Senators Request Audit Of Dams On Snake, Columbia

Thu., March 27, 1997

Associated Press

Three Western Democrats critical of the Army Corps of Engineers asked congressional auditors to determine whether mismanagement of hydropower operations is taking a toll on endangered salmon in the Snake and Columbia rivers.

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., made the formal request of the General Accounting Office this week as Northwest salmon prepare to make their annual spring migration to the Pacific Ocean.

“It has come to our attention that numerous, potentially avoidable problems arose” during the Corps’ operation of the river system during last spring’s migration, the senators said.

“As we prepare for the 1997 spring migration of juvenile fish to the ocean, problems are again a very real possibility,” they said.

An Army Corps official said Wednesday “the request is certainly within the purview of Congress.

“We would welcome the GAO taking a look at the regional efforts out here,” said Doug Arndt, senior program manager for the Corps’ North Pacific Division in Portland.

Laura Kopelson, a spokeswoman for GAO, said Wednesday the request was under review.

The senators outlined the problems in a letter Monday to GAO Acting Comptroller General Jim Hinchman:

Failure to meet water flow and spill targets in the federally mandated plan to protect the fish.

Poorly maintained and broken down equipment at the dams created potentially lethal situations for juvenile fish.

River temperatures rose to dangerous levels.

Despite proposals to spread the risk between in-river migration and barging and trucking, maximum numbers of migrating smolts, young salmon moving from fresh water to the ocean, were collected for the transportation program.

Implementation of important experimental procedures was sometimes poorly timed and lacked rigorous experimental design.

“While it is well-known that 1997 will be a substantial water year, with runoff forecasts from 130-180 percent of normal, it appears the Corps preparations for the spring migration are already falling behind schedule,” they said.

Specifically, the senators said they want to know whether the Corps is scheduling and prioritizing maintenance and repairs of dam turbines to avoid outages during migration.

They also asked the GAO to compare the Corps operations with those of other public and private utilities in the Columbia Basin, such as the Idaho Power Company and the Mid-Columbia Public Utility Districts.

Arndt said the GAO conducted an audit on the Corps’ operations in the late 1980s.

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