Northwest
RiverPartners (NWRP) appreciates Congressman Hastings’ leadership in proposing
legislation to promote and protect hydropower resources with H.R. 6247, the “Saving Our Dams and New Hydropower Development and Jobs Act
of 2012.” Hydropower,
a clean, domestic source of energy, provides 90% of the Northwest's renewable
energy and keeps 100% of the skies clean. Additionally, the irrigation and
transportation benefits provided by the Snake River dams help farmers feed the
Northwest and the world.
“We
thank the Congressman for highlighting the role of dams and hydropower and what
they have contributed to this region for so long: lighting the West and making
our farmlands bloom,” said Northwest RiverPartners Executive Director Terry
Flores. “And with today’s concerns about air quality and the economy, our
hydropower plays an even greater role in terms of clean energy production and
attracting new companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon with good jobs for
the Northwest.”
Flores
noted that the Hastings legislation will foster healthy and needed dialogue
over many issues that have been of long standing concern to Northwest
interests, namely the removal or breaching of the Snake River dams. “In terms
of putting Snake River Dam removal off the table, this legislation is squarely
aligned with public opinion, which shows that nearly two-thirds of the public
believes that removal of the Snake River dams would be an ‘extreme solution’
that would do more harm than good,” Flores said.
The
results of public opinion polling conducted for NWRP on hydropower and Snake
River dam removal issues can be seen on the NWRP web site: http://nwriverpartners.org/images/stories/riverpartners_POLL2011_Final_-_11-29-11.pdf
Flores
also cited NWRP’s polling as showing that the public highly values the unified
efforts made by Northwest states, tribes, federal agencies, and river users
over the past few years to make dam operations more fish friendly and to
restore fish habitat. “By wide margins the public agrees that improving salmon
protection technology at our hydropower facilities and improving habitat are
far and away the best things we can be doing,” Flores said.
“Furthermore,
those actions – a cornerstone of the federal salmon plan on the Columbia and
Snake system -- are demonstrating that dams and salmon can co-exist and thrive.
We've seen extraordinary runs of returning adult salmon this decade and this
year is no exception with record runs of sockeye and a robust return of Snake
River Fall Chinook also forecasted.”
