When the Slade question first came up I e-mailed him asking about his position on, or lack of effort in the removal of the Elwah dams (in my back yard). I recieved a reply today. It was very interesting, educational, and research provoking. Thought I would share it with you guys, and let you draw your own conclusions. Thanks for your .02 and your computer expertise R.T.

Thank you for your e-mail regarding Elwha Dam removal. I appreciate
hearing from you, and apologize for the delay in my response.

Like you, I want to do everything possible to restore our salmon runs in
the Pacific Northwest. As you may know, acquisition of the Elwha and
Glines Canyon dams was authorized by Congress in 1992. From 1993 to
1994, a Democratic controlled Congress refused to appropriate funds for
this project. It was not until Republicans took over Congress after the
1994 election that funding was finally made available for the removal of
the dams. In 1995, I took over as chairman of the Senate Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee. I was happy to include a total of $29
million for acquisition of the dams in the FY 1996, 1997 and 1998
appropriations bills. I also included another $22 million for the
removal fund in the FY 2000 Interior Appropriations bill. One of my
main concerns in regards to providing funding for the Elwha Dam removal
has been to protect the City of Port Angeles water supply. In 1999, I
fought to include $5.5 million to design and engineer a new water
filtration system for Port Angeles. The FY 2000 Interior bill also
directed the National Park Service to acquire the Elwha River dams by
February 29, 2000.

I have been urging the Department of the Interior to acquire the dams
since 1997. Instead of utilizing the funding I had already set aside
for this project, Interior Secretary Babbitt insisted that he would not
acquire the dams until the full amount was appropriated to remove the
dams. Since estimated removal costs are around $122 million, it was
impossible to appropriate that amount of funding in one fiscal year.
Babbitt's "groundbreaking" announcement earlier this year was long
overdue. It is unfortunate that this announcement did not come two and
a half years ago. With the support of the local communities, I will
continue to support the removal of the Elwha Dam.

You will be pleased to know that the Senate Interior Appropriations bill
for FY 2001 includes another $15 million to continue removal
preparations, while the House Interior Appropriations bill only has $7.5
million.

Again, thank you for writing. Please feel free to contact me in the
future.

Sincerely,


SLADE GORTON
United States Senator


HEY IT WORKED!! Thanks again R.T.

Although not completely honest. Slade held up the funding himself in attempts to get a long term agreement in exchange that no dams would be breached in eastern Washington. He got a lot of flack for that.

Corky,

As Stlhead indicated, Slade did hold up the appropriations while trying to extract a promise of no Snake River dam breaching. Then he suggests Babbitt is the bad guy for not wanting to buy the dams without having the funding to pay for their removal. Well, guess what? The Interior Dept. purchased the dams, is presently operating them to generate energy, and doesn’t have the money to pay for their removal! Perchance Babbitt knew what he was talking about. It’s going to be damn hard to pay for dam removal a few million bucks at a time, contingent on the annual whims of Congressional appropriations. And please note that Slade’s message mentions removal of only the Elwha Dam and doesn’t mention Glines Canyon Dam, the second dam on the Elwha. The conclusion I draw is that my opinion of Slade as a slimy, anti-environment politician is reconfirmed. Thanks for posting Slade’s message.

And missing from this debate is why federal funds are necessary to remove private dams. I haven't heard why the government didn't require the dam's owner to remove them at the company's own expense. Sheesh, big business is the biggest welfare cheat of all!

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

It is amazing that the closer it get to election time the candidates who are responsible the distruction of habitate and environment are all suddenly "ENVIRONMENTALISTS". For those who think Slade Gorton is for fish and habitate just read his record. He and he alone has held up removal of the dams on the Elwah in an attempt to save the dams on the Snake and his money sources in eastern Washington.

You got it, Stever. 'Tis the season for wolves in green's clothing!
[With my apologies to the real, 4-legged, wolves.]

Corky

In previous posts, I gleaned that you were leaning toward the GOP in the upcoming elections. I applaud you for both taking the time to dig and ask questions, and soliciting opinions other than those proferred by the politicos.

Many would have taken the response from Gortons office as proof of his or her own convictions. But its amazing how there are two sides to a story.

You still may be leaning toward the GOP, but at least you'll be a more informed voter and in the process, more informed the rest of us.

