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Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Trump, Henry Heimuller, VP Pence, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia’s dog, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Standard Disclaimer.
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Dams play an important part of our lives good or bad.
Dams in the Pacific Northwest
The governor of Oregon has come out in favor of removing four hydroelectric dams on the Snake River in Washington State, saying that is the best way to increase endangered salmon runs. The four dams are located along the Snake River from Pasco to near Pomeroy. The dams generate electricity, provide some irrigation and flood control and allow barges to operate all the way to Lewiston, Idaho. But they are also blamed for killing salmon and steelhead that are migrating to the ocean or back to their spawning grounds. SO really what are the facts both pro and con on this issue? Two prominent Pacific Northwest tribes are calling for the removal three major hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. The Lummi Nation and the Yakama Nation said on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019, the U.S. government was in violation of a treaty from 1855 when it built the concrete dams on the lower Columbia River, destroying important native fishing sites and the migration of salmon. Removal would support salmon recovery and help dwindling orcas. The Yakama say they ceded more than 10 million acres to the United States for rights reserved in the Treaty of 1855, including a guarantee that the tribe could fish outside the Yakama Reservation. The tribe says the three dams inundated many of the tribe’s fishing sites and led to the decline of salmon, lamprey and other traditional foods the Yakama continue to rely on today. Bonneville Dam alone generates enough electricity to supply nearly 500,000 homes. Yakama Nation, supported by Lummi Nation, announced a bold vision: a Columbia River teeming with salmon, a restored Celilo Falls and a Pacific Northwest powered by clean energy,” Our decades long effort to recover endangered salmon is not working. The stagnant reservoirs behind the dams create dangerously hot water, and climate change is pushing the river over the edge. Year after year, the river gets hotter. The tribes and other environmental organizations want the dams gone and have us rely on other green energy to provide our electricity needs. Christian discovery, also called the Doctrine of Discovery, is based on an argument that Europeans automatically gained land rights upon “discovering” the Americas, starting when Christopher Columbus came ashore in the Bahamas in 1492. The U.S. Supreme Court embraced this doctrine in an 1823 decision Chief Justice John Marshall’s unanimous opinion held that Indians lost their rights with the arrival of the first Europeans and those rights were passed to the United States upon it winning independence from Great Britain. Furthermore the “White Man” conquered the Native peoples and usually when a group of people are conquered the victor goes the spoils. I am not saying that the white man treated the native people right, hell no they screwed them out of their lands, broke treaties, lied cheated and stole from the Native people and the US government still does today. The Columbia Basin once produced 10 million to 16 million returning adult salmon per year. Today the basin gets about 1 million, and 13 of its salmon runs are listed under the Endangered Species Act. The Columbia River is too hot for salmon survival. But removing dams might not be the answer, Cons for dam removal; The idea has been condemned by commercial, power and port representatives, who say removing the dams would wallop the region’s economy and undercut efforts to combat climate change. there’s no guarantee salmon would flourish if the dams are removed, because so many factors affect their survival, such as ocean conditions and predation by cormorants and sea lions. And salmon are doing poorly in rivers without dams, too. The region would lose a massive volume of clean, reliable energy. The Dalles, John Day and Bonneville dams, for example, each produce enough power to supply the city of Portland. Hydropower has been the backbone of the Northwest economy for decades and decades, we have enjoyed cheap. Clean energy. Replacing the dams with truly clean energy,” such as wind and solar coupled with battery storage, is not feasible or reliable. Removing the dams could cause blackouts. The dams also are critical for river navigation and commerce. Shipping of grain, wood chips and a host of other commodities through the Columbia-Snake rivers would be impossible without dams. Without dams Oregons economy would suffer and there would be a huge loss of livelihood’s of thousands. The Port of Kalama said the port would have to move more than 13 million tons of cargo annually by some other method, such as rail or truck. More emissions from more truck and train traffic. PNWA estimates that for every four-barge tow it would take about 100 unit trains or 538 trucks to ship the same amount of cargo. That businesses at the Port of Kalama would need 500,000 trucks to move its annual tonnage. Federal managers have invested billions of dollars into improving fish passage systems, and the survival rate for Chinook and steelhead migrating downstream exceeds 90%, according to the federal estimates. In my opinion there are many issues that are causing the decline of the salmon and all fisheries. Climate Change, over fishing, loss of food in the ocean is affecting all species from tiny krill to the biggest mammals on earth. The Columbia River downstream has warm water issues too. For example fall fishing which starts Aug 1st, the water has been 70 degrees in the past which is way too warm for fish, they don’t bite and they hold up in the ocean until the weather cools and we get a nice few days of rain which brings the fish in as the water cools down and makes them want to bite and head upstream to spawn. I have an idea lets stop all fishing in the ocean and the river for 10 years and give the fish a better chance to recover, in the mean time work on a logical solution to combat climate change, removing the dams is not the answer.
Tammy
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