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Lewiston City Council to Again Consider Resolution to Support Snake River Dams by Staff Big Country News, November 8, 2022

LEWISTON - The Lewiston City Council will again look at determining the city's official stance on dam breaching by considering a resolution to support keeping the four lower Snake River dams at their regular meeting on November 14.

In May, the council considered a resolution after hearing from both sides of the issue but it failed to pass. The motion failed by a vote of four to two. Council members Hannah Liedkie and Luke Blount supported the resolution. Blount announced his resignation from the Council in July.

A final report issued in August by Washington Governor Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said they approve of dam breaching, but the benefits provided by the four giant hydroelectric dams must be replaced before the dams can be breached.

A report released last week said Washington residents' electrical cost could increase $330 per year, on average, through 2050 if the dams were removed. The report was co-published by the Washington Policy Center and the American Experiment think tanks.

The 3,033 megawatts capacity for power generation that the dams provide accounts for roughly 10 percent of the Evergreen State's total generation capacity, according to the report. Replacing that capacity could cost up to $34.3 billion, a figure that is on the high end of dam power generation replacement estimates. The additional costs account for the needed upgrades to electrical transmission and storage capacity inherent with the intermittent nature of replacing hydroelectric generation with renewables such as wind and solar.

Related Pages:
Lewiston Open House to Inform Community Members on Keeping or Removing the Snake River Dam by Staff, Daily Fly, 3/22/22
Breaching Advocates Lay Out Their Case to Lewiston City Council by Elaine Williams, Lewiston Tribune, 2/1/22