November-December 1999 $2.95 US $3.50 Canada Volume 4 No. 9 I• • Conm------NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1999 VOL. 4 No. 9 Dear Reader e were saddened to learn that Edward Cohen, a friend and Busted! Wsupporter of Cascadia Times, has died after an illness. WILLAMETTE INDUSTRIES' DIRTY Am With his wife, Fritzi Davis Cohen, TRIGGERS A FEDERAL PROSECUTION Edward Cohen was owner of the quaint by John Paul Williams and Paul Koberstein Page 6 Tabard Inn near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., a favorite hangout for THE NUTS AND BOLTS journalises and pundits, and the 1oby EPA's CASE AGAINST WILLAMETTE Dick Hotel, a lovely bed-and-breakfast INDUSTRIES Page 7 on the Long Beach Peninsula in Nahcotta, Wash. "TOXIC SNOW" TRIGGERS LAWSuITS At one time, Cohen was a reporter IN ARKANSAS Page 9 for the Washington Post. In his obituary, the Post made note of how che Cohens DID THE OREGON DEQ LOOK THE saved the Tabard in l 974 from demoli• OTHER WAY? Page JO tion, refurbishing the hotel's marvelous

EDITORIAL

maze of halls, passageways and staircas• es. They added a restaurant, which the Post said was distinguished for its ambi• ence and menu. Endgame We were introduced to the Cohens THE FUTURE IS Now FOR SALMON AND in 1996 as they were developing an THE FOUR LOWER S 'AKE RIVER DAMS organic oyster farm in Willapa Bay, near by Elizabeth Grossman Page 11 the Moby Dick. Complications arose when the Willapa Bay community began calling for the use of pesticides to stop THE USUAL STUFF the spread of spartina, an alien grass that has taken hold in the bay. The Cohens, FIELD NOTES: Raiding Alaska: Clinton takes a BOOK REVIEWS: Salmon Without Rivers. as organic farmers, understandably did not wane their product tainted by pesti• green brush to his legacy 3 reviewed by Elizabeth Grossman J .17 cide use. Nor did they believe the pesri• cides were not dangerous tO the public. SAY WHAT 3 CASCADIA RESOURCE DIRECTORY 22 At the same time, they pioneered practi• cal uses for the spartina, promoting ELIZABETH GROSSMAN: Success in Seattle .. 3 COVER ILLUSTRATION: RICK PINCHERA spartina paper, among other things. For this, the Cohens came under consider• able criticism in their community, even from environmentalists, while standing up for principle. The Cohens have never shied away from important causes. Before his death, Cohen completed a manuscript on com• munity activism and environmental pol• itics. We are heartened, at least, that we haven't heard the last from Edward Editor/Publisher Paul Koberstein BURDO Of RDUISODS Operations Manager/Publisher Robin Klein Cohen. Susan Alexander, San Francisco, Calif. Art Direction Bryan Potter Design Peter Bahouth. Atlanta, Ga. s always, we are grateful for the Senior Editors Elizabeth Grossman Pamela Brown. Portland, Ore. support each of our readers have Jo Ostgarden Ellen Chu. Seattle, Wash. Agiven us. Each subscription Contributing Editor Steve Taylor David James Duncan. Lola, Mont. means a lot, and many of you have also Pat Ford. Boise, Idaho sent us donations- Jim Griffin, Charles Cascad,a Times is published IO times a year by Cascade Michael Frome. Bellingham, Wash. Ray, John Sherman, Scott Lewis. che Times Publishing Co., 25-6 Nortowest 23rd Place, No. Ian Gill. Vancouver, B.C. Northwest Fund for the Environment. 406. Portland OR 97210-3534 Subscnpnons are $20 per Peter Lavigne. Portland, Ore. Thank you all, and happy millennium year, $36 for two years. The entire contents of Cascodia James Karr. Seattle, Wash. from the staff at Cascadia Times! Times are copynght © 1999 by the Cascade Times Ken Margolis. Portland, Ore. Publishing Co., and may not be reproduced in whole or Marshall Mayer. Helena, Mont. in part without permission of the publisher. The publisher Nancy Newell, Portland, Ore. encourages unsolicited manuscripts and art but cannot Christopher Peters. Arcata, Calif. be held responsible for them. Manuscripts or matena Catherine Stewart. Vancouver, B.C. \.. (!) unaccompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope Jim Stratton. Anchorage, Alaska .0 E will not be returned Cascadio Times encourages electron• Sylvia Ward. Fairbanks.Alaska ~ ic submrssons to e-mail box [email protected]. We Charles Wilkinson. Boulder, Colo. (!) 0 reserve the nght to print letters in condensed form. Mary Wood. Eugene, Ore. !.!. (!) .0 E Founded 1995 by Paul Koberstein, Robin Klein, and Kathie Durbin (!) z~ How to Reach Us Phone (503) 223-9036 Fax (503) 736-0097 Email [email protected] • World Wide Web http:/lcascadia.times.org • Mail 25-6 NW 23rd Place, No. 406, Portland OR. 97210 8..__~~~~~~~~~~~~---- I' I 'I•

Field E-from-Ca---sca-dia------Raiding Alaska British Petroleum seeks control of the Arctic oil business in mega oil merger