Hey guys, thanks for your input on this letter. I think it is real important to hear all sides, and opinions. It would be a huge mistake as obsessed said, to only hear like minded politicos.
Obsessed, yes I still lean (rather heavily) to the right, but I would still realy like to know all sides. That said, does any one have any opinions on the first paragraph of the letter. By the way Salmo G, the Glines canyon dam is in the second sentense of the first paragraph, and he used damS in the second paragraph. Again I appreciate every ones .02, thanks, corky

Throw the BUM out!!!!!!He is totally against Snake River Dam removal so how could he support the Elwah!!!!lester

[This message has been edited by lester (edited 09-13-2000).]

Corky,

Just to follow up, yes, Slade allowed acquisition of both dams on the Elwha, but he supported, and continues to support removal only of the Elwha Dam, the lower of the two. I believe he's still up to no good, doing what he can to delay, if not prevent, salmon and steelhead restoration.

Restoration works against Slade's interests and that of his moneyed friends. If we actually to restore some of the wild salmon and steelhead populations, then goofy citizens that we are, we will want to protect them from the habitat degrading activities of Slade's friends. No wonder they don't want restoration efforts to succeed. Far better to throw a few token dollars at half assed restoration efforts and talk a good line, especially near election time. That's the sort of behavior I've come to expect from Slade.

Gee, you'd never guess that I've detested the sob for over 20 years, would you?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

If you vote against any one this year vote this guy out! Slade has been playing games with Washington voters for too many years. Just look at how he is suddenly concerned about the Elwha dams, when 2 years ago he was blocking every effort to restore the river. I think that if he is defeated this time that maybe he will retire and save this state any future misery. Vote the bum out and SAVE WASHINGTONS SAMON and STEELHEAD. thanks

I have never trusted Slade, and believe that he probably is against removal of the Elwa Dam(n)s. I suffer from CRS but didn't he block all efforts to fund removal of the
dam(n)s?

I hiked 19 mi.s up the Elwa a few years ago and have never in my life seen a river that could support anadromous fish as well as the "upper" Elwa.

Roger

As an east-sider, I have been deluged by "Slade will save our dams" advertising. I am relatively young, but I learned to despise Slade in High School during my government class, and I have ever since. He is an owned man plain and simple. I have never wnted someone to lose an election as much as him. Funny thing is that I know very few people who think the Dams (Snake River) are that big of a deal. Other than the folks who have bought into the "The world will end when the dams are removed" line of crap, most people seem to think they could be yanked and everything would be fine. Makes you wonder who those ad's are for. His voters or his contributors. OK I don't really wonder.

"Trust the Gordon's Fishermen..."

I'll bet anyone if he is re-elected the Elwha dam will be standing years from now.

I've an idea.....As soon as any one of you can get 99 other people on this board to agree with your plan for fish restoration I will reconsider my conservative stance politically. I think that we all need to realize that EVERY single penny these jokers spend (OF OUR MONEY!!!!!!!) must be negotiated with 99 other people with pet projects and constituents, not to mention the 435 jokers in the other body and the occupant of the white house. If these dams are/were privately owned (I don't know) then why are you all sucking on the federal [Bleeeeep!] to get them removed. Why not talk to the owners. I am admittedly ignorant on this subject but logic seems to dictate. Please do me the favor of priortizing almost 2 trillion dollars of federal spending in a way that will get 535 other elected whores to agree with you (is there still over $100 million attached to your pet project?????).

Perhaps it is the election season blues but I for one am getting tired of everyone bellying up to the "Treasury Bar" all asking for their own magic potable at the expense of others. Between prescription drugs, preschool, dams and all the rest I'm not sure I'm working for my own family any more. If the gov't built it then you all have a legit beef, if not I think we're SOL. If removing it was the intended plan, why did Babbitt make a single watt of power with it????????? If it ain't movin...it either IS dead or WILL be. Thanks for the vent......................more later
Regards,
Lance

[This message has been edited by wit45cal (edited 09-15-2000).]

Don't blow a gasket over something you know nothing of. These dams were built with tax dollars and are operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. The major federal [Bleeeeep!] suckers on these dams are the irrigators, barge operators and aluminum manufactuers. I guess if welfare is on a huge enough scale it's O.K. with Republicans.

