If salmon can't be saved, Snake River dams may have to go

For years, the federal government has struggled to find a way to operate the massive hydropower system on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest--and also try to recover the endangered salmon that are all-too-frequently slaughtered at the massive dams as they make their way up and down the river.

One option for saving the fish has never really been on the table: breaching the four dams on the lower Snake River that stand between the salmon and millions of acres of pristine habitat in central Idaho and northeastern Oregon.

President George W. Bush made it clear it would never be an option on his watch. The dams, after all, are generating enough electricity to power Seattle, and provide Lewiston, Idaho, with a port for barging valuable cargoes of grain 140 miles down the river.

But it's a new watch. And a federal judge in Oregon has signaled that breaching the Snake River dams needs to be considered, at least as a contingency plan, if other options for bringing back salmon fail to do the job.

In a letter to parties in the long-running litigation, U.S. District Judge James A. Redden made it clear he is ready to find substantial shortcomings in the biological opinion for salmon recovery laid out by the Bush administration last year.

"Federal defendants have spent the better part of the last decade treading water, and avoiding their obligations under the Endangered Species Act. Only recently have they begun to commit the kind of financial and political capital necessary to save these threatened and endangered species, some of which are on the brink of extinction. We simply cannot afford to waste another decade," the judge wrote.

The government needs to develop a contingency plan to study "specific, alternative hydro actions, such as flow augmentation and/or reservoir drawdowns," the Portland-based judge wrote, "as well as what it will take to breach the lower Snake River dams if all other measures fail." Download Judge Redden's letter

Reading between the lines, it looks like yet another federal salmon recovery plan is on its way to getting tossed out by the courts -- by a judge who's ready to look at the most serious of options, dam breaching, if it comes to that.

"This is a significant development in the case, because it indicates to the new administration that they have a significant problem to solve in order to come up with a plan that will protect these species and all the people that depend on them," said Todd True, attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice.

 "We believe that a serious look at the science and the options we have for bringing the fish back will lead to the conclusion that removing dams on the lower Snake River is a critical step that we should stop dancing around and start dealing with."

Brian Gorman, a NOAA spokesman in Seattle, said the agency could not comment on the judge's letter before reviewing it. But he said government scientists believe they can bring salmon populations back without breaching the dams.

"I don't think anyone argues that conditions in there for fish would be improved if there were no dams, but what we have argued in this biological opinion is that we can get to where we need to go without breaching the dams," he said. "Given the fact that breaching the dams would be enormously disruptive politically and socially and economically."

The Justice Dept. this month requested a delay in the court case of up to two months in order to get up to "more fully understand all aspects" of the plan. Redden said his letter was intended as a guide to what issues he thinks need looking at.

Government scientists "improperly rely on speculative, uncertain and unidentified tributary and estuary habitat improvement actions to find that threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead are, in fact, trending toward recovery," he complained.

"All of us know that aggressive action is necessary to save this vital resource," the judge said, "and now is the time to make that happen."

-- Kim Murphy

Photo: Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River near Burbank, Wash., is one of four dams conservationists say are a significant impediment to salmon recovery. Jackie Johnston / Associated Press.

Comments

[Steve]

I wonder how far fish numbers have dropped since the Bolt decision. Major netting by Idians and whites in the Oceans are what is killing the fish. I'm willing to bet these two things kill more fish than dams.

[Bob]

Mr James Wofford..
I would instead argue that it is people like you who are the "Environmental Whackos" as you show a severe ignorance of the ecological repercussions of these dams as well as a total lack of class and intelligence. You claim that it is the Environmentalists who want to control nature to keep the world alive when in fact it is the people and the scientists that believe in taking the dams out in order for mother nature to take care of itself and us as it has for thousands of years that DON'T want to control nature. It is this precise interference with the Natural order of things that has us in this mess to begin with and then here come people like you advocating on the side that created the mess! Your grammar and ignorance show a complete lack of understanding of this subject on so many levels. My guess is you sir have probably not received an education that could remotely prepare you to understand such a complex subject as is being discussed here and it shows. Educate yourself about river ecology and restoration, salmon breeding and life cycles, environmental impacts of dams on cultures, wildlife, water quality and turbidity and pollution, water rights and the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation, and what the actually economic consequences of freeing this river would be and then maybe you could discuss this topic here with the big boys without making a fool of yourself.

