In a 29-5 vote, the Idaho Senate on Monday adopted Senate Joint Memorial 103 to voice opposition to the federal authorities’s efforts to take away and breach dams within the Columbia-Snake River system.
A joint memorial shouldn’t be a invoice, however fairly it’s a petition or illustration made by both chamber and authorized within the different chamber, “addressed to whoever can effectuate the request of the memorial,” in response to Idaho legislative guidelines. According to the joint memorial, the Idaho Legislature addresses President Joe Biden, the U.S. Congress and Idaho’s congressional delegation.
The Idaho Legislature within the joint memorial stated it acknowledges the significance of the Columbia-Snake River system for fish and wildlife, recreation, hydropower era, irrigation, and transportation for agriculture.
But Idaho lawmakers argue that dam elimination or breaching within the river system would come on the expense of Idaho’s agricultural business.
“The purpose of this memorial is to oppose the removal of the dams in the Snake River and to emphasize the importance of the Port of Lewiston and the Columbia-Snake River system to the economy and livelihoods of Idaho citizens,” memorial sponsor Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs stated. “Idaho farm families who grow wheat rely on this river system to get their crop to foreign markets.”
According to the joint memorial, almost 10% of all U.S. wheat exports are barged by the 4 dams on the Snake River, and about 50% of all Idaho-grown wheat is barged from Lewiston to Portland after which exported to worldwide markets. Removing or breaching the dams would make it unnavigable for farmers to move these merchandise to port for export, opponents of dam breaching have stated.
Senate Majority Leader, Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, stated he’s happy to see the laws earlier than the Senate.
Anthon, who manages an electrical utility, stated he’s involved that proposals to breach the dams fail to point out how they plan to exchange the hydroelectric energy produced by dams within the Columbia-Snake River system.
“By the way, this is carbon-free (energy),” Anthon stated. “This is some of the best generated power in the world, and I will tell you that our competitors in third world countries who are doing this — they don’t care about the fish. We’ve made incredible investments in trying to preserve species, and done a good job… So when we make proposals that don’t have any practical solutions, I think it’s incumbent upon us to say to our federal government — this is a bad idea.”
This shouldn’t be the primary time the Idaho Legislature has stated it’s in opposition to dam breaching efforts.
In 2021, the Idaho Legislature authorized a comparable joint memorial addressed to the U.S. Congress and particularly congressional delegations representing Idaho, Montana, Washington and Oregon.
Opposition present concern for tribes, salmon restoration initiatives
Monday’s joint memorial comes one week after Northwest Tribes and the Oregon and Washington governors met in Washington, D.C., to have a good time final yr’s settlement to keep away from litigation over dams within the Columbia-Snake River Basin.
As reported by States Newsroom, the settlement got here because of negotiation among the many states, tribes, environmental teams and federal companies, who labored to determine a path to reviving the world’s salmon and steelhead populations and referred to as for a 10-year pause in authorized preventing.
Unlike neighboring governors who celebrated the settlement, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke in December condemned the settlement.
Federal funds enhance tribal-led revival efforts for salmon in higher Columbia River Basin
“Instead of working together to find common ground, the signatories to the agreement pandered to their political supporters and paid no attention to the real impacts dam removal would have on Idahoans,” Little and Bedke wrote in a press release.
During Monday’s Senate debate, Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, acknowledged the Nez Perce Tribe’s go to final week to D.C. to signal and have a good time the settlement. She voted in opposition to the joint memorial, noting that it might be a step backwards to the progress made between tribes and federal companies.
“Congress still has to pass the act to remove the dams, but this memorial sends the wrong message to problem solving,” Wintrow stated.
Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, additionally spoke in opposition to the invoice. While she stated she understands the significance the river system has for Idaho’s agriculture business, she acknowledged tribal initiatives to revive salmon and different native fish populations within the Columbia-Snake River system.
“We also know that our tribes will be affected by this memorial and based on conversations with the Nez Perce Tribe, it appears that their voices were not included in the memorial,” she stated. “I absolutely support our ag industry, and I would support this memorial if we were able to incorporate the voices of our tribes.”
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