An editorial opinion in last week’s Los Angeles Times has endorsed Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson’s proposal to restore salmon in his state by breeching 4 dams on the lower Snake River. Historically, sockeye salmon would make a 900 mile journey to spawn in places like Redfish Lake (shown at left) – swimming first up the Columbia River, then the Snake River and finally up Idaho’s eponymous Salmon River.
Removing the Snake River dams is a principal focus of Patagonia’s “Damnation” (released in 2015). Opponents point to the hydropower production that would be lost (about 8000 gWh per year) as well as dams’ role in making a waterway for barge traffic to transport agricultural products from farms in eastern Washington.
The successful emergence of solar and wind technology is helping to make the loss of hydropower more palatable. The removal of four dams on the Klamath River along the California-Oregon border is expected to result in a loss of about 900 gWh per year, a small fraction of the Snake River value. The Klamath dam removal project seems to be on track and will perhaps be completed by 2024.
Restoring Hetch Hetchy is likely to result in a loss of about 350 gWh per year, as San Francisco’s Kirkwood powerplant would be inoperable in summer and fall. That’s less than half of the Klamath value and a small fraction of the Snake River value.
Restore Hetch Hetchy remains committed to a plan that replaces every kilowatt of power and every drop of water that the O’Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir currently make possible. The Snake and Klamath examples underscore that power replacement is eminently doable. For us the water side is trickier, largely due to California’s cattywampus water rights system – but we are confident it can be solved as well.
Kudos to Congressman Simpson for his courage to step forward with a provocative proposal. Who’s going to step forward for Hetch Hetchy?