skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Bill in Congress Would Lock Snake River Dams in Place

play audio
Play

Tuesday, April 24, 2018   

BOISE, Idaho – The U.S. House is set to vote on Wednesday on a bill that would add federal protections to four lower Snake River dams. Conservation groups are concerned it would spell doom for salmon and steelhead in the Northwest, which already have seen sharply reduced runs because of the dams.

House Resolution 3144, co-sponsored by Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, would require congressional approval for any dam modifications or actions, such as additional spill for salmon, over the next four years.

Supporters of the bill say it is needed to protect hydropower in the Northwest. But Tom France, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's regional office, says other energy sources are available.

"It's clear that we could take out the four Snake River dams that are most damaging to salmon and steelhead runs and still have plenty of low-cost energy for the Pacific Northwest," he notes.

Congressman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., says a federal judge's decision to allow more spill over the dams to help migrating salmon will collectively cost Northwest ratepayers $40 million.

However, a recent study from the Northwest Energy Coalition found the dams could be replaced with renewable energy sources for a little more than a dollar a month.

HR 3144 passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee last week.

France says the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho provides a good example of what happened to salmon runs after the dams went up. He says that part of the river hasn't been altered and doesn't have any fish hatcheries.

"When the last of the Snake River dams went into operation, there were 25,000 spawning fish coming back to the Middle Fork," he says. "Today, there are less than 500. So in the best habitat, in the wildest habitat, it's pretty apparent the damage that the dams have done to wild fish runs."

Salmon also are a major food source for Northwest orcas, and the dwindling fish runs have put the whales in peril in the Pacific ocean.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021