[Josh]

The salmon that are running up the rivers in Idaho and Oregon are all hatchery fish. Only thing that set's them apart from "wild fish" and "clipped fish" is a fin. There are only a few select river's in Idaho where the salmon naturally spawn. Our fish and game traps them and trucks them off to the hatchery's. The salmon run in Idaho has gone down hill in the past few years. Not only that, the Idaho fish and game have been using jack salmon for breeding and they are getting a strain of 2 year fish. The only record numbers we've had the past couple years has been jack returns. Another thing besides the damn's that are ruining the salmon population are the seals. Only 1% of the what the fish and game release as fingerlings or smolt actually make it back to the trap or spawning grounds. The fish and game have the capacity to send millions of smolt into the river and actually make record number returns without breaching any damns, but they are to lazy and to cheap to spend anytime resolving anything, like our wolf problem. I spend more time on the river and out in the woods hunting and fishing than any fish and game officer, and I can see our fish and our game populations going down every year and they keep asking for more money each year or your license and tags. If it breaching the damns that i don't even get any power from would help our salmon run then I'm all for it! I just hope there are a few good politics out there that realize what's happening and will do something about it.

[richard dahlgren]

From the federal government agencies...NOAA-NMFS-NWSFC...about the sad state of Upper Columbia and Snake Rivers Idaho Salmon, once the largest run in the world.

"We have no estimates of historic abundance of chinook salmon specific to this region, but there is widespread agreement that natural production has been reduced substantially over the last century. Peak cannery pack for the entire Columbia River Basin occurred in 1883, when 629,400 cases were packed, suggesting a total run-size of about 4.6 million chinook salmon..."

The 2009 wild chinook run is now projected to be one of the worse in many years. As Don Chapman, senior scientist says, the dams must be breached to save the salmon.

http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/publications/techmemos/tm35/chapters/14uppercol.htm

[richard dahlgren]

Major new development supporting breaching the four dams on the lower Snake.

Republican Idaho Senator Mike Crapo breaks from the the anti dam breaching political coalition and says, dam breaching must be on the table to save the salmon.

This follows the position change by one of the northwest's most respected fisheries biologists, Don Chapman. For years Chapman was the the #1 consultant and sweetheart of the northwest hydro industry.

Chapman is now on record as stating breaching the four dams is the only way to save the Columbia River salmon.

[richard dahlgren]

Aubrey suggests reading salmonrecovery.gov. This source of information should improve with the new administration. At present it is supported by the three government agencies causing the most harm to the salmon, The Army Corps of Engineers, The Bureau of Reclamation, and the Bonneville Power Administration...all who ignore accurate science in favor of one course of action, keep the four dams.

For a better resource concerning salmon recovery visit Save Our Wild Salmon at...

http://www.wildsalmon.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=84&Itemid=55

[richard dahlgren]

Yes, as Audrey says, the magnificent sound of water over a dam is something to experience.

The entire 120 miles up stream from the dam Audrey describes, Ice Harbor, to Lower Granite, once ran freely as the ancient river it was. Now it is a stepped-up-lock system, providing barge traffic 400 miles inland to Lewiston, Idaho...and back to Portland, Oregon.

Yes, Audrey is right. The Snake River has a strong current...but not when it reaches the dams. The river becomes a slow-moving and over heated, deadly to salmon smolts on their journey back to the Pacific.

The power produced by the four dams was always secondary benefit. The dams can't store water for when it's needed.

Flood control never was much of an issue. The dams can't catch and store water. They are always at capacity.

[carmel]

There are other options to dam removal that would facilitate salmon migration to sea and adults back to the spawning grounds. Natural Solutions, a company out of Montana has developed smolt guidance system that coupled with modest rivers around the four lower Snake River dams would allow for much more power production while eliminating the need to barge or truck juveniles.

Advocates on both sides as well as scientists need to begin think outside of the limited traditional concepts.

[carmel]

Actually, there is an interesting option to dam removal that would likely allow migrating salmon (smolts and adults) to bypass the dams. Natural Solutions North West has pioneered a smolt guidance system that would lead the migrating juveniles to a "river around the dams" effectively eliminating the problem of disorientation presently experienced. With a 50 CFS stream, two miles long around each Snake River dam, adults could easily migrate to the spawning grounds and juveniles wouldn't be forced to go over spillways, undershots or through the turbines, while maintaining their ancestral travel time to the ocean.

Time for the industry and the opponents to both think outside the box and seek a better alternative than dam removal or nothing.

