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What are the ramifications and true reality of breaching the dams of the pacific northwest (PNW)? Please begin with our previous articles on this topic, found here, here, and here. In this installment we bring you information on the debate regarding the salmon and steelhead populations. The paper seen below was written by retired Idaho Department of Fish and Game Fish Culturist, Fish Hatchery Superintendent, Fish Hatchery Manager, and Fish Hatchery Complex Supervisor Jerry McGehee on January 2, 2024. It is entitled More Pieces of the Puzzle to the Life Cycle of Idaho Salmon and Steelhead. McGehee’s ten-page paper explains...

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) last week released its next five-year plan for the State Water Project—Update 2023. After years of meetings, California’s premier water agency has decided to focus on “three intersecting themes: addressing climate urgency, strengthening watershed resilience, and achieving equity in water management.”Lake Shasta Dam in Shasta Lake, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)Water supplies for California’s 40 million people and the planet’s most productive agriculture have third- to fifth-level priority.There is nothing new here, except to publicly admit to betraying the public trust. Really?Over several decades, the public has been deceived...

What are the ramifications and true reality of breaching the dams of the pacific northwest (PNW)? Please begin with our first article. Here in Part 2, we bring you additional information on the potential effects of dam breaching on the movement of wheat and other grains from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington farms to the Portland harbor for distribution worldwide. According to the Port of Portland, “The Portland harbor exports the largest volume of wheat in the United States” and “The Columbia River is the third largest grain exporting center in the world.” In particular, this installment addresses omissions from the...

What are the ramifications and true reality of breaching the dams in the pacific northwest (PNW)? Idaho Dispatch brought you this article last December when the Biden Administration reached an agreement with Oregon, Washington, and four Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes. Now we will look back at the history and examine the myriad aspects of this topic which must be discussed and analyzed thoroughly. A short list to begin includes: the population and health of salmon, the irrigation/farming/water rights which will be affected, the financial impacts, the shipping and barging system, and hydroelectric power. We start with history, legal aspects,...

Arizona Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Nevada Rep. Susie Lee introduced legislation this week aimed at enabling $45 million in Bureau of Reclamation funds to be used for helping the Hoover Dam. Proponents of the "Help Hoover Dam Act" say it would cut regulations and allow the bureau to tap into the Colorado River Dam Fund to support efforts related to the dam's upkeep. Ed Gerak, Executive Director of Irrigation and Electrical Districts of Arizona, said in a statement that the funding could help mitigate possible price increases for electricity. This bill will allow the Bureau of Reclamation to use...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom backed the controversial proposal to remove four Klamath River hydroelectric dams along the California-Oregon border. Now, the same fish he swore to protect could be killed in the process. The dams had been breached on claims that it would help salmon migrate, but the Klamath River is now full of destroyed spawning salmon beds and pollution including decomposed algae, organic deposition, chemicals, and fine silt which is killing its ecosystem, according to a report from the California Globe. Additionally, dead endangered steelhead trout and other species have been rising to the surface of the Klamath River,...

Let’s face facts; some people are getting richer off the removal of the Klamath River dams. Glen Spain member [formerly] of Klamath River Renewal Corp. ‘KRRC’ board and fisherman’s advocate said “Economics Not Salmon Is the Reason PacifiCorp is Removing the Dams” It is now estimated by some experts that the total direct cost for the Klamath River dam removal project, will reach $800-million dollars, not the $450-million cost estimate projected over tens years ago. And then we have the costs related to the liabilities that are already arising from what is seen by many as an ill-fated project. According...

Before the 1950s, an estimated 5.5 million coho salmon, Chinook salmon and steelhead returned to California rivers as part of their natural life cycle. In 2022, only 93,000 of the iconic fish spawned in the state’s rivers, a number so low it prompted closure of the commercial fishing season. A report released by CalTrout in 2017 in partnership with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences found that 74% of California’s native salmon, steelhead, and trout species are likely to be extinct within a century or less if present trends continue

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch, following the release of the Biden administration’s Columbia River Basin announcement, doubled down in his opposition to dam breaching and reiterated that it is solely Congress that could remove the federal dams in the Columbia-Snake River System. “Congress—and Congress alone—can authorize removal of the dams on the lower Snake River. Bureaucrats, activist litigation, nor this administration’s radical agenda will determine the fate of any of the Northwest’s federal dams,” said Risch. “This litigation effort was useless: It occurred behind closed doors, between two parties who wanted the same end result—to tear out our dams,...

