Dam Breaching Update Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. A report released last week could help Governor Inslee and U.S. Senator Patty Murray decide if they should call for the removal of Lower Snake River Dams in an effort to save the dwindling salmon populations. The report, ironically, comes just a week after President Biden declared an energy emergency.
U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse says he’s heard nothing from dam-removal advocates …
NEWHOUSE … “I have not heard anything from the pro-breaching side, but I’m not expecting to either. To me this wreaks of hypocrisy at its highest level.”
Newhouse says, it’s a mixed message …
NEWHOUSE … “I mean you can’t have an emergency situation as it relates to energy one day and then just a couple of days later be advocating for the removal of what provides us some of the cleanest, reliable energy that is available in the United States. So, it makes zero sense to me that we’re even having this conversation.”
To him, Newhouse says, it makes no sense …
NEWHOUSE … “It’s kind of a head-scratcher to tell you the truth. You can’t have it both ways in this. We either need the energy or we don’t. We either want a cleaner environment in the future by removing carbon or we don’t. And these dams give us all of those things and much, much more.”
The dams provide electricity and irrigation water to the region, in addition to allowing barge traffic along the Columbia River.
The final recommendation from Inslee and Murray is expected sometime next month.
