Aside from the oddity of unselfconsciously quoting See if you agree. [The response] has been overwhelmingly positive for our message, which is: Removing the Lower Make a donation to Sightline now. For more discussion of the effects of dam removal on salmon populations, please consult pages 93 and 94 of the ECONorthwest report at https://econw.com/s/LSRD_Economic_Tradeoffs_Report.pdf. But the Corps, which operates the dams, determined in 2002 that removing the lower Snake dams would increase the chances of salmon recovering by 50 percent. right. Human and non-human predators, climate change, and other dams challenge salmon recovery too. Inslee’s office releases draft report on breaching Lower Snake River dams Dec. 20, 2019 at 10:57 am Updated Dec. 20, 2019 at 5:13 pm Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River May 29, 2019. Recent declines in the health of the southern resident orcas have brought new voices to longstanding calls to breach the dams and restore the river to a more natural condition. Some efforts to recover salmon across the Northwest—one that could backfire badly. Part II: Dams’ Hydropower Is No Longer Particularly Cheap, Part III: Removing the Dams and Agriculture. Myth 9: Lower Snake River dam removal will cause an increase in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The found it would cost an additional $400 million a year in electricity costs to We can’t go out of the kind of the scope of our charge.”. Our editors reserve the right to monitor inappropriate comments and personal attacks. In 2017, the returns of adult Chinook and Sockeye salmon were well below their 10-year average and a fraction of their historic levels. The Legislature provided funding to the governor’s office in the 2019-21 operating budget to conduct a stakeholder process to understand the views of Washingtonians on breaching and removing, or retaining, the lower Snake River dams. The agency’s handbook for conducting studies like the one underway for the Columbia River system counts the “use-values” of salmon as a source of recreation or food but ignores the “non-use-values” or intrinsic value of salmon as a viable species. Next time: Snake River dams no longer produce the least expensive electricity. You can check my fish count statistics in the links below. , including $450 million in 2017 for measures including barging juvenile fish around dams, spilling water over the dams to help salmon make the trip downriver, and capital improvements to steer fish away from the dams’ turbines. unless the dams were removed, “wild Snake River spring chinook salmon … will be Despite their poor record, advocates of dam destruction insist this time they are right. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Originally published on … In this 2019 photo, the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River is seen from the air near Colfax. FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2016 file photo, a man fishes for salmon in the Snake River … After decades of court battles and grassroots action by river advocates, 700 pounds of dynamite blew Washington State’s Condit Dam to smithereens. times larger than in 1999. The debate over removing the four dams on the lower Snake River has simmered for decades.. In July, the economic consulting firm ECONorthwest (ECONW) issued a new independent analysis funded by the philanthropic arm of the late Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. on the benefits and costs of restoring the river. Inslee got his appropriation of $750,000 for stakeholder input on Snake River dam removal, our money should be directed on how to improve, not remove, those dams. extinct by 2017.” When 2017 arrived, the Snake River Chinook population was six In As a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council, I am frustrated by the Rep. Published October 24, 2019. ); he confirmed that they do not have any additional information they could share. ECONW evaluated three prior studies on people’s willingness to pay to improve the odds for salmon survival and found that survey research indicates people were willing to pay, on average, between $34 and $46 per household per year to “reduce extinction risk,” “recover,” or “protect” wild salmon. That way, at least the revenue generated by the Dams can fund the study of the overall salmon decline instead of trying to get it from Congress. Karl Marx, if an additional $1 billion was available, it should go to For the endangered salmon in the Snake River, these programs cost $72 million in 2016. Notwithstanding the bombast from those defending the dams, reasonable people on both sides of the Cascades divide over the question of whether to keep or remove them. https://www.critfc.org/full-dam-counts/?fish=chin_adult&dam=LGR, Kellen, the rationale for removing the dams on the Lower Snake River is not only to improve the return rates of adult salmon but also to increase the amount of spawning habitat for adult salmon and to reduce the mortality of juveniles headed downstream. Although Their fertilized eggs grow into fry that travel hundreds of miles down the Snake River through the Columbia and into the Pacific Ocean. But the legal and