The White House has announced that an agreement has been reached with Oregon, Washington, and four Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes regarding the Lower Snake River dams of the Columbia River Basin. The Biden Administration calls the agreement a partnership and says the plans and goals are to “restore wild salmon, expand clean energy production, increase resilience, and provide energy stability” for the region. The Tribes involved in the agreement include the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the...

'Congress alone has the authority' to breach federal dams, lawmakers write in letter to White House.. The Biden administration is quietly discussing a potentially far-reaching settlement with environmental groups that advocate for tearing down four hydroelectric dams in Washington... ... In the filings, jointly submitted by the federal government and eco groups... However, the filing failed to detail exactly what conditions were included in the secretive package .... We find it necessary to remind you Congress alone has the authority not only to order the breach of the Lower Snake River Dams, but also exclusive authority to direct the study...

Four Northwest Republican lawmakers asked the federal government to share details of “secretive negotiations” between the government and environmental groups that have called for the removal of dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. In a Nov. 20 letter to Brenda Mallory, chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality, the lawmakers reminded the White House that Congress has the authority to weigh in on President Joe Biden’s potential removal of dams in the Columbia River Basin to rebuild salmon runs. “In addition to expecting the immediate transmittal of the proposed USG commitments, we find it necessary to remind you Congress...

Residents in both of the counties surrounding the dams slated for removal have voted overwhelmingly over the past decade in favor of keeping the dams in place because of the benefits they offer and the potential for dam removal to create problems with flooding .

HORNBROOK, Calif. (AP) — Tribal, state and federal officials on Thursday cheered a plan for the largest dam removal in U.S. history along the Klamath River near the California-Oregon line as a major step toward restoring a once-thriving watershed that tribal communities have long relied on. “Clean water, healthy forests and fertile land made the Klamath River Basin and its surrounding watershed a home to tribal communities, productive agriculture, and a place where abundant populations of migratory birds, suckers, salmon and other fish could thrive,” U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. The removal of four dams along the river will...

In less than two weeks, one of the world's biggest democracies will hold what many are describing as its most important presidential election in years. The US has been watching this vote in Brazil closely. Why? There aren't many issues that staunch opponents in Washington ever agree on. But they are united on this. "This is going to be one of the most intense and dramatic elections in the 21st Century," former Trump aide Steve Bannon tells the BBC. "The fate of Brazil's democracy and of US relations with Brazil will be decided in the upcoming election," says Senator Patrick...

The Biden administration continues its ridiculous push for climate change reform, this time choosing salmon over you and still reducing green energy output.This week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recommended breaching dams on the Snake River to ensure the survival of endangered salmon.The move would most likely jeopardize power supplies in the Pacific Northwest and worsen the supply chain crisis.

Pennsylvania may have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make significant progress on a long list of needed infrastructure projects if the House passes the $1 trillion plan approved by the Senate and makes billions in federal dollars available to the state. Officials can’t squander this chance to upgrade roads, bridges, dams and other infrastructure areas statewide. In state-by-state estimates released by the White House, Pennsylvania stands to gain — over a five-year period — $11.3 billion in federal highway funding, $2.8 billion for public transit and $1.6 billion for bridge replacement. There’s also $171 million to add charging stations for electric...

Drought has dried up what was Mexico’s second-biggest lake, destroying a once thriving fishing economy in Michoacán. The scale of the problem? Lake Cuitzeo should have 800 million cubic meters of water, but today it doesn’t even have 200. Now, the more than 300-square-kilometer reservoir has become a cemetery for fishing boats and a shortcut for motorists to reach Morelia, the state capital of Michoacán. The water disappearance also creates frequent and prolonged dust clouds that sometimes reach nearby communities, affecting health of residents, as well as causing allergies, respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal complications from the bacteria they transport. Everything...

Idaho Congressman, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, has introduced a plan to breach four existing hydroelectric dams in the Northwest to help improve salmon runs. It is part of a $33 billion Project that includes extra economic development funds, compensation for lost revenue for certain industries and billions in incentives for farmers. The dams slated for removal under this plan are the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite dams. Part of the plan requires environmental groups pledging not to use lawsuits over federal environmental-protection laws violations. Oregon recently banned coal based energy. California has an energy shortage that...

China is facing major issues on many fronts and now may soon be facing a food shortage. With recent torrential rains and flooding, dams are being blasted and other dams, like the Three Gorges Dam, are at the brink. The following is from Geoffrey Quartermaine Bastin, CEO, FoodWorks Group of Companies: The Beijing Government is facing a crisis on many fronts. Not only has it been caught out with the Wuhan SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) virus, but its efforts to expand influence in the South China Sea (what the Vietnamese call the East Sea) have outraged its neighbors in ASEAN and...