RvW
01-12-2003, 05:58 PM
Take a moment, skim through the following article, and send a quik email to the address at the bottom. The meeting is Tuesday so dont wait!
Thanks to Ryan Hunter and TGF
WILD SALMON, WATER, AND THE NORTHWEST POWER PLANNING COUNCIL A Council Proposal Turns Back the Clock on Salmon Recovery
Background:
Congress created the Northwest Power Planning Council (Council) in 1980 to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife in the Columbia and Snake River Basin, while seeking to balance environmental and energy needs. A recently released proposal by the Council, however, attempts to tip that balance further away from fish and wildlife by recommending significant reductions in the water available for salmon, water that salmon need.
The Council's "Draft Mainstem Amendments" is an attempt to modify part of their overall Fish and Wildlife Plan so that Columbia and Snake River dams are operated in a way that: 1) reduces water flow for salmon in the crucial spring and summer migration months, and 2) questions the validity and effectiveness of "spill" - a method of helping young salmon get past dams by avoiding deadly turbines. Spill means literally spilling water - and young salmon along with it - over the dams. The Council instead recommends that more salmon and steelhead be siphoned from the river and transported around the dams in barges and trucks, a strategy that has failed for over 25 years.
The "Mainstem Amendments" is just the latest example of the Council's long history of disregarding its salmon obligations. This draft proposal to slash the already-small amount of water Columbia and Snake River salmon get is scientifically unsound, illegal, fiscally wasteful, and contrary to the repeatedly-expressed wisdom and wish of the people of the Northwest. Salmon need water. Here are just a few examples of the proposal's shortcomings:
continued from column 1
1. FISH NEED WATER!
The Council's recommendations turns back the clock 20 years to recall the old, worn-out debate that salmon don't need water.
A strong flow of water can help young salmon in several ways. Increasing flow improves river speed, helping to "flush" young fish downstream and helps the fish avoid predators. Water flow can also help prevent high water temperatures that can be fatal to both adult and juvenile fish. A strong water flow has also been shown to help increase the health of the Columbia River estuary - where young salmon rest before entering the ocean and where adult salmon rest before heading upstream to spawn.
Federal, state, and tribal biologists, and even the Council's own scientific advisory board, have all confirmed the biological importance of spill and flow. Yet the Council ignores this hard scientific evidence and argues that salmon don't need water.
2. COUNCIL IGNORES OREGON
The State of Oregon submitted a plan to the Council that actually took a step in the right direction and called for the BPA to increase water flows and spill for salmon recovery. The Council rejected the plan in favor of its current draconian draft amendment and has refused to even allow Oregon's proposal to be on the floor for debate during the coming public hearings. Oregon needs to be treated fairly and Oregon's common sense plan should be the Council's recommended position.
3. TRUCKING FISH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
The Council's proposal would require barging more fish around the dams, a failed recovery strategy. Putting more fish in barges is also inconsistent with the Council's position that barging should be an "interim" strategy while river conditions are improved.
4. THIS PROPOSAL VIOLATES LAWS
The Council's proposal violates its legal obligations under the Northwest Power Planning Act by ignoring the best scientific recommendations of the region's federal, state, and tribal fisheries scientists. The Council's proposal reads more like a wish list for electricity utilities and industrial water users than a salmon recovery plan. Moreover, the Council's proposal directly contradicts the federal Salmon Plan, which calls for increases in both water flow increases and "spill" for salmon. The Council's proposed changes would weaken an already anemic federal effort to recover imperiled salmon and steelhead. With it's growing record of failure, and the disregard for the law, one must ask: "exactly who is the Council representing?"
5. SALMON MEAN JOBS
The Power Council is ignoring the many men and women of the Pacific Northwest whose livelihood depends on salmon. Salmon means jobs and without water in the rivers, the Council will be hurting working families.
6. PROPOSAL NEEDLESSLY PITS SALMON AGAINST ENERGY NEEDS
At nearly every turn, the Council's proposal would eliminate measures to protect and restore wild salmon in favor of ramping up hydroelectric energy generation. But the Council is required by law to assure an adequate "power supply," not an adequate "hydropower supply." There are multitudes of alternative energy sources, including vast untapped potential in the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy to meet the region's future energy needs. These two strategies are affordable and will reduce the pressure on the Columbia and Snake rivers to generate electricity. Currently, however, there is plenty of energy produced to meet our needs, as the Council has recognized. There is no justification for ramping up hydroelectric production by a paltry .5% at the expense of salmon.
7. IT'S THE DAMS, STUPID
The surest, most cost-effective way for the Council to perform its duty of enhancing fish and wildlife in the Columbia and Snake River basin is to recommend removing the 4 lower Snake River dams. And as the RAND report showed months ago, we can remove those dams without harming the economy or our energy needs. In fact, we could create nearly 15,000 new long-term jobs in the region.
If the Power Council continues down the destructive path of sacrificing salmon for industry wishes, Northwest citizens must speak up and demand accountability. If the Council adopts this proposal on top of its past failures, it will be delivering a message to the people of the Northwest, congress, and the courts that it has abandoned its mandate to protect and restore salmon!
The Power Council's Draft "Mainstem Amendments" is open to public comment through January 14, 2003.
