By CARLEEN JOHNSON | THE CENTER SQUARE
Proponents of breaching the four lower Snake River dams that provide hydropower in the Columbia Basin concede that plan is likely on hold for at least the next four years under a second term for President-elect Donald Trump. A little more than a year ago, the Biden administration announced its support for preparing to breach.
“I don’t want to say I know for sure what a new administration is going to do,” said Amanda Goodin with Earthjustice, which describes itself as the nation’s leading environmental law organization. EarthJustice represents several environmental interests seeking to get rid of the dams.
On the one hand, I feel like there is such a win-win opportunity for the region to rebuild our salmon runs and protect the needs of other users in the basin,” Goodin continued during a Thursday interview with The Center Square. “Being real, this is the second time we’ve seen a Trump administration, and under the first Trump administration, we saw that was not a path they were interested in.”
As previously reported by The Center Square, the fight over the Snake River dams has been ongoing for more than 20 years, largely over salmon and steelhead restoration and other environmental concerns.
The four dams are located in the southeastern corner of Washington, near the Oregon border, and they provide as much annual energy – 1,000 average megawatts – as a large nuclear power plant. According to utility Modern Electric Water, the lower Snake River dams can produce up to three times that amount during periods of high demand. As many as 750,000 homes rely on the carbon-free power generated by the dams.
Opponents of removing the dams, including U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., who just won reelection, introduced efforts to kill what they described as a backroom deal last year between the Biden administration and a handful of stakeholders. That deal resulted in a formal memorandum of understanding, with an expected goal to remove the dams.
“These dams are vital to our economy, our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and the ability to send our commodities overseas,” wrote Newhouse in a Sept. 2023 news release. “The Columbia River Basin is one of our most valuable natural resources in the Pacific Northwest and I will continue to fight each and every day against this Administration’s efforts to breach these vital dams.”