Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/775473
48 POTATO GROWER | FEBRUARY 2017 Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In IRRIGATION | By Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association Trump urged to protect lower Snake River dams The Dam Truth Dozens of groups, organizations and decision makers are opposing breaching of the lower Snake River dams in Washington State and are urging that the Trump administration directly intervene and/ or convene a "God Squad" committee to protect the dams and put an end to discussions about breaching them. The request to the Trump administration comes on the heels of a recent ruling by federal Judge Michael Simon in Portland, Ore., in which he ordered that a new environmental study be done regarding the lower Snake River dams, after the federal government's latest plan for protecting threatened and endangered salmon indicated that breaching Snake River dams did not need to be considered and would cost at least $3 billion to taxpayers. Additionally, with President Trump having stated during his campaign that he will invest $1 trillion to improve the U.S.'s infrastructure (including transportation, clean water and a modern, reliable electricity grid), many hope that Trump will stop what would likely be a very expensive attempt to try to remove the lower Snake River dams, which have proven to be vital energy and transportation infrastructure to the western United States. In fact, a recent report from the Bonneville Power Administration highlighted the following benefits of the lower Snake River dams: • The four lower Snake River dams produce over 1,000 average megawatts of reliable, carbon-free energy—enough for over 800,000 average U.S. homes; • If the region were to replace the energy produced by the lower Snake dams, it would most likely be with fossil fuels and natural gas; Lake Bryan, a reservoir formed by the Little Goose Dam, provides irrigation water for thousands of acres of farmland in southeastern Washington. The dam is among four on the lower Snake River included in a court-ordered environmental impact study.