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Dam Boondoggle and 'Near-Term Stability' by Editorial Board Capital Press, December 28, 2023

The agreement that emerged appears to be a
grab bag of expensive giveaways to various plaintiffs.

It has the makings of one of the biggest boondoggles in U.S. history, and all the USDA can say about a plan that could include tearing out four Snake River dams is it offers "near-term stability."

That's kind of like telling the guy who was about to be hit by a truck that he too would soon have "near-term stability."

It is no wonder the White House Council on Environmental Quality wanted to keep secret the mediation over the lawsuit against the federal government's management of the dams. The idea was to help the fish populations, but the agreement that emerged appears to be a grab bag of expensive giveaways to various plaintiffs. It includes no guarantees that the fish populations would be returned to their previous numbers.

The Tribes, Washington state and Oregon get $100 million for fish restoration, and $200 million would be provided for hatchery upgrades.

The Tribes would also get help from the Department of Energy in building 1 to 3 gigawatts of "clean" electricity to replace the "clean" electricity the dams produce. Note that the dams produce nearly 1 gigawatt of power. Replacing that power would cost about $1.7 billion for more than 500 wind turbines. They might want to triple those numbers, because wind turbines only work about 30% of the time because the wind doesn't always blow.

One also wonders where the Tribes would put those wind turbines.

And farmers, ranchers, barge operators and U.S. taxpayers would be left holding an empty bag. Only passing mention is made of plans to "study" how to transport crops and supplies along the Columbia and Snake rivers and irrigate the farms in the area. Roads, railroads, reservoirs -- these are just a few of the things that would have to be built using Uncle Sam's credit card.

And a note for those who care about the climate: They would all be built and operated using diesel-powered equipment.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, studied tearing out the dams several years ago and estimated it would cost about $34 billion to destroy the dams and replace all of their attributes. With inflation, one can only guess the current cost.

We fully understand the administration's eagerness to buy its way out of the dam controversy. But instead of litigating any legitimate issues and having the judge make the hard decisions, the mediators waved the "sue-and-settle" white flag and sprayed down the plaintiffs with borrowed money.

It should also be noted that during the last fiscal year, the federal government spent $6.13 trillion and posted a deficit of $1.7 trillion. That means the government had to borrow that money to stay solvent.

Overall, the national debt is $33.9 trillion. That's 122% of the entire gross domestic product. It costs the federal government $169 billion a year just to service the national debt. That's about 16% of the entire federal budget.

Not to worry, because the dam busters in the White House and elsewhere want Congress to borrow tens of billions more -- to decimate the Pacific Northwest economy.

That would indeed provide "near-term stability" to the region.

Related Pages:
Congress Should Keep Doing Nothing with Snake River Dams by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 12/21/23
Secrecy Serves No Purpose in Snake River Dam Litigation by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 10/12/23
More Litigation Sure to Follow Dam Mediation by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 8/24/23
Snake River Dam Solution Should Not Come from Judiciary by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 8/3/23
Don't Let Politics Overtake Science by Editorial BoardCapital Press, 3/30/23
Vilsack Needs to Defend Lower Snake River Dams by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 4/6/23
A Sobering Outlook on the Power Supply by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 1/5/23
Solving the Problem of the Salmon by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 12/8/22
Solving the Problem of the Salmon by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 12/8/22
Tyranny and Virtue Signaling at the Climate Summit by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 11/24/22
Snake River Dam Report Leaves Many Costly Questions by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 9/1/22
The Political Thought Process and the Snake River Dams by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 6/16/22
The Case of the Disappearing Chinook Salmon by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 11/16/20
Saving Salmon to Feed Orcas? by Editorial Board, Capital Press, 10/8/20