Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
Print
E-Mail
tool name
closeTen years ago, thousands of people rallied on top of the cable bridge with large signs that said "Save Our Dams."
Today, we still are fighting that battle and have to continually remind others in the region of the benefits of the hydro system - transportation, irrigation, cheap renewable hydropower, recreation and more.
In recent news, U.S. District Court Judge James Redden made it clear that he thinks there is more work needed on the Biological Opinion (BiOp) that oversees the operation of the river system.
He concluded that breaching the four Snake River dams should still be a part of the equation.
Enough is enough.
The latest BiOp is the product of an unprecedented collaboration among scientists, fish managers from the federal government, Northwest tribes and the Northwest states.
It includes more funding, more actions and more cooperation for rebuilding fish runs than this region ever has seen.
Billions of dollars have been invested with more to be invested in the future. Families and businesses pay for this plan through their monthly electric bills. About 20 cents of every dollar Northwest consumers spend on electricity goes to help salmon.
These investments are working as fish recovery continues to improve.
Breaching the dams should not be an option.
It's time to take the destructive discussion out of the courtroomand put the constructive actions to work. The salmon can be protected without removing dams that pro-vide clean, renewable energy andare vital to our overall regionaleconomy.
Both the Benton and Franklin PUDs continue to support the BiOp. We urge the Obama administration and our legislators to stand behind the BiOp and seize this historic opportunity to put aside regional divisiveness so that we can continue with our salmon recovery efforts which are proven and successful.
* Jim Sanders is general manager of Benton PUD, and Ed Brost is general manager of Franklin PUD. For more information, visit www.nwriverpartners.org.
Editorials are the consensus of the Tri-City Herald editorial board.
Editorial board members are Rufus Friday, publisher; Chris Sivula, editorial page editor; Ken Robertson, executive editor; Matt Taylor, contributing editor; Lori Lancaster, editorial writer; Shelly Norman, editorial writer and Jack Briggs, retired publisher
@Nyx.CommentBody@