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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bpa’s Salmon Figures Called Into Question Environmentalist Says Power Agency Spends Only A Fraction Of Amount It Claims

The Bonneville Power Administration writes checks for only $80 million annually in salmon recovery efforts - not the $400 million it claims, an environmental activist charged Friday.

Jim Baker of the Sierra Club challenged the figure when it was used at a Spokane symposium by Jack Robertson, Bonneville’s second in command.

“Four hundred million is his estimate of what he might have been able to generate if he’d been able to run the river flat-out” without consideration of salmon, Baker said, turning to Robertson.

“It’s misinformation, and I wish you’d abstain from using that.”

The figure reflects the actions that the National Marine Fisheries Services requires of Bonneville, Robertson responded.

“It is not a hypothetical number,” he said. “That’s what it is, by our estimate, going to cost.”

The number will increase to $650 million during the next five years, he said. The money comes from people who buy the power generated at the region’s federal dams.

Robertson also denied allegations that Bonneville is abandoning energy conservation efforts that could reduce reliance on hydropower.

Recovery of endangered salmon was the most hotly debated topic at “Rivers & Dams,” a symposium that capped a summer-long series of exhibitions and programs organized by the Cheney Cowles Museum. The events explored the “Promises, Progress and Perils” of dams built throughout the region.

Discussion of salmon also included:

Leadership. The region, not Congress, is the best hope for the salmon, said Peter Forsyth, a Kaiser Aluminum manager. “A good bit of leadership needs to begin in the state of Washington, and I’m not so clear we’re contributing it.”

Northwest Power Planning Council. Ken Casavant, a member from Eastern Washington, argued that the four-state council should be disbanded if it is not given the authority to enforce its strategy to save salmon.

Removal of dams. Old, inefficient dams that might actually be removed because of their high environmental costs “are relatively few and far between,” said Katherine Ramsel, an attorney who works for the conservation group American Rivers. Friday’s discussions focused on culture, as well as the economy and environment.

Representatives of the Colville, Coeur d’Alene and Spokane Indian tribes opened the session. Among them was Deb Louie of the Colville Confederated Tribes business council. He lamented the building of Grand Coulee Dam, which ended all salmon runs in the upper Columbia River. That cost the Indians their traditional way of life and contributed to social ills such as alcoholism, he said.

Louie said he is saddened by photographs showing tribal leaders watching construction of the dam.

“What were they thinking? Why didn’t they fight and die to stop this?”

, DataTimes