A House Natural Resources subcommittee will tackle Western water issues this week, ranging from a quartet of contentious dams in the Pacific Northwest to securing flows for California farmers.
The Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee agenda includes Washington Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse’s H.R. 2073, the “Defending our Dams Act.”
The bill aims to prevent the removal of four structures on the Lower Snake River — the Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams — by prohibiting the use of federal funds for that purpose.
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Native Americans and environmentalists argue the structures must be breached to restore Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead populations.
