Dam hydropower hard to replace

Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray, both Democrats, issued a draft report which estimates that breaching the four lower Snake River dams and replacing their electricity and other benefits would cost between $10 and $27 billion. Meanwhile, the lone Idaho Republican, Congressman Mike Simpson, supporting dam removal — impoundments located in a neighboring state — is willing to pony up $33 billion tax dollars.

That’s a lot of taxpayer money even today when President Biden and Congress toss around trillion dollar spending programs like horseshoes at a church picnic.

It is especially disconcertin...