Opinion - Sept. 17, 2009

Dam breaching option of last resort

The Obama Administration has come up with a plan for the restoration of the endangered and threatened salmon runs on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

The plan follows much of what the Bush Administration had proposed. The fundamental difference is that the new plan holds the possibility of breaching Snake River dams if other efforts to restore the runs prove to be ineffective.

Breaching the dams in the new plan is the solution of “last resort” and would require approval of Congress. The option was not part of the Bush plan.

Other efforts must be undertaken first, as a myriad of situations are involved in the health of the fish runs. There is much more to consider than just the impact of the dams.

The plan which has been turned over to Judge James Redden in Portland for review has already drawn criticism from all camps.

Environmentalists and other interest groups, such as the Nez Perce Tribal Authority, which favor immediate breaching of the dams, have blasted the plan as not going far enough and not addressing the real reason for the decline in salmon runs.

Others who rely upon the dams for their economic stimulus, such as their inexpensive hydroelectric power, farm-to-market shipping and recreation, have criticized the plan for even putting the possibility of breaching the dams on the table.

Regardless of the criticism, in between is a vast arena of alternatives that could save the fish runs and the dams at the same time. Even though the Draconian option of removing the dams is still in play, there are many steps to be taken before that becomes the central focus and the only option.

Surely this long controversy that pits diametrically opposed factions against one another can be resolved in the middle, rather than at the fringes with extreme solutions.

So far, there has not been much ground given and no universally accepted proposals provided. With this new impetus, however, science, technology and, maybe for the first time, some old-fashioned common sense will come into the debate.

First, however, there will need to be cooperation between the different camps. For many in this heated fight, that is the real option of last resort.

Gordon Forgey

Publisher