What We Get WRONG About the Snake River Dams

The Lower Four Snake River Dams are at the center of the biggest environmental issue facing the Pacific Northwest. Should we breach the dams in the hope that historic numbers of salmon will return? Or should we keep the dams as part of our sustainable energy and transportation system?

I address five major myths about the Snake River Dams, including their age, their contribution to the climate, and the costs of removing them.

#snakeriver #dam #snakeriverdams #lowergranitedam #lowermonumentaldam #littlegoosedam #iceharbordam #columbiariver #salmon #chinooksalmon #fish #fishing #portland #oregon #washington #montana #idaho #hellscanyondam #hellscanyon #fishpassage #fishladder #water #hydropower #greenenergy #cleanenergy #environment #environmentalist #PNW #pacificnorthwest #seattle #riverdam #windfarm #solarfarm #solarpower #windpower #riverhighway #transportation #powergrid #sustainableenergy #sustainability
––
00:00 Introduction
01:09 Disclaimer
01:49 Myth 1 - The dams are Old
03:22 Myth 2 - The dams produce very little power
05:49 Myth 3 - The dams block access to habitat
07:52 Myth 4 - The dams' benefits can easily be replaced
13:57 Myth 5 - The ONLY solution is to breach the dams
17:24 Conclusion

[kayakingrivers]

That video holds little relevance to me because I’m not in that region of the USA but the in depth research it sounded like you did and the incredible video quality made me want to watch anyway, now, to check out more of your content.

[GlutenUber]

This is the best myth buster episode I’ve ever watched!

[twotwos]

Your content is always so insightful and easy to follow. You have a true talent for breaking down complex issues into understandable pieces.

[petertaylor]

This is a masterpiece, and should be required viewing for any Pacific Northwesterner! Thank you Adam for doing this essential work!

[CASEYCASSEDAY]

Excellent timing for some great Thanksgiving family content.

[pursuit]

Awesome video. Would love to see one on the Teton Dam collapse and what went wrong

[forrestihler]

Amazing video quality. I appreciate the amount of work put into this and explaining everything. I live in Idaho and the idea of getting rid of these dams has been floating around. I never knew enough about them to have an opinion one way or another, this definitely helps. Keep them coming! Would love to learn more about the PNWs (WA, OR, ID, & western MT) hydro and energy infrastructure.

[shawnmartin]

I grew up in Whitman County and on the Snake River. The advantages the dams bring far outweigh the nuances that some environmental groups think they cause. Great documentary.

[alaskagoldhunter]

Well constructed narrative and insight. I need to do one similar about small scale gold mining and salmon. Same feel good sounds good narrative they throw out about salmon without the fully thought out facts.

[eamonnfagan]

I think you should delve deeper into point #3. While the lower Snake River dams have fish passage systems, how effective are they? Can salmon reliably navigate their way past these dams? I genuinely don’t know the answer and would love to hear more about it.

For instance, if only 25-30% of the fish manage to ascend each dam, the argument about the upriver dams being impassable might become irrelevant, as so few salmon would reach those points anyway. Of course, I’m not sure of the statistics, so this might not even be a valid concern—but it seems like a point worth exploring.

By the way, I really enjoy your videos

[GeologyDude]

First I want to recognize the amount of time and work needed to put a comprehensive and multi-location video together like this. I bet you spent at least several months on this project. Outstanding job and it is very much appreciated.... You could've mentioned that the coal plant in Centralia was responsible for 15% of the smog in Seattle (before 2000, if I recalll correctly), and it was beginning to cause some acid rain issues to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area and Mt. Rainier.... As a suggestion for photography, here is a suggestion to help with the situation of outdoor lighting causing extreme bright and dark exposures of your face. Either bring some portable lights (to brighten exposure to the dark side of your face), or a large scrim diffuser panel (to lower the overall brightness of the sun upon your face). The portable light option probably is better. Recent portable COB lights (LED "chip on board") with batteries (on tripods) have dropped dramatically in price (and the lower power lights don't weigh much). The lights can be placed near your face--just outside the camera view area. Do not use soft boxes on the lights outdoors. Otherwise, you will need to find a rare cloudy day to get a better exposure (and the other option is defeated by the wind--whichcan topple large scrims easily).... Again, this was an awesome video. Thx much!

[JerryThink]

Well done! Great execution on an important issue.

[omarw]

Amazing channel. Top notch quality. It is always interesting to be reminded that much of the American West is manmade.

[KieraCameron]

Grand Coulee Dam makes about 20 Twh of electricity each year. The Brown's Ferry nuclear power plant makes about 31 Twh of electricity each year. Electrified railroads would be a great reason to keep the hydropower dams.

[letkwu]

We can and should be comparing the Lower Snake River Dams to the Total hydro capacity which is less than 2% of the region. + WE HAVE DAMS so none of the benefits you're talking about matter because we already have dams to do those functions for irrigation, flood control and storing the offset energy from solar and wind. WE DON'T NEED THESE DAMS. Tribes are asking that we take these lowe snake dams first. Just because the dams have fish passage systems doesn't mean the Salmon are okay. WE NEED a clean cool river to be free for Salmon to get up the SALMON RIVER without having to pass unnecessary dams. We don't need to use this river for grain transport- if we have all this hydroelectric power we should rebuild our electric trains there is no excuse for the lack if investment into transportation on land. Needs to happen. First dams we breach are the Lower Snake Dams then the Upper Snake, then the lower Columbia and eventually the upper Columbia then the Arrow Lakes up to headwaters then Salmon will be okay. Only then. Right now we are being strategic and the breeching of the Lower Snake is the most EFFECTIVE measure right now and the only one rhe region can afford to take because Hells Canyon/Upper Snake dams are important at the moment and so are the Upper Columbia Dams until we invest and make a long term plan for energy in our region.

Native people shouldn't have to be the only one's hurting from these dams. We are only asking a few dams be taken out for now and people like you will go out of your way to prevent that from happening. Listen to the Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission and the Tribal DNR's and Tribal Universities.

The Lower Snake River Dams need to be breeched this is rhe first step to free a river basin that could take a hundred years to be accessible to the extent it was.

Non-native settlers could have built these dams in better places that didn't affect salmon migration. Most of the basin has natural barriers like waterfalls than prevent migration Dams could have been just built there and were talking about major tributaries like Pend Orielle, Kootenai, Spokane. It's easier to build dams that don't affect Trout drastically, but no dam is good for Salmon.

There is a good reason there aren't dams on the main stem of the Fraser River despite having the ability to develop a dam with a larger capacity than Grand Coulee Dam and Chief Joseph Dam combined. The reason is Salmon matter!!

Have Native people not sacrificed enough for you or thus region?

We keep showing solutions that nobody is willing to consider.

"Nobody was counting fish"

Our people were always on the river observing the fish and noticing the decline and changes to the river- We know the dams effects better than anyone.

Conclusion if you care about climate change listen to the people who are most affected and have already been enduring changes to our environment the past 150 years since non-natives Settled here with aggressive industrialization in between 19th and 20th centuries.