Batt Believes He Can Halt Salmon Plan Batt’s Stacked The Power Council To The Point He May Be Able To Overturn Drawdown Strategy

Republican Gov. Phil Batt believes the balance on the Northwest Power Planning Council is shifting to the point where he may eventually have the votes needed to overturn the council’s salmon survival plan.

The council approved a plan in late December that called for drawdowns of eastern Washington reservoirs to speed river flows for young salmon migrating to the ocean each spring.

Retired Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus strongly advocated the plan, claiming the dams were the real cause for the demise of the salmon and dropping the water below minimum operating levels was the only way to offset their impact.

Andrus maintained it would take less Idaho water than the unsuccessful fish-flush program that claimed 2.7 million acre-feet of water last year.

But Batt has strongly objected to the plan, claiming it will require more Idaho water than the Andrus administration suggested.

And he immediately replaced the Andrus appointees on the council with his own who oppose the drawdown plan.

The two Montana delegates to the council have held that position all along, and now Batt says Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon agrees, saying there is no longer a consensus behind the Power Council approach and that a new strategy needs to be devised.

With both Montana delegates opposed, it took the delegates from Washington, Oregon and Idaho to approve the drawdown plan under the council procedures that allow a united delegation and just one other member to veto a proposal.

The same kind of majority is needed to reverse a decision, and Batt believes that “now there might be enough people on the council to support my position.”