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Let’s have a look at the benefits of dams to human life with a special focus on Grand Coulee Dam. It is the largest hydroelectric producing facility in the U.S. and provides enough electricity to power about 2 million households every year, 68% of all Washington state households. Please keep in mind too, that it is just one of 145 hydroelectric dams in the state. Grand Coulee Dam prompted the creation of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Columbia Basin Project which converted 670,000 acres (more than 1,000 square-miles) of for...
The legislative session is over, and it had the potential to be very positive for salmon recovery. There was bipartisan support for habitat restoration. Legislators also had a huge amount of money to allocate because the tax on CO2 emissions generated far more money than anticipated. Despite that, the Legislature failed to make significant progress on salmon. It is one more wasted opportunity to protect an iconic state species. The most glaring example of the failure is in the supplemental operating budget, where legislators...
As climate change concerns grow, researchers are turning to family tree farmers for assistance. They have been helping for a century, but their efforts have gone unrecognized. The American Tree Farm program has emphasized sustainability and managing lands for water quality, wildlife, wood, and recreation. In recent years, it has included climate change. According to the American Forest Foundation, families and individuals collectively care for the largest portion of forests in the U.S., more than the government or...
As climate change concerns grow, researchers are turning to family tree farmers for assistance. They have been helping for a century, but their efforts go unrecognized. The American Tree Farm program has emphasized sustainability and managing lands for water quality, wildlife, wood and recreation. In recent years, it has included climate change. According to the American Forest Foundation, families and individuals collectively care for the largest portion of forests in the...
SPOKANE VALLEY – The preservation of the Snake River dams has been solidified as a key item on the legislative agenda for the city council. The move comes amidst ongoing debate and litigation surrounding the dams’ future and their environmental impact. Chelsea Martin, Government Relations and Communications Coordinator at Modern Electric Water Co., emphasized the importance of maintaining affordable electricity costs for the region. “Our goal is to keep electricity costs low,...
A proposal to fine counties and cities when untreated sewage is released into Puget Sound is part of an effort to save dwindling salmon runs. The bill, proposed by Rep. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, imposes a 1-cent-per-gallon fee on municipal discharges of untreated sewage into Puget Sound. The bill, HB 2290, is part of a comprehensive five-bill bipartisan initiative to preserve salmon populations and support the fishing community. The Department of Ecology did not oppose the bill...
“The possibility of a global environmental apocalypse has been dominating headlines and exercises a powerful hold on the imaginations of millions of people,” according to optimist and author Marion L. Tupy. Headlines of imminent catastrophe are resulting in public policy driving our nation and our state as well as many other western economies to the brink. The Clean Energy Transformation Act, passed in 2019, and the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) of 2021 form the architecture for the radical decommissioning of all pet...
CHENEY – A professor at Eastern Washington University has been developing sonification software that can turn datasets into a musical composition. Jonathan Middleton, DMA, who has worked at the university since 1999, has worked with students and researchers alike to develop his sonification software, which converts data streams into audible sounds, such as music. “It’s algorithmic, it’s a set of steps, and it’ll take numbers and letters (like genetic code) and transform...
Monday featured opening-day ceremonies in the Senate and House chambers, followed by a joint legislative session in the House chamber on Tuesday for Gov. (Jay) Inslee’s final state of the state address. Because this is considered a “short session,” fewer bills will be introduced and considered than in last year’s 105-day session. The main objectives for legislators this year will be to create and pass supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets. For me and my 9th District seatmates – Reps. Joe Schmick a...
On Tuesday, Rep. April Connors, R-Kennewick, and I introduced House Bill 2040, also known as the Carbon Auction Rebate program. The bill seeks to provide rebates to Washington motorists suffering from our state’s high gas prices. This past summer, for the first time, Washington surpassed California for the highest gasoline price in the nation. With the summer travel season behind us, our gasoline prices have fallen, but they are still much higher than our surrounding states. The average price for gasoline in Washington, a...
Bald Eagles flock to Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, every winter to follow the salmon. This year, the federal Bureau of Land Management said there were a record number of eagles at the lake. As of mid-December, 379 individual eagles had been counted near Higgins Point, Wolf Lodge Bay and Beauty Bay. Above, a juvenile female eagle, about 3 years old, perches in a tree after a fish lunch on Christmas Day....
Bald Eagles flock to Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, every winter to follow the salmon. This year, the federal Bureau of Land Management said there were a record number of eagles at the lake. As of mid-December, 379 individual eagles had been counted near Higgins Point, Wolf Lodge Bay and Beauty Bay. Above, a juvenile female eagle, about 3 years old, perches in a tree after a fish lunch on Christmas Day....
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Biden Administration and environmental activists formalized an agreement Dec. 14 on plans to manage and improve salmon populations on the Snake River. A “memorandum of understanding” was filed with U.S. District Court in an attempt to curtail lawsuits over salmon and efforts by environmental activists to breach the four Lower Snake River dams. The agreement was formally announced Thursday, Dec. 14, by the Biden Administration, more than two weeks after a leaked document was released to the public by 5t...
