Inslee, Murray plan new report on breaching Snake River dams. ‘We need an answer ...’

Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray are exploring options to breach the lower Snake River dams and replace the benefits they provide, Inslee told a virtual gathering of Washington environmentalists this week.

Reaction was predictably mixed, with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., calling the plan to assess removing the dams “a political stunt.”

Inslee said that he had not decided that the dams should be breached or removed, but “it seems highly unlikely this new process could conclude in a way that recommends the lower Snake dams remain in place,” Northwest RiverPartners said in a statement Friday.

“TRIDEC is proud of the great work that has been done to ensure that these dams provide excellent fish passage, and we continue to believe that salmon and dams can coexist,” said David Reeploeg, Tri-City Development Council vice president for federal programs.

But Inslee’s plan was praised by groups that want to see the dams gone, including Trout Unlimited.

“The time for half-measures and protracted discussions over the fate of the lower four Snake River dams has passed,” said Chris Wood, president of Trout Unlimited. “If we want to save these fish, we need decisive leadership such as that demonstrated by Congressman Mike Simpson.”

Northwest tribes and conservation groups have ramped up efforts in recent months to have earthen berms removed from the four dams between Lewiston and the Tri-Cities in an effort to restore dwindling wild salmon runs, but the dams provide benefits to the region in the form of hydropower, barge transportation and irrigation.

In a virtual fundraiser organized by Washington Conservation Voters, the governor said he and Murray, his fellow Washington Democrat, are working on “a rigorous, robust and fast assessment of how to replace those services if we breach those dams.”

“The next step is for us to define how to replace the services of the Snake River dams if they are breached,” Inslee said. “We know that they are a salmon impediment, we know that the salmon are on the verge of extinction, and we also know that they do provide services upon which a lot of folks and our economy depends.”

The governor emphasized that the dams aren’t the only factor contributing to declining salmon runs, linking the problem with climate change and ocean acidification, which he called “the evil twin of global warming.”

Inslee offered no details, but the approach he outlined seems similar to that taken by Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican who turned up the heat on the region’s long-simmering “salmon wars” when he unveiled a proposal in February to breach the dams and invest $33.5 billion to replace their benefits and reshape the economies of Lewiston and the Tri-Cities.

Simpson sought to include his proposal in the infrastructure package the Senate approved in August, but that effort fell flat amid strong opposition from his fellow Northwest Republicans and a lukewarm reception from most of the region’s Democrats, including Inslee and Murray.

Replacing dams’ benefits

Speaking with Washington Conservation Voters CEO Alyssa Macy alongside Shannon Wheeler, vice chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Council and a prominent backer of Simpson’s plan, Inslee said the “main reason” for opposition to breaching the dams is “fear that all these services will all be disappeared, and nothing will replace them.”

“We ought to come up with a way of how to replace that relatively carbon-free electricity,” he said, as well as the irrigation and transportation the dams provide. “So I’m really happy to report that Sen. Murray and I are working on a process to do that.”

Inslee also said that it doesn’t make sense to take a step back in the state’s effort to move to clean fuels given climate change, especially for salmon, Northwest RiverPartners pointed out.

The nonprofit represents Northwest utilities, farmers, ports and businesses that benefit from the four lower Snake River dams, including Ice Harbor Dam near the Tri-Cities.

“The governor’s statement seems particularly at odds with his willingness to examine breaching four highly productive, carbon-free hydroelectric dams, given that breaching the dams would also significantly set back the region’s decarbonization efforts,” said Northwest RiverPartners.

Last year the federal government completed a $40-million environmental study that considered breaching the dams.

“The conclusion of that extensive study was that breaching the dams is not in the best interest of society from a climate, cost, and grid reliability perspective, especially given the highly uncertain benefits for salmon,” Northwest RiverPartners said.

It is imperative for the Tri-Cities community to have an active role in any public engagement process, according to TRIDEC.

“As we look to a future where our region will need significantly more affordable and reliable carbon-free electricity, the benefits that the four lower Snake River dams provide are more important than ever,” Reeploeg said. “We believe the Tri-Cities can and should continue to be a leader in the development of new clean energy technologies to reduce carbon emissions, and that the Snake River dams are a critical part of the equation.”

The Bonneville Power Administration credited the lower Snake River dams with preventing power outages and rolling blackouts in the Tri-Cities during the record-breaking late June heatwave.

Shippers have argued that removing the dams and their systems of locks that allow farm produce and other goods to be shipped by barge would drive up shipping costs and increase carbon emissions.

But Trout Unlimited said Friday that keeping the dams would soon make Idaho’s salmon extinct.

“These dams generate a small amount of electricity that can be replaced,” Wood said. “They provide a means of shipping grain that can be replaced.”

Simpson released his proposal after years of meetings with stakeholders throughout the Columbia Basin, but most of that work took place behind the scenes, and his recommendation to breach the dams was met with fierce opposition once he made it public.

Inslee signaled that he and Murray will gather input in the open. He added that a contractor will help lead the effort and produce a report by next summer.

“I’m not announcing a breaching decision today,” Inslee said, adding that Murray “will make some announcements in the next couple of weeks” about the next step in the process.

“I don’t want to prejudge that next step,” Inslee said, “but I do know what this state and country needs: We need an answer to those questions.”

McMorris Rodgers predicted that the results would “support the narrative and goals of radical environmental groups.”

“Mitigation measures on the Columbia-Snake River System are working,” she said. “Yes, there is still work to be done. But to reject the Lower Snake River dams, renewable hydropower, and the sustainable transport of goods as part of the solution is to deny reality.”

Discussions on saving salmon should instead focus on habitat restoration, advanced fish passage technology, and a better understanding of ocean indicators, she said.

This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Inslee, Murray plan new report on breaching Snake River dams. ‘We need an answer ...’."