Oregon Gov. Kate Brown advocacy for the removal of four dams on the Lower Snake River has caused consternation and anger among a coalition of rural electrical co-ops and some Republican lawmakers.

In the letter to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, released Friday, Brown said that removing the “earthen portions” of the dams on the river in Washington would help the region’s flagging population of endangered salmon, a valuable food source for the similarly endangered Southern Resident killer whales of Puget Sound.

“The science is clear that removing the earthen portions of the four lower Snake River dams is the most certain and robust solution to Snake River salmon and steelhead recovery,” Brown wrote. “No other action has the potential to improve overall survival two- to three-fold and simultaneously address both the orca and salmon recovery dilemma.”

The dams provide renewable hydropower and irrigation and facilitate navigation of barge traffic from the mouth of the river upstream to Lewiston, Idaho. The dams, among other environmental factors, have also been blamed for depletion of native fish species. Salmon advocates have long called for breaching the dams.

In her letter, Brown said that she believes removing the dams is the best long-term solution. She wrote there is still much work to be done to “mitigate harm to other vital sectors,” including renewable power generation, water supplies for agriculture and navigation on the river.

The letter was met with swift pushback, first from Washington Republicans, who called the idea of breaching the dams “shocking and extreme,” then from the Oregon Rural Electrical Cooperative Association, which represents 18 small power providers that serve half a million Oregonians with hydroelectricity harvested from the dams.

Ted Case, executive director of the association, said the letter came as a shock.

“It is a new policy that they made with no consultation,” he said.

Among Case’s chief complaints is that he sees Brown’s most recent letter as a reversal to what she has told his organization in the past. In a July 2017 letter, Brown wrote that Oregon would look for ways to help aid struggling fish populations without breaching the dams.

“Oregon’s guiding principal has been ‘aggressive non-breach,’” Brown wrote. “Meaning we aggressively pursue strategies for fish recovery that are supported by the best available science, in lieu of breach of the dams.”

By Tuesday, Oregon Republicans issued their own rebuke, saying Brown’s stance on the Snake River dams runs contrary to the ongoing negotiations over a cap-and-trade bill intended to curb the state’s carbon emissions. Oregon’s Republican delegation fled the capitol last year to prevent a vote on a similar measure and have threatened to do the same this year.

“If cap and trade were really about reducing carbon emissions, the governor would not be taking an opposing position to that goal by seeking to get rid of four of the Snake River dams, which provide sustainable energy for Oregonians and reduce carbon,” said Senate Republican leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. of Grants Pass. “Cap and trade is not about the environment. It’s about money.”

Kate Kondayen, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Brown’s stance on the Snake River dams has been misconstrued.

“While the letter says the most certain and scientific way to recover salmon and benefit orcas is to remove the dams, it does not ‘call for’ tearing them out,” Kondayen said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Instead, Oregon is asserting that we see value in analyzing a future without the dams in the long term, but focusing any definitive next steps on working together to identify a viable path forward to that future with interim steps such as flexible spill agreements.”

The state of Washington is preparing a report on public opinion about breaching the dams, which is slated for release in early March.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048

@sfkale

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