Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 2 March 2020
Feds reject removal of 4 U.S. Northwest dams in key report

By GILLIAN FLACCUS wind and solar by spilling
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A water to generate electric-
long-awaited federal re- ity on short notice. And a
port out Friday rejected move away from low-cost
the idea of removing four coal plants in the Pacific
hydroelectric dams on a Northwest has some wor-
major Pacific Northwest ried about what the future
river in a last-ditch effort could hold for ratepayers if
tosave threatened and en- the Snake River dams are
dangered salmon, saying removed, said Kurt Miller,
such a dramatic approach of Northwest River Partners,
would destabilize the pow- which represents commu-
er grid, increase overall nity-owned utilities across
greenhouse emissions and Oregon, Washington, Ida-
more than double the risk ho and Montana.
of regional power outages. “If worldwide salmon
The four dams on the lower populations are doing
Snake River are part of a poorly because of climate
vast and complex hydro- change and carbon, does
electric power system op- In this April 11, 2018 file photo, water moves through a spillway of the Lower Granite Dam on the it make sense to tear out
erated by the federal gov- Snake River near Almota, Wash. 1,000 average megawatts
ernment in Washington, Or- Associated Press of carbon-free electricity?”
egon, Idaho and Montana. he said.
The massive dams, built in vironmentalists and fishing Yet the towering dams or passed through the tur- “For so many reasons, it’s
eastern Washington be- groups in ongoing litigation have proven disastrous bines or bypasses. bad public policy.”
tween 1961 and 1975, are over the dams. for salmon that struggle to An interim agreement that The report addressed those
at the center of a years- Dam removal opponents, navigate past them on their took effect last year priori- concerns, noting hydro-
long battle that pits the however, said the report way to and from the Pacif- tized the “flex spill” strategy power generation would
fate of two iconic Pacific presented a balanced so- ic Ocean. Salmon are rare of increasing the water in decrease by 1,100 average
Northwest species — the lution that won’t burden in that they hatch in fresh- spillways to send more fish megawatts under average
salmon and the killer whale ratepayers or disrupt the water streams, then make over the tops of the struc- water conditions, and 730
— against the need for region’s power supply. their way hundreds of miles tures. This approach allows average megawatts un-
plentiful, carbon-free pow- “Once again, the science to the ocean, where they the U.S. government to ad- der low water conditions.
er for the booming region. has determined that de- spend years before finding just the spill level according The risk of a regional power
Environmental groups that stroying the four Lower their way back to mate, lay to power demands. shortages would more than
have pushed for years for Snake River dams would eggs and die. The effect on the long-term double and the lowest-cost
the dams to come down have high environmental Snake River sockeye were survival of juvenile salmon replacement power would
immediately blasted the and economic costs,” said the first species in the Co- won’t be known for several be $200 million a year, it
report. The three agencies Todd Myers, environmental lumbia River Basin listed years, when biologists can said.
in charge of overseeing director at the Washington under the Endangered start counting the adult fish Those adjustments would
the sprawling hydropower Policy Center, a conserva- Species Act in 1991. Now, that return from the ocean. increase the wholesale
system recommended an tive think tank. 13 salmon runs are listed as Scientists also warn that power rate up to 9.6%, the
alternative that doubles The 14 federal dams on the federally endangered or southern resident orcas are authors wrote.
down on an approach Columbia and Snake riv- threatened. Four of those starving to death because U.S. District Judge Michael
that includes spilling more ers together produce 40% runs return to the Snake of a dearth of the chinook Simon ordered the U.S.
water over the dams when of the region’s power — River. salmon that are their prima- Army Corps of Engineers,
juvenile salmon are migrat- enough electricity to pow- The Columbia River system ry food source. the Bureau of Reclamation
ing — a tactic already be- er nearly 5 million homes, dams cut off more than The Pacific Northwest pop- and the Bonneville Power
ing used. or eight cities roughly the half of salmon spawning ulation of orcas — also Administration to revisit the
“Rather than seizing this size of Seattle. They also and rearing habitat, and called killer whales — was impact of the hydroelec-
opportunity to heed the contain a system of locks many wild salmon runs in placed on the endan- tric system in 2016 while
public’s call for working to- that allows cities nearly 500 the region have 2% or less gered species list in 2005. overseeing litigation over
gether for a solution that re- miles (800 kilometers) inland of their historic populations, A mother orca that car- salmon.
vives salmon populations, access to Asian markets via said Meg Townsend, an at- ried her dead baby on her In all, three federal judges
the draft plan is built on the barges that float down the torney for the Center for back for 17 days brought have thrown out five plans
same failed approach the rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Biological Diversity. international attention in for the system over the de-
courts have rejected time Roughly 50 million to 60 mil- On the way to the ocean, 2018 as their numbers have cades after finding they
and again,” said Todd True, lion tons of cargo navigate juvenile salmon can get dwindled to 72 animals. didn’t do enough to pro-
an attorney for Earthjustice the Snake and Columbia chewed up in the dams’ Opponents of dam remov- tect salmon.
who has represented en- river system annually. turbines, she said. The al say they want salmon Friday’s report is a draft and
adults returning from the to flourish, but they aren’t will be subject to 45 days of
ocean must navigate fish sure breaching four ma- public comment.
ladders — concrete chutes jor hydroelectric dams will The National Oceanic and
that bypass the dams — help — and it could instead Atmospheric Administra-
but they can become bot- damage the regional tion will next analyze the
tle-necked before reach- economy and the stability proposal to determine if it
ing them and get picked of the power supply. does enough to protect
off by predators, Townsend Reservoirs behind some of salmon and orcas — a pro-
said. the dams allow the Bonn- cess that should be com-
Until recently, young salm- eville Power Administra- pleted by June.
on were sent by truck or tion to even out the more A final report is expected in
barge around the dams erratic power supply from September.q