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Congressman Mike Simpson Visits KMVT to Discuss What is Going On in Washington D.C. by Elizabeth Hadley KMVT, August 10, 2023

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) -- U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson is in Idaho visiting with residents and he stopped by the KMVT studios to discuss what is going on in Washington D.C.

While the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project is a hot topic around here, it is also that way in Washington D.C.

Simpson says wind energy as a whole is a growing topic for many states like Florida, and New Jersey, and Idaho.

Congressman Simpson says they have put some language in the appropriation bill that requires the BLM to do additional studies on the impacts this project may have on the hydrology in the area, the local airports, and the internment camp in Hunt.

"I can't go in and write a line that says LS power can't put their wind towers there, that would be unconstitutional to do that, but I can make them do many more studies along the way, the problem the Magic Valley is going to have is there is like 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 more wind projects that want to come to the area, mainly because it's the gateway west powerline that is now there, they can connect to that easily, I understand where they are coming from," said Simpson.

Another big project that Cogressman Simpson is working on is the Columbia Basin Initiative, which was introduced to try to protect the salmon of Idaho.

He says he wants to remove the lower Snake River dams in order to do that.

"That's the dams in Washington that we send half a million-acre feet of water down the river every year that we can't use to flush salmon over those dams, guess what it's not working and we've spent 17 billion dollars trying to recover salmon and it hasn't worked, so the last step is to remove the dams and replace the benefits of the dams, nobody is arguing the benefits of the dams, replace those benefits, and you can do it, it's the only way you are going to save idaho salmon and every fish biologist I've talked to says that," said Simpson.

He says this is meant to start a conversation in the Pacific Northwest, and how the impacts of the decisions we make today will impact the region and the salmon for the next 60 years.