By Patti Koberstein but there comes a day when the devil asks for his due. From all indications hen Alaska Gov. Tony that day has come. Knowles said in November he As originally constituted, the merg• W would drop his opposition to er would have given BP-Amoco-Arco the megamerger of the two multina• control over more than 70 percent of tionals that dominate the state's oil• North Slope oil, gas and production fields, people of virtually every politi• facilities, 72 percent of the trans-Alaska cal stripe erupted. The prospect of one oil pipeline, and 80 percent of the company controlling a state already available tanker capacity. dominated by one industry was too BP's oil rigs on Endicott Island. Alaska. To Alaskans, already inconve• much for many Alaskans. They hoped nienced by the fact that their capitol is to stop the marriage between BP• The merger has been the top news located in isolated Juneau, it meant Amoco and Atlantic Richfield before story in Alaska almost all year Jong. To that the seat of power would shift even they reached the altar. Early in 2000, understand why this deal is so impor• further from home, to London, the Federal Trade Commission will tant, consider the role oil companies England, BP's home base. "In short, it decide whether to allow the merger to play in the state: Alaskans pay no state is not the takeover of Arco that lies at go through. The companies were eager income tax. They pay very little in the heart of our concern; it is the to win Knowles over, as his position is local property tax. Every year, they get takeover of Alaska," said Christy likely to influence the outcome one a $1,700+ check from the state. Oil McGraw, director of Backbone, a way or the ocher. money has been very good to Alaska, CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Success in Seattle By Elizabeth Grossman ronmental movement. It's worth mentioning again, and contemplating how effective this coalition might be in s we go to press, the World Trade Organization pressuring governments and businesses around the world meeting is concluding in Seattle. While the WTO to. begin changing practices that are harmful co human Ameeting convened, tens of thousands of people took rights, human health - as if they could be separated - and to the streets to protest how the WTO has handled issues the health of the world's ecosystems. For all those who of environmental, worker and human rights concerns. went to Seattle to express their vehement concern for these Despite a small contingent of unruly demonstrators who issues, there were many more at home who feel the same. - through their destructive behavior - garnerned far Could a street protest get the attention of a high level more attention than their numbers warranted, the protest- world forum like the WTO? Could such a display of senti• ers in Seattle were made up of members of religious and ment change an agenda set by heads of state? At first it conservation organizations, unaffiliated concerned citizens seemed unlikely. As Bill McKibben wrote from Seattle in and labor union members, all of whom came out in the his December 1st column for Grist Magazine, "No matter thousands. what the pundits say, this week's street The news coverage of the WTO demonstrations do in fact matter, protests emphasized the violence and matter deeply ... They came to the bizarre: window-smashing anar- Seattle this week vowing no more chists, people wearing turtle hats, corn business as usual, and despite all cobs or nothing at all. Far less attention the spinning from the mayor to the was given to people like the fellow president, I think they've done it." overheard in a Portland gym, a church- The display in Seattle showed going school teacher who said he and us that Americans of a wide range of his wife went up for the day. "We left ,• political persuasions are passionate Seattle pretty early," he said, "because we about protecting the values essential to had to get back for the kids' supper. That's how the quality of life. The power of the protesters real radical we are." Where on the national front pages were pie- message should not be underestimated, and could provide cures of the nearly 30,000 union members, and the interna- impolitic, even perilous, to ignore. tional leaders who addressed their rally? Seattle has proven that Americans are ready to take to z The WTO protests in Seattle are an event for which the streets co oppose threats to the country's ability to ~ the Internet, and its ability to offer alternative news cover- enforce our laws protecting human, worker and environ• 3 O' age proved a extremely useful medium, both from West mental rights. One wonders what would happen if that (D jl Coast papers without national circulation, and perhaps energy was applied co truly enforcing these laws at home 0 most interestingly, from on-line publications and organiza- as well as abroad. s(D tional web-sites who were able to offe r daily coverage not It is too late co dismiss those who believe that concern for 3 O' influenced by some of the constraints felt by commercial · the environment=which encompasses concern for the health (D > journalism. and welfare of all humans-must be atop any agenda address- A few commentators have remarked on the potentially ing the progress of society, as "extremists and naturalists." powerful new alliance that opposition to the WTO's poli- They may have gotten in by sticking a foot in the door and cies has forged: that between organized labor and the envi- refusing to budge, but they're on their way co the table. • CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Beaufort Seti

- Common carrier pipelines ., Production facilities C> Undeveloped fields

Oil facilities on Alaska's North Slope have spread east and west over the years. Soon most may belong to BP.

