Army Report Recommends Dams Be Modified to Aid Salmon Runs
The agency that built four dams on the lower Snake River concluded Monday that the huge structures should not be breached to improve endangered salmon runs.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in a long-awaited opinion forwarded to other federal agencies, concluded the dams should instead be modified to improve the survival of the fish.
“That is more cost-effective and has a minimal economic impact,” said Nola Conway, a spokeswoman for the corps office in Walla Walla.
The four dams were built starting in the 1960s and are on the Snake River between the Washington cities of Richland, Pasco and Kennewick, and Lewiston, Idaho.
They provide irrigation water and navigation for barges and produce enough electricity for a city the size of Seattle.
Environmentalists blame the dams for blocking the migration of salmon and steelhead trout to the Pacific Ocean, leaving the native populations extinct or endangered.
Business groups and many Republican lawmakers have been critical of proposals to breach the dams, and President Bush said during last year’s election campaign that he opposed removal of the dams.
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