209 



iiliilor Acconlini; lo BPA's osmi ciiin- 

 puicr rnoJcls. siith regiuiiul exch.in^cs 

 cm ciinlrol cosis iVom flow augment. i- 

 lion, yiL-ldini; a not heiiffii from salmon 

 recovery across ihc Wesi Coast yrld. 



Impact: Lowering the John Day 

 reservoir lo minimum operating pool 

 leaves irrigation pumps and other fa- 

 cilities high and dry. 



Change: Farmers can extend or 

 replace their irrigation pumps, and 

 other impacts mitigated effectively — 

 at a one-linie capital cost of S 1 00 mil- 

 lion. To attain the same water speeds 

 as the John Day drawdown through 

 How augmentation would require the 

 release of an additional 3.1 million 

 acre-feet — roughly entire storage be- 

 hind Hungry Horse Dam in Montana 

 — at an annual expense to BPA of 

 $40-70 million. Clearly operation of 

 John Day reservoir at minimum operat- 

 ing pool is a "best buy." 



Impact: The Snake River draw- 

 downs interrupt fish passage at the 

 dams, and damage reservoir facilities. 



Change: The U.S. Army Corps of 

 Engineers can modify adult fish lad- 

 ders and juvenile salmon by-pass as 

 well as rebuild irrigation pumps, roads, 

 docks, marinas, and other impacted 

 slmctures so that the four Lower Snake 

 reservoir can operate in drawdowns. 

 Even at the Corps' exaggerated esti- 

 mate of $1.3 billion to fix these dams, 

 this one-time capital investment would 

 translate to rate hike for the average 

 residential electricity consumer of less 

 than $1.50 per month. Furthermore, 

 the Corps of Engineers estimates that 

 nearly half of the budget — $520 mil- 

 lion — would go into construction la- 

 bor, creating thousands of new jobs in 

 the Lower Snake valley. 



Impact: The Snake River draw- 

 downs would interrupt barge naviga- 

 tion and shipping. 



Change: Three expert economists 

 have concluded that a 10-week outage 

 of barge traffic would have little im- 

 pact on shippers or the local economy. 

 Market-driven adjustments such as 



increased storage and more competi- 

 lue rail service would allow shippers 

 to choose alternatives, or to move 

 goods before or after the drawdown 

 window. 



Impact: Hydropower generation 

 drops during reservoir drawdowns. 



Change: During the 1992 test 

 drawdown at Lower Granite Dam, hy- 

 dropower generation was somewhat 

 reduced, but did not stop even at the 

 lowest reservoir elevation. BP.^ now 

 estimates the loss of firm hydropower 

 generation from Snake River draw- 

 downs at just 150 megawatts — an in- 

 significant amount of power in a re- 

 gional hydroelectric system that pro- 

 duces in excess of 12,000 megawatts 

 each year. 



We must begin the rocky 

 path to salmon recovery! 



THE NORTHWEST POWER PLAN- 

 NING COUNCIL in its Strategy fur 

 Salmon has called for a package of 

 flow augmentation and reservoir draw- 

 downs in order to fix the dams. So 

 have the region's fisheries biologists in 

 the CBFWA Detailed Fishery Operat- 

 ing Plan. 



Shon-sighted critics of fish flows 

 and reservoir drawdowns — chiefly 

 the Bonneville Power Administration, 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the 

 entrenched river users in the Columbia 

 River Alliance — have done all they 

 can to resist progress, question motiva- 

 tions, create fear, and instill doubt. 



And for no good reason. If history 

 is any guide, business-as-usual will 

 push wild salmon over the brink into 

 extinction. By unanimous consensus, 

 federal, slate, and Tribal biologists in 

 the Pacific Northwest have determined 

 how to fix the dams. This program of 

 flow augmentation and reservoir draw- 

 downs is both workable and afford- 

 able. Fixing the dams can secure a 

 legacy of salmon into the 21st century. 

 It's high time to get started! 



REFERENCES 



GLnn V C,id.i. Miclucl D Dcjcon. 

 Siephcii V Mil/, jnd Mark S. 

 Besclhinicr. Ke\ietv of Infonmition 

 PcriMinng lu the Effect of Water 

 Vehicity un the Sunival of Juvenile 

 Salmon and Sleelhead in the Colitnibiii 

 River Bann. Oak Ridge National 

 Laboraiory, iyy3. 



Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife 

 Authority. The Biological and Techni- 

 cal Justification for the Flow Proposal 

 of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife 

 Authority. 1991 



Columbia B.ism Fish and Wildlife 

 Aulhority. 1994 Detailed Fnhery 

 Operating Plan. 1994. 



Karen Garrison and David Marcus. 

 Changing the Current: Affordable 

 Strategies for Salmon Restoration in the 

 Columbia River Basin. Natural Re- 

 sources Delense Council. Sierra Club, 

 and American Rivers. December. 1994. 



Joel R. Hamilton. Michael Manin, and 

 Ken Casavant. The Effect of Loner 

 Snake River Resenoir Drawdown on 

 Barge Transportation: Some Observa- 

 tions. University of Idaho, Oregon Slate 

 University, and Washington Stale 

 University respectively for the Univer- 

 sity Task Force on Salmon and the 

 Columbia River System, undated 

 (1991). 



Daniel D Huppert, David L. Fluhany. 

 and Elizabeth S. Kenney. Economic 

 Effects of Management Measures wiihm 

 the Range of Potential Critical Habitat 

 for Snake River Endangered and 

 Threatened Salmon Species. University 

 of Washington, School of Marine 

 Affairs wiih assistance by National 

 Marine Fisheries Service. Economics 

 Technical Committee. Submitted June 

 4, 1992. 



Northwest Power Planning Council. 

 Strategy for Salmon. October, 1992; 

 revised December. 1994. 



US. Army Corps of Engineers. Colum- 

 bia River Salmon Mitigation Analysis, 

 System Configuration Study: Phase I 

 Report. April. 1994. 



U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 1992 

 Resenoir Drawdown Test: Lower 

 Granite and Little Goose Dams. 

 December. 1993. 



