March 5, 2024 3:00 a.m.

Congressman Cliff has joined a group of Pacific Northwest colleagues in raising concerns with Washington State Department of Transportation Secretary Roger Millar regarding the economic fallout of breaching the lower Snake River dams.

Bentz said, “This scheme by WSDOT and the Biden Administration is a direct attack on clean energy production and navigation in the Northwest”. Bentz said, “These dams are essential to energy production, navigation and the Northwest’s agricultural industry. Removing or adjusting their operations to negate power generation and river commerce would be devastating”.

One analysis estimates that it would take 39,204 rail cars and 150,784 semi-trucks per year to move the cargo that is currently passed through the Columbia and Snake rivers. To meet this new shipping demand, breaching the LSRD would require the total number of truck drivers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho to triple. The members of Congress are urging WSDOT to provide detailed plans to mitigate these impacts and propose alternative solutions to support the region’s economy.

A full text of the letter is linked: https://chavez-deremer.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/chavez-deremer.house.gov/files/evo-media