Don’t believe the hype

Thank you, Shawn Vestal, for calling out the “misleading claim about salmon” that is one of many twists on the truth about salmon and the Snake River dams offered by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse. True, they got it from Todd Myers, who also knows the truth, but like them conveniently chooses to ignore it.

They claim chinook runs at Lower Granite Dam were up the last two years, which is true. But, as Vestal notes, that means they were only 58 percent of the 10-year average, which average is “well below what’s needed to bring back healthy salmon runs.”

McMorris Rodgers, Newhouse and Myers are making unprincipled and dishonest statements. Idaho’s Rep. Mike Simpson and Oregon’s Rep. Earl Blumenauer have it right, as do the tribes, who have known salmon and the river longer and better than anyone.

In 2016, the latest of three federal judges’ ruling over two decades rejected the federal dam agencies’ fifth plan for protecting Snake River salmon. The government has spent over $15 billion to recover salmon and none of those efforts has worked. The answer, the only answer, is removing the four poorly conceived dams on the lower Snake River.

We need a plan that works for our economy, farmers, people who fish and citizens who pay taxes and energy bills.

In short: don’t believe the “pro-dam” hype.

Kathy Dixon

Upper Columbia River Group