PUD asked to fight dam removals

Commissioner seeks support for hydropower

EPHRATA — Commissioner Tom Flint wants Grant County Public Utility District to condemn dam breaching and stand up for what he claims are hydropower's environmental benefits in an age of global warming.

Flint told his fellow commissioners last week during their regular meeting the PUD needs to pass a resolution stating hydropower must be considered a renewable resource.

Grant PUD's Wanapum and Priest Rapids, along the Columbia River, are not considered renewable sources of energy under the recently-passed Initiative 937. The initiative was strongly backed by environmental groups like Sierra Club.

Flint, founder of the group Save Our Dams, wants the resolution he's proposing to also include Grant PUD's stated objection to breaching any of the Northwest's dams to restore salmon populations.

Flint's proposal comes just as the 9th U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Monday upheld U.S. District Judge James Redden's order requiring Columbia Basin hydroelectric dams to sacrifice power production to aid juvenile salmon migrating to the Pacific Ocean.

The appeals court's decision also keeps open the possibility Redden could order four dams on the lower Snake River breached to restore salmon populations, a measure he said he's willing to take if needed.

Both Benton and Franklin County PUDs passed resolutions two weeks ago, similar to what Flint is proposing, supporting the Northwest's hydrosystem and dams, according to representatives from both utilities.

Their resolutions claim losses in hydrosystem capacity and energy result in the development of more fossil-fueled generation, accelerating global warming. The resolutions oppose further changes in dams or operations that are not science-based or cost-effective.

Flint pointed to their resolutions as examples Grant PUD should follow.

"Hydropower helps prevent global warming, because if you didn't have the hydropower you'd have to replace it with something else," Flint said. "If we're going to say 'save our planet,' then save our dams."

Flint said resolutions already passed by Benton and Franklin PUDs and one from Grant PUD would help Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., in Washington D.C., who's worked to protect Snake and Columbia River dams.

"(The resolutions) help all hydropower operators on the Snake and Columbia River," Flint said. "Anything happening to one dam operator, indirectly or directly affects the others. We need to be all together on this and I think this is the way to do it."

Hastings, who opposes the appeals court's decision, supports Flint's efforts.

"With almost daily headlines about global warming you'd think radical environmentalists would end their dam removal crusade and recognize hydropower as the clean, renewable, non-polluting power source that it is," Hastings said Thursday. "Tom has long been a well-respected leader on hydropower issues and I appreciate his continued commitment to protecting our dams."

If Grant PUD passes the resolution, Flint said he'd take it to the Washington Public Utility District Association for review and possible adoption. The Olympia-based association represents 28 member PUDs and Energy Northwest in legislative and policy processes at the state and federal level.

Flint claims science doesn't support breaching dams to save salmon.

But Bob Rees, president of the Northwest Guides and Anglers Association, said dams kill more salmon than any other environmental factor.

"To say the science doesn't exist is a complete farce. Talk to the scientists that know fish best and fish migration best," Rees said by phone. "We're past the point whether we can speculate as to whether hydropower significantly kills salmon. That's not an argument any more, that's a fact."

Paul Shively, senior regional representative for Sierra Club in Portland, said the resolutions are a diversionary tactic attempting to take attention away from the real problem — the four lower Snake River dams.

Shively said the amount of energy produced by the four dams is relatively small, making them easier to replace by other power sources such as wind.

"It seems very coincidental that they'd try to build this coalition and get these resolutions passed after such a strong (appeals court) opinion on the lower Snake River," he said.

Shively encouraged Flint, Hastings and others to support passage of the federal Salmon Economic Analysis and Planning Act. The act, if passed, funds a study to determine how best to recover salmon populations.

"They shouldn't be opposed to supporting it if they think the science is on their side," Shively said. "If breaching the dams is the best option, after everything's looked at, then so be it."