{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://newhouse.house.gov/media-center/weekly-columns-and-op-eds/column-federal-government-must-listen-local-community-snake", "COLUMN: Federal Government Must Listen to Local Community on Snake River Dams", "2016-11-28", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "WA", "Dan Newhouse", "N000189", "newhouse.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Hundreds of local residents showed up last week in Pasco for a debate that many thought had long been settled. We again find ourselves making the case that proposals to breach the Columbia and lower Snake River dams would hurt our local community, and negative impacts would far outweigh any benefit. I attended the meeting in Pasco to add my voice in strong opposition to proposals to remove the four dams. I was one voice among many, seeing firsthand the passionate feelings on the matter. Last week\u2019s meeting was a glaring example of the importance of local impact of proposed federal action being taken seriously.\nThe Lower Snake River dams are an irreplaceable source of energy-efficient and clean hydropower for the equivalent of 800,000 homes. A 2015 \u201creliability analysis\u201d conducted by Bonneville Power Administration found that replacing the lower Snake River dams with natural gas would increase the region\u2019s carbon dioxide emissions by between 2 and 2.6 million metric tons annually \u2013 the equivalent of adding 421,000 cars to our roads each and every year and at the annual cost of between $274 million and $372 million.\u00a0\nWithout the dams, our region would lose waterways that are critical for navigation. The region\u2019s agriculture economy \u2013 especially wheat growers that are far inland \u2013 would suffer. According to the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, moving the same amount of wheat by road or rail would require 137,000 semi-trucks or 23,900 railcars.\nFarmers and irrigators would lose access to water storage. We have seen the plight of agriculture communities in states like California that have grappled with diminishing access to water supplies. It boggles the mind that the federal government would intentionally impose similar struggles on our Pacific Northwest communities.\nThe most common reason to breach the dams is to save endangered salmon. I share the goal of ensuring safe fish passage, and ratepayers and taxpayers have spent billions of dollars to do just that. Survival rate for young salmon populations migrating downstream to the ocean through the dams stands at 97 percent, and fish ladders and turbine improvements \u2013 such as those recently made at Ice Harbor Dam \u2013 improve adult fish passage.\nThe most important consideration in any debate on the dams future must be the impact on local residents. Incredibly, the Environmental Impact Statement public scoping meeting had not even originally been scheduled for the Tri-Cities. I was able to request a meeting in our area, and I appreciate community groups that were supportive of this effort. In response, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to make this meeting happen, and hundreds of people were able to have their voices heard.\nStrong feelings remain on both sides of the debate, but the local community\u2019s input must be at the forefront. When the local community clearly relies on the dams\u2019 maintenance for our way of life, the key must be to achieve a balanced solution of what we have seen work in the past: investing in improving fish survival while maintaining the dams.\nIf you would like to have your say on the matter and add your voice to this debate, comments can be submitted on the scope of the planned study until January17 at\u00a0www.crso.info, by email to\u00a0comment@crso.info\u00a0or by mail to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CRSO EIS, P.O. Box 2870, Portland, OR, 97208-2870.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://newhouse.house.gov/media-center/weekly-columns-and-op-eds/column-federal-government-must-listen-local-community-snake"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.678932923823595, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}