U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) applauded congressional efforts to publicly address the proposed removal of the four lower Snake River dams, which are part of the Federal Columbia River Power System and have a combined capacity to generate approximately 3,033 megawatts of electricity.
Despite ongoing improvements to the lower Snake River dams, activist groups want to remove the four dams — Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite. The U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held an oversight field hearing on June 26 that included a pre-hearing tour of the Ice Harbor Dam by Rep. McMorris Rodgers, Rep. Newhouse, and subcommittee members and staff.
During the hearing, entitled “The Northwest at Risk: the Environmentalist’s Effort to Destroy Navigation, Transportation, and Access to Reliable Power,” members heard from several witnesses that would be directly impacted by removal of the dams.
“There have been too many back room conversations recently at the highest levels of government focused on tearing out the Lower Snake River dams,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers said. “What’s worse is that those who rely on them the most — the families, businesses, and farmers in eastern Washington — have been shut out of the discussion.
“We changed that with today’s field hearing where the voices of our community were heard loud and clear,” she said on Monday. “Thank you to the Natural Resources Committee and my colleagues for hosting this field hearing and showing the world that we will do whatever it takes to save our dams.”
According to information provided by subcommittee staff, the Columbia River is the top trade route for wheat, as well as wood, bulk minerals, and auto exports from the West Coast.
The dams play a critical role in reducing emissions from the roughly 50 million to 60 million tons of cargo that are barged through the river system annually and from a robust tourism industry in the region, the information says.
“The four Lower Snake River Dams are the lifeblood of central Washington and the Pacific Northwest, and it has been an honor to welcome my congressional colleagues who recognize the benefits these dams bestow upon our region,” Rep. Newhouse said. “The facts presented by our expert witnesses today made it overwhelmingly clear that salmon and dams do coexist, and breaching the dams would be devastating to my communities in central Washington and across the Pacific Northwest.
“This visit serves as a key reminder that we must not be swayed by the emotional pleas of the ill-informed, but rather embrace the truth, grounded in science in sound policy,” added the congressman.