Instead of using fossil fuels, we are told to use “clean” energy like wind, solar and hydroelectric power.
Hydropower is the most reliable. Unlike wind and sunlight, it flows steadily.
But now environmental groups want to destroy the dam that produces hydroelectric power.
“Break the dam,” an activist shouts in my voice. New video. “Now is the time. Our fish is on the line!”
Activists have targeted four dams on Washington’s Snake River, which they say are driving salmon to extinction.
It is true that dams once killed a lot of salmon. Pregnant fish have to swim upstream to give birth, and the babies swim downstream to the ocean.
Suddenly the dam got in the way.
Salmon populations have declined dramatically.
But that was in the 1970s.
Most salmon today pass through dams without any problems.
how?
Fish protection innovations such as fish ladders and release channels keep most salmon away from the turbines that generate electricity.
“About 96 to 98 percent of salmon successfully pass through each dam,” said Todd Myers, environmental director at the Washington Policy Center.
Now federal science agencies too say If we leave the dam as it is, the fish will grow well.
But environmental groups don’t raise money through recognition. good tidings.
“Snake River salmon are in danger.” title ~ in Earth Justice.
The gullible press falls for it.
The Snake River is “the most endangered river in the country”! claimed Evening news anchor.
“That’s simply not true,” Myers explains. “When you look at the actual population numbers, you see that it’s just absurd.”
It’s absolutely ridiculous. Salmon populations have been larger in recent years than they were in the 1980s and 1990s.
“They make these claims because they know people will believe them. They don’t want to believe that their favorite environmental group is dishonest,” Myers said.
But many people do.
It was acquired by an environmental group in 1999. advertisement The New York Times “Salmon will be extinct by 2017.”
“Did the environmentalists apologize?” I asked Myers.
“No,” he says. “They are repeating almost the same argument today. They just changed the date.
I invited 10 activist groups who wanted to destroy dams to my studio to make their case for salmon extinction. Not a single one agreed.
I understand why. They have already convinced the public and gullible politicians.
“There is no viable way to keep the dam,” said Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson.
“We continue to do stupid things,” Myers said. “We invest money in things that don’t have an impact on the environment, and then we wonder what happens 10, 20, 30 years from now. [later] “Why haven’t we made progress on the environment?”
Politicians and activists want to remove the Snake River Dam, despite the massive amount of electricity it generates.
“That’s roughly the same amount as all the wind and solar turbines in Washington state,” Myers said. “Imagine if you told the environmental community that we had to take down all the wind turbines and all the solar panels. They would go crazy. But that’s exactly what they’re saying by taking down the Snake River Dam.”
I counter: “They say, ‘Let’s just build more wind turbines.'”
“The problem is that there are a few times a year when there is no wind,” he replies. “You can build 10 times as many wind turbines, but if there is no wind, there is no electricity.”
Hydro, on the other hand, can be “turned on and off as needed. It makes no sense to destroy hydro and replace it with wind. It would cause serious damage to our electric grid.”
“That’s not their money,” I pointed out.
“That’s exactly right,” he says. “If we want to spend $35 billion on salmon, there are a lot of things we can do to make a real impact.”
For example?
“[Reduce the population of] “Seals and sea lions,” he said. “The Washington Academy of Sciences said that unless we reduce their numbers, salmon will never recover.”
“People used to hunt sea lions,” I said.
“That’s why the population is larger today.”
But environmentalists don’t want people to hunt sea lions or seals. Instead, they advocate destroying dams.
“It sells because it’s sexy and dramatic,” Myers said. “Feeling good is more important than the environmental consequences.”
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