Please send your comments to:
Mark Walker, Public Affairs, Northwest Power Planning
Council
851 SW 6th Ave., Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97204
comments@nwppc.org
[ 01-12-2003, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: cirrhosis-of-the-river ]
Thanks to Ryan Hunter and TGF
WILD SALMON, WATER, AND THE NORTHWEST POWER PLANNING COUNCIL A Council Proposal Turns Back the Clock on Salmon Recovery
Background:
Congress created the Northwest Power Planning Council (Council) in 1980 to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife in the Columbia and Snake River Basin, while seeking to balance environmental and energy needs. A recently released proposal by the Council, however, attempts to tip that balance further away from fish and wildlife by recommending significant reductions in the water available for salmon, water that salmon need.
The Council's "Draft Mainstem Amendments" is an attempt to modify part of their overall Fish and Wildlife Plan so that Columbia and Snake River dams are operated in a way that: 1) reduces water flow for salmon in the crucial spring and summer migration months, and 2) questions the validity and effectiveness of "spill" - a method of helping young salmon get past dams by avoiding deadly turbines. Spill means literally spilling water - and young salmon along with it - over the dams. The Council instead recommends that more salmon and steelhead be siphoned from the river and transported around the dams in barges and trucks, a strategy that has failed for over 25 years.
The "Mainstem Amendments" is just the latest example of the Council's long history of disregarding its salmon obligations. This draft proposal to slash the already-small amount of water Columbia and Snake River salmon get is scientifically unsound, illegal, fiscally wasteful, and contrary to the repeatedly-expressed wisdom and wish of the people of the Northwest. Salmon need water. Here are just a few examples of the proposal's shortcomings:
continued from column 1
1. FISH NEED WATER!
The Council's recommendations turns back the clock 20 years to recall the old, worn-out debate that salmon don't need water.
A strong flow of water can help young salmon in several ways. Increasing flow improves river speed, helping to "flush" young fish downstream and helps the fish avoid predators. Water flow can also help prevent high water temperatures that can be fatal to both adult and juvenile fish. A strong water flow has also been shown to help increase the health of the Columbia River estuary - where young salmon rest before entering the ocean and where adult salmon rest before heading upstream to spawn.
Federal, state, and tribal biologists, and even the Council's own scientific advisory board, have all confirmed the biological importance of spill and flow. Yet the Council ignores this hard scientific evidence and argues that salmon don't need water.
2. COUNCIL IGNORES OREGON
The State of Oregon submitted a plan to the Council that actually took a step in the right direction and called for the BPA to increase water flows and spill for salmon recovery. The Council rejected the plan in favor of its current draconian draft amendment and has refused to even allow Oregon's proposal to be on the floor for debate during the coming public hearings. Oregon needs to be treated fairly and Oregon's common sense plan should be the Council's recommended position.
3. TRUCKING FISH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
The Council's proposal would require barging more fish around the dams, a failed recovery strategy. Putting more fish in barges is also inconsistent with the Council's position that barging should be an "interim" strategy while river conditions are improved.
4. THIS PROPOSAL VIOLATES LAWS
The Council's proposal violates its legal obligations under the Northwest Power Planning Act by ignoring the best scientific recommendations of the region's federal, state, and tribal fisheries scientists. The Council's proposal reads more like a wish list for electricity utilities and industrial water users than a salmon recovery plan. Moreover, the Council's proposal directly contradicts the federal Salmon Plan, which calls for increases in both water flow increases and "spill" for salmon. The Council's proposed changes would weaken an already anemic federal effort to recover imperiled salmon and steelhead. With it's growing record of failure, and the disregard for the law, one must ask: "exactly who is the Council representing?"
5. SALMON MEAN JOBS
The Power Council is ignoring the many men and women of the Pacific Northwest whose livelihood depends on salmon. Salmon means jobs and without water in the rivers, the Council will be hurting working families.
6. PROPOSAL NEEDLESSLY PITS SALMON AGAINST ENERGY NEEDS
At nearly every turn, the Council's proposal would eliminate measures to protect and restore wild salmon in favor of ramping up hydroelectric energy generation. But the Council is required by law to assure an adequate "power supply," not an adequate "hydropower supply." There are multitudes of alternative energy sources, including vast untapped potential in the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy to meet the region's future energy needs. These two strategies are affordable and will reduce the pressure on the Columbia and Snake rivers to generate electricity. Currently, however, there is plenty of energy produced to meet our needs, as the Council has recognized. There is no justification for ramping up hydroelectric production by a paltry .5% at the expense of salmon.
7. IT'S THE DAMS, STUPID
The surest, most cost-effective way for the Council to perform its duty of enhancing fish and wildlife in the Columbia and Snake River basin is to recommend removing the 4 lower Snake River dams. And as the RAND report showed months ago, we can remove those dams without harming the economy or our energy needs. In fact, we could create nearly 15,000 new long-term jobs in the region.
If the Power Council continues down the destructive path of sacrificing salmon for industry wishes, Northwest citizens must speak up and demand accountability. If the Council adopts this proposal on top of its past failures, it will be delivering a message to the people of the Northwest, congress, and the courts that it has abandoned its mandate to protect and restore salmon!
The Power Council's Draft "Mainstem Amendments" is open to public comment through January 14, 2003.
Please send your comments to:
Mark Walker, Public Affairs, Northwest Power Planning
Council
851 SW 6th Ave., Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97204
comments@nwppc.org
[ 01-12-2003, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: cirrhosis-of-the-river ]