[Audrey]

I don't know where Richard gets his facts but I have been to the Ice Harbor dam, the lowest of the four, while spill is taking place. I live in the region and know it well. Spill is both awesome and frightening to behold, if you imagine yourself as a fish. The roar can be heard long before you see the dams. The tumult is enourmous--it makes the Palouse falls look like a waterslide.

The best survival rates are achived through the bypass system, followed closely by the fish that go through the powerhouse. Many people imagine that the turbines are spinning like a blender, chopping up the unfortuate fish. This is a mistaken analogy. In a blender, an outside force turns the blades. In a turbine, the water, carrying the fish, moves the blades. The vast majority of the fish move with the water, never brush a turbine blade, and emerge unscathed. Fish that go over the top during spill are injured--hence the apprearence of gulls and other birds during spill that happily pick off the stunned and floating fish.

The Snake River is not a slackwater; there is a stong current. The barging sytem safely moves millions of smolts each year past the dams--if "thousands" died in transport, that would be insignificant.

I urge people to go salmonrecovery.gov and learn the facts about power generation and fish survival. Bear in mind that the environemntal groups that argue for dam removal are supported by concerned citizens who contribute to their cause--tif they sound alarmist, well-meaning people contribute more. They are every bit as biased, if not more so, than a BPA employee who works to promote salmon recovery.
by the way, I am not a gov. employee

[salmon advocate]

Science shows the surest way to restore the once abundant stocks of Idaho salmon is to remove the four dams on the lower Snake River. I applaud Judge Redden for upholding the Endangered Species Act! Hopefully the government will be forced to obey its own laws and create a salmon recovery plan that includes dam breaching.

[richard dahlgren]

As Mick Finn writes all tribes live above a dam. This is true, But breaching all the dams is not the point of the argument. There are nine on the Columbia River/Snake River system. The argument centers around the last dams to be constructed in the early 70's, the four on the lower Snake.

The salmon were able to negotiate the other five and thrive. But numbers plummeted for Idaho and Oregon fish the year after Lower Granite was completed.

Idaho, Oregon and even Nevada, once received millions of salmon annually. These magnificent 40 pound fish swam 700 miles to reach their spawning grounds in 4,600 miles of creeks and rivers. The habitat remains intact as it has been for 20,000 years, pristine in federally protected wilderness areas...but void of the millions of salmon that provided nutrients for the entire ecosystem.

This year's run is almost over. The numbers are dismal. As of 5-20-09 only 20081 adult chinook made it over the last dam, Lower Granite. Worse yet, about 2,800 were wild fish.

[Linn N]

The Columbia River and its largest tributary, the Snake River, were once home to the most prolific runs of wild salmon and steelhead in the world. Fast forward to the present and we are in a situation where the powerful Bonneville Power Administration is dong everything it can to maximize hydro power generation at the expense of these iconic, sacred fish. Enough is enough! As the Judge said in his letter, "Federal defendants have spent the better part of the last decade treading water, and avoiding their obligations under the Endangered Species Act." Dam removal simply MUST be considered. Once a species goes extinct, there is no turning back or restoring them.

[Amy Lindberg]

The letter from the federal judge earlier this week calling for a substantially stronger Columbia Basin salmon plan with measures like additional river flows seems like a step in the right direction, though I wonder if it will go far enough, and if it might not end up being more costly than simply removing the four deadly dams on the lower Snake River and replacing their limited services with clean modern alternatives.That should be the priority recovery tool to explore first, rather than as a backup or contingency if the other measures continue to fail to measure up. We need to examine the science on all these options, and let that guide our decision-making and plan development.

Though removal of these four dams by itself is no silver bullet for salmon recovery on the Columbia and Snake Rivers - other actions will be needed - the science that we already have today suggests that it will likely reduce the size and scale of those other restoration activities - like additional spill or flows. We owe it to ourselves as energy users and ratepayers, consumers of salmon and agricultural products, and as taxpayers, citizens and neighbors, to explore dam removal as a legitimate first option, not merely a contingency plan. In Washington AND California, and across the country, we need to get all these types of economic and scientific data together as a first step to allow us to make effective and fully-informed decisions.

[salmon watcher]

Great news for the Northwest! Thank this judge for calling BPA on its half-baked salmon "recovery" plans. He's right - the strategy for 15 years has been save the dams, rather than save the fish, and we are about out of time.
President Obama, PLEASE don't keep going down the Bush/Clinton path!

