WASHINGTON — Two top Democrats in Washington state are in favor of finally breaching four hydroelectric dams in the lower Snake River to save endangered salmon shoals expressed. .
of Recommendation Published Thursday, Sen. Patti Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee are among the most decisive in their fight to save Columbia River Basin salmon and honor long-standing treaties with the Pacific Northwest tribal nations. I took a stand.
A draft study commissioned by Murray and Inslee this summer found that removing four dams was the most promising approach to salmon recovery. The report said it would cost between $10.3 billion and $27.2 billion to replace the electricity generated by the dam, find other ways to transport grain from the region, and provide irrigation water. , the draft did not go so far as to take a position on the removal of the dam.
In their recommendations, the governor and senators said breaching the dam “must be an option that we strive to make viable.”
In a statement, Mr Murray said salmon catches were clearly struggling and that extinction of salmon in the region was not an option. But breaking the dam will require parliamentary approval and bipartisan support, so there must be a credible possibility to replace renewable energy sources, keep transportation costs down, and combat the impacts of climate change. she said.
“It’s clear that information leakage is not an option at this point,” Murray said. “Many mitigation measures exist, but many require further analysis or cannot be implemented in the short term.”
Washington State relies heavily on hydroelectric power generated through dams. However, the structures contribute to the depletion of salmon populations, which are important to river basin ecosystems. In 2019, state lawmakers pledged to cut coal-fired power by 2025 and transition the state to her 100% clean, renewable power by 2045, making it the nation’s most powerful clean energy powerhouse. passed the law. Removing the dam makes it more difficult to achieve these goals.
Idaho Republican Senator Jim Risch said Murray and Inslee’s reports would always come to the conclusion that breaching the dam was the best option for salmon recovery. It was full of “biased information” and “randomly selected data,” he said.
“Having said that, the authors of the report finally had to face the facts. It goes far beyond what we asked for,” said Rich. “Second, Congress, and only Congress, can authorize the removal of these dams, and there is no viable or bipartisan path for Congress to authorize dam breaches.”
Risch said he was open to discussing other options for boosting salmon populations.
Recommendations from Inslee and Murray are separate questions about the feasibility of a Biden administration removing four dams to help salmon recover and how the energy they produce could be replaced. The last dam was built in 1975 and provides energy to millions of people in the Pacific Northwest.
Inslee said there was no viable solution other than replacing the existing infrastructure and breaching the dam.
“State and federal governments must implement plans to replace the benefits of the Lower Snake River dam and advance the breach,” he said in a statement.
A report commissioned by Inslee and Murray said that while there were strong feelings and disagreements about how to save salmon, there were also “clear areas of common agreement”.
For more than 30 years, the government has been suing the federal government for failing to develop an adequate recovery plan after Snake River fish began to be listed as endangered.
In 2016, a court called for consideration of a plan that included the removal of four dams, again rejecting a federal proposal to restore salmon populations.
Bill Arthur, president of the Sierra Club’s Snake/Columbia Salmon Campaign, said the question is not whether the dam needs to be replaced, but how quickly it needs to be done. Reports from Inslee and Murray put the Northwest on a presumed path toward dam failure, he said. He added that the dam could be removed by the end of the decade if Congress acts with urgency.
“There is no reason why we cannot achieve energy substitution and necessary mitigation within six years,” Arthur said. “And it will take three years to remove the dam.”
Colin O’Mara, president and chief executive of the National Wildlife Federation, said the government is not pressed for time as salmon catches continue to decline each year. Using resources and funding from the Infrastructure Act and the Reducing Inflation Act could help state and federal governments develop comprehensive plans, he said.
“It’s important to piece the pieces together and leave no one behind,” O’Mara said. “Unfortunately, the country has a track record of delivering on promises, but no investments have been made.”
Jeremy Takara, chairman of the Yakama Fish and Wildlife Commission, said tribal states in the region were not held accountable for the decision-making process that led to the construction of the hydroelectric dam. It has been overly affected since it was installed. Members living along the river were forced out of their homes by the flood.
“In doing this, we need to make sure we don’t repeat history, so we need to speak up at the table,” Takara said of the dam breach. “We know it works. We know it has potential. , we want to make sure that the science exists and that fisheries performance exists.”