Economic Waste

Claims exaggerating the value of the lower Snake River dams have been made since they were conceived. Authorized on false economic assumptions, they have been wasting tax and ratepayer money ever since.

The Northwest public is told it would go dark in blackouts without these dams and they save the day during extreme events. But Bonneville and the region produce significant surplus energy that’s sold on the external market, often at a loss. The four dams can only produce a fraction of their rated capacity for a few hours at a time, except in spring when it’s not needed and they contribute to forced curtailment of wind power. Being “run of river”, not storage dams, they cannot save water for times of need.

Bonneville’s ascribed power value and sustained peaking in the operative 2020 EIS remains unverifiable. Data and analysis models are withheld. Battelle’s independent review concluded a likelihood of errors. Bonneville’s claim these dams can output 2,500 MW, 10 hours per day for 5 straight days has never occurred even in the most extreme times.

The LSRD lose millions of dollars annually for Bonneville Power Administration, which passes the costs on to consumers. Conditions on the Snake River limit their yield, and what they do produce is unstorable surplus–so that extra energy gets sold on the open market more often at a loss. Ratepayers pick up the bill, while BPA’s federal debt cap keeps getting raised.

Federal and ratepayer derived funds have never been enough to keep these four dams operating at the level of production their promised value was based on, leading to further degradation of turbines already past their life expectancy. Surplus power is continually sold out of region for whatever the market can bear while Bonneville, a federal nonprofit agency, does not allow viewing of the record.

The LSRD produce a fraction of their rated power capacity and barging sparsely uses the navigation channel, but the costs of operating, maintenance, so-called fish mitigation, illegal BiOp do-overs, planning and studying forums and NGO’s are paid in full, 365 days a year. This inevitably results in cost pressure on ratepayers, taxpayers and the public.

Bonneville claims the four dams pay their way and help keep electric rates low with their share of surplus sales revenue, however those numbers are withheld from public view. The law of economics is that oversupply lowers market prices and thus revenue. Since the energy production cost of the four dams is up to double that of Columbia River dams, the recipe is even worse. Were Bonneville or these dams in private or investor ownership, they’d have been retired and breached long ago, as went the Klamath dams. For decades, ratepayers captive to whims of the federal nonprofit Bonneville, have borne the cost of this long running bad business choice.

Nearly one third of Bonneville’s rates are associated with fish and wildlife costs. Much of this cost goes towards habitat restoration projects which will be ineffective until endangered Snake River stocks are recovered.

Associated costs of the four dams include fish passage construction and equipment, operations & maintenance, turbine rehabilitation, navigation and flow dredging, Lower Snake River Compensation Plan hatcheries, fish transport and endless studies. These costs will steeply rise the longer these aging dams are kept in operation.

These dams are supported by a lobbying industry that persuades politicians and public servants to ignore legal obligations and shirk their fiscal responsibility to Americans. Lobbying and consultant fees for media campaigns, relations, and dam preserving legislation are paid by captive payers in utility and trade group arrangements. State and federal governments are charged with protecting wildlife and the public interest. The public is footing the bill to destroy both, when breaching the lower Snake dams would instead cost less and yield more with less effort.