A draft report has been released to help guide decisions around the potential future of the four lower Snake River dams being considered for breaching, and it says replacing the services provided by the dams could cost $10.3 billion to $27.2 billion.
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What would happen if the Snake River dams were removed?
If four Lower Snake River dams were breached to support salmon recovery, the energy, irrigation, recreation and other benefits they provide to the Pacific Northwest could be replaced for $10.3 billion to $27.2 billion, according to a draft report released Thursday by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Washington Gov.
Should the lower Snake River dams be removed?
Removing the four lower Snake River dams and restoring a free-flowing river will reduce the impacts of global warming on salmon and steelhead and help ensure a healthy, sustainable future for wild pacific salmon and the communities that depend upon them.
What benefits do the lower Snake River dams provide?
The four lower Snake River dams provide critical winter energy and capacity to serve regional loads. This benefit cannot be replaced by other renewable resources such as solar and wind.
Who owns the lower Snake River dams?
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District owns and operates the four lower Snake River dams, all of which are multiple-use facilities that provide navigation, hydropower, recreation, and fish and wildlife conservation benefits.
How much power do the Snake River dams produce?
The lower Snake River dams are part of a Northwest energy solution with the capability to generate over 3,000 megawatts of carbon-free power.
Why should we keep the Snake River dams?
Major benefits of the dams include making the Snake River navigable up to Lewiston, Idaho, allowing barges to carry wheat and other crops to ocean ports. Eliminating the dams would require truck and rail transportation improvements to move crops, the report said.
Should the Snake River dams be breached?
A new draft report released by President Joe Biden’s administration last week found that breaching lower Snake River dams is “essential” to helping protect and recover threatened salmon populations.
What are the 4 lower Snake River dams?
The four lower Snake River dams — Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite — are part of the Federal Columbia River Power System. The FCRPS is the largest source of clean, renewable electricity in the Pacific Northwest, helping the region limit its greenhouse gas emissions.
Does dam removal help salmon?
Breaching the dams would significantly improve the ability of salmon and steelhead to swim from their inland spawning grounds to the Pacific Ocean, where they spend most of their lives, and then back to their original spawning grounds to procreate and die, Murray and Inslee said.
How do dams affect salmon?
Dams also can kill salmon, cause temperature and water quality issues, slow downstream migration, and alter environmental processes, which impact salmon habitat. As a result, hydropower systems are highly regulated and highly mitigated in an attempt to offset impacts to salmon.
Which dams do they want to remove from the Snake River?
The Ice Harbor Dam in southeastern Washington state is one of the four dams on the lower Snake River which would need to be removed to save endangered and threatened steelhead and salmon, according to a July 2022 report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Why dams should not be removed?
Removal of these toxic materials is often extremely expensive, and the threat of re-suspending these toxic-laden sediments in the process of dam removal has the potential to damage downstream water quality and threaten the health of fish and wildlife and water users.
How many dams are on the lower Snake River?
Snake River Area Office manages 27 dams and reservoirs with a total active capacity of approximately 6.8 million acre-feet, providing water to 83,000 farmers and more than 30,000 farms. Six powerplants provide 821,870 megawatt hours of electricity annually.
How far up the Snake River do salmon run?
They climb 6,548 feet, dodging predators and hazards. They take almost one-fifth of a year to swim from the Pacific to Redfish Lake, much of it in summer’s hottest water – and eat nothing.
How much electricity does Lower Granite Dam produce?
The four lower Snake River Dams—Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite—have operated for half a century with a combined maximum capacity of over 3,000 megawatts. The dams are owned and operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps).
What are the purposes of the Lower Granite Dam?
Lower Granite Dam, Lower Granite Lake, and associated facilities are operated for Hydropower, Navigation, Fish & Wildlife, Recreation, Water Quality, and Irrigation.
What does it mean to breach the dams?
BREACH – An opening or a breakthrough of a dam sometimes caused by rapid erosion. of a section of earth embankment by water. Dams can be breached intentionally to render. them incapable of impounding water.
Why are dams breached?
Breaching the dams will save money for taxpayers and ratepayers. The regional power grid currently produces a 16 percent annual surplus. If the four lower Snake River dams are taken offline, there will be little risk of blackouts.
How many dams have been breached?
California – 35 dams removed. Pennsylvania – 7 dams removed. Michigan – 7 dams removed.
Do Snake River dams have fish ladders?
Over time, the four Snake River dams were built, despite opposition from fish advocates. The dams have fish ladders for adult fish, and each is capable of passing fish through spillways.
Are dams bad for fish?
While dams can provide flood protection, energy supply, and water security, they also pose a significant threat to freshwater species. Dams block fish from moving along their natural pathways between feeding and spawning grounds, causing interruptions in their life cycles that limit their abilities to reproduce.
Why is salmon important to Snake River?
Salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers were once so plentiful that locals looked to them as a free, dependable food source. Rebecca Miles, a Nez Perce Tribe member, grew up catching salmon and has spent years fighting to restore endangered stocks in the rivers where her family fished for generations.
Why are people moving live salmon in trucks?
In a stopgap measure to help struggling spring- and winter-run Chinook salmon spawn in the face of rising water temperatures and lower water levels due to climate change, state and federal wildlife officials in Northern California have begun trucking adult fish to cooler waters.
What are the negative impacts of dams?
Dams store water, provide renewable energy and prevent floods. Unfortunately, they also worsen the impact of climate change. They release greenhouse gases, destroy carbon sinks in wetlands and oceans, deprive ecosystems of nutrients, destroy habitats, increase sea levels, waste water and displace poor communities.