the film forum library tutorial contact

U-B Editorial on Dam Study Suspect, Not the Study by David Dalan Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, November 3, 2021

It's the basis for their opinion that seems suspect, not the study.

The U-B editorial on Oct. 26 trots out the same tired information regarding the possibility of breaching the Snake River dams. Breaching is not a regional issue. Not even close. Billions of U.S. tax payer dollars are spent on the operations and required mitigation needed to maintain the four lower Snake River dams. To frame it as a regional issue is dishonest. We may get a lot of the beef, but the U.S. tax payers paid to raise the steer. The Editorial Board is sure the impacts of removal would be catastrophic, but oppose the state and feds doing a comprehensive study to determine what those impacts would be. It's the basis for their opinion that seems suspect, not the study.

Clarifying some other information in this opinion: Nothing guarantees salmon recovery. It's a death of 1,000 cuts, and this system is the source of many of those cuts. The Snake dams do not provide flood control. They do not enable or hinder irrigation, (Snake River Irrigators now favor a draw down and the end of barging to Lewiston) and previous studies identified numerous benefits of dam removal -- even studies done by the USACE.