MURRAY-INSLEE SNAKE RIVER REPORT SAYS BREACHING DAMS WOULD COST THE PUBLIC OVER $27 BILLION
Washington Governor Jay Inslee and U.S. Senator Patty Murray released a draft report weighing the impacts of breaching the dams. The draft report is a cursory review at the benefits currently provided by the dams, and the actions that have been considered to replace those benefits if the dam were breached, it estimates that breaching dams and mitigating the loss of energy, irrigation and transportation benefits would cost between up to $27.2 billion.
The process of breaching the dams and the inevitable clean-up could cost between $1.2 to $2 billion, according to the Inslee-Murry report. The release of the draft report will begin a month-long public comment period that will end July 11. Inslee and Murray have said they are keeping an open mind, and that the final report will be used to inform the recommendations on whether the dams should be breached or retained. Breaching the dams would eliminate all commodity barging between the Tri-Cities and the Lewiston and Clarkston area, according to the report. Farmers around the Pacific Northwest rely on barges to move their wheat and breaching the dams would mean a heavy reliance on railroads and trucking instead. The report states that significant improvements to rail lines and roadways would be needed, and compensation for increased transportation costs, infrastructure maintenance and loss of jobs would need to be considered. Those improvements could cost between $542 million and $4.8 billion.
Breaching the dams also would impact the water supply for farmers who rely on reservoirs and elevated groundwater levels to irrigate their crops. In 2021, the combined production value of irrigated land along the Snake River was estimated to be nearly $338 million. The report states that a variety of replacement actions are possible, including deepening of wells, for an estimated cost between $188 million to $1 billion. The dams on the Snake River are part of a broader hydroelectric system along the Columbia River that provide power to residents in the Western Grid from Southern Canada to Northern Mexico. Replacement of energy would need to be in place prior to breaching the dams to avoid significant impacts and offsetting the loss of energy could cost anywhere from $8.3 billion to $18.6 billion.
Recreation on the Snake River also would be impacted. The dams support 2.6 million recreational visits annually, and the cruise industry along the Snake River had an economic impact of around $4 million in 2019, according to the report. Investment in new recreational amenities if the dams were breached and compensation for impacted industries would cost an estimated $425 million.
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