By Don Brunell / For The Chronicle
To fans of the 4 Lower Snake River Dams, the latest news that President Joe Biden continues to pursue dam breaching is not stunning, however it is unexpected, thinking about the growing deficiency in electrical power forecasted in the western states and his desire to considerably decrease carbon emissions.
Biden’s March 21 statement began another “Whac-A-Mole” video game to figure out the dams’ future.
The news was reported in a Wall Street Journal commentary by Faith Bottum entitled “Biden’s Fishy Plan to Breach the Snake River Dams.” She composed Biden is figured out to bring “healthy and abundant salmon runs back to the Colorado River system.” (He actually implied the Columbia River.)
Whac-A-Mole is an arcade video game in which gamers are offered mallets to strike mole-like popups that arbitrarily appear. The video game starts sluggish however slowly increases in speed — just like what is occurring with the dams.
It was created in 1975, about the exact same time dam cleaners began their efforts to remove Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams. Those dams lie on the 100-mile stretch of the river in between Clarkston and Pasco, Washington.
Construction of the dams, fish ladders and navigation locks began with Ice Harbor in 1955 and concluded with Lower Granite in 1975.
According to Bottum, the 2020 federal Energy Department and Bonneville concluded reconstructing the salmon stocks did not need compromising electrical power, indicating the 4 dams might sit tight.
“But when the Biden administration took office, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reversed course claiming the science robustly supports dam breaching,” Bottum included.
Sound fishy?
Absent in the president’s conversation is the variety of salmon and steelhead killed by sea lions. According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, they take in approximately 44% of the Columbia River’s spring Chinook salmon run and 25% of the Willamette winter season steelhead run each year.
Also missing out on is a method to money the $15 billion replacement expenses of the greenhouse gas-free generation from the Snake River powerhouses and if a comparable quantity of electrical power is available.
Northwest Rivers Partners quote if the lower Snake River dams are gotten rid of, an extra 14,900 MW of resources will be needed. This suffices electrical power to power 15 cities the size of Seattle.
Bottum included: “It would require roughly three million solar panels occupying 6,000 acres to replace the dams’ generating capacity.”
Also brushed aside is the influence on farming exports. Agfax reports 60% of wheat exports out of the PNW area, or 10% of all American wheat exports, are barged through the 4 dams’ locks.
The U.S. Wheat Associates report: “One barge can carry the same amount of wheat as 35 rail cars or 134 trucks. A barge tow can carry more than one 100-unit train or 538 trucks. One barge can move a ton of wheat 647 miles per gallon while a truck can only move a ton of wheat 145 miles per gallon.”
An Energy GPS analysis concludes breaching the dams would likewise increase transportation-related air toxins by 53% for wheat, which is presently carried along the lower Snake River.
If the president’s objective is to significantly boost the electrical power grid to power electrical cars, to retire gas ranges and hot water heater, to phase out gas and coal-fired producing centers, to keep the lights, heating units and air conditioning unit running and to end up being carbon neutral, it is hard to comprehend how he prepares to do it by removing those dams.
He would be a good idea to reconsider his lower Snake River method instead of belonging to the perpetuation of what has actually ended up being the continuous “Whac-A-Model” political video game.
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Don C. Brunell is a business expert, author and writer. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and biggest business organization, and now resides in Vancouver. He can be called at [email protected].
