FILE – In this May 15, 2019 photo, the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River is seen from the air near Colfax, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
(OLYMPIA, Wash.) — Breaching the four lower-Snake River dams is the best move to save endangered salmon, but they shouldn’t be removed just yet according to a new report.
Environmentalists have pushed for removal of the dams to save endangered salmon runs for years, but locals have pushed back saying the dams provide clean electricity, recreation, and water for crops.
The report from Governor Jay Inslee and Senator Patty Murray says breaching the dams would the best move to save the salmon but the benefits the dams provide must be replaced or mitigated before removal.
“We must recognize that breaching the dams does in fact offer us the best chance at protecting endangered salmon and other iconic species that run through these waters. But the hydropower and economic benefits of the dams are significant, and breaching them before we have other systems in place to replace those benefits would be disastrous,” Inslee said in a statement.
Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-Sunnyside), whose district includes some of the dams, denounced the study saying, “this report outlines what Central Washington has known all along: there is no reasonable replacement for the Lower Snake River Dams.”