This article is reprinted form the June 23 National Grain & Feed Association newsletter.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will host a field hearing on the lower Snake River dams on June 26 at 1 p.m. PDT in Richland, Wash.
The hearing “will focus on the multipurpose benefits of the Columbia and Snake Rivers and the Federal Columbia River Power System, in particular the lower Snake River dams.”
Attendees should RSVP for the event here.
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is mediating a process to find “a long-term durable plan” to address issues being debated in the Columbia River Basin.
Breaching the lower Snake River dams has been proposed by some entities as a solution to salmon population decline.
NGFA and other stakeholders have emphasized the dams’ important role in the U.S. supply chain and the economic and environmental damage of breaching them.
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., visited with NGFA members during the Association’s annual fly-in on June 21.
During his remarks, he discussed his efforts to maintain the dams and emphasized the importance of sharing the results of the June 26 hearing.
Earlier this year, Bentz sent a letter to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Richard Spinrad regarding NOAA’s reversal on supporting continued operations of the dams.