Old Dam On Elwah Could Go Sen. Gorton Changes His Mind On Removing At Least One Dam

Fri., Sept. 12, 1997

Associated Press

Sen. Slade Gorton has changed his mind and now favors tearing down at least one dam on the Elwha River as a way of restoring the river’s salmon runs.

Gorton, R-Wash., indicated this week he was willing to spend money to dismantle the lower dam on the Olympic Peninsula river by 1999, something environmentalists and many public officials, including President Clinton, have urged.

The Seattle Times reported Thursday that Gorton’s staff is working on a proposal to use as much as $70 million of this year’s federal natural resources budget to remove the lower dam.

That’s a huge increase over the $4 million Gorton had proposed in July. If Congress approves, it would mean demolition of the dam could begin almost immediately.

The dams were built in the early 1900s and have no fish ladders. They cut off more than 70 miles of river and streams in a wilderness that once was prime salmon-spawning habitat. An estimated salmon population of 390,000 has dwindled to 3,000, all of which struggle to spawn in the 5 miles of river not blocked by a dam.

Under the proposal, scientists would monitor how well the salmon recover, and then decide whether it’s worth tearing down the upper dam, too, Gorton said.

“I am discussing this with Bruce Babbitt, the secretary of the interior,” Gorton said in one of his weekly Senate radio interviews. “Some people have suggested that what we ought to do is take down one dam, the lower dam, and give ourselves a decade or a decade and a half and find out whether that does anything for the fish. … I find that idea to be attractive.”

The Times said a Gorton staffer refused to say why the senator had changed his mind.

Rep. Rick White, R-Wash., confirmed Gorton has suggested appropriating the money immediately, as part of a windfall $850 million that is to be spent this year on parks and other environmental projects. Last year, only $160 million was spent.

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