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Breaching Lower Snake River Dams Won't Happen, Say McMorris Rodgers, Newhouse by News Service Ripon Advance, August 29, 2022

"Governor Inslee and Senator Murray are trying to have their cake and eat it too"
-- Congressman Dan Newhouse, August 26, 2022

Washington State Republicans U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse continue to rail against a plan by Democrats to breach the four Lower Snake River dams.

The lawmakers last week issued separate statements responding to recommendations from Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) on the conclusion of their Joint Federal-State Process on Salmon Recovery in which the Democrats leave the door open for breaching the four Lower Snake River dams.

"The report and recommendations released today by Governor Inslee and Senator Murray are a welcome step back towards reality, but the fight is far from over," Rep. McMorris Rodgers said on Aug. 26. "For months, they led a sham process paid for by Washington taxpayers and pandered to radical environmental groups who ignored the facts in pursuit of what is still their end goal -- breaching the Lower Snake River dams."

"Governor Inslee and Senator Murray are trying to have their cake and eat it too with their recommendation released this afternoon calling for a plan to replace the benefits of the Lower Snake River Dams to enable breaching to move forward," Rep. Newhouse said on Aug. 25. "This report outlines what central Washington has known all along: there is no reasonable replacement for the Lower Snake River Dams."

In their recommendations, Gov. Inslee and Sen. Murray said they decided to launch the joint federal-state process to evaluate the future of the four Lower Snake River Dams and try to chart a path forward. They "are adamant that in any circumstance where the Lower Snake River Dams would be breached, the replacement and mitigation of their benefits must be pursued before decommissioning and breaching," according to their report.

And they noted that the federal government "has an irreplaceable role to play regarding the fate of these federally regulated dams."

"As stated in today's recommendation, only Congress has the authority to breach the Lower Snake River dams," said Rep. McMorris Rodgers. "That simply is not going to happen, so I'm glad Governor Inslee is indicating he is committed to cleaning up Puget Sound, which is currently a pit of poison for the salmon stocks most critical to the orca."

"Talk is cheap, though, so I look forward to seeing him take action to get Puget Sound water quality in order," she added.

Rep. Newhouse pointed out that American taxpayers shouldn't be responsible for paying for "duplicative, unnecessary reports" like the one issued by Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee. "Instead, we should be focusing time and money towards more support for salmon recovery and habitat restoration efforts," he said.

In agreement with Rep. McMorris Rodgers, the congressman also said that "the only silver lining here is that it still requires an act of Congress to remove these dams, and as the duly elected member serving Washington's 4th Congressional District and representing the communities who would be most impacted by such an action, I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening."

Rep. Newhouse also said that even if 66 percent of the state's energy was replaced by the clean, renewable, and affordable hydroelectric dams, the loss of the dams would still devastate Washington communities.

"Prices would rise, crops would perish, jobs would be eliminated, and the environment would be threatened," he said. "Not to mention, we have the science to prove these dams are not threatening our salmon population -- a population that is already seeing record levels of recovery with the dams in place."

Rep. McMorris Rodgers agreed, saying the dams "truly support our entire way of life in eastern Washington, and that's something I will always fight to protect."