Larry Craig: “a decision was brought about on eight dams on the Snake and the Columbia River systems in the Pacific Northwest that I…”

“a decision was brought about on eight dams on the Snake and the Columbia River systems in the Pacific Northwest that I believe is a disastrous stumble by this administration into the endangered species debate over several species of salmon in the Snake and the Columbia system, a misguided and perhaps disastrous decision to spill water over these eight dams and to set in place a motion and action that is yet to be justified. With no forewarning, the National Marine Fisheries Service ordered the Bonneville Power Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers to dump these large quantities of water over the spillways. There is no research and no scientific basis to argue what is now being done. Instead of helping the salmon, this action will place them in dire jeopardy due to the gas supersaturation in the water, an unavoidable result of heavy spilling of water over these structures. Gas supersaturation is a well-known phenomenon in fisheries biology, and it is lethal to fish above the 120 percent supersaturation.”