broad-based Alaska group that pushed Friday the deal was done. when it snapped up Amoco for $48 bil• hard against the deal. Experts say the deal will reduce lion in stock. Then, in April 1999, BP Alaskans compare the pending BP-Arco's grip on Alaska's oil fortune Amoco said it would take over Atlantic BP-Arco monopoly to Microsoft. But to about 60 percent, in large part by Richfield Co. for $25.6 billion in stock. while Microsoft controls only the oper• introducing one-to-four new competi• Knowles immediately launched an ating system of personal computers, tors to the North Slope. BP-Arco investigation, to be headed by the U.S. BP-Arco would control almost every would have to give up 175,000 barrels Justice Department's lead lawyer on function of government in this state, per day of production, about 17 per• the Microsoft antitrust case, David either directly or indirectly. Among cent of the total, and relinquish operat• Boies. many concerns, McGraw says, is the ing control of two major North Slope Consumer advocate Ralph Nader possibility that someday BP-Arco oil fields, Kuparuk and Alpine. It muse said the merger would violate federal might decide to shift production out of provide competitors with access to the and state antitrust laws. The states of Alaska to oil fields in some ocher coun• Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. And, the Washington, Oregon and California - try. The consequences for Alaska's company must give up significant where the lion's share of Alaska's oil is economy would be devastating for as interests along the vast western reach• burned in automobiles - also long as BP chose to "warehouse" its es of the Arctic coast, in an area known announced their opposition;' 'Over the North Slope inventory. as National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, summer, opposition to the merger cook Another concern is that with one or NPR-A. on a bipartisan character. Alaska Sen. company paying most of the taxes that Now that the deal is in place, Frank Murkowski promised to hold run the state government for state, its Knowles believes Alaskans can breathe hearings, while Republicans in the hard to believe that government offi• easier. "This agreement makes Alaska Legislature demanded concessions cials would have the guts co force BP to a stronger and more competitive player from the corporation. do what's necessary to protect the sen• in the world oil market," he said. BP-Arco says it will push forward sitive tundra of the North Slope, the The deal may indeed enhance aggressively with new Alaska oil wells. near shore waters of the Beaufort Sea, competition on the North Slope. And It is developing offshore drilling oper• and the poisoned ecology of Prince it calls on BP-Arco to clean up the ations, featuring a submerged pipeline William Sound. despoiled North Slope environment, which conservation groups contend is When first announced last March, and purchase double-hulled tankers to highly risky. The company also main• Knowles was cautious in his criticism replace its single-hulled fleet. But tains a desire to develop production of the deal. In August, Knowles existing laws already require the oil platforms in the 1.5 million-acre spelled out his concerns in a speech to companies to do these things. Besides, coastal plain of the Arctic National the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. in the words of the agreement, these Wildlife Refuge. Known as "America's "This (merger) represents an unac• promises can't be enforced in court: Serengeti" for. its. biological richness, ceptable monopolistic control of · "The parties do not intend for them to the Arctic Refuge is critical denning Alaska's resources. It is an insurmount• be enforced by lawsuits but to be habitat for polar bears, calving grounds able barrier to the competitive partici• judged in the forum of public opinion, for caribou, and home to wolves, 00 pation of other major companies devel• and no right of action is created with muskoxen and millions of migratory I.I.I :E oping our oil and gas. It cannot stand respect to them." birds. Knowles apparently made no ...