Old Promises To Keep And Species To Save

Four dams on the Snake River between Lewiston and the confluence with the Columbia are in the crosshairs of a debate about whether breaching these dams would help restore endangered salmon and steelhead runs.

Restoring Idaho’s salmon and steelhead is complex, biologically, technically, economically and politically. It is easy to hide in the complexity of the dilemma.

The public should not lose sight of the most fundamental questions: Will we restore salmon, steelhead and the economies and cultures they support or are we going to drive them to extinction? Are we going to keep the promises that the nation has made?

Our nation has answered the question of whether or not we want to restore salmon and steelhead many times in the last 130 years.

The answer has always been a resounding yes.

In 1855, our government made a government-to-government treaty with the Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla, and Nez Perce nations. In that treaty, our government promised to protect salmon and steelhead runs forever in exchange for the cession of hundreds of thousands of acres of the tribes’ homelands. In 1868, we made a similar promise, memorialized by a treaty with the Shoshone and Bannock people. We didn’t stop there:

In the early 1930s Congress promised the fish runs were to be protected in the authorization of Bonneville Dam. Congress went on to authorize seven more dams on the lower Snake and Columbia Rivers, each providing for the protection of salmon and steelhead.

In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, promising that no federal action would jeopardize any species of its habitat. Today our federal agencies issue permits to themselves to kill most of our fish.

In 1975, in a legal opinion called U.S. vs. Oregon, federal courts reaffirmed the promises made to the tribes and made clear that the U.S. government was obligated to keep the promises.

In 1980, Congress passed the Northwest Power Act, promising that salmon, steelhead, and the dependent economies would be afforded “equitable treatment” with the other uses of the river system. Today the Bonneville Power Administration charges $135 million a year so the fish can float past the dams.

In 1985, our nation entered into the Pacific Salmon Treaty with Canada. One of the promises we made to Canada was to begin rebuilding Columbia Basin salmon runs.

Will our government keep these promises? Will the Clinton administration, Congress, and Mike Field, Todd Maddock and the other members of the Northwest Power Planning Council save our fish?

Scientific studies are clear that the best hope for restoring Snake River salmon and steelhead is bypassing the lower Snake Dams and perhaps modifying John Day Dam.

There is also certainty about what will not work; taking young fish out of the river and barging them to the ocean, making minor changes in flows and spill, adding more screens and techno-fixes to the dams themselves.

It costs our country more than $400 million every year to support the continued existence of the four lower Snake River dams. The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to spend another $600 million in capital improvements at these dams.

Before we continue to spend this money we need to recognize that these four dams provide no flood control, no irrigation storage, and generate power at above-market rates. They are deadbeats. It would be cheaper to just take them out than to continue paying these huge costs for fish-killing dams.

If the region continues to protect these dams, the only other option that might meet the requirements of the law is to take water away from upstream users - such as Idaho farmers - for flow augmentation and “improved barging.” This is not the best choice for fish but it is the last refuge of a failed bureaucracy.

The Clinton administration has committed to making a decision between these options in 1999. This schedule still provides enough time to save the fish if we have the political will.

Early retirement of the lower Snake dams is the best biological solution. These dams are economic deadbeats. They cost taxpayers and electricity ratepayers far more than they will ever return. By decommissioning them now and allowing salmon and steelhead runs to recover, taxpayers and Bonneville Power Administration customers will be freed from paying for measures that don’t work. Irrigators will save water and fishing-based economies can return.

We have the technical expertise to solve this problem. Our political leaders continue to act like they have all the time in the world to stall and debate. The fish don’t have many options and the public, the tribes and Canada don’t have much more patience.

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