Bentz demands White House release information on plan to replace lower Snake River dams
By Joe Hathaway on Tuesday, April 9th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario) has sent a letter to the Biden Administration, demanding information about its plans to replace the four lower Snake River dams.
In a letter sent to U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, Bentz, along with Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) asked the White House for more information on President Joe Biden’s proposal to breach the four lower Snake River dams. Both GOP congressmen sit on the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The letter comes after the Biden administration announced last year it would spend more than $1 billion over the next decade to help recover depleted salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest while maintaining the hydropower and other energy benefits of the four dams.
Although the administration has stopped short of calling for the full removal of the dams, many opponents of the plan have said breaching the dams would open the door to their eventual dismantling.
“These dams provide irreplaceable benefits not only to the ratepayers of Oregon, but to the entire Western US,” Bentz said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. “The planned removal of these dams by the Biden Admin is a direct attack on ratepayers, clean energy production, and navigation in the Northwest.”
As part of the letter, the lawmakers are requesting forthcoming information from related agencies to the Office of Management and Budget in support of the Biden administration’s plan to replace the dams.
Find the full text of the letter below:
