Posted Thu, Aug 12, 12:46 p.m.

Thx for shining a light on this dark muck. Maybe a followup piece can look at the role of BPA in squelching salmon science

Posted Mon, Jun 7, 2:41 p.m.

It is worth noting that the lower Snake dams were forestalled for more than a decade by concerns about their impacts to fish populations. State and federal fisheries biologists quite emphatically predicted the troubles that would come. The Chief of the Army Corps maintained in 1952 that "there will be ...

Posted Mon, Jun 7, 11:45 a.m.

Randy, I don't deny that it's a challenge to define how "expensive" Snake River power would be to replace. But it's expensive to have, too. Example: Chief Joe dam just got a new turbine in March. It cost 120 million. They plan to replace 10 turbines in the next four ...

Posted Mon, Jun 7, 10:23 a.m.

"Meanwhile, the greens too easily dismiss the importance of the power generated by those dams -- about four percent of the regional supply, power than can only be replaced by burning more oil or coal. Doesn't sound like a good idea." That assessment is not in line with the NW ...

Posted Mon, Jun 7, 10:16 a.m.

Unfortunately, people on both sides of the issue are making guesses (educated, but guesses nevertheless) about all kinds of important questions. How much would removal cost? What would have to be done with the silt? Just what would be required in the way of transportation improvements to make the farmers ...

Posted Fri, May 28, 2:40 p.m.

As I recall, the OSU piece ID'ed regional population growth, not immigration per se, as the threat. Not that many people (green or red, for that matter) are shouting much about population. The hydro dams are carbon-free energy producers. True. They produce less than 4 percent of the region's electricity, ...

Posted Fri, May 28, 11:01 a.m.

My heart goes out to Helton and the others trying to create a new body of knowledge overnight. Still, like others, I am deeply frustrated that other branches of the government have been so negligent in allowing the accident to occur - and, worse, knowing that someday such a thing ...

Posted Wed, May 26, 7:56 a.m.

The column is too long -- too long because nobody should have such a long record of failure to summarize. Nobody should have to go back to 1996 for early evidence that the Columbia-Snake salmon policy has never, ever been driven by science. There should be no need to have ...

Posted Thu, May 20, 11:46 a.m.

Nice piece. Safina had another good point at the People For Puget Sound breakfast: Solar and wind are clean ("spills" are impossible), free (once the infrastructure's built, one doesn't pay for the substance like one pays for oil and gas and coal), and as far as we know, eternal. As ...

Posted Mon, Apr 26, 11:59 a.m.

With all this talk about power needs, it's worth noting that the NW Power Council's recently adopted Sixth Power Plan addressed the implications of removing the hydrogeneration facilities on the Lower Snake. And while BPA has long stated that by removing these dams the Northwest would have to provide about ...

Posted Fri, Apr 23, 11:33 a.m.

Jackson unquestionably did some terrific things for the environment. But in his balancing act ("“Jackson was not an ecology freak who considered industry a villain or development an anathema. He was a balancer who believed in the possibility and necessity of reconciling environmental protection with robust economic growth”) he did ...

Posted Fri, Apr 16, 11:51 a.m.

Nice article. Thanks for offering some illumination.

Posted Wed, Feb 10, 9:40 a.m.

Nice column. I've spoken to several SRKW scientists who are impatiently waiting for NOAA to begin actually recovering SRKWs. NOAA adopted a recovery plan in 2006; so far, though, it's been long on additional research and darned short on actions. The one exception is the potential vessel regulation, which most ...

Posted Tue, Nov 24, 4:50 p.m.

As for energy, hydro is obviously renewable. And it's carbon-free. But it's not "clean" when its causing the extinction of these fish, which have been able to endure calamities for 10,000 years. As for what replaces it, the NW Power & Conservation Council shows that we can easily replace the ...

Posted Tue, Nov 24, 4:33 p.m.

If only hatchery fish WERE the answer. The science is compelling, though, that hatchery fish don't survive well. See, for instance, "Carryover effect of captive breeding reduces reproductive fitness of wild-born descendants in the wild" (Araki et al., 2009, Biol. Ltrs), which shows that even when hatchery fish survive to ...

Posted Sun, Sep 27, 3:48 p.m.

Fishing takes a minute percentage of the salmon compared to hydro. For nearly all runs, it's less than 10 percent, including ocean fishing, tribal and non-tribal river fishing. That's by NOAA's own figures. Hydro ops take upwards of 90 percent - at least, that's how much NOAA has given BPA ...

Posted Wed, Sep 23, 10:21 a.m.

Perceptive article. It's hard not to conclude that given a choice between dams and Puget Sound killer whales, dams are more important to Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, Chris Gregoire, Jane Lubchenco, and Gary Locke. More annoying that their preference for the dams, though, is their joint refusal to be open ...

Posted Mon, May 4, 11:59 a.m.

Trust, but verify. It's absolutely wonderful that the Administration leaders (whomever they be) are re-assessing, but don't doubt the ability of BPA and the Corps to dissemble said leaders back into passivity. And don't look for solutions-oriented leadership from Murray or Cantwell - they've been behind on this issue for ...

Posted Wed, Jul 9, 8:24 p.m.

Where's Patty? Where's Maria?: Great article about a massive federal failure. Not just the Bushies are at fault, either. Murray and Cantwell apparently are scared of losing some E WA votes - believing that nobody "over there" could possibly be sophisticated enough to see the logic in breaching the dams. ...

Posted Tue, Nov 6, 10:39 a.m.

Robocalls: There might be a little more to it than just the cheap cost. It may be that the consultants believe that some of the people who don't watch/read/listen to the news, who toss the flyers, who don't notice yard signs, DO actually listen to these calls. Nobody I know ...