Sierra Club 

Columbia Basin Field Office
2703 Klemgard Road
Pullman, WA 99163
(509) 332-5173
FAX: (509) 332-1513
sierraclub@pullman.com

May 8, 2000

Steve Crow, Exec. Director
NW Power Planning Council
851 S.W. Sixth Ave.
Suite 100
Portland, OR 97204

Dear Sir:

On April 28 with the close of public comment on federal agencies' draft documents for Columbia/Snake Basin salmon recovery, the Sierra Club concluded an exciting start to 2000, some of which we would like to share with you.

First of all, Sierra, the official magazine of our organization, carried in its March-April issue a thought-provoking feature article about Snake Basin salmon by novelist David James Duncan. Enclosed please find a reprint of Duncan's "Salmon's Second Coming" complete with magazine cover and action sidebars.

Articulately and passionately the author makes our case that we can't afford to lose these magnificent creatures which gave their name to central Idaho's wild Salmon River, and that we can't afford to retain the four Lower Snake dams which are the single greatest obstacle to saving the legendary inland Northwest salmon. Particularly important is Duncan's warning that the United States has both a moral and legal obligation to restore healthy, fishable populations of salmon and steelhead in order to fulfill treaties with American Indian Tribes of the Columbia Basin, and that failure to do so would cost billions of dollars.

With dozens of letters, phone calls, and electronic mail arriving at our offices daily requesting information on how to help remove the dams and save the salmon, literally hundreds of Sierra Club members from across the nation have already responded to our call to action on behalf of the big fish.

So, too, did concerned citizens from all walks of life by attending, and testifying at, public hearings across the Pacific Northwest in February and early March of this year. During the hearings, it was very rewarding for the Sierra Club to coordinate and work closely with leaders and staff of the region's American Indian Tribes.

Enclosed please find newspaper clippings reporting on a number of the key hearings. Overwhelmingly by a margin of several fold, citizens supported saving the Snake Basin salmon, and partially removing the four Lower Snake dams to do so. Their testimony emphasized a number of key points, including:

• The vast majority of scientists agree that partial removal of the four Lower Snake dams (with other important actions particularly for habitat restoration) is necessary to save and recover the Snake Basin salmon;

• With the appropriate strategic investments to address impacts from partial dam removal, the Pacific Northwest can keep the regional and local economy intact, even put us ahead to do business in the 21st century; and

• The gravest danger economically for our region comes from the massive costs associated with dam retention and/or salmon extinction.

The public comment at the hearings demonstrates that once again the people are moving ahead of their elected leaders -- with the notable exceptions of Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber. As you grapple with the salmon crisis in the Columbia Basin, we would respectfully ask you to consider the following:

Biology -- The healthy, abundant fall chinook of the Hanford Reach on the main Columbia River face the same or greater downstream impacts --predators, adverse ocean conditions, severely damaged habitat in the estuary, and harvest (indeed an annual targetted catch) -- as do the endangered Snake Basin fall chinook with one exception: four federal dams on the Lower Snake River.

Economics -- Replacing the four dams' generation with clean conservation and renewables would make the regional energy supply more reliable, according to the Bonneville Power Administration. Converting from monopolistic barge on the Lower Snake (The navigation waterway will remain open on the Columbia.) to rail and truck would restore competition in the shipping marketplace assuring lower long-term rates for grain producers and other businesses in southeastern Washington and northern Idaho, according to expert economists.

Legal Obligations -- Salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin is a requirement of multiple federal laws not just the Endangered Species Act, and of treaties with Canada and the sovereign American Indian Tribes. Therefore, fish extinction will carry a huge price in the tens of billions of dollars, plunging the Northwest in an economic catastrophe.

For conservationists, resolving the salmon crisis in the Columbia Basin boils down to four public policy goals: (1) save and recover the salmon, (2) partially remove the four Lower Snake dams, (3) protect and restore fish habitat, (4) preserve and strengthen the economy.

In response to numerous red herrings raised against conservationists in this public debate, enclosed please find reprints of two recent columns in The Oregonian and Lewiston Morning Tribune newspapers. However, we do want to address two questions here and now.

First, what is so important about the Snake Basin salmon and steelhead? In the Frank Church River of No *Return Wilderness of central Idaho, the Snake watershed harbors the largest single block of excellent-to-pristine spawning habitat in the entire Pacific Northwest, and therefore, represents our single best opportunity to re-build salmon numbers in the Columbia Basin.

Second, after partial removal of the four Lower Snake dams, won't salmon advocates seek to tear down "all the dams?" No, we will not. For a number of reasons both biological and economic, the Sierra Club opposes the removal of mainstem dams such as John Day or McNary on the Columbia River. Operational and structural modifications to these dams may be necessary to relieve their deadly toll on salmon, but their removal is "off the table." Similarly because upstream runs have already gone into extinction, there is no salmon recovery reason to even consider removal of Grand Coulee Dam.

In advance, thank you for reading our enclosures and giving our concerns due consideration. If you have questions or want further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Enclosures (3)

cc: Clinton Administration
Northwest Congressional Delegation
Governors -- Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington
American Indian Tribes of the Columbia Basin
 
 

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