Breaching dams could be 'last resort'

Salmon levels would have to drop to mid-1990s levels - when some runs came close to winking out - before the federal government would even study breaching dams under the plan announced by the Obama administration Tuesday. "Breaching of the Snake River dams remains on the table in this plan, but it is considered a contingency of last resort," said Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. The plan would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to start planning next year how to study breaching four dams in Washington's lower Snake River and drawing down the reservoir behind John Day Dam. But the actual studies wouldn't be triggered unless the four-year running average of populations of some specific salmon runs dropped to within 10 percent of the lowest year since 1980. A separate "rapid response" contingency plan would be triggered when salmon population levels dropped to close to what they were when the fish were first listed on the Endangered Species Act in 1991. This would require actions like increased spilling of water over dams, increased predator controls and reduced harvest...IdahoStatesman