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We Need PUD's Help in Saving Our Salmon by Norman Ritchie Tillamook Headlight Herald, July 24, 2020

Tillamook PUD provides a great service for its customers. Their ability to return power to us during storms is heroic but for a long time, they have been on the wrong side of the Columbia River salmon declines. Power is incredibly important, but healthy salmon populations are also important for our quality of life as Northwesterners.

Despite claims that the lower Snake River dams are a critical component of our energy system, the meager energy these dams provide has been replaced multiple times by solar and wind developments in recent years. Meanwhile, the cost of maintaining these dams is rapidly increasing at the expense of rate and tax payers in our community.

Meanwhile, salmon and steelhead returns continue to decline. Fishing seasons are getting shorter. This year, spring chinook returns were some of the worst in history. Steelhead fishing on the Snake was preemptively closed due to historically low projections for adult steelhead returns.

The latest plan for managing the Columbia (and Snake) River hydrosystem is due at the end of July, but based on the draft they released in February, it's unlikely to offer the solutions we need. We know that slight changes to hydrosystem operations will not recover these endangered species. We also know that there are innovative, fish-friendly solutions to offset impacts to the energy system associated with removing the lower Snake River dams.

Tillamook PUD, we need your leadership and bold action. Join energy providers throughout the Pacific Northwest and push for a regional solution to restore salmon and modernize the energy system. There are innovative solutions if we work together as a region.

Related Sites:
Troubled by Expulsion of Clallam PUD from the Public Power Council by Fred Mitchell, Peninsula Daily News, 7/22/20
Supports Jim Waddell's Position on Lower Snake River Dams by Richard DeBusman, Peninsula Daily News, 7/1/20
Disputes June 21 Letter Regarding The Dams on the Lower Snake River by Marc Sullivan, Peninsula Daily News, 6/24/20
Recall Waddell by Mark White, Peninsula Daily News, 6/14/20
Public Power Council Expels Clallam PUD by Rob Ollikainen, Sequim Gazette, 6/10/20
'I Want Salmon Back in Idaho.' Simpson Seeks Bold Action After $16 Billion Spent on Recovery by Cynthia Sewell, Idaho Statesman, 4/23/19