The four lower Snake River dams are important to the Northwest’s power needs, provide important support for the transmission system and help keep our system low in carbon emissions. Wild salmon and orca whales are threatened with extinction owing partly to the presence of four hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River in Washington. There is currently an energy surplus in the Pacific Northwest. Freight transportation has declined drastically as the combination of trucks and railways have become more efficient than trucks and barging. Tell our Northwest congressional delegation that we need them to lead on a robust economic development package that takes down the lower four dams and rebuilds our northwest economy. Janet Higbee-Robinson, Bellingham The dams generate a negligible amount of power, and it will be cheaper to take them out than to update them to modern standards.” No fish= No orcas ! Four aging dams in Washington state block passage along the lower Snake River, a major migration corridor linking pristine cold water streams in central Idaho to the mighty Columbia River and out to the Pacific Ocean. https://earthjustice.org/features/remove-four-lower-snake-river-dams The Snake River basin and where the salmon (used to, and again, will) swim. It is time for the lower four Snake River dams to come down. The Army Corps of Engineers currently categorizes the lower Snake River waterway as “a waterway of negligible use”. Clearwater Paper now ships 95 to 100 percent of its product by truck and rail. They argued that damming the free-flowing lower Snake River would decimate wild fish runs. Containers shipped to ports on the lower Snake River are measured in TEUs, which means Twenty Foot Equivalent Units, a standard global measure for sea freight. Data source: Walla Walla District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers … On the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington, it bridges Whitman and Garfield counties. Problems inherent in the huge slack water reservoirs created by the dams cannot be fixed. A study commissioned by the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA) has found that if the four lower Snake River dams were removed, the closures would cost up to $2.3 billion over the next 30 years, lead to significant additional carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, and jeopardize health, safety and livelihoods in already fragile local and regional economies. Or, the land could be converted to non-irrigated farmland or pasture. Over the past 18 years, freight volume has declined 69 percent, and container shipments from the Port of Lewiston, the only port on the river that ships containers, had dropped at least 82 percent by early April 2015—and 100 percent by late April 2015. The proposal to build the four lower Snake River dams drew strong opposition, particularly from state and federal fish biologists. The 2009 Washington State Marine Forecast projects the growth of freight transportation on the lower Snake from 2003-2030 to be 0.3 percent. Bonneville Power Administration bears almost all the costs of maintaining these functions, except for navigation, which is paid for by the federal government (taxes). Through the turbines, letting water over the spillway (there is mandatory spill the court has ordered to aid salmon passage), through the fish ladders (adults), through the juvenile fish passage system (where they enter a small orifice upstream and are counted as they travel through the pipe to the other side) and finally they utilize barges and trucks to transport juveniles downstream. Lower Snake River Hydropower Has Already Been Replaced. The Columbia River flows about 325 miles (523 km) further west to the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon. Opened 46 years ago in 1975, the dam is located 22 miles (35 km) south of Colfax and 35 miles (56 km) north of Pomeroy. It is time to breach the four lower Snake River dams. Despite objections, Congress approved construction. Wild salmon and steelhead populations have tremendous historical, cultural, ecological, and socio-economic value as well. Shipping statistics from Ice Harbor indicate water-born commerce peaked on the lower Snake in 1995 and has been on a long, steady decline ever since. Even the 2009 Washington State Marine Cargo Forecast prediction of 0 percent growth from 2002-2030 has proven to be much too optimistic. Update: Oregon governor who supports breaching Snake River dams invited to see them first-hand Oreg on’s Democrat Gov. Free-flowing … Earlier today, a long-awaited federal report on the prospect of removing the four lower Snake River Dams was released, offering little hope for the watershed’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead. To make up for the declining runs, hatcheries are subsidized, and this is another large expense for BPA called “mitigation”. The four Lower Snake River hydroelectric dams are the low cost, carbon-free backbone of Oregon’s power supply and essential to meeting our region’s renewable energy goals. In fact, the Port suspended 100 percent of its container traffic indefinitely in April 2015. The Army Corps of Engineers has spent $600 million dollars over the last thirteen years for System Improvements, intended to improve fish passage for imperiled wild salmon and steelhead populations. In 1995 freight transportation on the lower Snake River peaked at 9.16 million tons. Restoring the lower Snake River by removing the four dams that block its flow would precipitate changes in the region’s physical infrastructure, electric grid operations, carbon emissions, grain transport, irrigation, recreation, fish habitat, and riverine and marine ecosystems. Oreg on’s Democrat Gov. Due to sediment build up, Lower Granite Dam actually creates a flood risk to Lewiston, Idaho and requires conveyance dredging to mitigate this risk. Oregon Gov. In addition to direct taxpayer costs, the many benefits lost from maintaining this project—from vastly improved sports and commercial fisheries to alternate investment in a transportation system that can benefit a much wider range of businesses — make the early removal of the four lower Snake River dams imperative. The lower Snake River project is economically unjustifiable and fiscally unsustainable. The dams do not provide flood protection or any meaningful amount of irrigation. Data source: Port of Lewiston (portoflewiston.com). “Even PacifiCorp now supports dam removal. Today even this projection is proving too optimistic. Lower Granite Lock and Dam is a concrete gravity run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States.On the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington, it bridges Whitman and Garfield counties. The Walla Walla District derived this figure from the 2002 Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility Report, which claimed a savings of $5.75 per ton, a figure based on an earlier study of shipping volumes on the deep draft section of the Columbia River downstream from Portland. The widely-celebrated removals of these large dams has reduced taxpayer waste and restored fisheries, injecting additional dollars into rural economies. Are the 4 Lower Snake River dams next? They are “run of the river” dams with very little storage capacity and are thus almost totally dependent on the amount of snowpack and rate of runoff. Study suggests lower Snake River dams not critical for Pacific Northwest energy capacity – June 2015. The Lower Snake River Project's four dams and navigation locks have transformed this part of the Snake River into a series of reservoirs. Together, the four produce an average of 1,024 average MW of electricity annually, which is about 4% of BPA’s annual energy portfolio. The four lower Snake River dams can generate enough electricity to power the entire city of Seattle. By 2000 that volume had dropped to 4.52 million tons, and in 2014 the lower Snake waterway transported only 2.8 million tons. