GOP: Biden pulling a fast one on Snake River dams' fate

At a House hearing, Republicans said they are concerned the Biden administration would bypass Congress in the dispute over breaching Pacific Northwest dams.

Republican lawmakers accused the Biden administration Tuesday of seeking to circumvent Capitol Hill in its bid to breach a series of dams on the Lower Snake River, at the same time dismissing the White House’s nods to congressional authority as little more than a “red herring.”

Oregon Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz leveled the allegations during a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries hearing that focused on the future of four dams on the Snake River, which are at the center of a dispute over efforts to restore the region’s endangered salmon and steelhead.

“I'm annoyed by this constant reference to the fact that it's Congress and only Congress that can authorize breaching the dams,” Bentz said. "Because I take that as a red herring.”

Bentz, who chairs the panel, claimed he had seen documents suggesting a federal judge could order the lowering of pools behind the four structures at the center of the dispute — the Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams — rendering them unable to produce hydropower.

“It irks me that there's this constant repetition of the fact that everything's fine because Congress will have to act when, in point of fact, there's already memos floating about that suggest that the dams can be basically prevented from operating through judicial fiat,” Bentz added.

Those four structures are part of a long-running legal battle over hydropower operations on the Snake and Columbia rivers. A lawsuit filed by tribal nations and conservation advocates challenges the 2020 federal operating plan for a total of 14 facilities.

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At the hearing, California Rep. Jared Huffman (D) criticized the Republican lawmakers' decision to publish the confidential documents, asserting the move amounted to “an apparent attempt to hobble settlement negotiations.”

“We're on the verge of losing iconic salmon runs. There are orca whale populations that will blink out,” Huffman said.

Huffman also panned multiple Republican lawmakers who raised concerns about eliminating the hydropower provided by four dams, which amounts to about 15 percent of the Bonneville Power Administration’s overall 1,200-megawatt generating capacity.

“We just heard some interesting hyperbolic flourishes about making human sacrifice and lords of scarcity and women freezing their eggs because of radical environmental policies,” Huffman said.

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By:  JENNIFER YACHNIN
Source: E&E Daily

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