Washington, D.C. – Today, Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) led an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee listening to on President Biden’s plan to dismantle the Lower Snake River dams.
In December, the Biden administration introduced an settlement the United States Government negotiated with plaintiffs in ongoing litigation over Columbia River System Operations (CRSO). This settlement, which advocates for the breaching of the 4 Lower Snake River dams to recuperate endangered salmon with out sound science to again it up, features a five-year keep within the litigation with the potential for a further five-year extension.
Stakeholders from the Pacific Northwest who had been excluded from the mediation course of additionally joined the listening to to testify on the devastating impacts dam removing would have on the area, together with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), Washington Grain Commission, and Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA).
Below are Cathy’s opening remarks as ready for supply:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
“The Columbia River System is the beating coronary heart of the Pacific Northwest. This essential infrastructure helped rework our area into one of the productive agricultural areas on the planet.
“It serves as a super-marine freeway for farmers to ship their merchandise all throughout America, whereas preserving hundreds of vehicles off the street yearly. The dams alongside the Lower Snake River have strengthened our power grid, lowered power prices, and made us a frontrunner in lowering carbon emissions.
“They assist forestall life-threatening blackouts throughout excessive climate not simply in Washington state however in California, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming, and help a thriving tourism financial system and small businesses. They even defend components of our area from devastating floods.
“To put it merely: the Columbia River System is essential to our whole lifestyle.
MISGUIDED MEDIATION AGREEMENT
“Unfortunately, some individuals don’t see it that method, together with a couple of of our witnesses right here right this moment.
“For greater than two years, the Biden administration labored behind closed doorways with a choose group of radical environmentalists to develop a secret package deal of actions and commitments that will briefly settle litigation over the way forward for our river system.
“The settlement was launched final month, and I’m deeply involved it advances efforts to take away the 4 Lower Snake River dams.
“While the administration will say solely Congress has the authority to breach the dams, they wasted no time coming into into commitments that bypassed Congress and agreeing to spend greater than $1 BILLION {dollars} to attain their political aim.
STAKEHOLDERS SILENCED
“What’s worse is that regardless of my repeated requires transparency, the White House actively and intentionally overlooked the voices of those that depend upon the river system most. Dozens of stakeholders and utility firms virtually begged to be heard on this course of solely to be turned away, shut out, and ignored.
“I’m certain our witnesses will say they spoke to everybody, however they’re not being trustworthy. I’ve heard from many who the administration didn’t discuss to, and I will probably be submitting letters from them for the file.
BIDEN’S RADICAL AGENDA
“This course of was by no means about getting outcomes for endangered salmon. It was a reckless pursuit of an activist agenda … a misguided mission to tear out the dams … with no scientific information to again it up.
“In truth, this settlement depends almost completely on an inconclusive NOAA report, which the administration acknowledges could not save the salmon. It additionally fails to acknowledge our historic investments which have made the dams practically clear to fish.
“But apparently, a couple of unelected bureaucrats on the White House suppose they know higher than the individuals whose lives depend upon them. Sadly, this degree of vanity isn’t a surprise. Afterall, it isn’t the primary time an administration has felt empowered to impose its will on the Pacific Northwest.
FAILED SPOTTED OWL PLAN
“In the Nineteen Nineties – after numerous lawsuits – the federal authorities got here up with a Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl and locked up tens of millions of acres of forest with out scientific proof to help such a drastic resolution.
“This devastated timber communities. Thousands of individuals misplaced their jobs. Our forests turned diseased and bug-infested, which led to catastrophic wildfires.
“Now, almost 40 years later, the Spotted Owl inhabitants within the Pacific Northwest has declined by practically 70 % because of the invasive barred owl and a misguided plan that didn’t work.
“No one has ever been held accountable for the hurt this did – and nobody will probably be – which is how we discover ourselves right here right this moment preventing one other plan we didn’t ask for.
