Don't Be
Dam Stupid

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) loses millions of dollars each year from the Lower Snake River Dams. Here’s why: all the energy produced by the LSRDs is surplus power—extra energy that’s not needed to sufficiently supply the PNW—and so it’s sold on the open market. But with renewable energy on the rise, cheap gas, and lots of other hydropower sources, the surplus power from the LSRD is almost always sold at below-market rates. In fact, the Bonneville Power Administration sometimes pays California to take the energy. 

THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS CONTRIBUTE TO HIGHER RATES. 

To make up for these financial losses, the Bonneville Power Administration has raised customer rates by 30%¹ and blown through more than $900 million in financial reserves over the last eight years.² 

BPA currently has a debt-to-asset ratio of 99%³—far more than any public utility in the country.⁴ Yet they keep hanging on to the Lower Snake River Dams, some of their most high-cost, low-value assets. The dams have a benefit-to-cost ratio of 15¢ on the dollar. Keeping them is just bad business.

Customers are starting to realize just how ridiculous it would be to pay BPA’s high rates (which are poised to go much higher) and harm salmon in the process, when they don’t have to do either.

THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS AREN’T NEEDED TO SUPPLY POWER TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

“Had these four dams disappeared in 2008, BPA could still have met its customers’ full demand load every hour of the year and reduced its overall costs by at least $100 million per year,” economic analysis shows.⁵

Sure, the relatively minor amount of energy produced by the LSRDs could be replaced by renewable energy sources (like solar and wind)—and four out of five Washington voters would be willing to pay more if it means saving chinook salmon from extinction—but it’s not even necessary to do so.

“As the data show, no such need [for replacement energy] exists. Alternative energy has already replaced the energy from the LSRDs six times over. BPA’s abundance of surplus energy drives prices far below the cost of production,” according to analysis of data from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council Power Supply.⁶

BREACHING THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS WOULDN’T BE THAT EXPENSIVE.  KEEPING THEM WOULD BE *VERY* EXPENSIVE.

Breaching the dams via a channel bypass would cost a little over $300 million dollars, which BPA would pay through a credit on their Federal Debt.⁷ The process could be done in a matter of months, no congressional approval needed, and two of the four dams could be down by spring 2019, immediately improving chinook runs. 

$300 million might sound like a lot, but it pales in comparison to what BPA would have to pay just to keep the dam in operational status. Because the turbines are so old, they will soon require rehabbing. The US Army Corps of Engineers estimates that rehabbing one turbine would cost about $47 million; the LSRD have 24 aging turbines that need rehabbed, bringing the total cost above a billion dollars.

Extensive research has shown that all essential components are in place to breach the dams—quickly and without additional study or legislative approval—and that doing so would save the public a fortune.⁸

Here’s the kicker: restoring the river would actually bring more economic activity to the area, and more money and jobs from increased opportunities. Models indicate that river restoration would positively contribute to nearly 150 industry sectors, with tourism, hospitality, and recreation industries seeing especially huge benefits.⁹

On top of saving salmon and saving resident orcas, breaching the Lower Snake Dams—beginning in 2018—would actually save money for Washingtonians.

SO WHY HAVEN’T GOVERNOR INSLEE AND SENATORS CANTWELL AND MURRAY PUBLICLY DECLARED SUPPORT FOR THE IMMEDIATE REMOVAL OF MONEY-LOSING, SALMON-KILLING, ORCA-STARVING DAMS?  

Let’s ask ’em:

Governor Jay Inslee Call (360) 902-4111 or write him on Twitter or send an email

Senator Maria Cantwell Call (206) 220-6400 or write her on Twitter or send an email

Senator Patty Murray Call (206) 553-5545 or write her on Twitter or send an email

LEARN MORE

The Bonneville Power Administration 2018: Threatened, Endangered, or on the Brink of Extinction?

Regional Economic Analysis of the Four Lower Snake River Dams

DamSense.org Policy Considerations for Breaching Immediately

Save Our Wild Salmon: Factsheets, Studies, and Reports

Bonneville Power Administration and the Lower Snake River Dams: The Folly of Conventional Wisdom