Calif. Hunter
Active member
of wild salmon?
An administration roadmap to salmon extinction - Commentary
By Bruce Babbitt, Special to the Los Angeles Times (also the
Oregonian)
January 4, 2005
Wild salmon are drifting toward extinction in the northern Rocky
Mountains.
Last fall the Bush administration delivered a decision that will be the
death blow, if it stands: four obsolete dams on the Snake River in
Eastern
Washington will not be dismantled.
The Snake River dams were conceived on a field of industrial dreams.
The
idea took root in the 1960s, when local boosters persuaded Congress to
authorize a huge project to transform Lewiston, Idaho, 400 miles from
the
Pacific, into a seaport.
The Army Corps of Engineers then proceeded to subdue 140 miles of the
wild
Snake, remaking it into a slack-water barge channel.
The dream soon turned into a nightmare for people and towns that depend
on
wild salmon. The fish began disappearing from the lakes and rivers
upstream
from the dams.
Prized chinook runs vanished throughout central Idaho. Fisheries and
fishing jobs in the Northwest and as far away as Alaska, tribal
fisheries
included, declined with them.
Meanwhile, the promised inland seaport boom did not arrive. The volume
of
barge shipments never reached expectations, in part because many
farmers in
the region still found it cheaper to ship by rail to the deep-water
port at
Tacoma.
That didn't deter the corps, which continues to spend $36 million a
year to
operate and maintain the four Snake River dams, their locks and the
navigation channel.
Yet even at this late date there still is a chance to save the salmon.
The
corps, the farmers and the fishermen could cooperate to get the wheat
off
the river and onto railroads where it belongs.
The track is in place. The mainlines of the Burlington Northern and the
Union Pacific run right through this wheat country and then west to
Washington ports at Pasco, Vancouver and Tacoma, and to Portland.
The state of Washington just purchased the short lines that feed the
mainlines. This system already ships a lot of local wheat, and, with
modest
further investment, the Burlington Northern says it will be ready and
willing to handle what is now shipped by river.
Farmers near the river who use the channel to transport grain are the
main
voice for keeping the dams, because they save 3 to 7 cents per bushel
compared with shipping by rail. What stands between waters alive with
salmon and the silent expanses of extinction is that 3 to 7 cents per
bushel.
All of this cries out for a common-sense solution that takes all sides
into
account. There is one that has yet to be considered: Simply shut down
the
barge traffic, take out the dams and then dedicate a small part of the
annual $36 million that would be saved to making up the shipping
differential with the farmers.
In contrast, the administration's plan to keep the dams and "save" the
salmon has an estimated total cost of $6 billion over the next 10
years.
Much of that would go to various schemes to barge, truck, pipe and
steer
migrating salmon around the dams.
Scientists have repeatedly concluded these proposals offer little hope
of
restoring the wild salmon to fishable abundance.
Neither science nor logic -- nor economic theory -- supports the
administration's plan. The dams could be dismantled, the farmers who
ship
on the river compensated and the relatively small amount of electricity
the
dams generate replaced, for about one-third of the $6 billion. A
restored
fishery would be worth at least $1 billion a year to Pacific Northwest
states.
The administration's plan is a very expensive road map to salmon
extinction. It's time to admit a mistake and set about fixing it -- for
the
sake of fishermen, farmers, Native Americans, the salmon, the inland
Pacific Northwest ecosystem -- and the taxpayers.
2005, Los Angeles
Times
Bruce Babbitt was secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001. He is a
former governor and attorney general of Arizona.
An administration roadmap to salmon extinction - Commentary
By Bruce Babbitt, Special to the Los Angeles Times (also the
Oregonian)
January 4, 2005
Wild salmon are drifting toward extinction in the northern Rocky
Mountains.
Last fall the Bush administration delivered a decision that will be the
death blow, if it stands: four obsolete dams on the Snake River in
Eastern
Washington will not be dismantled.
The Snake River dams were conceived on a field of industrial dreams.
The
idea took root in the 1960s, when local boosters persuaded Congress to
authorize a huge project to transform Lewiston, Idaho, 400 miles from
the
Pacific, into a seaport.
The Army Corps of Engineers then proceeded to subdue 140 miles of the
wild
Snake, remaking it into a slack-water barge channel.
The dream soon turned into a nightmare for people and towns that depend
on
wild salmon. The fish began disappearing from the lakes and rivers
upstream
from the dams.
Prized chinook runs vanished throughout central Idaho. Fisheries and
fishing jobs in the Northwest and as far away as Alaska, tribal
fisheries
included, declined with them.
Meanwhile, the promised inland seaport boom did not arrive. The volume
of
barge shipments never reached expectations, in part because many
farmers in
the region still found it cheaper to ship by rail to the deep-water
port at
Tacoma.
That didn't deter the corps, which continues to spend $36 million a
year to
operate and maintain the four Snake River dams, their locks and the
navigation channel.
Yet even at this late date there still is a chance to save the salmon.
The
corps, the farmers and the fishermen could cooperate to get the wheat
off
the river and onto railroads where it belongs.
The track is in place. The mainlines of the Burlington Northern and the
Union Pacific run right through this wheat country and then west to
Washington ports at Pasco, Vancouver and Tacoma, and to Portland.
The state of Washington just purchased the short lines that feed the
mainlines. This system already ships a lot of local wheat, and, with
modest
further investment, the Burlington Northern says it will be ready and
willing to handle what is now shipped by river.
Farmers near the river who use the channel to transport grain are the
main
voice for keeping the dams, because they save 3 to 7 cents per bushel
compared with shipping by rail. What stands between waters alive with
salmon and the silent expanses of extinction is that 3 to 7 cents per
bushel.
All of this cries out for a common-sense solution that takes all sides
into
account. There is one that has yet to be considered: Simply shut down
the
barge traffic, take out the dams and then dedicate a small part of the
annual $36 million that would be saved to making up the shipping
differential with the farmers.
In contrast, the administration's plan to keep the dams and "save" the
salmon has an estimated total cost of $6 billion over the next 10
years.
Much of that would go to various schemes to barge, truck, pipe and
steer
migrating salmon around the dams.
Scientists have repeatedly concluded these proposals offer little hope
of
restoring the wild salmon to fishable abundance.
Neither science nor logic -- nor economic theory -- supports the
administration's plan. The dams could be dismantled, the farmers who
ship
on the river compensated and the relatively small amount of electricity
the
dams generate replaced, for about one-third of the $6 billion. A
restored
fishery would be worth at least $1 billion a year to Pacific Northwest
states.
The administration's plan is a very expensive road map to salmon
extinction. It's time to admit a mistake and set about fixing it -- for
the
sake of fishermen, farmers, Native Americans, the salmon, the inland
Pacific Northwest ecosystem -- and the taxpayers.
2005, Los Angeles
Times
Bruce Babbitt was secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001. He is a
former governor and attorney general of Arizona.
