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Dam Breaching Overdue by Anthony Jones Lewiston Tribune, November 14, 2021

The professed goals of the four lower Snake River dams are:

• Economic growth, particularly for Lewiston.

• Low cost energy.

• Low cost (subsidized) navigation.

• Irrigation benefits for 10-12 Washington farmers.

After a half-century, the results are:

• Lewiston has had the slowest growth rate of any Northwest city for the last 30 years.

• Northwest wholesale electricity is now the highest priced energy west of the Sierra/Cascades, from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C.

• The Bonneville Power Administration is doubling down on power sources costing $36 per megawatt hour and increasing, while power producers further south are transitioning to green energy sources costing $20 per megawatt hour and decreasing.

• BPA is bleeding red ink and is conferring with at least two congressmen in search of $10 billion-plus federal bailouts, a process that will further increase power rates.

• Freight shipped on the river has declined by 50 percent in the last 20 years. The barging subsidy for the remaining freight can be easily converted to a lower cost rail subsidy.

• Washington state irrigators admit they don’t need the lower Snake River dams.

• Anadromous fish in the Columbia-Snake river drainages are on the brink of extinction.

• Southern resident killer whales in Puget Sound are facing extinction resulting from starving to death due to lack of salmon.