9-5 IAT Barging Wheat

Could this be right? Snake River barging drop could alter debate on dams. In an article carried by the Statesman but originating with the Seattle Times, and I quote: Four dams on the Snake River essentially managed to turn Lewiston into a port city about 400 miles inland. But some farmers shipping their wheat to market are turning from the river to rail as a more efficient, less costly option. As a result, a decline in shipments by barge on the Snake, under way for decades, has gotten worse. The overall drop in shipping on the river adds a new element to the regional debate on taking out four dams. I am not taking potshots at fellow journalists, however, had the reporter from the Times called Blaine Jacobson, Executive Director of the Idaho Wheat Commission, her facts might have been a little more accurate: "I saw that article and they are not portraying these statistics accurately. They are showing a decline but that decline is to the year that the river was closed for 90 days and barging was closed for, actually it was longer than 90 days. They had to work on some locks so during that period of time there was very little barge shipping and they are using that as the ending point and of course that would distort the statistics."