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed and constructed fish cooling systems at Lower Granite and Little Goose dams to alleviate warming water concerns. By the 1990’s, lower Snake River Coho were extinct, and lower Snake River spring Chinook, fall Chinook, and steelhead were listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The federal government wants to keep the Four Lower Snake River Dams in place. They are “run of the river” dams, meaning they were not built to store water. The four Lower Snake dams were the last built in the federal Columbia hydropower system. We can build new rail lines, new roads, and new water infrastructure. Indeed, it is a river system that binds their very culture. Once they are released, they are subject to similar undesirable conditions as wild fish are, as they migrate through the system to and from the Ocean. Today the lower Snake River dams (LSRDs) preform various functions; providing hydropower, navigation, irrigation and fish passage. Costs for operation and repairs currently exceed power revenues and economic benefits derived from navigation and irrigation. Lower Snake River Dams Stakeholder Engagement Final Report — March 2020 2 which perspectives carry more weight than others. The department of fish and wildlife manages the 26 facilities that release millions of salmon a year. On a broader scale, such consideration lays the analytical groundwork for potential later consideration of a determination to breach one or more of the four Lower Snake River dams. Most of the power generated by the dams occurs during the spring (snowmelt) when demand and prices are low. Native wild salmon and steelhead populations have called this place home for millennia. Economic Tradeoffs of Removing the Lower Snake River Dams. The American taxpayer continues to heavily subsidize operation, maintenance, and repairs on the four lower Snake River dams. Over the next fifteen years, all twenty-four turbines for the lower Snake River dams will need to be rebuilt. The Snake River basin and where the salmon (used to, and again, will) swim. Look at real time amounts of energy being produced and sold on BPA’s website. Flows in the lower Snake River are highest in the spring (average annual peak of approximately 165,000 cubic … Reality: The four lower Snake River dams are relatively unreliable sources of power compared to some other dams in the federal Columbia River system. Its six dams on the main stem of the Columbia River provide all the electricity its contracted customers need; the electricity generated by its 25 other dams, including the four lower Snake River dams, is all surplus. Over the span of fifty years, wild Chinook salmon populations virtually ceased in the basin, while wild steelhead struggled to navigate the fish ladder(s) and populations plummeted. The cost of mitigation hatcheries for lost Snake River stocks is rising a rate of 5 percent annually, and turbine rehabilitation over the next 15 years will require at least $775 million in today’s dollars. This does not include the millions for annual operations and maintenance on the dams, along with other major repairs, over that same time period. Money is spent on all these strategies to get more salmon past the 8 dams in their way, ensure they can get through as quickly as possible, and that they have the highest probability of surviving, without negative effects (latent mortality). Most recently, in May 2016, a federal district judge ordered dam operators to put all options on the table to save threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead – including dam removal on the Snake River. • Breaching the four lower Snake River Dams per the Court’s strong admonition that such an alternative be considered in detail in the CRSO FEIS (MO3); • Maximizing spill for the benefit of ESA-listed salmonids (MO4); and • The Preferred Alternative, based on a flexible spill strategy designed to allow for adjusting operations to allow for achieving the best balance among the System’s many … Irrigation pumps could be replaced and pipes extended to the Snake River for farmland irrigated behind Ice Harbor Dam. The transportation economics part of the 2002 study was so flawed the Walla Walla District itself stated the results should not be used again without further refinement. The lower Snake River dams produce roughly 1,100 average megawatts of carbon-free electricity compared to the Klamath River dam’s 78 average megawatts. The four lower Snake River dams are Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite. For more graphs, click on the below headline. Together, the four Lower Snake River dams have a “nameplate” (maximum) generating capacity of 3,000 megawatts. The 2002 economic analysis of transportation on the lower Snake violated Corps guidance regarding the use of rates rather than costs and was based on a highly overstated projection of future freight volumes. They are part of the problematic aging U.S. infrastructure that requires more money for maintenance every year. The Army Corps of Engineers can no longer afford, nor justify, the continued operation of the four lower Snake River dams. Tell our Northwest congressional delegation that we need them to lead on a robust economic development package that takes down the lower four dams and rebuilds our northwest economy. I urge readers to join the Nez Perce and advocate for the restoration of the Lower Snake River basin. Compelling evidence proves dams kill salmon. Because these dams can’t provide flood control and have virtually no storage capacity, they can reach that maximum for just a few days in any year (during a rapid spring snowmelt for example). Wind energy in the same region has blossomed, and now triples the nameplate capacity (maximum energy produced) of hydropower. Lower Granite Lock and Dam is a concrete gravity run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States. Interview with Jim Waddell, retired civil engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers and member of Dam Sense, about removal of the four lower Snake River Dams. These improvements have not worked. 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