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Hydro Chorus Spouts the Same Old Nonsense by R.L. "Nick" Nicholson Idaho Statesman, May 29, 2010

Scott Corwin, Will Hart and Terry Flores are all executive directors representing entities that profit from Columbia Basin hydropower. In two recent letters to the editor, in chorus, they all claimed 100 percent barging would help our endangered anadromous fish runs. This would, of course, allow BPA to store water to generate power they buy and sell.

They would like you to think it is better for the steelhead and salmon smolts to enter the river system from hatcheries and natural spawning areas, migrate naturally for a short time, then after running into a manmade concrete barrier, tolerate being netted, crammed into barges and transported to Portland.

There is absolutely no legitimate science to support this inane notion. There is instead a three-page paper published by NOAA Fisheries that uses the word estimate 18 times, three times in the opening statement and five times in the conclusion with zero scientific data. A simple look at history clearly shows when spill is cut off, fish numbers plummet. After 25 years of barging, our wild fish are still near extinction and these folks still spout the same old nonsense.