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DEFAZIO HEARING 

 ORAL TESTIMONY 



Introduction 



My name is Don Godard. I am Manager of Grant County PUD. With me are Jim 

 Davis, Commissioner of Douglas County PUD and Sonny Smart, General Manager of 

 Chelan County PUD. Between us we own and operate 5 dams on the Columbia River 

 downstream of Grand Coulee and upstream of the Tri Cities. 



We are part of the Hydroelectric System created by Senator McNary , Senator 

 Wayne Morse, Senator Scoop Jackson and Senator Warren Magnuson. The stewardship 

 of that legacy now rests with Senator Hatfield, Speaker Foley and yourselves. 

 This system was initially conceived to provide reclamation, flood control and 

 river transportation coupled with the multi-purpose benefit of hydropower. Power 

 from our dams is shared throughout the Northwest -- Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, 

 Kelso-Longview, Portland, Milton-Freewater , McMinnville, Forest Grove, Eugene and 

 rural areas serviced by Pacific Power. 



Background 



Our hydroelectric system was created as part of a Social Contract that said 

 the Columbia River would be developed to provide economic prosperity to the 

 Northwest and that commercial fishing would be sustained by hatcheries on the 

 Lower Columbia. This contract has served the nation well: 



1. In the Northwest we have relatively inexpensive power that 

 compensates for our disadvantages, such as our remoteness from major 

 markets. Without the advantage of inexpensive power some economic 

 activities that now occur would not be possible. 



2. A commercial fishery has been sustained. More Salmon pass our dams 

 now than before they were built. 



The Contract has a dark side as well: 



1. Grand Coulee, Hells Canyon and other dams block salmon from their 

 spawning habitat. However, the American Fisheries Society Report 

 shows that coastal systems that have no dams also have many stocks 

 threatened with extinction. 



2. The river has been managed to produce meat and not protect weak 

 stocks. For example. Wild Columbia River Coho may be extinct 

 because of hatcheries and mixed stock fishing. Also, wild sockeye 

 were poisoned in Idaho so that a trout fishery could be sustained. 



The Endangered Species Act has turned our Social Contract on its ear. Now 

 the Columbia River will be managed for wild stocks of salmon above all else - 

 above power production, recreation, flood control, harvest, and river 

 transportation. We have only now begun to see the magnitude of change that this 

 will cause. 