- unchallenged." Conservation leaders are disap• effort to lock in protection for the c Through the end of October pointed. "We are relying on BP to be a refuge in his deal with BP-Arco. ii CIC Knowles pressed BP to accept a list of good citizen," says Sara Callaghan of Current federal law prohibits u demands, but without success. On the Sierra Club office in Anchorage. drilling in the refuge, but BP execu• c00 u Sunday, October 31, Knowles wrote to "We are relying on the honor of a tives, in concert with Republican lead• the Federal Trade Commission urging handshake." ers in Congress, wane to change that it to reject the takeover, saying BP had "Overall the agreement does not law. President Clinton has said he refused to negotiate a settlement go far enough in reducing BP's con• I.. would veto any effort to open up the (lJ ..0 addressing Alaska's concerns. trol," says Backbone's McGraw. "They refuge, but he leaves office in 200L If E Apparently, the stock market consid• have to divest only a little bit here and he's replaced with former Texas oil• (lJ u (lJ ered Knowles' continued objection to little bit there." man George W. Bush, look for BP to 0 ~ the deal a serious problem for both BP Three members of Backbone, make another run at changing the law. (lJ ..0 and Arco. Over the first week in including two 1998 candidates for gov• Campaign finance reports suggest the E November, their combined value ernor, have filed an antitrust lawsuit industry is betting that George W. will ~ dropped a whopping $21 billion. On attempting to block. the merger before be worth the wait. So far, they've given z Thursday of that week, BP President it happens. him at least $1.1 million in contribu• Rodney Chase flew to Alaska to stop British Petroleum began building tions, more than 10 times his nearest 0 the hemorrhaging and cut a deal. By its Alaskan monopoly in August 1998 rival. · And it's the administration's com• new president could target the parts of Clinton takes a ment about replacement that makes the law impeding old-growth logging, some acnvrsts in Oregon and vaporizing the legal hammer on green brush to Washington nervous. The Rocky Dwyer's desk. "I think you can rest Mountain states have 10 .times more assured that if the Congress remains roadless acreage available for protec• Republican and we get a Republican his legacy tion than do Oregon and Washington. president, those viability standards By Oma Isaeson Bue Oregon and Washington, and the would be revised," he says. "I think Tongass National Forest, are where the that's a no brain er." n October 13, President Bill big, old-growth trees are. Will Clinton's Northwest activists need to focus Clinton stood overlooking a roadless area policy point the chainsaws nor on wilderness, but on the last high-elevation, second-growth back at the region that has long been unprotected old-growth stands, 1 O ground zero of the timber wars? forest in Virginia and followed the lead Keene says. "The battle right now in of presidents ending their tenure Roy Keene, a forester based in the Northwest is not over the road• throughout the century. In an effort to Eugene, Ore., considers offering uncer• less areas. It's over who gees the old buff off some of the tarnish on his envi• tain protections to 40 million acres "a growth, us or the industry." ronmental legacy, Clinton announced dangerous distraction" from the ulti• The issue goes beyond just that he had directed the Forest Service mate goal of protecting all old growth. trees. "If vou want to protect biodi• to "prepare a detailed analysis of how "That's a risky opportunity for a versity and hydrology, you go after best to preserve our forests' large road• bait and switch game," he says. "If you new logging and new roading pro• less areas, and then present a formal stare to look at the big picture and posals," says George Sexton, a proposal to do just that." where the money is in the federal tim• watershed coordinator for the l That proposal will consider at least ber, you see it's in the Northwest. American Lands Alliance based in 40 million acres in National Forest Eugene. Sexton likes Clinton's propos• roadless areas of at least 5,000 acres. al, but says it's irresponsible tO think The move would effect nearly every Isolated 40-acre pate-hes that protecting only large roadless areas state of the union, and ultimately can adequately address all concerns could include up to 60 million acres if of 400-year-old trees are about biodiversity, water quality or old the Forest Service also recommends incredibly important, but they growth. Isolated 40-acre patches. of protecting smaller roadless areas of 400-year-old trees are incredibly impor• 1,000 acres or more from roads. The don't get included in anyone's tant, but they don't get included in Forest Service says Oregon has just anyone's Sierra Club calendars, and under 2.1 million acres· in the larger Sierra Club calendars, and they they don't get identified as heritage· road less tracts and Washington 1. 