Aren’t you sick and tired of hearing Gov. Jay Inslee and his ilk routinely blame Columbia and Snake River dams for the decline in Puget Sound salmon and orca populations? Despite voluminous information to the contrary, Inslee, Sen. Patty Murray and other extremist environmental politicians continue to push a narrative on salmon decline that is patently false. There should be penalties for being so disingenuous. While there isn’t a penalty for false statements made to app...
In 1992, a single male sockeye salmon managed to swim 900 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River to Redfish Lake located deep in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains---the end of his migratory journey. Biologists dubbed the sole survivor, “Lonesome Larry.” By 2010, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council happily reported record-setting runs for sockeye —387,000 had climbed the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam. Last year, 751 sockeye were trapped at Redfish Lake Creek and taken t...
By virtually all key metrics, Washington’s environmental policies are failing. And yet, when was the last time politicians, environmental activists or the media expressed concern about policy failures? Speeches and news stories are filled with demands that we save the planet, describing threats to salmon, orca, forests and the climate. And yet, there is a remarkable lack of curiosity when real-world efforts fail to address those problems. One common thread is that environmental policy generally, and climate policy in p...
Netia passed away June 27, 2023. She was born in Kalispell, Mont., to Irene Elizabeth Ann (Gray) and Elmer Ruben Ridenour, Netia was flanked by a prim and proper older sister, Carley Ridenour, and a playful, peppy younger sister, Julie Connolly. Like all sisters, they loved each other to the moon and back (just not as much in the back seat of the car). Netia contracted polio at age 4, just as Elmer harvested the first ears of sweet corn from the family garden. She desperately... Full story
BURBANK¾ Several members of the congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee spent Monday in Eastern Washington, specifically to learn about the importance of dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers. Committee Chairwoman Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, was joined by as Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Chairman Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Oregon, and Rep. Mike Collins, R-Georgia, for a tour of Ice Harbor Dam, the lower-most Snake River Dam The congressional delegation and others met to see the...
To supporters of the four Lower Snake River Dams, the latest news that President Biden continues to pursue dam breaching is not shocking, but surprising, considering the growing shortfall in electricity predicted in the western states and his desire to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Biden’s March 21 announcement started another “Whac-A-Mole” game to determine the dams’ future. The news was reported in a Wall Street Journal commentary by Faith Bottum titled “Biden...
MEDICAL LAKE – School District Superintendent Tim Ames will close the books on a 38-year career in education June 30 when he retires. And like in Boy Scouts, where the goal is to leave the outdoors a better place than when entering, Ames said he is confident his nine-year run here has done just that. It's much more, too, than the new sign outside district headquarters. Ames has had a winding road in both life and his career. It first followed his parents in the U.S. Air F...
LIBERTY LAKE – Want to go fishing at one of the area lakes but don’t have a license? Well, this weekend you’re in luck as “Free Fishing Weekend” opens state waters for anglers who don’t have a license. But if you don’t have a license, be careful what you catch this Saturday and Sunday, June 10-11. Game wardens will be on the lookout for fishermen catching salmon, sturgeon and steelhead in Eastern Washington waters without a license. That’s because state bureaucrats in Olympia have changed the rules relating to Free Fishing...
CHENEY – Want to go fishing at one of the area lakes but don’t have a license? Well, this weekend you’re in luck as “Free Fishing Weekend” opens state waters for anglers who don’t have a license. But if you don’t have a license, be careful what you catch this Saturday and Sunday, June 10-11. Game wardens will be on the lookout for fishermen catching salmon, sturgeon and steelhead in Eastern Washington waters without a license. That’s because state bureaucrats in Olympia have changed the rules relating to Free Fishing Weekend...
Although New Zealand and Washington are located a half-a-world apart, they have lots in common---beautiful seashores, majestic mountains, crystal clear streams and lakes, and vibrant salmon and trout fisheries. Both are struggling to rid their air sheds of CO2 and other greenhouse gases coming from the burning of carbon fuels (coal, natural gas, gasoline, and diesel) in vehicles, home heating and electric-power generation. New Zealand and Washington share a common goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050. The good news is both are e...
KAHLOTUS – The Snake River spring Chinook salmon fishing season is open. Below Little Goose Dam, fisherman can catch Chinook on Tuesdays and Fridays only. Below Ice Harbor Dam, the salmon fisher is open on Wednedays and Thursdays. The seasons opened May 2 and 3, respectively, and are expected to remain open until the catch quota limits out, state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said. Below Little Goose Dam, Chinook fishing is allowed from the Texas Rapids boat launch upstream to the boundary below the dam. Below I...
PASCO — Fishermen can expect more Coho, Chinook and sockeye salmon to return to the Columbia River and its tributaries this season. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s forecast is based on environmental indicators such as ocean conditions, numbers of juvenile salmon that migrated to marine waters and numbers of adult salmon that returned in past years. About 84,800 Upper Columbia River summer Chinook are forecasted to return in 2023, representing about 120 percent of the 10-year average return and higher than las...
