The Mike Simpson Video That Prompted the Envirogasm
You’ve in all likelihood seen the video that prompted the outburst of wonder and glee (a genuine envirogasm if I’ve ever seen one) from a broad swath of those following environmental issues in the Northwest, in particular the plight of Idaho salmon and steelhead (along with those of the greater Pacific Northwest).
The shock and awe displayed by some was impressive, given that a) one of Idaho’s congressional delegation spoke directly about taking down the Snake River (and really the entire Columbia system) dams, and b) even more astoundingly, said speaker was (dramatic gasp, then in your best dramatic stage voice) a freakin’ Republican.
Here are a couple of fairly representative reactions from the TRCP and the Wild Steelhead Coalition (note that we here at Chi Wulff are by and large supporters of most of the work these fine organizations undertake when they choose to be up front and honest about issues).
Here’s the video Simpson’s team dropped on the 6th…
The Fly In the Ointment: Simpson’s Remarks Aren’t Just About Taking Down the Dams
Kudo’s to Simpson and his team for having the intellectual honesty to buckle down and look at the VERY COMPLEX array of issues removal of the dams on the Columbia and Snake brings to hand; like many of you, we’ve long grown weary of the groups screaming remove the dams to save the salmon and steelhead and saying f*ck whatever else happens to ag, transportation, energy, and commerce issues along the rivers.
Unlike most of the groups hellbent on dam destruction alone, Simpson’s team claims to have held over 300 meetings with groups representing any and every user interest group along the entire river system, and they appear to have attempted with reasonable success to lay out talking points and concerns that must be overcome to make this work.
Simpson’s plan is an ambitious one, calls for an astronomical $33.5 billion to kick off, and raises all sorts of questions – though if you’ll look through this pretty damned informative page on his website, you’ll see key points laid out topically, and get perhaps more of a real grasp of the depth and breadth of the challenge.
Can this be done? Hell yes it can, though it’s never going to a project like taking down the damn on the Elwha and watching anadromous fish return almost immediately. There’s already been a fair amount of pushback, for example, on his call for modular reactors to be used to replace lost power generation (a great idea by the way)…
Time will tell.
