Clashing over dams and salmon nothing new for Simpson, Newhouse

Rep. Mike Simpson has clashed with at least one of his Republican colleagues in the past over his view that saving Idaho’s salmon and steelhead runs requires breaching of Snake River dams.

Last year, he and Rep. Dan Newhouse, of Sunnyside, Wash., sparred during an Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation budget request hearing before the House subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies. The hearing was about a year after Simpson had all but announced his support for dam removal at an Andrus Center Conference in Boise. It was also well known at the time he was talking with stakeholders about ideas that would eventually form the basis of his $33 billion proposal to save salmon and steelhead by breaching the dams while also investing in affected communities and industries.

Simpson unveiled that plan, which he calls a concept, in February. Newhouse, along with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, announced their opposition to it in a news release, even before Simpson made the plan public.

During the congressional hearing in 2020, Newhouse and Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, chief of the Corps, discussed what at that time was a draft environmental impact statement looking at the interplay between protected salmon and the many federal dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

“At the end of the day, it’s about how do we balance the environment with all the other needs like navigation, hydropower and irrigation,” Semonite said in describing the document that found breaching the dams was not needed.

Simpson stood to offer critique of their conversation.

“I noticed you all mentioned hydropower, irrigation and transportation and how important those are. Nobody mentioned fish. Nobody mentioned salmon that come back to Idaho, that in the next 15 years, if something isn’t done, they will be extinct. There is no doubt about that, they will be extinct.”

Simpson concluded with remarks he has made several times since then, basically saying there are other ways to produce hydropower and ship grain but only one way to save the fish.

“Everything we do, we can do differently. Salmon need one thing — they need a river.”

During the exchange, the two Republicans expressed their fondness for each other, even though they disagree on the dams.

Both Simpson and Newhouse are slated to take part in a sequel to the 2019 Andrus Center Conference on Thursday. Titled “Energy, Salmon, Agriculture and Community: Revisited,” the half-day event will examine what has happened in the two years since Simpson pledged that he would live long enough to see Redfish Lake in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains once again team with sockeye salmon.

There isn’t likely to be the same type of exchange at the conference though. Newhouse is scheduled to talk at 10:20 a.m. PDT and Simpson will speak at 11 a.m. PDT. Because of the pandemic, the conference participants will deliver their remarks remotely.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, Ore., and Shannon Wheeler, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, will provide back-to-back opening remarks at the conference. Earlier this week, Simpson discussed his plan with Blumenauer during a virtual town hall meeting. Blumenauer has praised the plan but said he has issues with some provisions, such as the proposed 35-year moratorium on litigation related to the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act at other dams on the Snake and Columbia river basin.

The conference will also include a panel discussion featuring David Reeploeg, of the Tri-Cities Development Council; Debra Smith, general manager of Seattle City and Light; Chris Wood, president of Trout Unlimited; and Lynda Mapes, environmental reporter for the Seattle Times.

More information about the conference is available at www.boisestate.edu/sps-andruscenter/.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.