Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers on Wednesday urged federal regulators to weigh in on the potential fallout of removing four hydropower dams in her state, a major goal for proponents of restoring Pacific Northwest salmon populations.
In a Tuesday letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, McMorris Rodgers and Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), chair of the Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee, asked the agency to review the Biden administration’s recent settlement agreement in a long-running legal battle over hydropower operations on the Snake and Columbia rivers.
“We are concerned that the Biden administration failed to consider the impact of dam breaches on electric reliability when conducting its secret negotiations,” McMorris Rodgers and Duncan wrote, referring to the settlement deal struck by the Nez Perce, Yakama, Warm Springs and Umatilla tribal nations, along Oregon and Washington state.
McMorris Rodgers and Duncan wrote
The White House announced the $1 billion settlement agreement in December, which creates a pathway to removing four structures: the Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams.
the $1 billion settlement agreement