[ochotona]

The dams can and should be removed, and their benefits replaced. Study after study shows that dam removal is needed to get salmon back to the vast habitat in the Salmon River drainage, and studies also show that the dams' energy can be replaced in a way that fits with larger plans to reduce carbon emissions.

[swim little fishy]

Strong feelings on both sides, I guess, and both sides certain that they are right. I sure wish that the judge's letter would lead to a settlement table that was empowered to examine all options and find the best solution - it won't be perfect, of course - for all the parties, including tribes, farmers, utilities, power consumers, fishermen (sport and commercial), boaters, and taxpayers. My own view is that dam removal would surface as the best option, but the feds and hydro advocates have vigorously resisted any such summit. The judge's letter points out how very far the feds have to go to keep this biop from being arbitrary and capricious, and rightly emphasizes that these species are going extinct while we fiddle. It's a great reminder that rational voices remain; I hope the Obama people accept the challenge to find a new direction.

[Mick Finn]

There are "interesting facts" and then there are actual facts.

The tribes STILL depend upon salmon; salmon are a part of their religion, their culture, their sustenance. All the tribes continue to work to restore salmon populations to healthy, sustainable levels.

There are 13 salmon populations listed under the ESA, only four of those populations are above the four Snake River dams.

Of the five tribes that have entered into Accords with the federal agencies, four of these tribes are above several federal and private dams on the Columbia River; the fifth, the Shoshone Bannock, are also above the four Snake River dams. All of the tribes' lands are located above several dams, all of which impede salmon passage.

Under the Accords, five tribes (and the states of WA, ID and MT) are undertaking needed and necessary salmon restoration activities, other than dam breaching. During the term of the Accords, the tribes that have signed the Accords have agreed to defer action on dam breaching.

The Accords state quite specifically that nothing in the Accords represent a rescission or alteration of the tribes' "long-standing policy, scientific, and legal positions regarding breach of federal dams."

[Shayna Anderson-Hill]

The thus-far dismal runs of chinook salmon in the Columbia River this spring provide a unsettling but appropriate real-world endorsement of the May 17 letter from a federal judge blasting the federal agencies' for their ineffectual proposal for salmon recovery in the Northwest. Once again here in California, salmon runs on the Sacramento river are severely depressed, leaving California fishing businesses to fend for themselves in an already difficult economy. Our members of Congress can't continue to sit by idly while our communities languish with the same tired political debates. I hope that the new Administration will step up and lead the entire West coast toward science-based solutions that will allow our endangered salmon and struggling communities to prosper once again. We need change now - yes we do!

[morgan]

Judge Redden’s recent letter criticizing the federal agencies’ proposal for salmon recovery in the Northwest could not come at a better time. This comes as a huge relief to concerned citizens throughout the West coast who have watched wild salmon populations decline from California to Alaska, while elected officials stand by and watch. The 2008 Bush-era salmon plan for the Columbia Basin reflects bad science and divisive politics, and it should remain with the last Administration. The Obama administration now has its chance to move forward, honor its commitment to the best available science, and bring together people affected by salmon and river management issues. Any credible, science-driven process will set a legal precedent for salmon restoration projects throughout the West coast. Scientists didn’t approve this plan, and now it is clear, the court won’t either. The progress this letter represents should be viewed as victory for those seeking a healthy salmon future in California as well as the Northwest.

[james wofford]

We have all heard the comments about the stupidity & ridiculous thoughts of the ENVIRONMENTAL WHACKOS. This judge proves iT and is one of them.

There are many rivers that stil l spawn salmon including the Columbia and th snake. Many fishermen are still catching salmon on the Snake & the Clearwater above & below the dams.

In Washington State they spent 1000s of dollars destroying the Salmon grown in hatcheries because they would mess up the count of previus natural spawned salmon. That is correct because they could not tell them apart. Duh! Know why, they spawned NATURALLY IN THE hatcheries just like ALL OF PROCREATION!! DUH !

If we really think the present situation is just impossible to live with we might spend some money inproving fish ladders. But do we want to improve them so the tribes can still net and capture salmon so they can make them their main diet and income. This concept is all bullshiza! So are the environmentalist that think they have to control nature to keep the world alive.

In the middle of the worst economic downward spiral this nation has ever known approaching, I can't believe people that claim to be educated & intelligent are advocating removing dams that are worth billions and are part of the mainstay of our society. Providing electric power, transportation of farm products needed around the world and much needed flood control.

Duh! We have huge populations of people that live along these rivers. This is not Lewis and Clark 1805! duh!

