Letters to the editor: Dam removal
Dam removal
Dear Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson, lead by example and tear out your own Idaho Snake River dams which Idaho built in the 1950s and ’60s with no fish passages while the science and engineering capability to build those were well proven and with no rocket science required. You doomed all future generations of fish migration with concrete walls.
How audacious and hypocritical it is now for you to suggest destroying our lower-Snake River dams with their fish ladders and base-load power production capabilities! Then, to suggest bribing our region with $33 billion in hush money.
That money doesn’t exist in the U.S. Treasury, and you know it. In effect, your bribe is nothing more than an addition to our massive national debt. In other words, on our, the taxpayers’, shoulders.
Congressman, you best consider the jeopardy that intermittent power sources such as those in California and Texas have placed on their citizens — blackouts and freezeouts. If you feel that old wrecking ball urge and want to tear out the “greenest” base-load power source on Earth, tear out your own dams. We’ll keep ours, thank you!
Bruce LePage, Pasco, Wasahington
Sound science
Congressman Mike Simpson submitted a proposal to remove the lower Snake River dams to save Idaho’s salmon and steelhead. While it was met with controversy, the science behind the proposal is sound, and Idahoans need to get behind the proposal to save our fish and our most treasured resource.
Initial outrage over the proposal centered on the cost to taxpayers of removing the dams and the energy those dams produce for the power grid. What was failed to be accounted for was the cost of keeping them running and how little energy the dams contribute. It’s estimated the cost of removing the four dams will be $2.5 billion, but the cost to taxpayers over the next 10 years will be up to $3.8 billion, according to Bonneville Power Association. It’s worth noting these dams are “run of river” dams so they provide no water storage and contribute less than 4% of energy to the power grid.
Simpson’s proposal would provide hundreds of millions of dollars of support for farmers, port workers, dam operators and economic development. It would also pay over a billion dollars in waste management and wasted water spilled over the dams.
What it will also do is restore Idaho’s most economically important resource: salmon and steelhead. It’s estimated that up to $150 million will be brought into Idaho’s economy if the salmon/steelhead economy is brought back.
It’s clear the dams need to be brought down so the fish can come back. Support Simpson’s plan.
John Miller, Eagle
No common sense
Rarely a politician is accused of having common sense, and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson can rest assured no one will attach this label to him. His dam breaching proposal is simply not paying attention to the future demands of power or the science of fish recovery.
Power demands will continue to grow as automobile manufacturers are moving from petroleum burning engines to electric power, and these cars will add to the strain on power grids. This strain will never be resolved with solar and wind power as there is no current technology for large scale storing of the power for future need. Hydroelectric is clean, and by storing water behind the dams, power is stored and ready for our use anytime.
As for dams, survival for salmon migrating through the Columbia and Snake rivers is about 50% today, about the same as in rivers of similar length without dams, such as the Fraser River. Use common sense.
Mike Cloke, Clarkston