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Tri-Cities River Listed as Nation's Most Endangered by Annette Cary Tri-City Herald, April 15, 2021

The Snake River has been named the country's most endangered in a report from conservation group American Rivers.

The river, which flows across Southern Idaho and Eastern Washington, took the No. 1 spot on American Rivers' 2021 list of most endangered rivers in the U.S.

The report attributed its first-place ranking to the controversial dams that Idaho GOP Rep. Mike Simpson recently proposed breaching and spending $33 billion to dismantle them, build new energy and transportation systems and address the economic impacts of their loss.

The American Rivers report said the four dams -- from Ice Harbor Dam south of Pasco upriver to Lower Granite north of Pomeroy -- raise water temperature at parts of the river and pose a hazard to migrating salmon.

"The four Lower Snake dams turned 140 miles of cool, flowing river into a series of stagnant reservoirs," the report said.

It's not the first time the Snake River has been included in the report. American Rivers officials said the Snake has made the list 12 times in the 36 years the organization has published its report.

American Rivers backed the controversial dam breaching as a solution to water quality and wildlife threats, as well as an opportunity to restore tribal resources.

But many of those who rely on the dams now -- to produce low-cost and reliable electricity, to barge farm products for export, to provide irrigation water and for recreation -- are dubious despite Simpson's attempt to make them economically whole.

It's the only way the conservative Republican sees to boost the declining population of certain species of salmon in Idaho that must make a 900-mile journey to and from the Pacific Ocean, navigating at least eight hydroelectric dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

The Tri-Cities along with the Lewiston-Clarkston area are the two metro areas with the most to lose if the dams are breached.

Other waterways in the report include the Lower Missouri River, Minnesota's Boundary Waters, Georgia's South River, New Mexico's Pecos River, Oklahoma's Tar Creek, California's McCloud River, Massachusetts' Ipswich River, Iowa's Raccoon River and Mississippi's Turkey Creek.