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Not Buying It by Rusty Bentz Lewiston Tribune, October 5, 2021

With all due respect to Steve Pettit and Richard Scully, they have again failed to tell us why in the 21st century we had steelhead returns up to five times the 10-year average when only Bonneville Dam existed. The wild component was also larger.

This happened with Dworshak and Hells Canyon dams blocking the best steelhead spawning habitat on the Snake River, plus other important tributaries on the Snake and Columbia have been blocked.

Anyone interested in fish survival should visit the Army Corps of Engineers webpage titled "Fish passage through the Lower Snake and Columbia rivers," dated June 17, 2020.

In the conclusion of this 29-page report, it states: "Fish transportation increases fish survival and helps them bypass potential predators and other mitigation hazards. Research has shown that transporting juvenile fish can provide the highest rate of adult returns compared to in-river migrants."

This is the opposite of what Pettit and Scully would have us believe.

If you think that spill is the answer rather than barging, look at what has happened since 2015 when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration largely quit barging in favor of spill. The graph goes almost straight down.

Spill costs us an average of $40 million annually and balloon tests show no significant improvement in water flow a short distance below each dam. Now the Army Corps has to hire a person to shoot seagulls at the base of the dam because the fish are stunned.

Related Pages:
Lower Snake River Dams Are the Problem, Not the Solution by Steve Pettit & Richard Scully, Lewiston Tribune, 9/15/21
Sound Science and Experience Refute Dugger's Fish Story by Steve Pettit & Richard Scully, Lewiston Tribune, 8/14/21
Saving Salmon is a Ruse for Breaching Our Dams by Marvin F. Dugger, Lewiston Tribune, 3/14/21
What About the Dams? by Marvin F. Dugger, Lewiston Tribune, 11/3/19