Do you actually research ANYTHING you write? There is nothing in the budget that would remotely take out any dam (unfortunately) in the next two years or at all. The money is for more studies of the effects + pluses/minuses of dam breaching. If we are very very lucky, a decision will be made to get rid of these atrocities in the next decade or so. Breaching/removal is a very long process. There is a very interesting local story on dam removal, btw, Check out what has happened on the Elwha.

Lower Snake River dams: 3.5 megawatts.
Bonneville: 1200 megawatts.
Grand Coulee: 6800 megawatts.
How can we survive without it.

I speak French, but I didn't know what a grenade de desencerlement was. So I looked it up. "en anglais: sting-ball grenade". I still didn't know what that was, so I looked that up. Holy crap, that's some nasty-ass shit to be using against protesters. Rubber shrapnel is still shrapnel.

Also, I love that anti-Trump mug.

You guys ever hear of irrigation? The dams aren't just for power. Forty percent of all wheat in the US is shipped down the Snake and Columbia through a series of locks. Puget Sound dwellers don't care because it doesn't directly affect them. They have no idea how their food supply chain works or how policy affects it.

This is a waste of money. The National Marine Fisheries Service has already performed his study. Furthermore, the State has no authority over what happens to these (Federal) dams. We all know this study is more symbolic than anything else. Inslee is trying to build his reputation as the environmental candidate.

@5 good. I'm still mystified that Philando Castile's killer cop was acquitted. It seems impossible that that trigger-happy idiot is not behind bars too. Hard to see any substantial reason other than the respective races of the victims.

@4 You can irrigate from rivers with out a dam. And you can ship down river systems easier without dams - then you don’t NEED locks.

Jesus Christ. What ever idiotic rightwing talk radio show you heard that little nugget of bullshit from stop listening.

Biden is running for President. Tiffany has a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now." It's like 1987 all over again. But, her 2019 video only has about 500K views so far. Show her some love for Chrissake and feature her music video in Slog AM.

@7: Dams create reservoirs, which store water, so yes you can irrigate without a dam, it's just not as efficient, that's why the farms and ranches in Eastern Washington and Oregon, and almost all of Nevada owe their existence to The New Deal (and of course Seattle city light)

And yes you would need locks whether there are dams are not, the reason locks exist is so that vessels can change elevation (kind of hard to shoot rapids with a tug and barge)

@4: I doubt you have any clear idea where your food comes from, and how it gets into your hands, literally thousands of people are needed to put food on your table, (that is if you live in an urban area, if you live in a rural area that number doubles)

Once you understand this, you understand that all that "econ 101" stuff is crap, and the only way forward is socialism.

@1, 2, 4, & 7: No one is saying remove every dam this study is for a few on the lower Snake River, and only after the concerns of agriculture, energy production transportation and the First peoples Nations are taken into account.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal is a good start,but just like during the Great Depression, when Seattle created City Light, and built dams, Seattle can once more lead by building renewable energy sources.

Now go watch the following documentaries;

Knock Down The House
Crude Awakenings
Fishermen's Terminal
Fishermen's Terminal Revisited
Blood On The Mountain
Finders Keepers
Stonewall Uprising
Libby Montana
Bloody Thursday
Stolen Seas

Then for fun watch; Whiskey Galore!

@9: OOOOoooOOOO! Pull in those claws kitten!

@2, The four lower Snake River Dams have a massive combined generating capacity of 3.5 Gigawatts, not 3.5 Megawatts as you state.

And as others have pointed out, the Lower Snake River dams are federal, and therefore WA has no jurisdiction over their operation or removal. The dams aren't going anywhere.

@7: I thought professors enjoyed teaching.

@9 Doofus in Shoreline: When the Democrats rake Trumpty Dumpty's paid off yes man Barr over the coals regarding his doctored up Mueller report, RepubliKKKans are going down in flames. Babbling idiots like you will be going down with them, and I have no remorse for you or anyone of your MAGA ilk.
@11 Lissa: Keep on rocking the house, Lissa! I love it when you comment. :)

@14 Oh, the irony. Calling David a "babbling idiot", and yet herself writing like a spastic 6 year old, born with a fetal alcohol syndrome.
"Republicans", "Trumpty Dumpty" neener-neener-neener. Pffft. :)

MAGA!

@15:

That still puts them two or three years ahead of your toddler-level day-care mewling...

If you kids don't behave you will be put to bed without any supper.....

.

@7 Often locks are necessary to make rivers navigable.
We thought professors were supposed to be smart.

Can't remove the dams without decommissioning and cleaning up the Nuclear power plant. By that time the glaciers that feed the Snake will be mostly gone, along with the salmon. Sorry but you'll just have to go vegan and reduce your energy consumption, like you should be doing already.

The question of the lower snake dams is an interesting one. I don’t pretend to be an expert, but it is something I find very interesting. From what I understand - from BPA no less - the dams really aren’t all that important because they seldom run at their capacity, particularly with all the wind energy development. On the other hand, once they’re gone, they’re gone.

But as others have pointed out, even if a decision were made tomorrow, it will take many decades and millions of dollars to be rid of them.

@10

I come from the Columbia Basin. I know where my food comes from. Funny how you agree with everything I said in my comment, but because of my tone you assumed I was right wing. You then used that as a segue to talk about socialism. Very elementary.

Also, what does this paragraph have to do with anything I wrote about?

-"I doubt you have any clear idea where your food comes from, and how it gets into your hands, literally thousands of people are needed to put food on your table, (that is if you live in an urban area, if you live in a rural area that number doubles)

Once you understand this, you understand that all that "econ 101" stuff is crap, and the only way forward is socialism."