Spokane7
36°
May 30, 2009 in Opinion
Judge endangers salmon, dams plan
Once again, our way of life in the Northwest is being threatened. Today the threat isn’t from a politician or Wall Street financier. It’s from a judge in Portland.
With a stroke of a pen, U.S. District Judge James Redden last week undermined years of teamwork and collaboration and put removing the lower Snake River dams back on the table.
Redden threatened to reject a federal salmon restoration plan, required by the Endangered Species Act, because he doesn’t think it does enough to protect migrating salmon. The biological opinion, or BiOp, is an agreement between Idaho, Montana and Washington, most Columbia River tribes and the federal government to improve salmon runs without destroying the dams, their electricity and valuable irrigation reservoirs.
Redden’s decision contradicted his statement in March, when he praised the BiOp, saying it was very close to balancing the needs of power generation and salmon protection. However, after news the Obama administration wants to review the Bush-era BiOp, Redden decided to revisit the idea of removing the lower Snake River dams.
During this debate, it’s important to remember the facts.
First, salmon and dams can coexist. Salmon runs on the Snake and Columbia rivers are up. With the latest mitigation measures, salmon runs can be protected. We are making progress at habitat restoration, as well as improving salmon hatchery programs and dam operations.
Second, hydroelectric dams provide nearly 70 percent of Washington state’s electrical power, with zero carbon emissions. It would take three nuclear, six coal-fired or 14 gas-fired power plants to provide capacity equal to the four lower Snake River dams. These dams produce enough power to meet the annual needs of the city of Seattle. Our clean, renewable hydropower has kept the Northwest’s “carbon footprint” lowest in the country – at less than half that of the rest of the nation. Removal of the Snake River dams would add nearly 5.5 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere each year.
Third, inexpensive hydroelectric power from these dams built the Northwest’s economy. They provide affordable, renewable energy for companies dependent on low-cost electricity, like Boeing and Kaiser Aluminum. For 60 years, dams have provided irrigation and flood control. This has turned what was once a desert into the fertile Columbia Basin, fueling a multibillion dollar agriculture industry. Additionally these dams meet critical transportation needs for agriculture and small businesses. Now, these dams are powering the high-tech industry in our state.
It’s our responsibility as citizens and policymakers to find the right balance. There are many ways to help the environment. Providing unrestricted salmon runs while increasing carbon output to the exclusion of recognizing the economic impacts on working families is a bad tradeoff.
As a member of Congress, I also am disturbed to see a judge imposing his opinion over the wishes of stakeholders who have worked for years to agree on a consensus solution. Even Gov. Chris Gregoire, a former director of the state Department of Ecology, supports the BiOp.
Finally, the important environmental needs of the salmon can be balanced with the needs of working families. The American entrepreneur faces numerous challenges in today’s environment, the economic recession, goods from China (the world’s largest carbon polluter), and the vulnerability of our dependence on overseas oil.
In 2009, those of us in the Northwest, faced with the challenging currents of foreign energy, failed banks and global polluters, might feel like it’s a long way upstream to long-term security and prosperity. It’s something Judge Redden should consider before he makes his final ruling.
Salmon and dams can coexist for the benefit of all. Snake River dams are clean, green, American sources of energy. They should stay.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, represents the 5th District of Washington in the U.S. House of Representatives.
A hypocrite by necessity 
EWU Text-to-Win Contest 
Enter to win tickets to see Adam Carolla at the Knitting Factory 
WSU Text-to-Win Contest 
natbrandon on May 30 at 4:19 a.m.
Unfortunately, Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers completely overlooks the role that salmon have placed in building the Northwest economy and how their decline has cost thousands of family-wage fishing jobs. And it’s misleading to suggest that there is a tradeoff between hydropower from the four lower Snake River dams and energy from coal-fired power plants. According to a new report from the NW Energy Coalition entitled “Bright Future”, we can replace the energy from the lower Snake dams and retired coal-fired power plants and meet new load growth simply by relying on a mix of higher efficiency standards and new investments in non-salmon-killing renewables, such as wind and solar. Further, if there really is all this collaboration on salmon in the NW, why are the Nez Perce Tribe, the state of Oregon, sport and commercial fishermen, clean energy groups and salmon advocates not at the table to offer their perspectives on this crisis? Clearly, Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers wants collaboration — that is a good thing. But people on the ground here in Washington know that we’re not there yet. As long as key stakeholders are left out in the cold, we will not get to a real solution. I hope the congresswoman will embrace the call for solutions and comprehensive discussions that fellow Republican, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, called for recently.
sargentrn1 on June 01 at 9:52 a.m.
If Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers is compleletely overlooking the role of the salmon, would calling for the removal of dams be overlooking their role? Saying that replacement of the hydropower can be done in part by “simply relying on efficiency, wind and solar” is contradictory. There is no reliability in the wind. Neither wind or solar can be a reliable replacement to hydropower. The wind that we have is currently taxing the hydro system and curtailment of additional wind will be required to avoid jeoparizing the relability of our power system. Much of the preferred wind site are now taken leaving sitew with less output. The capacity of solar matches that of wind…… It’s poor. I agree that further efficiency is required and is a must but it can not go far enough to replace the dams.
Currently the targets and mandates for fish passage through the river system are 96% per dam passage survival for spring juveniles and 93% per dam passage for summer juvenile migrants. Several dams exceed this currently.. The billions pumped into the river system is working. Predation from seals, pikeminnows and birds is as impactful and we know how hard it is to even move some seals.
Dams and salmon can survive together and the green power from those dams can not be adequately repaced by solar or wind. Nuclear would do it. Will you suppor that?
Nonydog on June 01 at 12:20 p.m.
It’s absolutely true that salmon and some dams can coexist. Nobody’s calling for Bonneville’s removal, for instance. But it’s also absolutely true that we’ve seen nothing but expensive failure from 18 years of trying to save Snake River salmon while leaving the lower Snake River dams in place. If there is a non-breach solution that will actually benefit the fish, let’s see it. But again - history is a guide. The feds have written five plans; they withdrew one on their own; courts have thrown out three; and the current one is woefully short scientifically and legally. The judge didn’t make up the shortcomings in the plan, for heavens’ sakes.
Washington’s Congressional delegation should show the kind of leadership that Idaho’s is beginning to show, and try to lead a process that will get to a real solution. If dam removal isn’t necessary, fine - but since most scientists agree that it’s the best way to save the most fish, it doesn’t make sense to not even allow it to be studied, as Rep. Rodgers insists.
citizen1 on June 02 at 1:28 p.m.
Congresswoman Mcmorris Rodgers is playing upon people’s fears, invoking the financial crisis and reliance on foreign energy as reasons to stay the course and accept a woefully inadequate Bush-era salmon plan.
First, the Congresswoman asserts that, “Salmon runs on the Snake and Columbia rivers are up.” That is just not true. Most populations continue to bump along the bottom. Last month, salmon managers revised their spring Chinkook return estimates-from 300,000 to 150,000! This is clearly the opposite of up!
Secondly, she falsely limits the range of discussion (as does sargentrn1), on dam removal by suggesting that it would mean more nuclear, coal, or gas-fire plants. Removal of the four lower Snake River dams should not happen without replacement of their limited services. Their energy CAN and should be replaced with renewables and efficiency. Studies show that this can be done effectively and affordabley while creating thousands of jobs.
Its our responsibility as citizens and political leaders to ensure open, honest discussions based on the best scientific and economic information as we move forward to truly recover abundant runs of wild salmon in ways that work well for people and communities of the inland Northwest.
pgwenberry on June 04 at 2:30 p.m.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ is obviously a politician. Her May 30 article on the four lower Snake River dams was calculated to sway us against dam removal with an inflammatory tone and some carefully worded misinformation. She is also spreading it in her email newsletter. This kind of twisting of the issues to support one point of view does us all a disservice. You have to wonder who is benefitting from having the facts manipulated and the public aroused. The question of dam removal is a complex issue that can’t be resolved effectively by inflaming public opinion. We need clear-eyed information in order to make the best choices. Try www.bluefish.org instead. Their purpose is “to facilitate an open and honest dialogue concerning the plight of Idaho’s wild salmon and steelhead.”
Cathy, here are some “facts” in your article that don’t measure up: Not everyone shares your rosy view that current measures are adequately protecting salmon. This is the heart of the controversy. You generalize about hydro dams providing 70% of Washington’s electricity; but the four Snake River dams are only responsible for 4% of the whole region’s supply. You imply that the dams in question are needed for flood control and irrigation, but these are run-of-the-river dams. They do not provide flood control and have limited water storage, and they provide irrigation to only 13 farms on 37,000 acres. And although there would be some economic impacts from dam removal, it doesn’t necessarily equate to hard times for “working families” and “entrepreneurs.”
Please, in the future, give us the true and complete facts and let us come to our own conclusions.
djeterpt1 on June 10 at 11:47 a.m.
It is sad that Rep. McMorris needs to pretend that there is a crisis with our Dams. How about she get on board with healthcare reform or any number of actual problems that this country faces. She doesn’t seem to understand that attempting to bring up wedge issues worke in the 90’s, but we are getting tired of it.