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Labrador Lies by Don Chapman Lewiston Tribune, April 22, 2018

Gubernatorial candidate Raul Labrador, sponsor of H.R. 3144, clearly lies in support of this attack on wild salmon and steelhead in the Snake River.

He says removal of the four lower Snake River dams would take more than 3,000 megawatts of power production off the grid. But the dams have actually produced only 1,000 megawatts during the last decade.

Labrador also lies when he claims record numbers of salmon are returning to the Snake River. In fact, wild spring chinook salmon, steelhead and sockeye are in decline toward extinction.

Labrador is simply parroting Northwest River Partners (NRP) and their lies.

A Labrador whopper says 97 percent of salmon successfully pass the dams. He may have been fed that snippet by NRP or the Bonneville Power Administrtion, both of which love those antiquated, unnecessary structures.

Actual survival past each dam project is about 92 percent, which means only half of juveniles that leave the head of Lower Granite pool survive to reach Bonneville tailrace.

Labrador claims federal scientists have said dams and salmon can coexist without water spillage, citing the opinions of "federal scientists."

Which federal scientists?

Why, those under the thumbs of the federal administration's Department of Commerce, BPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers, of course.

The overwhelming majority of independent scientists favor water spill for passage of smolt salmon and steelhead.

Labrador is no friend to either science or salmon. He also is no friend of separation of powers, as H.R. 3144 would subvert the federal judicial system.