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People Need to Know the Whole Story on Lower Snake River Dams by John Hess The Olympian, April 8, 2022

I was in Olympia on Saturday, April 2, and I spoke to some of the people attending the Snake River Dam removal rally. None of them knew much about the results of what would happen if the lower Snake River dams were removed.

These dams are capable of supplying 3,000 megawatts per hour of electrical power. The dams average about 33% generating capacity. To replace this lost power with solar energy would require about 2,000 acres of solar panels, over 3 square miles worth. Add in access to maintain the panels and it would require a solar plant covering over 5 square miles. That is about 3,500 football fields for comparison.

Also, that solar energy is only available an average of 6 hours per day.

The Ice Harbor Dam provides irrigation water to over 37,000 acres, about 50 square miles of land. Do those people care about the hundreds of families that would lose their livelihoods if the irrigation water goes away?