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'Save the Dams' The Message at Clarkston Rally Washington Wheat Commision WHEAT LIFE November 1998

As public-address loudspeakers blared a welcoming message to an enthusiastic crowd, a tugboat cruised by on the Snake River, blasting its horn to help kickoff the "Save Our Dams" rally. The first speaker delivered his message as the tugboat began its 465-mile journey down the Columbia-Snake river system, moving a barge load of wheat to the export terminal facilities at Vancouver, Washington.

An exact count was not available, but well over a thousand people attended the rally on a warm evening on September 15 in Clarkston, Washington. The outdoor rally was organized and sponsored by the Pulp and Paperworkers' Resource Council (PPRC), the Lewiston and Clarkston Chambers of Commerce and their Joint Natural Resource Task Force. The purpose was to publicly express community opposition to proposals being made to breach the dams on the lower Snake River.

"We felt that the rally was definitely a success," stated Clyde Nicely of the PPRC. "We had an impressive group of speakers, we had a large crowd that stayed for the entire program, and we received coverage from both the print and broadcast media in Washington and Idaho."

The rally was held on the south shore of the river, not far from the Port of Clarkston. Along with free hot dogs and soda pop, the event featured speakers voicing their various reasons for opposing the destruction of the four dams on the Snake River.

The arguments presented by the speakers against breaching the dams fall into two main categories:

1. Valid questions of whether the breaching would bring back the salmon. The lack of conclusive scientific proof that the dams have been the primary reason for the reduction of the salmon runs is of great concern to breaching opponents. There is no guarantee that breaching the dams would restore the runs, or even significantly improve them.
2. The costs involved in breaching the dams would be far-reaching and enormous, and could be even higher than current estimates. Without question, hundreds of millions of dollars would be lost annually to reduced power generation, additional transportation costs and road maintenance work. Many jobs would be lost in manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and recreation industries dependent on the river system. In addition to these and other indirect costs, the direct costs of the dam breaching would be many hundreds of millions, possibly even billions of dollars.

"Let's make sure that science dictates good public policy, and not let public policy dictate science," declared Bill Flory of Culdesac, Idaho. Flory, one of the speakers at the rally, is president of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG).

"There would be an annual additional cost of nearly ten-million dollars to production agriculture alone, just for increased transportation costs, if the breaching of these dams takes place. We must not allow this to happen. The rail lines and highways are simply not adequate to handle the increase in traffic," added Flory. "Rail cars are nearly impossible to get in a timely manner in many areas, and the idea of putting hundreds of thousands of extra semi-trucks on our state highways is simply not a viable solution economically or logistically."

In comments prepared for the rally, Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) President Alex McGregor of Colfax, Washington, stressed the vital importance of the river transportation system to the regional and national economy, and the fact that hydropower is the cleanest, cheapest way to produce large amounts of electricity.

"The Snake-Columbia river system is the largest wheat gateway in the United States, and the second largest grain corridor in the world," noted McGregor. "If barge traffic was eliminated, and additional 120,000 rail cars or an additional 700,000 semi-trucks would be needed to haul the freight now carried by water. Our rail and road systems simply could not handle the extra load. Over 2000 miles of rail branch lines that once handled grain traffic have been abandoned and dismantled, and the main line traffic is already terribly snarled. To put nearly three-quarters of a million more semi-trucks on our Northwest road system would make current difficulties financing needed road repairs and improvements look like child's play.

"At a time when additional power plants already may be needed for a fast growing region, to dismantle efficient electric production already in place makes little sense," said McGregor. "Increased emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide would come as a consequence of decreased fuel efficiency should we lose our ability to transport our crops by barge.

"As wheat growers, we are proud of the gains we have made in the last decade in helping to improve water quality. We know and care about the salmon, and want to help in their recovery. However, we feel that the solution cannot be one-dimensional, and must take into account scientific study of ocean conditions, predator populations, open sea and river fish catches, as well as fish habitat conditions.

"To take the radical action, unsupported by sound science, of removing the dams-an action that would cost each of us money every time we flip a light switch, that would wipe out recreation, irrigation and flood control, and that would cost thousands of jobs on farms, at ports, and cities and towns whose businesses serve us would be irresponsible. The concept of dam breaching is a half-baked notion that represents an assault upon common sense."

Shannon McDaniel, manager of the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District, voiced his concern about the momentum that would be gained by the dam breaching proponents if they were successful in getting dams removed from the Snake River. He believes that they would immediately turn their attention to the elimination of dams on the Columbia River.

"These issues always seem to affect more people, more jobs, more industries than anyone realizes at first," explained McDaniel. "When the Snake River salmon designations first came through, there was a moratorium placed on all diversion of Columbia river water. There could be no additional diversion of water, whether for domestic, industrial or agricultural use. There are questionable studies being conducted all the time. A recent study by the Bureau of Reclamation proposed taking one-third of the Columbia Basin Project water supply away from irrigators. This would effectively dry up a quarter of a million acres of productive, irrigate land.

"There is a another proposal to put restrictions on John Day and McNary Dams that would take irrigation water away from tens of thousands of acres of irrigated land. We are truly in a serious situation," noted McDaniel. "When I first heard about the dam breaching idea back in 1991, I admit my first thought was that I wouldn't have to spend any time on it, because the ideas was stupid. I didn't think anyone would buy into it. But here we are, seven years later, and we are still talking about it. The more people talk about the idea, the more real the risk becomes that we could lose our dams. We must work together to prevent the dam breaching from happening."

