Utah’s Republican senators want the Trump administration to investigate whether efforts to curb an invasive species are proving too costly in terms of lost hydropower production.
Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Energy and Natural Resource Committee, and Sen. John Curtis recently introduced S. 887, the “Basin Fund Preservation Act,” to review tactics adopted by the Biden administration to address the invasive smallmouth bass.
A Bureau of Reclamation decision adopted last year allows for increased flows — or pulses of cold water — from the Glen Canyon Dam to disrupt the life cycle of smallmouth bass.
The invasive species, which have been found downstream of the dam as water levels drop and warm the reservoir, is a threat to the survival of the federally protected humpback chub.
