Re: “Biden administration promises $1 billion more for salmon, clean energy — but punts on Lower Snake River dam removal in major agreement” [Dec. 14, Local News]:
The Biden administration’s latest announcement supporting eventual breaching of the 4 Snake River dams is a milestone in Pacific Northwest historical past. Federal businesses pledge to cooperate with state governments, energy firms, environmental organizations, and most significantly Northwest tribes to revive almost extinct salmon runs and thus enhance the meals provide for Puget Sound orcas.
Opponents will declare that it prioritizes fish and wildlife over human makes use of of the river, and that it’s a “victory” for radical environmentalists over everybody else. However this can be a harmful, false dichotomy that should be rejected. Restoring the Snake River to its pure state is a victory for everybody within the Pacific Northwest. Eradicating the 4 dams will restore a world class fishery, ignite growth of unpolluted rail transportation and electrical technology and honor — lastly! — treaties with a number of Northwest tribes that successive federal governments have violated for many years and, in some circumstances, centuries.
As Aldo Leopold argues in his essay “The Land Ethic,” an motion is true when it preserves the “integrity, stability, and fantastic thing about the biotic neighborhood.” The “biotic neighborhood” consists of everybody, not simply “environmentalists”; and everybody will profit from reclaiming a wild Snake River.
Michael W. Shurgot, Seattle
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