SO MANY DAMMED QUESTIONS
I must be missing something.
Why is the consortium of Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse and Jaime Herrera Beutler, all R-Wash.; Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Greg Walden, R-Ore., staring into the face of the worst incoming Chinook, sockeye and steelhead runs in decades, and claiming "record returns" and that the status quo is great, and submitting their bill to Congress to prevent additional springtime spill to help endangered fish and take lower Snake River dam removal off the table ("Decision Be Dammed," 7/13/17)?
Why are they subverting an honest review of the Columbia River system biological opinion and hundreds of thousands of comments in a public review process?
Why are they looking to lock in the 2014 Columbia River BiOp that was roundly rejected, based on law and science, by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon?
Why are they propping up a lower Snake River dam complex that is costly to taxpayers and failing our communities?
We, as taxpayers and ratepayers, have poured billions into the system for "salmon and steelhead mitigation." These dams produce little power: less than 4 percent of a regional power grid that is awash in excess production, with more renewables coming online every year. There needs to be a clear distinction between dams that are valuable to the power grid, and those that are not and should come out. The lower four Snake River dams should be removed. Let's craft the compromise that can make this happen. Help communities, save money, and protect salmon.
Salmon and steelhead aren't recovering. We need a new approach, and our current leadership isn't providing it. This bill will only divide communities and drive another nail in the coffin of our keystone Inland Northwest species: wild salmon and steelhead.
It's time to come together to #FreeTheSnake.
Josh Mills
Wild Steelhead Coalition Board of Directors Member
Spokane, Wash.
Readers respond to Sherry Jones' guest column "Let's Get Real" (7/13/17), about the impact of fear-mongering on Spokane Public Schools' sex education curriculum:
Salynn Williams: We are a stronger nation when we hold the line against religious nutjobs who want their bizarre beliefs to mold the world for the rest of us.
Lia Hayes: Great article! Well written, with a fiery spirit! ♦
