Patagonia: Remove “deadbeat dams”

A series of full-page advertisements in the Spokesman-Review and three other Washington publications last week have renewed a call to remove four Snake River dams.

The black-and-white ads, paid for by Patagonia, Inc., ask readers to call Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and ask them to “help remove four deadbeat dams on the lower Snake River.”

These include Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor Dam.

The ad copy states that at the four dams’ “costs far outweigh the small amount of electricity they generate and transportation they provide. Lower impact alternatives...