||| FROM LIN LAUGHY via HEATHER NICHOLSON |||


According to the Inslee-Murray Lower Snake River Dams (LSRDs) Benefit Replacement Report, power generated by the LSRDs must be replaced before these four dams can be breached.

In its 2021 Power Plan (2021-2026) the Northwest Power and Conservation Council reported that between 2018 and 2028, coal-fired power generation capacity serving the Pacific Northwest would decline from 7,000 average Megawatts (aMW) to 2,400 aMW. Four coal-fired plants were shuttered in 2020 alone. The Council’s projected loss of 4,600 aMW represents the equivalent capacity of 6 LSR dams.

No governor or U.S. senator claimed this disappearing power must be replaced before the coal plants could be closed.

When energy suppliers identify a future need for additional power, they often post a “request for proposals” (RFP). In 2020, for example, PacificCorp requested bids for 4,300 aMW of renewable energy resources available by 2024. Bidders responded with proposed projects totaling 36,000 aMW—eight times the requested supply!

Bonneville Power Administration markets the power generated by the LSRDs. If Bonneville posted an RFP for renewable energy equivalent to LSRDs’ power production, that power would soon be replaced. The cost to taxpayers and electricity ratepayers would be well below the cost of keeping the LSRDs and paying for BPA’s Fish and Wildlife program. The LSRDs could then be breached, and wild Snake River salmon and steelhead could begin a path to recovery.


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