A message from Jim Waddell about the Chinook salmon season closure

Jim’s message is in response to this Oregon Fish and Wildlife Facebook post:

Folks, once again the Feds have got you guys blaming each other, sea lions, birds, you name it.  There is a solution waiting in the wings that the Corps of Engineers, BPA and NOAA Fisheries have been hiding because they want to spend another five years and at least a 100 million dollars developing a new Environmental Impact Statement for operating all the Federal Dams in the Basin.  This is just another ruse hiding in the skin of a response to Judge Simmons rebuke of their BiOp for salmon recovery on the Snake, primarily because of the four Lower Snake River Dams.  The truth is, there is an existing EIS with dam breaching in it that is supposed to go into effect if the other efforts in the EIS failed.  Of course they did after spending nearly a billion of your tax money on just the 4 dams.  The Corps can, without asking for Congressional Authorization or new appropriations, start breaching the first dam in December! Yes, that is in a couple months, but they don’t have the guts to do it without some friendly, or not, pressure from the politicians in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  So far none have picked up the phone to even inquire if this is possible.  Please vent your anger at these politicians for failing to demand the Corps do this now instead of wasting more money and another decade.  There will be nothing left for anybody or anything if we don’t breach now.  And forget about the power and navigation benefits from these four dams, there are none. Visit the damsense.org website for more info on how this can be done. Also our Facebook page.

Jim Waddell

Civil Engineer, PE, USACE Ret