to the Colum- bia River Basin every year to spawn. Over the next century and a half, overfishing whit- tled that number down. By the early 1950s, just under 130,000 Chinook were returning to the Snake River. Construction of the first dam on the lower river, Ice Harbor, began in 1955. Lower Monumental followed in 1969, Little Goose in 1970, and Lower Granite in 1975. The dams stretch from Pasco, Washington, to near Pullman, Washington, and stand be- tween migrating salmon and 5,500 miles of spawning habi- tat in central Idaho. The dams have fish ladders, but too many of the salmon die as they swim through the dams and across slack water reservoirs on their migrations. In 1991, Snake River salmon and steelhead were listed as endangered species, requiring production of a fed- eral recovery plan. The U.S. government has spent more than $17 billion trying to recover Snake River salmon, through improve- ments to fish ladders and other measures, with little to show for it. This story has been updated to correct that the goal of dam removal is to restore salmon runs to sustainable levels, not historic levels. SIZZLING SUMMER SALE Hot Prices on Cool Furniture and Mattresses FREE DELIVERY & SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE* *Subject to credit approval. See store for details 2071 S. Hwy 97, Redmond 541-548-2066 • www.wilsonsofredmond.net • 63485 N. Hwy 97, Bend 541-330-5084
