The prime cause of the salmon's demise is obvious — ^more than 

 90 percent of juvenile salmon die on their voyage to the ocean be- 

 cause of the dams. For 50 yeeirs, hydroelectric dams have driven 

 the economy of the Pacific Northwest. They have given us Hght, 

 heat, power, jobs, security and a future for our children. They have 

 done all this at a remarkably low cost and without the pollution 

 found with most other electrical generation. 



But that power, that economic engine of the Northwest, has not 

 come without costs. 



It is imperative that the entire region, that the people of the 

 Northwest— Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Montana— come to- 

 gether as a region to save this magnificent fish. Farmers, 

 irrigators, shippers, sportsmen, industry, recreational and elec- 

 tricity users — ^we must all be willing to sacrifice a Uttle now so that 

 we may save our Pacific Northwest heritage for our children. 



There is much debate about the best way to recover the wild 

 salmon and the economic effects of recovery plans. This will, and 

 should, be debated. We all must agree on one thing, however: We 

 cannot let these wild salmon become extinct on our watch. To allow 

 -them to go extinct is to admit that we cannot protect the resources 

 that make people want to Uve in this beautiful region. I am not 

 ready to admit that. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to the testimony of our 

 distinguished Attorney General as our first witness, and of course 

 the rest of our distinguished witnesses. 

 Again, thank you, Peter. 



Mr. DeFazio, I thank my colleague, who is one of the most 

 knowledgeable and hardest working members of the Natural Re- 

 sources Committee on a wide range of natural resource issues, and 

 I really welcome his presence here today to help us work our way 

 through what is a very, very contentious debate over how we can 

 best provide for a plentiful fiiture for our salmon. 



Just a couple of procedural things. First, we have set the time 

 limits for the witnesses; the time limits will be extraordinarily 

 strictly enforced. You will be basically allowed to finish a sentence 

 when the red light goes off. You know, I have had a number of peo- 

 ple say, well gee, they are at this point, they did not get to testify. 

 You know, we flew in from Washington last night and we have to 

 do another all-day hearing in Eugene tomorrow, and I have done 

 my best to accommodate the widest range of interests possible. You 

 know, we have included 16 people to testify, which is a lot to get 

 through in one day. 



What we will do is take your testimony and further thoughts in 

 writing, and we will leave the record open for two weeks, imless 



my coUeague has any objections 



Mr. LaRocco. No objection, Mr. Chairman. 

 Mr. DeFazio. Okay, so the written record will be left open for 2 

 weeks. 



I have read all the testimony that was submitted prior to yester- 

 day, and there are two laggards who did not, and I will make a 

 point when they testify, but what I would suggest the rest of you 

 do, since I have read it and I know Mr. LaRocco and his staff and 

 my staff are all famiHar with it, that you do your best to summa- 

 rize your most cogent points rather than reading something which 



