Political Quotes

“the Columbia River is the crown jewel of our Pacific Northwest. Its waters passing through our dams light our cities and towns. Its waters held back at times by those dams have saved thousands of lives from destructive floods. Its waters spread on our dry land have made the desert bloom and provide food for millions of people around the world. At the same time, that magnificent Columbia River has been the home to the most munificent runs of salmon anywhere in the lower 48 States of the United States of America. Now that very civilization that has built those dams and used these waters so constructively threatens the future of these wonderful salmon runs. What should we do? How should we see to it that we both have the benefits of power and of irrigation and flood control and at the same time preserve and strengthen and restore these wonderful runs of salmon? I think it is becoming more and more evident what we should not do. In the last 5 years, Federal bureaucrats here in Washington, DC, have billed us in the Pacific Northwest $1.5 billion for salmon restoration, half a billion dollars last year alone, and we have not seen any positive results at all. In spite of this investment, an investment the people of the Pacific Northwest have not begrudged, the results are nothing. The results are a continued decline in our salmon runs. These costs are welcomed by the people of the Pacific Northwest, but the results are not.”