Hydropower destroys millions of productive land, so it isn’t better environmentally.
Hydro-Power most of the time comes from a damned up man made Lake with water piped down by gravity to turn a turbine to generate electricity. The lake then becomes a welcoming environment for fishing, boating, swimming, and social gatherings. In other words hydro power is a very effective method of Earth utilization.
Damn prevent massive flooding. Flooding that makes large tracts of farmland unusable.
Our town remove several damns a few years ago. The guy in charge had his house flooded just after it was done because the damn was no longer there.
Hydro-power, particularly in the Western states, has eliminated many species of salmon and decimated the rest
It’s from a 50 year old dam so nothing new.