Commentary

Residents of Our Fair City were saddened to learn this week that the coronavirus has taken one of our own. The subject of nearly everyone for the past several months, which seemed to—so far—be bypassing our neck of the woods, has hit with devastation for one of our families.

For the past months, it’s been COVID-19 this and coronavirus that in the news and on everyone’s lips.

Last week, there was some good news that seems to have slipped by with nearly no notice. A few federal agencies dealt a blow to radical efforts that have been underway for around 30 years—breaching the four Lower Snake River dams.

This community and the Touchet Valley enjoyed some of its most prosperous years in the 1960s when Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite dams were built. Schools were bursting at the seams with the sons and daughters of dam workers and businesses flourished.

Released Friday, July 31 was a final environmental statement drafted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and the Bonneville Power Administration.

Environmental groups claimed breaching Little Goose, Lo Mo, Lower Granite and Ice Harbor would help fish, but the report indicates additional spillage will help wild salmon and steelhead under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

According to the report, the inland waterways created by the dams would beach barges that move wheat to market. Irrigation made possible would deal a fatal blow to irrigated agriculture, and power rates were projected to go up, if dams were removed.

Of course, those groups and industries that rely on fishing and wild-flowing rivers weren’t happy, to say the least.

This report, by no means, closes the issue once and for all.

Agriculture and related commerce will have to continue to promote the advantages of the Snake River system over the objections of environmental and conservation groups.

But for this corner of the United States, in this trying, crazy time, this is some welcome and wonderfully rational news in a country that, if you believe the national news media, is coming apart due to racial and social injustice.

It would be an injustice to the thousands of families, businesses, cities, counties and others who depend on that river for transportation, recreation, irrigation and their livelihoods.