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Commentaries and editorials

Snake River Dams:
Important Role

by Claude Pierret
Seattle Times, June 24, 2022

Eastern Washington has the cheapest electricity anywhere because of the dams.

Little Goose Dam on the Snake River. A federal report rejects the idea of removing Snake and Columbia dams to save endangered or threatened salmon. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times) I never hear how dams control flooding by limiting water through their gates during spring runoffs.

(bluefish notes: the Lower Snake River dams are "run of river" projects and unable to provide much of any benefit for flood control.)
Eastern Washington doesn't have the railroad infrastructure that it used to have. Taking out the Lower Snake River Dams would put a severe strain on our already crowded highway system. Shipping grain and other commodities via the river is much cheaper.

I keep hearing tearing out the dams will save salmon. Due to better fish ladders, salmon survival rate is 95% to 98%. Still, I hear tear out the dams.

Eastern Washington has the cheapest electricity anywhere because of the dams. Windmills and solar panels cannot compete with dams to generate electricity. When windmills and solar wear out, how many landfills will it take to bury them?

Boating as people have enjoyed for the past 60 to 70 years will end with dam removal because of smaller and shallower waters.

Where is all the silt and sand collected behind the dams going to go? Down river!

Careful what you wish for.


Claude Pierret, Pasco
Snake River Dams: Important Role
Seattle Times, June 24, 2022

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