“We all share the aim of recovering endangered salmon populations, however now we have to give attention to what is going to really get outcomes like addressing the exploding sea lion inhabitants on the mouth of the Columbia River, prioritizing habitat restoration, and enhancing ocean circumstances.
LEARNING FROM THE PAST
“If we don’t study from the previous, historical past is sure to repeat itself. We are seeing it occur proper earlier than our eyes.
“The Lower Snake River dams should not the issue – and breaching them isn’t the answer. The sooner we settle for that actuality, the earlier we will get again to having a regional dialogue that features ALL voices and reaching our shared objectives.
“This is one thing the Biden administration fails to grasp, and I stay up for exposing the reality about their plan to destroy the lives of the individuals I symbolize in right this moment’s listening to.
“Thank you, I yield back.”
Questioning Administration Officials
During the listening to, Cathy had the chance to query high-ranking Biden administration officers and representatives from varied authorities companies, together with: the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), U.S. Department of Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), and United States Army (Civil Works).
Here are a couple of of the moments you’ll have missed from the exchanges:
Brenda Mallory, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
Rodgers: Chair Mallory, do you agree that solely Congress has authority to take away the Lower Snake River Dams?
Mallory: Yes.
Rodgers: In your testimony you talked about that you’ve got obtained a whole bunch of emails from the general public and stakeholders on this situation because the settlement was signed. Would you classify the teams being represented on the second panel right this moment – whose lives will probably be upended if the dams had been eliminated – as “stakeholders?”
Mallory: Yes.
Rodgers: How many emails have you ever obtained from the general public against the settlement?
Mallory: I’ve not gone by each a kind of emails. I don’t know whether or not these of us additionally despatched emails.
Rodgers: I’ve 40 letters right here that I’ll enter into the file … representing hundreds of individuals within the Pacific Northwest. CEQ reduce a secret backroom deal to please radical environmentalists who’re cashing in on a marketing campaign to tear out our dams. You ignored the science and the legislation and there will probably be penalties for that.
CLICK HERE to learn the letters.
Rodgers: Chair Mallory, are you able to inform me what number of tribes are in Washington state?
Mallory: Actually congresswoman, I can’t.
Rodgers: How many tribes had been included on this settlement?
Mallory: The litigation events associated to this settlement included 4 particular tribes.
Rodgers: Do you imagine that eradicating the Snake River dams will guarantee our salmon runs are restored?
Mallory: I imagine that the knowledge that now we have on the Snake River dams is predicated on what NOAA has instructed us and represents the scientific view.
Rodgers: Ignoring predation, air pollution, habitat loss, ocean circumstances. For those that are saying that is going to supply certainty, it’s certainty for 5 years with the potential for one other 5 years. There’s nonetheless extra work to be executed.
John Hairston, Administrator and CEO, Bonneville Power Administration
Rodgers: If the Lower Snake River Dams had been breached, what wouldn’t it imply for the area’s electrical energy charges?
Hairston: Most doubtless, they may go up.
Rodgers: What wouldn’t it imply for grid reliability?
Hairston: It may have a diminishing influence on reliability.
Rodgers: Would it end in extra carbon emissions?
Hairston: I couldn’t inform you.
Rodgers: When you consider Washington state, what do you consider climate clever? Rain. But CEQ is deciding we’re going to go photo voltaic. Isn’t that candy?
Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Rodgers: The science on endangered salmon within the Pacific Northwest reveals that there are a number of threats – from air pollution within the Puget Sound, to unlawful fishing, to predation by sea lions and different pure predators – isn’t that right?
Coit: Yes, there’s a multitude of threats.
Rodgers: Does the Endangered Species Act say something about restoring “healthy and abundant” salmon?
Coit: No, that isn’t within the Endangered Species Act.
Rodgers: Do you imagine we will restore “healthy and abundant” populations of salmon with out tearing out the dams?
Coit: Our report concludes that with the intention to give the very best probability of restoring salmon, we’d must breach the Lower Snake River dams.
