Tribes Like Dam Breaching Price Cost To Create Route For Migrating Fish Is ‘Manageable’

A Nez Perce Tribe official is welcoming an estimate that breaching the four lower Snake River dams would cost $160million, an amount far less than previous estimates.

“This is good news,” Arthur Taylor, tribal Fish and Wildlife Subcommittee chairman at Lapwai, said in a prepared statement.

“At one time estimates for breaching these dams ran into the billions of dollars. Now we have some additional confirmation that the cost of creating a natural river channel in the lower Snake is manageable.”

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, which issued the statement, supports dam breaching in its salmon recovery plan. It represents the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes.

In another statement, the Columbia River Alliance said Friday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bonneville Power Administration and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recommended barging young steelhead.

That biological assessment results from the National Marine Fisheries Service moving last summer to protect Columbia River steelhead runs under the Endangered Species Act.

Its recommendation for barging was based on studies that show more fish survived if barged, Columbia River Alliance Director Bruce Lovelin said.

Overall costs for breaching the dams and preventing damage along the reservoirs range from $500 million to $850 million, according to a preliminary estimate by the corps, which operates the dams.

The cost estimate for the actual work to breach earthen embankments or build a channel around the dams was prepared by Raytheon Infrastructure and was discussed during a meeting Thursday in Portland. The estimate includes such costs as engineering work, refitting municipal water intakes and sewage plants and protecting bridge piers and embankments from problems during drawdowns.