The keynote speaker for the day was author James Buchal of Portland. Buchal is an attorney and the author of The Great Salmon Hoax, a book in which he details his argument that the debate over Pacific Northwest salmon has gone beyond science into a political battle that isn't necessarily based on scientific facts.

"I see this as a bigger issue than just the fish and the dams, or even the proposed breaching of these particular dams," said Buchal. "Nearly everything you read in the newspapers about the salmon is a lie, starting with how many salmon there used to be. We constantly read and hear about how there used to be 16-million salmon swimming up the Columbia River system. That is simply not true. That is a number that the Northwest Power Planning Council just made up. If you look in fisheries biology journals, you'll see the number was actually around 8-million fish.

"Why does this matter? Because they use these figures to set targets, then when we don't achieve the right numbers, they use that as an excuse to impose more and more federal regulations. We have a situation where the same people who don't know how many fish there used to be also don't know how many fish there are now. This is because no one counts the number of fish that are caught in the ocean every year. There are dozens and dozens of fishing fleets hammering the salmon at sea, but the only thing that gets talked about is the river system. There are no definitive figures on the number of salmon lost each year to seals, sea lions, terns, pike and other predators.

"Then there are the dam lies, which are the worst lies of all," said Buchal. "Last year, only about five percent of the fish that went through Lower Granite Dam went through the turbines. Of that five percent, only five percent did not survive. That is not a whole lot of fish. But when you read the newspapers, what you will see over and over again, is the statement, as fact, that ninety-five percent of the fish die going through each dam. This is simply not true, but the media takes the information it is given, and for the most part, just prints it or sends it out on the airwaves. They don't dig any deeper for proof that these statements are factual.

"When I first started studying this issue six years ago, I never thought we would be where we are today, because I have to admit that I underestimated the organization and the effectiveness of the environmental groups.

"The frustrating thing is that there are so many factors entering into the decline of the salmon runs that are not getting any attention. Ocean conditions, water temperatures, and the loss of valuable coastal estuary space on the continental shelf to human development are some examples.

"The issue comes down to what is America all about, and are we going to abandon science on the altar of fish worship? Are we going to believe the best use of the natural resources is not to use them at all? One hundred and fifty years ago, the slogan was: Conservation is the wise use of natural resources. I believe that idea is still valid.

"What will it take before you will act?" Buchal asked the crowd. "Will it be when your crops can't get to the export terminal because the transportation system is so clogged it stops operating? Will it be when the salmon tax on your electricity rises from the current twenty percent to forty percent or more? The environmentalists have Web sites where they can access and download pre-written e-mails to send to hundreds of bureaucrats to push their ideas. When will you develop web sites (Bluefish hopes that this web site meets the criteria) to spread factual scientific information about the salmon and other natural resource issues? The time to act is now. I believe that in time, science and technology can solve our problems. But, this will only happen if we form our public policies based on science and facts, not on lies."

Nicely explained that the PPRC, a grassroots organization with over 300,000 members nationwide, was formed in the early 1990s in response to the proliferation of timber sale appeals, and issues such as the spotted owl controversy. It has given workers in the pulp, paper, solid wood and other natural resource based industries a unified voice to help get the attention of politicians and bureaucrats when the PPRC takes a position on a particular issue. Sponsoring this rally is an example of why the group was formed.

Mack Funk, manager of the Port of Clarkston, also helped organize the rally. Funk provided some statistics and history of barging on the Snake River system.

"The summer of 1975 was the first year we were able to barge large quantities of grain and other products," noted Funk. "Lewiston-Clarkston is the farthest inland port for the river barges. We are 139 miles from Pasco, where the Snake meets the Columbia."

"Surprisingly, there actually was some grain shipped by river before the dams were built," explained Funk. "But they were flat bottom boats that had to ride the rapids, and it was not a particularly cost effective way to ship. The railroads were more efficient, and they carried most of the traffic until the dams were completed."

For the year of September 1996 through August 1997, over 1-million tons of wheat were barged from the ports of Clarkston and Lewiston alone. Other major commodities barged include: forest and paper products, barley, and peas and lentils. Millions of more tons of grain and other products were barged down the river from other Snake River port facilities in southeast Washington.

Various organizations, groups and governmental entities have taken a stand opposing the breaching of the dams on the Snake River. They include: WAWG; The American Farm Bureau Federation; the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce; The Idaho State AFL-CIO; the Washington State Association of Counties; the Idaho Association of Counties; the Port of Lewiston; the Port of Clarkston; Nez Perce County, ID; the Rocky Mountain Region of the PPRC; United Paperworkers International Union-Local 712; the Idaho Federation of Republican Women; the City of Lewiston; the City of Clarkston; the Chambers of Commerce of both Lewiston and Clarkston; the Washington Public Ports Association and the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments.

Other speakers who addressed the rally were: Frank Priestly, president of the Idaho Farm Bureau; Dick Sherwin, commissioner for the Port of Clarkston, Owen Squires of the PPRC and local businessman Barry Barnes of Clarkston.

Future issues of Wheat Life will continue to cover this issue in detail, including an overview of The Great Salmon Hoax by James Buchal.