In an period of transferring towards extra electrification and growing energy demand, it is mindless to take away a clear, renewable energy supply. Hydropower is a vital supplier of dependable and clear vitality for everybody within the Northwest. Many dams additionally present essential baseload energy reliability to assist a confused vitality grid during times of utmost scorching or chilly.
The Snake River dams are essential to the infrastructure of our area, offering not solely dependable energy but in addition many different financial advantages. Removing these dams would have many unfavorable impacts on our area.
You don’t must take my phrase for it. Here are a few of the findings from the multi-year public course of in 2020 carried out by The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and Bonneville Power Administration to supply a complete scientific evaluation of the problems surrounding the Snake River dams and potential breaching:
- “[Dam breaching] would not meet the objective to Provide a Reliable and Economic Power Supply . . . The lower Snake River projects provide more than 2,000 MW of sustained peaking capabilities during the winter, and a quarter of the federal power system’s current reserves holding capability. The dams play an important role in maintaining reliability in the production of power used to supply load in the Pacific Northwest. Their flexibility and dispatchability are valuable components of the CRS. [Dam breaching] would more than double the region’s risk of power shortages…”
- “The costs of an expanded zero-carbon resource portfolio designed to replace the full capability of the four lower Snake River dams would be significant: up to twice the $400 million assumed to maintain regional reliability. Additional variables such as resource financing uncertainties and the uncertainty in the cost and availability of demand response add to this rate sensitivity. If Bonneville had to replace the four lower Snake River projects’ full capability with zero-carbon resources, the rate pressure could be up to 50% on wholesale power rates.”
- “The lower Snake River shallow draft navigation channel would no longer be available, eliminating commercial navigation to multiple port facilities on the lower Snake River… As a result, the cost to transport goods to market would increase.”
- “Under this scenario, increases in vehicular accident rates, highway traffic and congestion would occur. In addition, additional wear and tear on roadways could result in additional road repair costs of up to $10 million annually.”
- “Farmers could also experience increased production costs associated with higher transportation costs for upriver movements (i.e., fertilizer, crops). There would be additional demands on existing road and rail infrastructure as well as at barging facilities near the Tri-Cities, Washington, increasing traffic and air pollution.”
- “Adverse regional economic effects would occur as the jobs and income provided by the four primary commercial navigation ports would be curtailed, including the Port of Lewiston, the Port of Clarkston, the Port of Whitman County (Wilma, Almota, Central Ferry), and the Port of Garfield.”
- “Despite the major benefits to fish expected from [dam breaching], this alternative was not identified as the Preferred Alternative due to the adverse impacts to other resources such as transportation, power reliability and affordability, and greenhouse gas emissions.”
This multi-year scientific and public evaluation course of, which was undertaken by each a Democrat and Republican administration, made one factor abundantly clear: dam breaching on the decrease Snake River is totally pointless and unwarranted.
In addition, Congress licensed these dams, and solely Congress has the facility to take away them. Thankfully, lots of the congressional members elected to the areas surrounding the Snake River dams are working to guard the financial and environmental advantages they supply.
This contains native lawmakers as effectively. The Idaho Legislature this yr adopted Senate Joint Memorial 103, to make it clear that the state is dam proud and strongly helps the clear renewable hydro baseload energy, navigation, and irrigation supplied by the Snake River dams. The Idaho Legislature declared: “the State of Idaho opposes any actions to degrade the functionality, in whole or in part, to remove or breach any dams on the Columbia-Snake River System or its tributaries …”
Protecting the Snake River dams and different federal water infrastructure is pivotal to the Northwest. We should stay dam robust for the good thing about our area.
