ADVERTISING INDEX LOCATED ON PAGE A10 April 2024
Volume 42
48 Pages
PO Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308
Phone: (509) 397-2191
Number 1
WHAT IF ...
A look at the fallout if the lower Snake River dams are demolished
F U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The Ice Harbor Dam on the lower Snake River in August, 2020.
By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press
inal authority to breach the four lower Snake River dams remains with the 535 members of Congress. But agricultural stakeholders, tribes and environmental groups agree on one thing: The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative recently signed by the Biden administration, four Northwest tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington is a pathway to breaching the dams. The tribes and environmentalists say removing the dams is necessary for the recovery of several salmon species. But agricultural stakeholders say tearing out the dams would have many other impacts, including irrigation water availability, power supply and transportation. Combined, replacing them or creating work-arounds would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, they say. Whether the dams — Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite — ever come out is anyone’s guess, but if they
did, what would the impact to the region be? That’s something the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has studied “off and on” for more than 25 years, said Dylan Peters, public affairs specialist for the Corps district in Walla Walla, Wash. The Corps will next study the impacts on transportation and recreation if the dams are removed. Those studies have not yet been funded, Peters said. Under the new agreement, the federal government will review existing environmental compliance documents — such as the 2020 Columbia River System Operations environmental impact statement — and any additional information provided by the states, tribes and other stakeholders, and “initiate any additional environmental compliance its review determines to be necessary.” The federal government is still discussing the steps it will take to meet that commitment, Peters said. See Dams, Page A5
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