9 mil• forests by the Heritage Forests lion. According co the Oregon Natural don't get identified as heritage Campaign. But that's triage." Resources Council, the Oregon num• Rait, of the Heritage. Forests ber jumps to between 4 and 5 milliori if forests by the Heritage Forests Campaign, says the roadless area poli• the 1,000-acre-plus tracts are included. cy is just one of many necessary steps. · Notably left out of the proposal, Campaign. But that's. triage. "Obviously the hope is that we protect but still on the table for consideration, not just the roadless areas but the is the Tongass National Forest. -George Sexton remaining patches of old growth. Though the largest and most ecologi• We've got a mechanism now for get• cally intact National Forest, the ting the roadless areas protected and Tongass is seriously threatened by log• That's where the money is, that's where ongoing efforts by the forest communi• ging. It is located in Alaska, a state the cut is, that's where the big, high vol• ty to protect remaining old growth are whose congressional delegation ume timber is." And, he says, the indus• going to continue and hopefully be includes some of the president's most try is going to come back for it. s uccessfu I." strident political enemies. Clinton's No one, from the strongest propo• Chris West says the industry, for its announcement also left open whether nents of the president's policy to its part, is biding its time, trying to work Jogging, mining and grazing would be harshest industry critics, is willing to the angles on the administration's poli• allowed in the affected tracts. And say Northwest forests won't feel some cy, watching the public hearing process while the timber industry calls the pol• bite. But they generally point to and then weighing its options. icy a back-door way to create wilder• Clinton's 1993 Northwest Forest Plan, How concerned is the industry? ness by administrative fiat, it clearly or Option 9, saying it will curb any "Big time concerned," West says, isn't wilderness: A subsequent presi• major increase in Jogging in the region. especially about Clinton making an dent could go back through the admin• After five years, Option 9 is already end-run around Congress. "We're talk• istrative process and reopen the lands floundering in the face of lawsuits that ing about 40 to 60 million acres, or argue it is not being properly enforced to road building. between 25 and 30 percent of the The move is the culmination of a nor doing enough to protect imperiled National Forest system to be designat• species. Everyone from Rait, strategy that chose to attack the Forest Ken ed via presidential proclamation." Service's road-building budget instead director of the Heritage Forests One area where industry and envi• of tackling formal wilderness designa• Campaign, which has been spearhead• ronmental critics of the policy tion during a hostile Congress. When ing the roadless battle, to Chris West of converge is with their cynicism about victory came close in 1997, the admin• the Northwest Forestry Association Clinton's true intentions. says that upping the cue in the western istration stepped back to look at the Michael Donnelly, a veteran issue. Environmentalists pursuing the Cascades would bring the gavel of U.S. Northwest forest activist, grumbles District Judge William Dwyer - who that the policy is nothing more than -4 strategy pulled together and brought in i the big-money guns. shut down Northwest forests for five Clintonian sleight of hand, a victory on years to protect the Northern spotted ""M Clinton, eager to show that pro• paper with no real force on the ground. z tecting the environment does not have owl - crashing back down. "Clinton/Gore get greenwashed with• The legal backing for Dwyer's to cost jobs, quickly noted that the pro• out having to save a single tree," he ~ 3 posal would have little impact on the momentous 1989 decision to halt log• complains. "The media bought it and er ging on national forests in western (1) timber volume coming from National now the public thinks Clinton saved jl Oregon, Washington and California, 0 Forests. The administration says the 40 the forests for the fourth time." (1) was the requirement under the () million acres only include about 9 mil• Chris West, of the Northwest (1) 3 lion acres of marketable timber, and National Forest Management Act to Forestry Association, uses almost the er (1) that the cut would be reduced nation• maintain viable populations of verte• same words: "This is nothing more -, wide only by 28 million board feet out brate species well distributed through• than Clinton trying co replace his cur• of a total 4 billion board feet. Clinton out their range. rent legacy and paint it green." • says the shortfall would be easy to Parts of NFMA are already under replace. attack in Congress, Keene says, and a Oma Isaison writes from Fall Creek, Ore. Speciale&------eet Willamette Industries. WI, as it is sometimes called, is a national forest products manu• facturing giant based in Portland that employs thou• smands of workers. But WI is sometimes called other names. The citizens who live near the WI plane in Gifford, Arkansas (pop. 300) call WI "criminals." And the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, in their stilted bureaucratese, calls WI, " ... in violation of the Clean Air Act" at a baker's dozen or more of their planes