Snake River Currents

Volume 1, Issue 18

this 

Please share this newsletter with friends, family and co-workers within your departments. Thank you.

SRBA mediation talks continue with the objective of flow protection and augmentation in the Salmon and Clearwater basins, as well as the mainstem Snake River. Tribal negotiators continue to focus additionally on potential improvements and benefits to on-reservation tribal resources.

Lower Granite Reservoir

During the 1940’s and 1950’s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) outlined development plans for dam construction in the Columbia and Snake River basins. Part of the benefits from the dam construction plan included providing a waterway for barge traffic to reach Lewiston and grain growing areas in the inland Northwest. Various Idaho and Washington politicians and business interests encouraged this idea. Construction on the first Lower Snake River dam, Ice Harbor, began in 1957. Lower Monumental and Little Goose Dams were built on the Lower Snake River in the 1960s. One additional dam was still needed to make Lewiston a seaport.

Lower Granite Dam was constructed as the last dam on the Lower Snake River to provide a reservoir with slackwater so Lewiston would be accessible to barge traffic. Other benefits of the project promised by the Corps were flood control and hydropower production.

Congress appropriated initial construction funds for the Lower Granite project in 1965. Construction, however, was slowed for several years during the inflationary times of the late 1960’s at the height of the Viet Nam War.

The Association of Northwest Steelheaders filed a lawsuit against the Corps in 1970 to halt construction of Lower Granite Dam, and also to deauthorize a dam planned for the Snake River near Asotin. They argued that the project would impact salmon and steelhead runs, and that the Corps had failed to meet the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act. The State of Washington joined the lawsuit.

Despite the lawsuit, the Corps continued construction of Lower Granite Dam. When the district court dismissed the case in December, 1971, the dam was already half-way completed.

The Steelheaders and the State of Washington appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals. In 1973, that court reversed the lower court’s decision, and urged reinstatement of the lawsuit. Meanwhile, the Corps still continued construction at the Lower Granite Dam site.

Finally, in 1977, the U.S. District Judge ruled largely in favor of the Corps because the issue had become moot since by that time all four dams on the Lower Snake River, including Lower Granite Dam, were completed and in operation. The judge did rule that the Corps had failed to study and report on fish and wildlife resources, and ordered the Corps to file report describing plans to enhance fish runs. The Corps complied with this order by funding studies of enhancement concepts until the Reagan administration terminated funding for the program in the 1980’s.

The Corps’ strategy of continuing construction during the lawsuit proved to be effective. The slackwater reached Lewiston in February, 1975, and Lower Granite generated its first electricity in April, 1975. In June, 1975, the sternwheeler Portland steamed into Lewiston completing the dream of those who wanted to create a seaport.

Runs of salmon, however, continued to decline after the completion of the Lower Granite project.

Although the lawsuit by the Steelheaders and the State of Washington did not stop the construction of Lower Granite Dam, it was responsible for turning public opinion against the proposed dam near Asotin. This project was subsequently deauthorized by Congress.

River mi. from mouth of Snake River:       107.5

River mi. from Little Goose Dam:             37.2

Owner:                                                   U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Authorized purpose:                                power generation/inland navigation

Other uses:                                             flood control

Type of project:                                     run of the river

Total length at crest:                               3,200 feet

Spillway overall length:                           512 feet

Number of fish ladders:                          1

Adult fish trap and handling facility:         1