Congressional committee leads fiery Tri-Cities hearing on Snake River dam breaching

About 400 Tri-Citians got a riveting lesson on the fast-paced nature of Congressional hearings and political point making in Richland on Monday.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, welcomed three fellow Republicans to the Mid-Columbia for a high-profile event that aimed to draw attention to the dangers of breaching the four lower Snake River dams to protect fish.

The small group toured Ice Harbor Dam in the morning, followed by a highly-choreographed “field hearing” at Richland High School in the afternoon.

The event was an official hearing of the House Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries.

It was open to the public but did not include public comments.

The agenda described the proceedings as a look at “The Northwest at risk: the environmentalists’ effort to destroy navigation, transportation and access to reliable power.”

U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon, the subcommittee’s chair, said the stated outcome was to call out the Biden Administration on its pro-breaching agenda and to challenge the secrecy driving a legal process he believes is cutting Congress out of its rightful decision-making role.

“The hearing will establish this panel has no enthusiasm for a breach or draw down,” Bentz said at the outset.

Bentz and Newhouse were joined by Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and Mike Collins of Georgia.

Collins, a trucking business owner, was elected to Congress in 2022. He charmed the crowd with homespun jokes — “Y’all got an accent!” — and colorful jabs at the Biden Administration, which is “pressing a left wing social agenda down our throats.”

All subcommittee members were invited to Richland, as was U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, the Idaho Republican who developed a rival plan to save fish by replacing the benefits of the dams.

Bentz led the fiery two-hour session by peppering witnesses representing federal agencies with questions about the closed-door negotiations between the agencies and other stakeholders, including tribes and environmental groups.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon of Oregon stayed a federal lawsuit over the dams in 2021 pending mediation to attempt to find a solution.

The deadline for the confidential negotiations to wrap up is in August.

9 witnesses testify

Bentz said Congress, which has authority over the dams, is being excluded.

“We are here to find out what is going on and to shine a light on what is going on,” Bentz said.

The hearing itself covered familiar ground, with no major revelations.

Supporters of breaching the dams — Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite — want to protect endangered salmonids, many of them listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Opponents call it madness to consider removing infrastructure that provides electricity, irrigation and navigation.

Kyle Smith, Snake River director for American Rivers, was disappointed by the one-sided hearing, calling it a “step backwards” from efforts to find common ground.

“I think it was a rehash of a bunch of common talking points that we’ve heard many times before,” Smith said.

David Welch, president of Kintama Research Services in Canada, was one of nine witnesses called to testify. Welch said too little is known about the conditions in the ocean to blame declining fish runs on dams.

The other witnesses were Beth Coffey, Northwest program director for the U.S. Army Corps; Jennifer Quan, regional administrator for NOAA; John Hairston, administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration; Rick Dunn, general manager of Benton Public Utility District; Alex McGregor, president of the McGregor Co. in Colfax; Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center, Scott Corbitt, general manager of the Port of Lewiston, and Michelle Hennings of Washington Association of Wheat Growers.

McMorris Rogers, the Eastern Washington representative who became chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce when control of the House shifted to a Republican majority in January, said the region needs more power, not less.

Energy, shipping demands

The dams have a combined capacity of about 3,000 megawatts, though they run at about 1,000 megawatts, rising to 2,000 in high demand periods, such as when California is experiencing a heatwave.

“Without them, we’re in big trouble,” McMorris Rodgers said.

Hennings, of the wheat growers association, said disrupting the Snake River would be catastrophic to the 4,000-plus wheat producers who rely on barges to carry their product to ports and on the pools behind the dams for irrigation and to support aquifers.

Hennings said 10% of U.S. wheat exports pass through the dams and couldn’t be shifted to rail or trucks. The loss of capacity could hurt U.S. trade relationships.

Wheat growers believe the key to salmon recovery is increased investment in toxin reduction, predator control and fish passage, Hennings added.

Corbitt, with the Port of Lewiston, said the Columbia Snake system is the third largest grain corridor in the world.

Lewiston, which sits above Lower Granite Dam, relies on the dam infrastructure for its existence. The community feels unseen in the Snake River dam debate.

“My request is simple, that Congress not consider us expendable,” Corbitt said.

The Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition said it was disappointed that eight of the nine witnesses represent industrial use of the river system and that none of the 50 tribes that call the Northwest home were included.

“The science today is clear: restoring the lower Snake River by removing its four federal dams is an essential cornerstone of any credible regional salmon recovery,” it said.

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