Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
Democrat operative to lead effort to breach dams
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden Administration on Tuesday, June 18, announced the creation of a new Columbia River Task Force to guide efforts to breach dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.
Simultaneously, the administration released a Department of the Interior report finding that the dams are detrimental to American Indian tribes in the region.
The Biden Administration named Democrat operative Nik Blosser to lead the task force. Blosser is the former chief of staff for Oregon Governor Kate Brown and a former Biden Administration employee.
In addition to Blosser, the task force will include activists from the federal departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, who will work toward dam breaching under the guise of restoring wild salmon.
Meanwhile, the Biden Administration's newest report blames the dams — which provide power for most of the West Coast, flood control and recreation — for the decline in salmon and steelhead runs.
But that report is in conflict with a federal Government Accountability Office finding last December that blamed the salmon declination on pollution from Western Washington cities and counties.
The dams also provide for barges to move agricultural and timber products downriver to ports.
Secret pact
The creation of the task force and the report comes six months after the administration, the Inslee Administration and four tribal governments secretly colluded on plans to breach dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, publicly revealed the details of the secret meetings and agreement last November.
The so-called "six sovereigns" group entered the agreement into a federal court case Dec. 15, filed on behalf of the extreme activist group Earthjustice, as an attempted endrun around congressional authority over the dams.
Their agreement called for Lower Snake River "restoration" using vague langue on restoring salmon and steelhead runs and completing the “actions and investments necessary to secure continuity of services associated with Lower Snake River restoration prior to LRS dam breaching.”
The agreement also called for tribal governments to take over power generation services.
Under the secret agreement, the federal Department of Energy, USDA and other agencies would provide funds to tribes to create and manage new power generation systems, effectively handing over control of up to 3,000 MW of power generation to tribal managers.
Residents and non-tribal governments across Eastern Washington and North Idaho largely oppose dam breaching, as well as handing over control of the Snake River restoration and power generation to tribes, which do not have to answer directly to the American public.
Notably, none of the tribes in the agreement have reservations along the Snake River, though they would be given authority over its restoration and any power generation.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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