We lose thousands of people every year, not salmon fish, to auto accidents. Are we eradicating the automoblie & tearing out roadways & freeways??/

Believe it, for the same NIMRODS who advocate blowing up dams that have nothing to lose by doing so, will become part of the movement with AL GORBACHOV to make the world better for the sake of his bank account & notriety, they will also advocate ripping out the highways if a secret spider's domicile is threatened.

DOES THIS SOUND STUPID!!! IT IS & SO ARE IRRATIONAL ENVISIONISTS THAT CALL THEMSELVES EVIRONMENTALIST.

THE LAST PART OF THE WORD IS WHAT THEY ARE & IT IS PART OF THEIR OXYMORONIC LIFE & MENTAL MAKEUP.

GET THIS JUDGE & THESE PEOPLE SOME PHYSCIATRIC HELP BEFORE THEY START AN ARMED REBELLION IN OUR LAND OF THE FREE.

[richard dahlgren]

The judge ordered spill Audrey refers to does not take place at the four dams. They don't store water to spill. The spill takes place in reservoirs hundreds of miles up river including several in Wyoming. The spill is to help the salmon smolts (young salmon) reach the Pacific Ocean.

When they encounter the four dams they enter 120 miles of slack water. The squaw fish eat them by the thousands. The Corps pays a bounty of $9 per squaw fish, which is a failed program. The salmon are no longer spilled at the four dams as Audrey says. They are collected and barged through them, or driven in trucks and dumped in the river below the dams, an exercise that kills thousands more.

[richard dahlgren]

A word about the indians, the native american tribes of the Columbia River system depended on salmon for thousands of years. Salmon were harvested deep into Oregon and Nevada from the Snake River.

Not long ago the tribes, all the way to Eastern Idaho and in to Montana, were united in saving the salmon. Not so now. The tribes below the four dams on the Snake accepted a $90 million bribe to back off.

Most interesting fact. The tribes who accepted the bribe...are all below the four dams.

The upstream tribe, the Nez Perce, stand alone fighting to save the salmon.

[subgenius]

Derrick Jensen FTW!

[Mick Finn]

Jon Paul is right, a holistic approach is needed to successfully restore (not just recover, that's a lower hurdle allowed under the ESA) salmon populations to healthy, sustainable levels. That approach is also referenced by the "4Hs" shorthand (with apologies to the 4-H clubs): harvest, hydro, habitat and hatcheries. That is why I suggest that the hydro BiOp is a defacto "recovery" plan as it attempts to address all those elements - but there are still actions required by the USFS, the BLM, the USGS, the NRCS, etc., that are necessary to assure salmon restoration.

As for harvest issues, ocean harvest of salmon stocks should also be considered - and it is: ocean catches are managed under the Pacific Fishery Management Council (they just shut down the CA and OR ocean fisheries for salmon) and the Pacific Salmon Commission (limiting interceptions of salmon originating in ID, WA, and OR by Canadian and Alaskan fisheries). Additional harvest reductions were instituted under the most recent update of the Pacific Salmon Treaty with Canada.

[Jonpauls]

Lets see, the single purpose argumentalists are out in force today.

How about a holistic approach to wildlife managemetn including controlling the offshore take on our fish. Even if the lakes and rivers were unmolested and pristine the offshore fishing interests woudl simply grab it all anyway.

This is what is happening to the upper pacific notthwest's fish stocks.

[Mick Finn]

First, the tribes have been on the rivers for thousands of years, being sustained by the salmon; the tribes will be on the rivers for thousands of years more (long after know-nothings no longer living in LA are just dust in the wind). The salmon is their life, one of the gifts from their Creator that they are obligated to care for, a gift they will take care of forever.

Second, the tribes are working to restore SALMON habitat, habitat that has been degraded or destroyed by overgrazing, poor timber harvest practices, etc., as mitigation/compensation for salmon and salmon habitat losses caused by the dams' construction and operation. The tribes are also working on better passage for salmon, and are using low tech enhancement programs (vaunted by Trout Unlimited) to restore naturally spawning salmon populations. The tribes have already brought coho back to the Snake, spring Chinook to NE Oregon and central Washington, and they pushed for important changes to help sustain the last of the Snake River fall Chinook population.

