Keep Snake Dams, Corps Is Told Residents Fear Economic Impact Of Proposal To Boost Salmon Runs

Most of the 190 people who turned out for an Army Corps of Engineers hearing on improving Snake River salmon runs said they don’t want the four lower Snake dams torn down.

People at the Tuesday night hearing came looking for reassurance that their livelihoods would be considered along with the fish. Farm irrigation, barge transportation and electricity rates all would be affected if the dams were removed.

“I certainly don’t want to see the dams taken out,” said Syd Sullivan of Washtucna. “There is too much economic impact. There are too many people depending on the water.”

“I think (the Corps) is more or less on the right track, but I have lots of reservations about pulling the dams out,” said Jason Adler of Richland. “I’d rather see the money spent on other things - the bypass systems and habitat restoration.”

The Corps is conducting a series of hearings as it works on a $17 million study of what can be done to improve fish returns.

Corps officials were quick to say they are not necessarily going to conclude that breaching the dams is the best way to improve salmon habitat on the 140 miles of river controlled by the four lower Snake dams.

“If it seems like we are on a presumptive path to drawdowns, we are not,” said Greg Graham, Corps study project manager. “We just want to be the honest brokers of information.”

Graham said Congress ultimately will decide what should happen to the river. The Corps plans to complete its study by 1999 under a 1995 mandate by the National Marine Fisheries Service to look at salmon improvement options on the Snake.

Options include doing nothing, making major improvements to the hydropower system such as fish collection and bypass facilities, or removing the earthworks adjacent to dams and allowing the river to return to its natural level.