Fix Economies Not Dams

[BinBandB4]

Babbitt: Fix economies, not dams


LEWISTON, Idaho -- Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said the billions of dollars President Bush has proposed for improving and retaining dams would be better used to support local economies that will be affected by dam breaching that he believes is inevitable.

Babbitt, escorted by representatives of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, took an aerial tour of the lower Snake and Clearwater rivers Sunday and visited area communities and Nez Perce Tribal leaders.

Babbitt, interior secretary in the Clinton administration, called for removing the dams and shifting the $6 billion of salmon recovery funding to farmers, transportation systems and renewable energy.

"I'm quite confident these dams are going to be removed. I think the argument is so strong and it will only get stronger in time," he said. "The reason to do it now is there is money to make people whole."

He said that if the dams are not removed after a decade, wild salmon runs will go extinct.



Five years ago, the Clinton administration released a salmon recovery plan that avoided dam breaching but kept it as a last-ditch effort if all other measures failed.

Environmental groups and Indian tribes said the plan did not do enough to save the fish and sued federal government, which eventually sent the plan back to the president - under the direction of the Bush administration.

Babbitt, who lives in Washington, D.C., and works on natural resource issues, said the latest administration plan is a pro-extinction policy because it fails to recognize the dams as a threat to fish and does not consider removing them as an option.

The Bush plan contends that the threat to salmon or steelhead can be mitigated by changes in the dams' operations at a cost of $6 billion over 10 years.

Babbitt said the money could be better used by breaching the dams, subsidizing farmers for shipping grain by railroad, building pumps so eastern Washington irrigators could still use river water, compensating energy users for higher power bills and investing up to $1.5 billion in wind power and energy conservation to make up for the loss of hydroelectric generating capacity.

"I would hope by joining the discussion of how can we make people whole, we can begin to move this argument. I think the new element is what the administration has done. They have pledged $6 billion. They have given us the capacity to make people whole."

 

[MattK]

Why would Bush want to save money and take good biology into account when he can waste the money on inefficient dams, subsidize a couple grain farmers, and dismiss sound scientific reasoning?

I just wish GWB could get the price of gas to go up a little more as it's only at an all time high. I'm sure glad he is my President, Don't you agree GWB Wannabe?

 

[Michaelr]

BinBandB4 = Gunner ?????

 

[ringer]

Didn't the court just rule against breaching and a new pact was signed with the tribes? Didn't this subject get settled then when Buzz/gunner/IT were slamming and name calling then the ruling came out and they shut up like a poked clam? GO AWAY! Damned democraps!

 

[MattK]

Ringer- Aren't you the first to point out court rulings can be wrong?

 

[ringer]

What's your point Matt? Yes court rulings can be wrong. Still have to live with them until they can be changed. I think I remember the pact signed was fairly long term so why keep beating a dead hugger? Wait another fifteen years to bring it up as all the discussion in the world on here is meaningless until then.

 

[BinBandB4]

ringer,

Please provide a reference to your court ruling. Don't just make stuff up.

 

[cjcj]

Bruce Babbitt= bleeding democrat give everything away liberal.

 

[BinBandB4]

CJ,

You would prefer not fixing the dams and just wasting the money down the river? Why be against helping small towns economically?

 

[cjcj]

I believe the government should spend my tax dollars wisely,, let local and state governments stand on their own. Budget according to their tax base..

 

[BinBandB4]

So then you support Babbit on this one. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Delw]

Hey elkgunner . you got anything better to do than sign on as different names?

Delw

 

[TheTone]

If he hopes to fix the ecomony of Lewiston it will take more than money, dams or no dams. In order to help this town you'd have to use any money to get some new people running it that had some sort of a clue. The tribes only interest is in how many fish they can gill net and then sell to people who can't catch them.

 

[ringer]

I wondered where YRH went all of a sudden! Tone is right on. The tribes will take it all but whine and sleep with the huggers if they think it will benefit their pocket books.

 

[cjcj]

LMAO Delw We still love ya Gunner/yourroyalhighness/BinBandB4 or whatever your name is these days? But you really should see a doctor for that "split' personality. hump

 

[BuzzH]

Nothing better than watching a bunch of red-neck,republican,fiscally responsible conservatives defend "their" presidents idea to waste 6 billion and still not solve the problem of mitigating salmon and steelhead loses.

I guess fiscal responsibility has left the Republican party?

Isnt the idea of throwing money at the symptom and not the cure kind of what Republicans used to hate?

While I know steehead are not salmon...I'm becoming more convinced that Republicans just may be Democrats...

 

[cjcj]

Buzz when are you gona give me something to argue with you about?