McMorris Rodgers to fight dam breach proposal
By Terry Murry on Friday, February 12th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WASHINGTON, D.C. – When U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson(R-Idaho Falls) proposed leaders from the Pacific Northwest create a measure that would see the four dams on the Lower Snake River breached, he stirred up a hornet’s nest. Leading the swarm is U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Spokane).
“Spending more than $33 billion to breach them, with no guarantee that doing so will actually restore salmon populations, is a drastic and fiscally irresponsible step to take” she said.
McMorris Rodgers said the dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers have allowed Eastern Washington to develop into a vital agricultural region that feeds the world and churns out hydroelectric power.
“The dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers provide 70 percent of Washington state’s energy, making them absolutely critical for reliable, sustainable power,” she said.
McMorris Rodgers is not alone. She said she will be bringing a resolution before Congress naming hydropower as an essential renewable energy resource. She said she will be joined in that resolution by U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Battle Ground), U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Sunnyside), and U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Meridien).
