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Corps modifying damsThis story was published Feb. 21, 2002 By The Associated Press and the Herald staff Four dams on the lower Snake River will be modified to improve the survival of salmon but will not be breached, the Army Corps of Engineers announced Wednesday in a widely expected decision. The Corps made essentially the same declaration in December when it released a draft plan for restoring endangered salmon runs on the Columbia-Snake river system. Wednesday's announcement provided more information about the agency's reasoning for its decision, which will be adopted formally later this year, spokeswoman Nola Conway said. While dam breaching "had a number of positive benefits," it was not selected because it had the most negative economic impacts to current system users, the National Marine Fisheries Service has not determined dam breaching is necessary, and there's still uncertainty about potential harmful effects of releasing sediments currently held behind dams. The lower Snake dams and locks, including salmon programs, cost $36.5 million per year to maintain, the decision said, while the dams produce $324 million per year in electricity, barge transportation benefits and water. Many Tri-Citians have fought dam breaching for years, arguing many of the same points that the Corps cited in its recommendation. It's likely, however, that the issues will take center stage again starting next year under a national fish recovery plan for the Northwest, which again will assess the future of Snake stocks. Meanwhile, the Corps plans to pursue technical and operational changes at the dams to improve fish survival. The work will cost about $390 million over 10 years, the decision said. In addition, the Corps will continue to barge or truck some juvenile salmon around the dams. And environmental groups have vowed to continue their fight to remove the four dams, which they blame for dramatic declines in salmon runs compared with historical levels. "This is disappointing but not surprising," said Melissa Pease, spokeswoman for the Seattle-based Save Our Wild Salmon coalition. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the past two decades in efforts to modify the dams to help salmon, she said. "Engineering and technology are not going to save these fish," she said. "They need more natural river conditions, and they need dam removal to achieve that." The dams - Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Granite and Lower Monumental - are located between Pasco and Lewiston. They were built starting in the 1960s to provide electricity and irrigation water and to make the Snake River navigable. Despite their benefits, the dams disrupted salmon and steelhead migration, exposing fish to predators, high water temperatures and electrical turbines. Fish were eventually placed on the endangered species list, which triggered studies on the best way to restore the fish runs. The study began in 1995 and looked at four scenarios: maintaining existing conditions, maximum barging of young salmon, major system improvements and dam breaching. More than 8,700 people attended the public hearings during the $24 million study process, which prompted more than 230,000 written comments, mostly form letters. |