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Politicians, Environmentalists Ignoring the Facts on Snake River Dams, Salmon by John McKern Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, July 24, 2022

Someone is listening. "Snake River Dams: Politics override science" in the July 17 Union-Bulletin was right on.

I have written many letters on the subject. I sent detailed descriptions of what caused the decline of the Snake River salmon and the effects and corrective actions taken at the dams to Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray when they started their study of breaching the dams. When the White House announced its study, I sent a similar multi-page letter to the Council on Environmental Quality and the other federal agencies involved.

Juvenile salmon survival passing each lower Snake River dam is 95-plus%, while adult chinook and steelhead migrating upstream survive at over 99% per dam. U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse is listening. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, to whom I sent copies of my letters, is silent.

It is no great surprise that politicians and environmentalists are ignoring the facts and the science. As a biologist with the Corps of Engineers for 30 years working to solve fish passage problems at these dams, plus another 21 years advising others on salmon passage at dams, the fact that fishery agencies ignore the science is what appalls me the most.

Related Pages:
Turnabout Turned About by John McKern, Lewiston Tribune, 9/12/21
Refutes Dugger by Don Chapman, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 9/9/21
Army Corps Does Not Agree by Keith Carlson, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 9/9/21
Agrees with Dugger, Bentz by Steven Erson, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 9/2/21 Breach the Lower Snake River Dams and We Will Lose Our Fish by Marvin F. Dugger, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/1/21
Sound Science and Experience Refute Dugger's Fish Story by Steve Pettit & Richard Scully, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/14/21
Saving Salmon is a Ruse for Breaching Our Dams by Marvin F. Dugger, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 3/14/21
What About the Dams? by Marvin F. Dugger, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 11/3/19