May 15, 2008 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bill Sali today argued against breaching dams in the Pacific Northwest, noting that such a proposal would hurt the economy and the environment for no purpose other than placating extreme environmentalists.

Sali made his remarks during a hearing of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, of which he is a member.

“What we have before us today is blatant politicization of science,” said Sali.  “I am disappointed that the tone of this hearing has taken from the outset -- specifically, the intentional commingling of issues to get a desired result.  This is the consequence of a few advocacy groups being opportunistic instead of realistic.  These organizations are frantically trying to take advantage of a crisis situation so that they can capitalize on the misfortunes of others.

“Not only have the taxpayer funded studies not supported breaching the dams to increase the Salmon runs in the Columbia River, but in fact there are significant environmental impacts if the dams were breached—significant environmental impacts—of which my constituents will bear the brunt,” Sali said.

Sali said that if the dams are breached, alternative transportation would have to be found to haul freight.  Today 1,600 million trip-ton-mills were transported on the Snake River to or from Lewiston, Idaho.  If the dams were removed, the primary source of transportation available, due to tight rail capacity will be transportation by truck. 

The non-partisan Congressional Research Service has estimated that moving that barge freight to truck would increase carbon emissions by up to 65,000 metric tons per year.  That is just the increased CO2 emissions, and does take into consideration the safety and economic concerns.  Sali said his constituents will face increased congestion on Idaho roads.

“More striking, however, is the significant increase in carbon emissions from replacement of the electricity from the four hydro-power dams.  If that energy source was replaced by coal fired power plants we would move from a carbon-free power source to one that would emit approximately 9 million metric tons of CO2 per year.  Carbon emissions that many assert contribute to climate change, and thus to ocean warming— same ocean warming the witnesses today have testified affect the Salmon.  This sounds counter-productive to me,” the Congressman said. 

Sali has been a long-time advocate for saving salmon stocks in Idaho while maintaining the Northwest’s dam infrastructure.  He is the author of H.Con.Res.184, which asks Congress to oppose removal of the dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers and recognize the environmental benefits of keeping the dams in place. The Congressman’s resolution notes the positive impact that the dams have on commerce, agriculture, recreation and power generation and argues that removing the dams would prove costly and would do nothing to benefit salmon populations that travel upriver to spawn.

The resolution, introduced in July 2007, also points out that removing the dams would have negative environmental effects because the power now generated by the dams “would require building or buying energy generated from coal or natural gas plants, which are far more expensive and produce ‘greenhouse gases’ which some feel contribute to global warming.’”

In addition, the Idaho Congressman last year won overwhelming bipartisan approval in the House for his amendment in support of hydropower as America looks for new sources of energy. The House voted 402-9 in favor of Sali's measure, which calls for the development of clean, consistent, pollution free large and small scale hydropower. Without Sali's amendment, the legislation made no reference to hydropower.