WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT SPILLING WATER OVER COLUMBIA AND SNAKE RIVER DAMS TO HELP ENDANGERED SALMON?
OLYMPIA, WA — This is the question the Washington State Department of Ecology plans to consider next week. The National Marine Fisheries Service has applied for environmental permits to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to spill excess water over four dams on the lower Columbia River and four dams on the Snake River. The Chelan and Grant County Public Utility Districts will be applying for similar requests concerning two dams on the middle Columbia River. “The spilling of the water helps to get juvenile fish out to the ocean with less fish going through hydro-electric turbines. Although spilling does pose a threat to fish, it appears to be one of the safest methods along with barging the fish,” said Mike Llewelyn, Ecology’s water quality program manager. Going to the ocean is a natural process for t0he endangered and threatened sockeye and chinook salmon. The path they travel–through or around hydro-electric dams to get to the ocean–is not. This past year, the Washington State Depar