Third, the accords that 5 tribes have entered into with the hydropower operators have their genesis in the Clinton adminstration: the so-called aggressive non-breach strategy. "Let's rebuild the salmon through other aggressive restoration activities and see how that works, then we'll revisit the dam breaching question, to see if that's really necessary." Well, the tribes finally called the feds' bluff. For the next ten years, the tribes (and the states of WA, ID, and MT) will be implementing restoration projects ("boots on the ground" as a great conservationist once said) and then they'll see . . .

Finally, the judge can't make the feds breach the dams - that will literally take an Act of Congress. So, how many of you "know-nothing whiners" are actually working with the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition to get the Salmon Planning Act passed, an act that would provide the necessary groundwork for Congress to debate dam removal (because it will be one HELL of a debate!)? Because you can be damn sure the politicians in the Pacific Northwest aren't going to easily let their dams be taken down.

[Audrey]

Food for thought: when a yearly return of salmon is low, salmon returns on undammed rivers are also low. We have recorded record numbers of salmon returns in some years--if the dams were the problem, these would not occur. If the dams destroyed a certain percentage of fish each year, then by now there wold be no returns. Logic tells us the problem is not the dams, but ocean and/or estuary conditions. Do the dams have an effect? Certainly. Are the dams the determining factor in fish runs? No.
Mr. Dalgren is mistaken. The dams are run of the river but these are immense rivers and they produce significant power year round. Judges have ordered spill which limits power generation (and kills juvenille slamon in higher numbers--if you see spill in action you'll understand immedialty why) during certain times of the year but this is a political choice; the dams could use that water to generate power. (During power generation, the best fish survival is through the bi-pass system and through the turbines, while spill kills the most fish.)

People should also know that this region is being developed for wind power. The wind turbines provide erratic power at best and power surges occur as the wind gusts and wanes. To balance the grid (and keep you from expereinceing blown circuits and brown-outs) the dam operators use the dams, which can be controlled to produce more or less electricity as needed to balance the wind energy. Take out the Snake River dams and you'll also lose the wind energy.

Remember, when you plug in your electric car, it's not clean power if it comes from a coal or natural gas plant.

[Robert NO longer in LA]

At last! Laws being obeyed and enforced....unlike the bonehead bush era of Money Talks and you, sukkars, WALK! Be advised that the farmers pay very little for electricity; they destroy habitat, the poison (chemicals of ALL kinds) the land and the water, and ALL that depend upon it. Plus, some of the Tribes have been BOUGHT off ; 3-4 tribes are sharing $60-90 million over 10 years to RESTORE THEIR HABITAT. Why are we ugly, rapacious white men, paying the Natives to restore THEIR habitat? Did they PROFIT from the destruction of their habitat? Lots of ??????? LOTS MORE $$$$$. You and I are paying $15-20 for fresh NATURAL fish (never that freak farmed salmon - yuck!) and everyone else is enjoying this massive SACRED COW-of-COWS! THANK YOU JUDGE!!! Seriously, we are ALL indebted to you for your efforts to bring back our salmon!

[richard dahlgren]

Don't be fooled by the pro hydro-energy folks when they preach about the energy production that would be loss if the four dams were breached.

These four dams on the lower Snake River ONLY produce peak amounts of power when there is a glut on the market, during spring runoff. When it's needed the most, late summer and fall, they produce very little. They can't store water. The are not reservoirs. What flows in flows out. They are run-of-the-river dams, a system of locks serving the boondoggle inland seaport of Lewiston, Idaho, which is close to insolvency. Energy production is a secondary feature.

[Mike Massey]

The policy makers in Portland will trade a "carbon free" nuclear power plant for "carbon producing" natural gas plants. In my opinion, it is clear that base power domestic energy systems will be demolished for the new "carbon producing" standard of imported natural gas from the Middle East. So a mandated breach in renewable "non-carbon emitting" hydro-power will result in higher electricity rates for all within the Northwest and we will get more hooked on fossil fuels from the Middle East. My bet is that a natural gas terminal will be completed somewhere on the Oregon Coast sometime soon, just after the judge annouces that the dams must be breached.

[natbrandon]

This is fantastic news. For too long, politics has been running salmon policy in the Northwest. Federal agencies under previous administrations have failed miserably at trying to come up with a decent salmon recovery plan, despite orders from a federal judge. The Obama administration now has an opportunity to step in and do something different from the failed stay-the-course policy of previous administrations: convene a solutions table with key stakeholders -- farmers, fishermen, energy organizations, conservationists and Tribes -- and craft an effective solution to the Northwest salmon crisis. Good for Judge Redden and hope the Obama administration will move quickly!