Dam Removal & Orcas Pt 1

Dam Removal & Orcas Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. In Washington Governor Jay Inslee's $1.1-billion Orca recovery budget, he asks for $750,000 just to STUDY dam removal on the lower Snake River. But, given the dams are federal property, and the governor really has no authority, why the investment?

Representative Mary Dye spoke recently with KONA radio and talked about the governor's plan ...

DYE ... "This is just part of the disconnect that this governor has when on one hand he says that he wants to tear down the Snake River dams to save Orca, and then on the other hand we have multiple pieces of legislation, and even in his budget, he wants to move to electrify the transportation fleet. Where's he going to get the electricity? Is he going to put a solar panel on every car or what? I mean, it's just, to me, it's ridiculous to think that you can have it all without any generation potential, or I don't know, it just doesn't make any sense to me."

Dye was asked if there was too much outside influence from lobbyists in Inslee's decision making ...

DYE ... "Science is not a consensus. It should be completely outside of political influence and it should let the data direct you to the truth. It's a truth-finding mission and it's an unveiling of the truth and it takes, often times, more time than political process, obviously, and, you know, in terms of these fish, my opinion, you take down the dams in order to save the Orca, what if you're wrong?"

Listen tomorrow for more on Dye's take on the governor's Orca recovery plan.

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