Lawmaker to hold field hearing on dams

U.S. Congressman Dan Newhouse of Sunnyside, Wash., will lead a field hearing focused on the benefits of the Snake River Dams at the Tri-Cities later this month.

The House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, part of the House Natural Resources Committee, will host the hearing at Richland High School starting at 1 p.m. June. 26.

While not a member of the committee, the conservative Republican has been an outspoken opponent of breaching the four lower Snake River dams as a centerpiece action to recover threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. Ice Harbor Dam is in his district, as are slackwater ports at the Tri-Cities.

Earlier this year, Newhouse teamed up with fellow Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who represents eastern Washington, to author legislation that would protect the four dams.

For more than two decades, salmon advocates that include the Nez Perce Tribe and a coalition of fishing and environmental groups, have pushed to have the dams breached. Doing so would reduce mortality of juvenile and adult fish and according to some studies boost returns by four-fold.

But it would come at a cost — the loss of about 900 average megawatts of hydroelectric power, complicating the region’s effort to convert fully to carbon-free power. It would also end some irrigation near the Tri-Cities in Washington and stop tug-and-barge transportation between Lewiston and downriver ports — making it harder for farmers in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington to get their crops to overseas markets.

The federal government, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has long said breaching would be the best option for the fish sacred to the Nez Perce and other Columbia River tribes and prized by anglers throughout the region. They are also an important food source for endangered southern resident killer whales.

But the agency has kept breaching at arm’s length, saying such a dramatic move is not needed and a suite of other actions, including restoration of degraded spawning habitat, would prevent the fish from going extinct.

The tone changed under the Biden administration. Last year, NOAA Fisheries said in a report that wild Snake River salmon cannot be recovered to “healthy and harvestable levels” — a significantly higher bar than simply avoiding extinction — with the dams in place. The administration is in mediated talks with litigants in a long-running lawsuit that challenges the plan by multiple federal agencies to balance dam operations with the needs of the fish. The talks are aimed at reaching an enduring solution to Snake River salmon recovery and associated issues like hydropower production and tug-and-barge transportation.

In May, Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said they would investigate NOAA Fisheries over its “recent reversal on supporting the continued operation of the dams on the Lower Snake River.” Bentz, of Ontario, is the chairperson of the Water, Wildlife and Fisheries subcommittee. Gosar is the chairperson of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee.

Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for the agency, declined to comment on the investigation.

The hearing will be streamed at bit.ly/3NbsiVN.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.