Obama Administration: Recover Salmon - Create Jobs - Invest in Clean Energy!

Wild salmon and steelhead, Northwest communities, and American taxpayers can all win by investing in alternatives to the four low-value, high-cost lower Snake River dams.

On September 15th, the Obama administration will decide the fate of the current federal salmon plan for the Columbia and Snake Rivers - a leftover plan from the Bush administration. Former President George W. Bush let politics guide his policy-making. President Obama has made a commitment to the American people to reverse this course, to put science and economics back in the driver's seat.

After more than $8 billion spent on ineffective programs, it's time for real solutions. America can't afford to continue the expensive, failed policies of the Bush Administration. Gary Locke, as Secretary of the Department of Commerce, oversees NOAA-Fisheries, and will strongly influence the Obama Administration's strategy.

The support and leadership of Secretary Gary Locke is critical. Please send the letter below. Ask Secretary Locke for his leadership use the best available science to find a new way forward for endangered wild salmon, Northwest communities, and taxpayers nationwide.

Tell me more

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

(Edit Letter Below)

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to ensure the protection and restoration of the Snake River, its legendary wild salmon and steelhead, and the jobs and communities that depend on them. An effective plan must include the removal of the four lower Snake River dams and replacement of their limited services with modern alternatives, like clean, renewable energy and rail. With the right investments, we can restore an endangered national treasure and regional economic resource, create thousands of family-wage jobs, and promote a clean energy economy.

The 2008 Bush-era Columbia-Snake River Biological Opinion is severely flawed and requires a major overhaul. It does precious little to restore migratory access to the highest, wildest, and largest spawning and rearing habitat remaining in the continental United States. Reconnecting the endangered Snake River salmon this habitat in central Idaho, eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington is critical to the future of this national treasure. I remain hopeful that President Obama's promises that science will guide policymaking will prevail as NOAA-Fisheries and your Department reviews this clearly inadequate Biological Opinion, and develops a path to a lawful, science-based plan.

I strongly support the removal of the four costly lower Snake River dams. Years of scientific inquiry demonstrate that these dams are extremely harmful to the threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. These dams, combined with the four dams downstream on the Columbia River, kill as many as 90 percent of the young salmon and steelhead as they migrate to the ocean. Dam removal is the only action scientists have identified that will help these fish survive in the short-term and eventually recover to healthy, sustainable, and fishable numbers.

The Department of Commerce can help restore this fishery and make local communities whole by bringing together key Northwest stakeholders in a settlement process. These different interests must work to craft a legal and science-based blueprint that will produce healthy salmon populations, sustainable new jobs, and a prosperous economy.

The recovery of Snake River salmon through lower Snake River dam removal would also generate hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and income every year through the restoration of the recreational, commercial, and tribal fishing communities. A free-flowing lower Snake River would also provide an estimated $310 million annually in new non-fishing recreational opportunities such as boating, hiking, hunting, and camping. In addition to these significant economic benefits, dam removal itself and replacement of their limited services with alternatives would generate thousands of jobs and save millions of taxpayer dollars over the long-run.

There are no other fish in the world like those that return to the Snake River and its tributaries. Thanks to their high elevation spawning grounds, Snake River salmon and steelhead are well-positioned to thrive in spite of global warming as long as sufficient numbers are able to survive the migration to the Pacific Ocean and back.

Thank you in advance for your leadership on this important issue.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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Secretary Gary Locke

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