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Armchair Engineer: Judge's Order 'One Step Closer' to Dam Breaching by Matthew Weaver Capital Press, March 3, 2026

The "emergency measures" ordered by federal Judge Michael Simon last week are "death by 1,000 papercuts," a dam advocate on social media says.

Simon on Feb. 25 ordered increased spill over dams and lower reservoir levels on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Environmental and recreation groups asked the court in October to order the emergency measures to benefit endangered salmon and steelhead.

Representatives for NOAA Fisheries directed media inquiries about the effect of Simon's order on fish survival to the Department of Justice.

"We don't have a comment or information to provide," said Matthew Nies, public affairs specialist for the DOJ.

Adam Ratliff is known on social media as the Armchair Engineer, posting about dams, water and hydropower infrastructure.

He volunteers his time to the farmer-led non-profit Center for Sustainability and Working Rivers. The organization aims to increase public engagement and awareness about the services that the lower Snake River and Columbia River dams provide.

Last year, Ratliff's videos received more than 15.5 million views. He recently posted several videos detailing his recent trip along Marine Highway 84, on the Columbia-Snake river system.

Ratliff responded to Capital Press' questions via e-mail regarding Simon's order.

Q. What did you make of the judge's ruling? What can ag take away from it?

Ratliff: The ruling is yet another step down the road toward the dismantling of our dams and river systems. This ruling won't improve conditions for fish (in fact, it may harm them). But it WILL make the dams look worse on paper, getting us one step closer to the eventual goal of dam removal.

Q. What kind of messaging should ag be focusing on now?

Ratliff: Agriculture needs to understand the play being run on the American public. This is a long-term, incrementalist approach to erode public support for the infrastructure that helps put food on our tables and keeps our homes warm in the winter. The agriculture industry needs to understand that, unless a fact-based narrative about dams is put out there, the story of our working rivers will be told by those who want to tear it all down.

Q. One thing that struck me was the judge's citing of personal declarations, i.e., the emotional impacts of seeing less fish, taking several trips longer to catch a fish with the grandchildren. What did you make of this? What is the ag equivalent of these stories?

Ratliff: Agriculture is terribly outgunned in this area. The anti-dam activist community has successfully stolen the narrative on this issue, and the present-day stakeholders of the rivers (irrigators, grain shippers) are at least a decade behind. Ag needs to tell its story persuasively and on a mass scale. If not, the narrative will continue to be controlled by bad actors.

Q. What would you tell the judge?

Ratliff: It is a scientific fact that lethal harm happens to juvenile fish above 115% total dissolved gas (TDG) levels in the rivers. What do you think will happen when we push the rivers to 125% TDG on all eight dams for six months out of the year?

Q. Did the judge get anything right?

Ratliff: The judge correctly held that it was outside his jurisdiction to mandate lower reservoir operating levels, in compliance with the federally mandated navigation channel. It's too bad he doesn't realise that mandating six months of spill is basically making it illegal for the dams to generate power.

Q. What does this mean for potential breaching?

Ratliff: We are one step closer. Death by 1,000 paper cuts.

Q. Next steps?

Ratliff: There is nothing preventing the ag community from organizing and campaigning as the anti-dam community has been doing. But unless ag is willing to step up in this regard, we will continue to lose public trust in our working rivers.

Related Pages:
'Armchair Engineer' Sees Bigger Goal Behind Snake River Dam Controversy by Matthew Weaver, Capital Press, 7/1/24