Why is Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04) slamming Biden and Inslee for a job well done?
Author: Steve Heitmann, Published
Published: Goldendale Sentinel, February 21, 2024
According to Newhouse, "The Biden Administration has crossed the line with its blatant, hypocritical assault on the Lower Snake River Dams. ...The Defending Against Manipulative Negotiators (DAMN) Act is the first of many pieces of legislation coming that combats this Administration’s radical, unfair, and unsubstantiated effort to destroy our dams and the livelihoods of the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on them," Read Newhouse’s full statement and text of the DAMN Act.
Newhouse misrepresents Biden’s Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative. The Biden Administration’s initiative is a first-step toward resolving 30 years of legal battles to save Snake River salmon from extinction and ultimately remove the four dams that are causing the extinctions. Seattle Times (12/23)
Biden, Inslee, and Sen. Patty Murray are committed to maintaining the Snake River dams until there's operating replacements for the power and irrigation services the dams provide. Yet the DAMN Act seems to ignore that.
A brief historical overview (source: Earthjustice):
Northwest Power Act of 1980: Congress passes the Northwest Power Act to manage Columbia River power production and fisheries as coequals, in response to the decline of salmon populations and the threat of Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing.
Snake River sockeye listed as endangered: Snake River sockeye become the first Pacific salmon stock to be identified as endangered under the ESA in 1986, followed by 12 more salmon and steelhead stocks in the Columbia Basin.
Earthjustice's legal actions: Earthjustice represents environmental and fishing groups in challenging six successive Biological Opinions (BiOps) issued by NOAA Fisheries for dam operations in the Snake-Columbia Basin, starting from 1991.
Court rulings and injunctions: Federal judges overturn all six BiOps as illegal and inadequate to protect salmon, and order increased spill of water past the dams to help juvenile salmon migration.
Rep. Mike Simpson's (R-ID) plan: Simpson releases an ambitious plan in 2021 that calls for breaching the four lower Snake River dams by 2030 and replacing the services they provide, with a budget of more than $30 billion.
Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative: The Biden administration, Oregon and Washington, and four Columbia Basin Tribes announce an agreement in 2023 to restore the Columbia Basin, based on a Tribal-state initiative that supports conditional breaching the lower Snake River dams.