Today, the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held an oversight hearing on the Biden administration’s recent attempts to eliminate the Lower Snake River dams. Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) issued the following statement in response:

"Today’s Congressional hearing called out the Biden Administration for engaging in secret discussions to breach the four lower Snake River dams, to impose upon the people of the northwest billions in costs to replace thousands of megawatts of clean reliable power generated by these dams, and, if that was not enough, to force the people of the northwest to inequitably pay billions in higher utility rates under the guise of building fish runs to levels not seen in centuries."

Background

The Biden administration’s abuse of the administrative process has advanced an agenda of economic and community destruction while doing nothing to promote the health of fish species. This has been exercised through the use of “sue and settle” tactics, the selective use of science to advance political agendas and the failure to defend the interests of the Pacific Northwest. A recent leak of a draft mediation document on November 27, 2023 has also proved troubling. This document showed that the Biden administration is not only laying the groundwork for breaching the Lower Snake River dams, driving up energy costs, but also establishing a plan that could destroy the capabilities of the entire Federal Columbia River Power System.

The environmental and economic benefits of the Lower Snake River dams are clear. These dams have the capacity to supply carbon-free baseload energy. During periods of high demand, such as severe heat or prolonged winter cold snaps, the dams help to keep the Northwest power system reliable, even during emergencies.

The Lower Snake River dams play a critical role in reducing emissions, by barging between 50 and 60 million tons of cargo through the river system annually. In 2019, it would have taken 150,784 semi trucks or 39,204 rail cars to move the cargo that was barged on the Snake River.

Despite the continuous improvements to the Lower Snake River dams, litigious activist groups continue to focus on removing these four dams. In 2016, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) estimated replacing the dams would increase power costs by $274 million to $372 million annually. Six years later, BPA commissioned a study by the San Francisco environmental consulting firm Energy + Environmental Economics which concluded the cost of replacing the output from these dams would range from $415 million to $860 million per year through 2045.

Earlier this year, committee members traveled to Richland, Wash. and held a field hearing on the importance of these dams to river commerce and reliable power.