I refer to paragraph 2 of Salmo's first post regarding privately owned dams. I am forced to defer to possibly the most knowledgable fish in the pond on this one, namely Salmo himself. Are/were these dams privately owned and if so why then are so many complaining that slade (one of 536) cannot get them torn down fast enough. I have meth labs and wreckless drivers in my neighborhood that don't affect fishing but need to be prioritized ahead of these dams. (if you ask me....) These dams can be left forever if the money not spent will get more police and judges with some stones into my neighborhood. You see we all have priorities. If the dept. of Interior owns the dams now lobby them to breach them as they are now the decision makers. It appears that Slade has secured monies for removal for several years and that money could be used for decommisioning efforts in preparation for removal. It will take years to remove them anyway so why not start with what they have and force the feds to complete the project later. A half breached dam will make slade look much worse than a functioning, power making dam with angry fishermen wandering around. Just a thought.

Wit, the Elhwa Dams are privately owned, the Snake River dams were built by the Corps. ESA, particularly on the Snake, brings this issue to the forfront, a Federal priority, despite other social, economic, and political needs for funds. And Slade has been a staunch opponent. Politically, he has enough support to simply state that the removal of the Snake River dams would be an economic disaster in the region.

For the Elhwa dams, he has grudgingly conceded to their removal because of widespread support, but because his constituents are against it, has put in place a next to impossible means for their removal. As Salmo pointed out obtaining a few million a year for a 100 million dollar removal project is at best putting the actual removal off for many years, and at worst, bury the project in the politics of the yearly budget.

There are definitively more effective ways to get things done in the Fed, but Slade doesn't want to find it.

Dino et al,

Forget partisan politics. All politicians are "owned". ALL. They are prostitutes. They do it to us for money.

What we the poor slob voter has to find out is who owns them and then vote for the ones who are owned by those who represent our interests.

For example: Gore is owned by gun control activists, big oil (his family fortune comes from Occidental Oil stock - his dad was a bag man for Armond Hammer and young Gore's first [and only] move in his promise to reduce government was to sell the federal Teapot Dome oil reserves to Occidental), probably PETA/Green Peace and only God knows who else.

Bush is owned by big oil, the utility companies (no dam removal), the NRA, I suppose most large business, and only God knows who else.

Forget Rep. and Dem. Figure your long and short term priorities for the country, check out the priorities of the pimps and vote for the whore owned by those which best represent your priorities.

Crusty


[This message has been edited by JohnRowley (edited 09-15-2000).]

Obsessed-
Thank you for the clarification. Are we then barking up the wrong tree trying to get the fed to tear them down. The private owners are the ones to go after. I know that is tough if the dams are owned by the electricity mafia but hey we all need to dream. The snake dams are a different story. My family owns hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland on the snake and removing the dams would screw things up pretty good. As I have said before the price of electricity will go up dramatically. I cannot believe that there are not ways of designing fish ladders that would help propagate the species. For the money I think we could probably build small streams around the dams for less money. Perhaps from hand picked gravel. I have VERY LITTLE faith in the gov't when it comes to solving problems that they caused. (or didn't for that matter) Why not demand hatcheries above every dam on the snake and perpetual staffing and maintenance and make the keeping or killing of unclipped fish a free trip to Walla Walla for a few months. The dworshak hatchery and dam in Orofino ID maintains the economy of nearly the entire community, and with only a winter run over eight dams. I'm not in line for that land so I don't have a vested interest in the dams outside of my electric bill (which is reasonable). I just like to think of solutions rather than problems and the best solution is to have fish and functioning dams. Is this a pipe dream or what?????

The Dams on the Elwha were built by private companies that no longer exisist the ownership has changed several times and the last private owner was James River Corp.
James River was unable to get the Dams reliceensed by the FERC and started examineing options and the removal and liability of same. Then the fed offered to buy the dam sites and go with accepting the liability for all of what that entails, they ( James River) said thank you very much and unloaded what, if they owned them now, they would have to remove thereselves since they don't have operating permits and or fish passage. Boy Lance you are so Right I fail to see how you can bring yourself to look to the direction opposite of right at a street intersection!