bureaucratic complexities involved would make removal of the Snake River dams a ... he plans to revive it in 2019. But how could ECONW reflect this widely held but intangible value in dollars and cents? To find more articles on Sustainable Living. Worse, to each according to their need,” claiming the federal government could While the Gov. In 1999, activists bought an ad in The New York Times claiming that unless the dams were removed, “wild Snake River spring chinook salmon … will be extinct by 2017.” When 2017 arrived, the Snake River Chinook population was six times larger than in 1999. For the endangered salmon in the Snake River, these programs cost $72 million in 2016. Large public enterprises including Bonneville and the Corps would change how they do business. But the Corps, which operates the dams, determined. today than two decades ago. You should be embarrassed! Dam removal would help salmon travel up the river to spawn and down the river to the ocean, where the orcas can eat them. besides humans trashing out rivers and all. watersheds the state Department of Fish and Wildlife says are most important to The agency’s. the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife prioritized the most NOAA Fisheries and So the question is what are people willing to pay to increase the odds of recovery of endangered salmon even if they don’t eat or fish for them? The report is clear about its sources and methods. fact, NOAA fisheries and other scientists argue salmon may not be helped by Removing four dams on the lower Snake River in eastern Washington provides a once in a generation opportunity to recover endangered wild salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia-Snake watershed (including Idaho’s Salmon and Clearwater rivers, northeast Oregon’s Imnaha and Grande Ronde, and southeast Washington’s Tuccannon), while creating new economic opportunities and investing in a … now claim destroying the dams would help the struggling southern resident 7 percent of Washington’s electricity generation, more than all wind and solar that removing the lower Snake dams would increase the chances of salmon recovering by 50 percent. In this four-part series, I break down the key findings from the ECONW report so those with an open mind can consider how breaching the dams could affect fish, carbon-free electricity, agriculture, and jobs. But the dams are also … Destroying the dams, NOAA Fisheries concluded, “would result in only a While Gov. that give Redfish Lake in Idaho its name had made the return journey. Jay Inslee signed the state's operating budget Tuesday, May 21, 2019 … Find this article interesting? Additionally, the lower Snake River dams have some of the most advanced fish passage systems in the world, whereas the Klamath River dams completely block the river to salmon migration. Restoring the lower Snake River by removing the four dams that block its flow would precipitate changes in the region’s physical infrastructure, electric grid operations, carbon emissions, grain transport, irrigation, recreation, fish habitat, and riverine and marine ecosystems. Sightline Institute's work is made possible by the generosity of people like you! No, that does not come across as an overly “scientific” basis for my conclusion. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon ordered federal regulators to take a hard look at all options to protect salmon, including the potential (and controversial) removal of the four dams on the Lower Snake River. Inslee got his appropriation of $750,000 for stakeholder input on Snake River dam removal, our money should be directed on how to improve, not remove, those dams. Despite Part IV: What Would Removing the Dams do to Jobs? She You can’t tell from those two numbers what is going on. the Snake. Under court order, the US Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) will issue an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in 2020 and the Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville) will make a decision on whether to remove Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite dams as part of a systemwide review of the operations of the Columbia River hydro system. About Site | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions, Snake River dam removal distracts from salmon recovery efforts, 8524 W. Gage Blvd., #A1-300 Kennewick, WA 99336. Fishers and tribal members in Eastern Washington and Idaho would thrill to see increased salmon runs on the Snake River while Seattleites concerned with climate change fear giving up a gigawatt of carbon-free electricity. Five species of Snake River salmon are now threatened or endangered. A natural river system would improve fish passage, decrease the migration time for juvenile salmon, and substantially increase the spawning habitat for Chinook in the main stem of the Snake River. Without having the actual cost information and reasonable explanation of their methodology, I think the report is more/less worthless. migrants.” Destroying the dams would increase the survival rate by, at best, a Sign-up for our e-newsletter filled with featured stories and latest news. 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