By Trista Crossley As the debate around breaching the lower Snake River dams continues, the Washington state agricultural industry brought more than 3 dozen state legislators and aides on a boat tour last week in an effort to demonstrate how important the dams are to the region’s economy. Legislators boarded the boat at the Port of Kennewick. While headed upstream ... Read More »
By Randy Suess Many people have done a fine job explaining why removing the lower Snake River dams would hurt our farm economy and really not accomplish the goal of restoring the number of Southern Resident Killer Whales (orcas). There are a couple of issues that I believe need to be covered to help people understand that we need those ... Read More »
Editor’s note: This is an Op Ed the Washington Association of Wheat Growers submitted to regional newspapers in May. In agriculture, everything is cyclical. The same seems to be true of the lower Snake River dams. Every few years, advocates of breaching the dams start speaking out on why they should be torn down, and the communities and industries that ... Read More »
From the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association The Snake River dams have been in the news again this week. At an event hosted by Boise State University to examine efforts to balance hydropower, salmon, farming and the environment, the topic of dam breaching became the focus of the event. Some speakers called for forums to be created to look at the ... Read More »
The following letter was sent to the members of the Senate Ways & Means Committee on April 2, 2019. Twenty-six groups signed on in support of the letter, including the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, Washington Farm Bureau, transportation associations, electric groups and more. Members of the Senate Ways & Means Committee: We are urging you to remove the $750,000 ... Read More »
Seattle Times opinion piece by Don Britain, mayor of Kennewick; Matt Wakins, mayor of Pasco; Robert Thompson, mayor of Richland; and Brent Gerry, mayor of West Richland For more than 20 years. there has been an ongoing debate about the impact of the four Snake River dams on the Pacific Northwest’s salmon population. Since the 1970s, billions of dollars have been spent ... Read More »
From the Tri-City Herald State legislators looking to trim the budget this session can save $750,000 straight off if they don’t fund a proposed Snake River dams task force. Such a group is not needed, and giving it the green light would be a shameful waste of money. We suggest our regional lawmakers keep an eye out for this unnecessary ... Read More »
From the Capital Press A $1.1 billion orca-rescue plan rolled out Thursday by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee includes $750,000 for another look at breaching four dams on the Lower Snake River. The dams in southeast Washington generate electricity and allow farmers to move grain by barge down the Columbia River’s main tributary. Inslee said a task force would study whether ... Read More »
From whitehouse.gov Today, President Trump signed a memorandum to reduce regulatory burdens and promote more efficient environmental reviews of water infrastructure projects in the West, including the Columbia-Snake River System. Decades of uncoordinated regulatory actions have diminished the ability of Federal infrastructure to deliver needed water and have increased costs in the West. Court actions dictating water operations have further complicated ... Read More »
Sept. 10, 2018 Good Morning Chairman Bishop, Ranking Member Grijalva, and the esteemed Members of the House Natural Resources Committee, For the record, my name is Marci Green. I am a sixth-generation farmer from Fairfield, Washington. My sons are seventh-generation wheat farmers. On our farm, we grow wheat, blue grass seed, dry peas, lentils and garbanzo beans. I am also the ... Read More »
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