The cost of breaching is affordable and the funds are available – Congress not needed. The infrastructure can be decommissioned and secured by creating a channel bypass, washing away the earthen berms around the concrete structures. This will allow salmon the cooler water and free-flowing access they need.
Under the NW Power Act, the cost can be paid via the Bonneville Fund and Columbia River Fish Mitigation Program, which offers a 22% credit against the BPA treasury debt. After deliberately wasting decades and billions, BPA and its ratepayers would end up saving money by breaching now.
Laws under which dams can be challenged, including treaties as ethical and legal claim.
The White House and the Army Corp of Engineers already have the authority and duty to act in accordance with existing research and pending lawsuits. In addition to subverting tribal sovereignty, the LSRD are out of compliance with ACOE’s own mandate, the Northwest Power Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act.
The Corps can use their own 2002 Environmental Impact Statement with an updated Record of Decision (ROD) and put the Lower Snake River Dams into “non-operational” status without congressional approval.
The Breach
The cost of breaching is affordable and the funds are available – Congress not needed. The infrastructure can be decommissioned and secured by creating a channel bypass, washing away the earthen berms around the concrete structures. This will allow salmon the cooler water and free-flowing access they need.
Under the NW Power Act, the cost can be paid via the Bonneville Fund and Columbia River Fish Mitigation Program, which offers a 22% credit against the BPA treasury debt. After deliberately wasting decades and billions, BPA and its ratepayers would end up saving money by breaching now.
The Laws
Laws under which dams can be challenged, including treaties as ethical and legal claim.
The Authority
The White House and the Army Corp of Engineers already have the authority and duty to act in accordance with existing research and pending lawsuits. In addition to subverting tribal sovereignty, the LSRD are out of compliance with ACOE’s own mandate, the Northwest Power Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act.
The Corps can use their own 2002 Environmental Impact Statement with an updated Record of Decision (ROD) and put the Lower Snake River Dams into “non-operational” status without congressional approval.
Articles and Documents
Summary of Key Executive Branch Considerations for 2016 Breach on Lower Granite Dam Followed by Remaining 3 Lower Snake River Dams each Year
Prepared by Jim Waddell The operable Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for these four projects/dams contains dam breaching as the only remaining alternative. Given the Courts rejections over the last 14 years of all the Biological Opinions that were written to support non-breach alternatives in this EIS, the only alternative that
Using the 2002 EIS to Breach the Dams
The Army Corps of Engineers Is Within Its Authority to Breach the Lower Snake River Dams this Year Using the 2002 Environmental Impact Statement ( EIS ) Using the 2002 EIS to breach the 4 lower Snake River dams Printable PDF In the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under which
Update: 5 Means for Breaching the Lower Snake River Dams
October 2018 Prepared by Jim Waddell This paper outlines five existing, essential components or “means” which the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) can utilize to immediately breach the four Lower Snake River Dams (LSRDs). In doing so, the Corps and BPA will avoid financial
Five Means for Breaching 4 Lower Snake River Dams
September 2017 Prepared by Jim Waddell This paper lays out five existing essential components or means that the US Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) can utilize immediately to avoid further financial and biological losses created by the four Lower Snake River Dams (4 LSRDs).
The US President and Army Corps’ Discretion and Authority with Regard to Executive Action in Furtherance of Breaching the Lower Snake River Dams
Spring 2022 Prepared by Elizabeth Dunne This article takes an in depth look at the legal landscape applicable to the exercise of executive branch authority in the context of breaching the four dams on the lower Snake River. It demonstrates how executive authority can play an important role when it
Breaching the Snake River Dams without new Congressional Appropriations
August 2024 It is a common misconception that the four lower Snake River dams cannot be breached without new Congressional appropriations. To the contrary, the Bonneville Power Administration can use the Northwest Power Act, 16 U.S.C. §839–839h, to fund breaching of the lower Snake River dams. Learn how by reading
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