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Damned If You Do ... by Andrew Stuttaford National Review, July 27, 2022

Renewables, they said, are central to the energy transition, the "race" to net zero and all the rest. Essential. rip But (via the Idaho Capital Sun):

A new draft report released by President Joe Biden's administration last week found that breaching lower Snake River dams is "essential" to helping protect and recover threatened salmon populations.

The 20-page report is called "Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead," and it was released July 12 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with input from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nez Perce Tribe and the state of Oregon.

The report found removing four lower Snake River dams in Washington would lead to a significant reduction in direct and indirect mortality caused by salmon needing to pass through the dams during their migrations to and from the Pacific Ocean . . .

Predictably, reaction was divided in Idaho, where debates about dams, energy and salmon have raged for several decades.

In February 2021, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, shook the salmon debate up when he put forward a $33.5 billion dollar plan to help save salmon. Simpson's team said his plan was based on three years of work and input gathered from more than 300 meetings. Breaching four lower Snake River dams located in Washington was one of the aspects of Simpson's plan that many people key in on.

The Idaho Capital Sun:

"I am not certain removing these dams will restore Idaho's salmon and prevent their extinction," Simpson said in a 2021 video promoting his salmon recovery plan. "But I am certain if we do not take this course of action, we are condemning Idaho's salmon to extinction."

But many Idaho Republicans oppose dam breaching, and Simpson's plan has, so far, not advanced to become a bill or law. Several Republicans, including Gov. Brad Little, criticized the new NOAA draft report and reiterated their opposition to dam breaching when the report was released. . .

U.S Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, also criticized the report and said only Congress, not President Biden, has the authority to remove dams.

"In a time of record inflation and soaring energy prices, the Biden administration is endorsing a plan to rip out the Northwest's clean energy assets while in the same breath asserting climate change is the largest existential threat," Risch said in a written statement. "Even a study they commissioned acknowledged that energy replacement alone could cost over $75 billion, and unlike the comprehensive and public Columbia River System Operation review, this limited analysis was done in secret and without process."

Several conservationists welcomed the report and said its findings confirm the need to take steps now to save threatened salmon. . .

On the other hand, Northwest RiverPartners, an organization that represents community utilities in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and other Western states, said removing the dams would cause energy bills to go up and lead to an increase in carbon emissions.

"A future without the lower Snake River Dams means billions of dollars in costs for millions of electricity customers across the Northwest," Kurt Miller, the executive director of Northwest River Partners, said in a written statement.

In some ways this is rather reminiscent of a story I discussed a month or two back. In that case, environmentalists were, with the Biden administration's support, doing their best to block a lithium mine in Nevada because of the need to protect . . . Tiehm's buckwheat.

What unites these two stories is the refusal to accept that a realistic environmental policy must include accepting that sometimes a choice has to be made between conflicting environmental goals, a choice that the administration seems determined to avoid, preferring instead that poor old humans should pick up the tab.

There's a message there.