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Just the Facts by Reed Burkholder Letters, The Idaho Statesman, October 23, 2003

I would consider it good service to Idaho if, when an Idaho congressman speaks about the salmon recovery issue, he gives us the facts. But Butch Otter did not do this Oct. 21 in his Reader´s view.

He could have easily told us that the four lower Snake River dams, the ones environmentalists want to breach to save Idaho´s salmon, are about 400 miles downstream of Ada County in the state of Washington. He could have told us that these dams do not serve agriculture by storing irrigation water or by diverting irrigation water into canals. Crops in the Lewiston area are watered with rain water.

He could have told us that these dams provide us with about 1 percent of Idaho´s electricity, an amount so small that Idaho Power´s Jim Bridger coal-fired power plant routinely produces 50 times more energy all by itself.

But he did not give us the facts. Instead, he ranted about environmentalists and about the importance of Idaho water (which was irrelevant since the dams are downstream and out of state).

I feel this is poor service to Idaho.