Fusion is energy solution

Conspicuously absent from your article on Sept. 16 regarding Snake River dam breaching (as one possible option in the current administration’s save-the-salmon plan) is any mention of hydroelectric power as being “green.”

You do mention that hydroelectric power is “cheap,” and that the dams proposed for potential removal provide enough electricity to power Seattle, but you never indicate that by removing these dams they will need to be replaced with coal- or gas-fired power plants that generate CO2. These four dams generate 3,000 megawatts of power. If these four dams were replaced with natural gas-powered plants, those plants would generate approximately eight tons of CO2 per day (or approximately 20 tons per day if coal-fired plants are used).

Further, fossil fuel power plants require cooling, which elevates temperatures in surrounding rivers, thus threatening fish (such as salmon) in those rivers.

Here’s an idea: the U.S. invests $100 billion a year into developing nuclear fusion (fusion, not fission) as a source for electrical generation. Problem solved.

John S. Reid

Spokane