Rodgers: Behind me is a graphic exhibiting the 5 runs listed as in disaster in Washington state. Only 1 passes by the Lower Snake River dams. Ms. Coit, if solely certainly one of these runs go by the Lower Snake River dams, then how does NOAA decide that the Lower Snake River Dams are the principle supply of the issue?
Coit: I believe what we’re saying is the Lower Snake River dams are a part of the elements that put salmon in danger, not they they’re the one factor. So it’s a collection of actions that put salmon in danger, not simply the dams.
Pacific Northwest Stakeholder Testimony
Following her questioning of witnesses concerned within the mediation course of and improvement of the settlement, Cathy led a second panel through which stakeholders from the Pacific Northwest shared their expertise all through this course of and the devastating influence breaching the Lower Snake River dams would have on the area.
Here are a couple of of the highlights from their testimony:
Jim Matheson, CEO, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)
Matheson: Wind and photo voltaic merely don’t work as direct, one-to-one replacements for hydropower within the Pacific Northwest. […] This settlement course of units a harmful precedent of exclusion. CEQ, the federal mediation workforce, and the people that got the privilege to barter shouldn’t be happy with this settlement. It undermines belief within the federal authorities, will result in extra litigation, and can hurt electrical reliability.
CLICK HERE to learn Jim Matheson’s full testimony.
Rodgers: The White House is arguing the settlement retains power inexpensive. It doesn’t sound like that to me. As a buyer of BPA, what’s your perspective on the influence on charges?
Matheson: They’re saying it doesn’t have a big effect on charges as a result of they’re not together with the cost of the substitute energy. If you need to build substitute energy whenever you breach these dams, which I don’t suppose you are able to do and have the identical comparable useful resource by the way in which, you’re going to spend so much of money and it’ll have a big effect on charges.
Casey Chumrau, CEO, Washington Grain Commission
Chumrau: Due to this course of’s secrecy, agriculture voices had been largely excluded from dialogue concerning impacts and commitments for funding and mitigation. It would take
113,187 semi-trailers annually carrying 910 bushels of wheat to interchange the 103 million
bushels shipped on the Snake River by way of barge yearly. That is 310 extra vehicles every
day, making spherical journeys to the Tri-Cities, three hundred and sixty five days per yr. Should the LSRD be breached, the important irrigation offered will not be available to the family-farmers who’ve come to depend on them, particularly as drought creates immense challenges through the rising season.
CLICK HERE to learn Casey Chumrau’s full testimony.
Rodgers: It’s clear the settlement was written with little to no enter from agriculture stakeholders. How would breaching the dams influence agriculture within the Pacific Northwest, the nation, and internationally?
Chumrau: In the Pacific Northwest particularly, we export 80 % of all of our wheat manufacturing, and people Lower Snake River dams carry 10 % of all U.S. wheat exports. Obviously, we rely on them very a lot to get our merchandise to market. Across the nation, we export 55 % of all U.S. wheat out of the Pacific Northwest, and the power to place the ten % on barging opens up capability for the opposite commodities to return by our area from the Midwest.
Neil Maunu, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA)
Maunu: The USG Commitments and actions are primarily based on unproven science, fail to contemplate the devastating regional and nationwide financial impacts of dam removing, fail to align with transportation decarbonization objectives, and ignore the influence on economically deprived communities. The 4 LSRDs are essential belongings in our nation’s multi-modal transportation community, serving to all sectors obtain environment friendly and economical operations.
CLICK HERE to learn Neil Maunu’s full testimony.
Rodgers: How would breaching the dams influence transportation and provide chain safety within the area? This is taken into account a marine freeway.
Maunu: We had been speaking about grain and wheat farmers and shippers being value takers not value makers. So whenever you impact the worth of bushel and transportation prices that will enhance from rail and trucking – which as we mentioned isn’t bodily attainable – then these charges would go up dramatically.
CLICK HERE to observe right this moment’s full listening to on-line.
CLICK HERE to view the letters from greater than 40 organizations that symbolize hundreds of individuals within the Pacific Northwest who’re involved in regards to the Biden administration’s settlement.
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