Texas outage shows power issues must be answered if Snake dams went away | Editorial

While an epic winter storm and devastating power outage takes a toll in Texas and other parts of the country, the push to remove the Snake River dams and the clean energy they provide rages on in Washington state.

Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

Snow dumped on the Tri-Cities this week, causing school delays, car accidents, stalled arrival of more COVID-19 vaccine and some closed services.

But at least people in our community had power, heat, food and water, which in large part is because the Northwest’s complex hydroelectric power system helps keep the lights on even in extreme weather.

Washington state provides more hydroelectric power than any other state in the country. It’s reliable and it’s carbon-free, but too often it is taken for granted.

If anyone were to suggest removing wind turbines or solar panels from the Northwest power grid, people would “wig out,” said Todd Myers, the Washington Policy Center’s environmental director.

But people continue to seriously consider taking out the four lower Snake River dams without fully realizing their critical importance to meeting the region’s power needs.

That’s because the dams are blamed for reducing salmon runs, even though studies by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show time and again that removing the dams would make a negligible improvement in salmon numbers.

Too many other factors — like ocean conditions and pollution in Puget Sound — also contribute to the dwindling fish populations. Even undammed rivers like the Fraser River in British Columbia have seen significant drops in salmon runs.

But the debate continues. Congressman Mike Simpson, a Republican representing the eastern side of Idaho, released a $33 billion proposal to breach the Snake River dams and compensate stakeholders for the loss of benefits the dams provide.

It’s a thoughtful and audacious piece of legislation that likely will attract support from powerful federal and state lawmakers who desperately want to save our beloved salmon.

But now is a good time to look to the south and see what can happen if there is not enough power to meet demand during an unprecedented event like the winter storm that’s ravaged Texas.

Millions of people suffered in the cold and dark with no idea of when their electricity might return. The extreme weather shut down the state. Roads were closed, flights canceled, water and food supplies stopped and people were cut off from one another.

The personal stories are heartbreaking. A mother and her young daughter reportedly died of carbon monoxide after they left a car running in the garage in order to heat their home. Another family in Texas was forced to ration their 5-month-old baby’s oxygen tank.

Grocery stores have had to close because of lack of power or too few workers. Visitors have been stranded, including Richland native Tressia Nowlin, who arrived in Texas on Feb. 11 to represent Washington state in the United States of America’s Ms. Pageant.

She told the Tri-City Herald Thursday that her hotel has power, but no running water.

“We got the last case of water, it was $15,” she told the Herald. “Every place is running out of water. We have Cheetos from going to 7-Eleven. Nothing is left on the shelves. Things go really fast when people are scared.”

Texas is considered a major power producer all by itself and is not connected to other parts of the electrical grid. The state produces plenty of electricity and natural gas under normal circumstances, but power companies were not prepared for the severe cold snap.

Temperatures dipped so low they froze natural gas supply lines and stopped wind turbines from spinning. The power supply couldn’t keep up with demand and that triggered rolling blackouts, which left millions of people shivering in the dark.

Myers said the four Lower Snake River dams produce about one-third more energy than all the wind in the state combined. It’s also available with a flip of a switch, unlike wind and solar, which are erratic and unreliable in extreme conditions.

As the debate over the dams continues, we need to remember what happened in Texas and not take our hydropower for granted. The energy piece of the Snake River dam debate is critical as we discuss the region’s power needs in the future.

This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 12:53 PM.