Pro-Breaching Study Flawed, Economists Say Panel Advises Waiting For Study By Corps

A study that shows the Northwest would be ahead financially if it mothballed four Snake River dams is flawed, a panel of economists reported Thursday.

But the panel, which made its report to the Northwest Power Planning Council in Coeur d’Alene, stopped short of predicting a cost or savings if the dams are removed.

Instead, University of Washington economist Daniel Huppert said both sides in the dam-breaching debate should wait for a long-expected study by the Corps of Engineers. That study, due to be released next year, will be more comprehensive and accurate than any conducted so far, Huppert said.

At issue Thursday were economic assumptions made by Phil Lansing in a 1997 report commissioned for the Oregon Natural Resources Council, a conservation group.

Lansing, a Boise economist, concluded that the four Snake River dams in Eastern Washington cost $232 million to operate each year - including $194 million spent trying to save the salmon.

Remove the dams, he wrote, and the region would lose $145 million a year in energy sales and other benefits. So, breaching the dams would save the region $87 million a year.

But that conclusion was based on the assumption that various government agencies would no longer pay the $194 million for restoring salmon runs.

“There’s pretty good reason to think not all those $194 million in costs will go away if we breach those dams,” Huppert said.

Lansing also underestimated the cost of replacing electricity generated at the Snake River dams, Huppert said. And he didn’t take into account the “social costs” in pollution and illnesses that could result if fuel-burning power plants replace the dams.

And Huppert said there may be economic benefits of dam removal that aren’t addressed in Lansing’s study.

For instance, Lansing didn’t put a value on the salmon that might return to the river if the dams are removed. Nor did he try to weight the value of current recreation on the river against the recreation that might be drawn to a free-flowing river with healthy salmon runs.

Lansing, who also spoke before the council Thursday, defended his study and noted that Huppert didn’t attack his conclusion “that the dams are major money losers.” PUBLIC HEARINGS The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans a series of public hearings on its salmon-recovery study. The study includes the possibility of breaching four dams on the lower Snake River. The schedule for Inland Northwest hearings is: Monday at the Red Lion Hotel, 621 21st St., Lewiston. Thursday, Shilo Inn, 50 Comstock St., Richland. Monday, Nov. 23, Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive, Spokane.