{"id":2251014,"date":"2024-05-23T08:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T12:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-congressman-others-ramp-up-fight-to-save-lower-snake-river-dams\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T08:40:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T12:40:09","slug":"washington-congressman-others-ramp-up-fight-to-save-lower-snake-river-dams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-congressman-others-ramp-up-fight-to-save-lower-snake-river-dams\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington lawmaker and allies intensify efforts to preserve lower Snake River dams"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwashington-congressman-others-ramp-up-fight-to-save-lower-snake-river-dams%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2251014&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congressional-democrats-hold-an-eight-point-advantage-over-republicans-poll-shows-but-theres-a-catch\/\" title=\"Congressional Democrats Hold An Eight-Point Advantage Over Republicans, Poll Shows, But There\u2019s A Catch\">congressional battle<\/a> over the fate \u200cof the lower Snake River dams has reignited, with U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse introducing legislation\u2064 to counter a recent agreement aiming to breach the vital hydropower sources. The longstanding conflict, primarily centered on environmental concerns \u200band salmon restoration, has culminated in a series of bills challenging the contentious agreement orchestrated by the Biden administration and stakeholders.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 A two-decade-long dispute over the lower Snake River dams is back in the headlines this month with a package of bills from U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., aimed at killing a December backroom deal between the Biden administration and a handful of stakeholders seeking to breach the four dams that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mcmorris-rodgers-slates-congressional-hearing-on-protecting-lower-snake-dams\/\" title=\"McMorris Rodgers schedules hearing to safeguard Lower Snake dams\">provide hydropower<\/a> to the region.<\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s deal between the Biden administration and the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Bonneville Power Administration and other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dominion-used-a-version-of-the-solorwinds-orion-platform-which-provides-backdoor-access-into-their-voting-machines\/\" title=\"Dominion Used a Version of the SolorWinds Orion Platform Which Provides Backdoor Access Into their Voting Machines\">government agencies<\/a> that manage the dams has since become a formal memorandum of understanding.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Mercier, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-defector-emails-pipeline-to-obama-admin-seen-as-currency\/\" title=\"Hunter Biden Defector Emails: 'Pipeline' to Obama Admin Seen as 'Currency'\">vice president<\/a> and director of research for the Mountain States Policy Center think tank, spoke with The Center Square about the fight over the dams\u2019 fate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have this consent decree that did not include all of the stakeholders, and as a result, you\u2019re seeing a congressional backlash of hearings and now a package of nine bills introduced in the last couple of weeks to try to reassert that this is a congressionally authorized dam(s), and they\u2019re not going away without an act of Congress,\u201d Mercier explained.<\/p>\n<p>The fight over the Snake River dams has been ongoing for more than 20 years, largely over salmon and steelhead restoration and other environmental concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The four dams on the lower Snake River sit on the southeastern corner of Washington, near the Oregon border. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-garners-major-support-during-laconia-rally-45th-president-takes-majority-in-n-h-polls\/\" title=\"Trump gains strong backing at Laconia rally, dominates N.H. polls\">dams provide<\/a> a reliable, affordable and stable supply of about 3,000 megawatts of electricity for the region. <\/p>\n<p>For many years, the Bonneville Power Administration has been working with other agencies to mitigate concerns about the dams\u2019 impact on Washington\u2019s iconic fish.<\/p>\n<p>Louis Finkel is the senior vice president of government relations for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.<\/p>\n<p>On a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fz2y1B3hAcw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Along Those Lines<\/strong><\/a> podcast, Finkel said ratepayers have forked over \u201chundreds of millions of dollars each year for all sorts of mitigation measures and to allow for spillover, meaning more water is going over the dam or around the dam than through the electric turbine. There have been ongoing efforts to try to create opportunity for bringing back the salmon and steelhead population, and this has been done in a collaborative and transparent way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Mercier, transparency was not part of the backroom negotiations between the Biden administration and other stakeholders, and the only real consensus on the issue came in a 2020 scientific <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/usace.contentdm.oclc.org\/utils\/getfile\/collection\/p16021coll7\/id\/14957\">review<\/a><\/strong> of matters involving the Snake River dams and possible breaching.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was science-based and included all the stakeholders, like the Bureau of Reclamation and Corps of Engineers,\u201d Mercier noted. \u201cThey looked at all the issues and determined you shouldn\u2019t breach the dams because it would be counter to the goal of reliable and affordable power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mercier concluded, \u201cThe study also said it will increase carbon emissions because you\u2019d be replacing the barge traffic with either rail or truck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study also predicted more traffic accidents and congestion and the need to spend millions of dollars annually on road upkeep if the dams are breached.<\/p>\n<p>Implementation of the MOU between the Biden administration and select stakeholders to breach the Snake River dams won\u2019t come without a fight in Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongress authorized these dams, and only Congress has the power to remove them,\u201d Mercier observed.<\/p>\n<p>Newhouse\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/newhouse.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/newhouse-leads-legislative-package-protecting-lower-snake-river-dams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>package of bills<\/strong><\/a> aimed at saving the dams would prohibit the federal government from retiring an energy generation source if that retirement would raise customer electricity rates and decrease regional energy reliability by more than 10%.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The lower Snake River dams debate resurfaces with U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., introducing bills to challenge a recent agreement to breach the dams. The long-standing conflict gains attention once again as stakeholders weigh the future of these vital structures<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2251015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP23349043126810-1024x575.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP23349043126810-1024x575.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2251015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}