GOP lawmakers maintain ‘no breach’ for four Lower Snake River Dams

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) on March 23 offered bicameral legislation to protect the four Lower Snake River Dams. 

The Snake River is the principal tributary to the Columbia River, draining approximately 107,000 square miles in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Walla Walla District owns and operates the four dams, which are multiple-use facilities that provide navigation, hydropower, recreation, and fish and wildlife conservation benefits, according to the USACE.

The dams have been mired in controversy since September 2020, when the “Columbia River System Operations Environmental Impact Statement Record of Decision” for the Columbia River System Operation Environmental Impact Statement published by the USACE, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland found that the Lower Snake River Dams should not be breached, according to information provided by the lawmakers. 

Some state and federal lawmakers want the dams breached; others say efforts should instead be focused on improving and maintaining hydropower assets while working to improve salmon passage and conditions, the information says.

“Breaching dams is the last thing we should be doing,” Sen. Daines said. “The Columbia River system provides clean, reliable baseload power and we should be supporting and expanding hydropower throughout the United States, not removing affordable energy supply for Montanans.”

Sen. Daines signed on as the lead original cosponsor of the Northwest Energy Security Act, S. 966, which is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), while the same-named H.R. 1762 is sponsored by Rep. Newhouse and cosponsored by Rep. McMorris Rodgers.

“The four Lower Snake River Dams are integral to flood control, navigation, irrigation, agriculture, and recreation in central Washington and throughout the Pacific Northwest — to put it simply, we cannot afford to lose them,” said Rep. Newhouse. “We know the critical infrastructure of the Snake River Dams provides clean, renewable, safe, and affordable energy for our homes and businesses, and the best and latest science affirms we should continue to utilize them. 

“The Northwest Energy Security Act will ensure our dams can continue to provide the carbon-free baseload energy our communities rely on while continuing to support fish recovery efforts,” said the congressman.

“I am growing increasingly concerned about President Biden’s openness to breaching our dams,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers. “From his administration’s recommendation to rip them out — without any scientific evidence to back it up — to his desire to work with anti-dam advocates, it’s clear our dams are in danger. This legislation would help save them by focusing on facts and results.”

The Washington Policy Center, the Inland Ports and Navigation Group, the Tri-City Development Council, the Washington Grain Commission, the United Power Trades Organization, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, and the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation endorsed the measure.

“It’s time to recognize that salmon runs are improving at record rates thanks to our mitigation efforts and positive ocean conditions, and that the dams provide clean and reliable energy that powers our homes and businesses. That’s something worth protecting,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers said.