Successfully breaching the four Lower Snake River dams will require extensive preparation and bipartisan support U.S. Democrats don't yet have, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said Thursday in a cautious statement summarizing the findings of a joint report on dam removal and salmon recovery.
Their statement comes after many proponents of dam removal saw a possible resolution after the Biden Administration weighed in last month.
"We are adamant that in any circumstance where the Lower Snake River Dams would be breached, the replacement and mitigation of their benefits must be pursued before decommissioning and breaching," the statement said.
Controversy shrouding the removal of the four dams in southeastern Washington has long fueled a political debate over salmon recovery, energy and climate change.
Inslee and Murray seem to suggest dam removal will be costly, and politically implausible on a federal level for the time being, but possible in the long-run.
"Furthermore, it should not be lost on anyone that breach would ultimately require Congressional authorization and strong bipartisan support — for that to become a credible option, the benefits of the dams must be sustained or mitigated," Murray said in the statement Thursday.
In June, a draft report commissioned by Inslee and Murray estimated it would cost between $10.3 billion and $27.2 billion to replace the collective benefits for energy, irrigation and recreation provided by the four Lower Snake Rivers.
While the report found that breaching the dams will offer the best chance for salmon runs to recover in the Columbia and Lower Snake rivers, and for honoring tribal rights promised by the federal government, it did not take a position on whether the hydroelectric dams should be removed.
The White House weighed in on the issue in July when it released two reports in support of dam removal, citing the importance of salmon recovery and the feasibility of finding a replacement for the lost energy.
Washington state relies heavily on hydroelectric power generated through dams, but the impacts they have on salmon, orcas and tribal fishing grounds have become impossible to ignore, thanks to drought, heatwaves, reduced snowpack and other facets of climate change felt in recent years.
Dam removal in any capacity would reduce the state's portfolio of renewable energy amid ongoing and forthcoming efforts to transition away from fossil fuels by 2050.
For decades, dam removal has been opposed by a long list of public utilities, ports and other users that benefit from the river and the electricity it generates.
Four dams were built on the Lower Snake River — the Columbia River's largest tributary — the last completed in 1975. Across the basin, 31 dams, operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, generate a third of the region's power.
That power propelled industrial growth, but salmon, orcas and tribes are paying a hefty price. In the Columbia and Snake rivers, salmon and steelhead populations have declined by more than 90% since the dams were constructed. Research says the dams are partly to blame, but climate change, recreation and development are also factors.