across the country. WI makes eve~ing from cardboard to plywood to toilet paper. WI's 96 facili• ties dot the maps near the fir forests in the Pacific Northwest, along the pine woods of the South, and adjacent co the urban markets for timber produces in the Northeast. Trig The towering smokestacks at Wl's mills dominate the skyline, just as its large payrolls dominate the economies in towns with names like Millersburg, Oregon, (pop. 2729) Chester, South Carolina, (pop. 7158) and Malvern, Arkansas (pop. 9256) But WI's smokestacks have also ille• gally spewed an often invisible cloud of airborne chemicals, some of which may cause cancer and birch defects, in these same communities, according to docu• ments obtained from the EPA by Cascadia Times through the Freedom of Information Act. Many of the folks who were exposed to WI 's toxins were painfully aware of the excessive pollution. Their lungs ached, Their children coughed and wheezed. If they parked outside, their cars would become covered with soot from WI's stacks within a few minutes. Scores of these folks complained to their state environmental protection agencies. In Oregon, they told the Department of Environmental Quality, or the DEQ. But for the most part, for decades, the agencies, and in particular the DEQ, ignored the vocal protests of residents, labor and protest groups. Some groups reviewed thousands of pages of paperwork that revealed WI's excessive discharges of air toxins. These groups, including grassroots environmen• tal organizations like the Northwest Environmental Defense Council and the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 290, brought large volumes of evidence against WI to the environmental agen• cies. In response, the agencies, if they even bothered co issue a violation notice against WI, often would not even assess a fine. Mark Fisher, a permit writer for the DEQ, said his agency was aware that Willamette Industries "went many years without a renewal of their air permit." Nevertheless, he said the DEQ did not see any significant increase in air emis•

<.. sions. "We did the permitting according Qi ..0 co our rules," he said . E Qi But the Environmental Protection u Qi Agency and the Department of Justice 0 i.!. ~~- have an altogether different impression. Qi . ..0 : In their investigation of Willamette E {l Industries, they allege that 15 WI build• ~ ~ ing materials plants have violated several z l air pollution Jaws and regulations in 1;; g Oregon, South Carolina, Arkansas and to Louisiana. A separate case is being prese• cuted against a WI pulp Act made good busi• and paper mill in ness sense at Pennsylvania. At some Willamette Industries, facilities, WI 's violations so long as the DEQ The nuts began in 1980 and contin• kept its mouth shut. ued at least through 1998 .. In recent weeks, the EPA and Justice Bad Air in Bend and Bolts Department have _been These days, Bend, EPA's Case Against quietly negotiating in Oregon is a trendy ski Portland on a backroom and golf Mecca on the Willamette Industries deal with WI. After the high desert plateau, fact, according co the EPA, three hours east of The purpose of the Clean Air Act is t? the public may have 1.llDI Portland. Its 300+ days protect our health from dangerous air opportunity t0 comment of sun, even when it is pollution. The Act requires the nation's on the appropriate penalty snowing, means its largest polluters to: for WI's staggering record foothills are rapidly fill• of violations. ing up with condo-con• • Obtain permits for major modifications Willamette Industries . fined Californians and to their plants. expects its penalty co be in fine restaurants. • Make sure the modifications do not the neighborhood of $10 But before 1970, cause a community's clean air to mjlliofi, according to docu• when the . beauties of become unhealthy. ments it filed with the Bend was know only to • Use the best available technologies Securities and Exchange Oregon insiders, WI to cut pollution. Commission. If so, it first fired up its • Provide accurate information about would rank among the "KorPine" particle their pollution to the public. largest penalties ever board plant on the edge assessed for violations of of town. Particleboard The EPA alleges that Willamette the Clean Air Acc. is made of wood chips Industries failed to comply with these Willamette Industries glued and pressed four basic requirements repeatedly said it is not commenting .., together, Production at over the last two decades at 15 of its on the EPA case.But l WI's KorPine mill grew plants in Oregon, Arkansas, South Duane McDougall, the ~ fast, fed by pine logs Carolina, and Louisiana. All but one of g from the federal forests company's CEO, said in a 0 these plants began violating the Clean recent speech, "I want to l nearby. Air Act in the 1980s, and, other than Th t d Murder Creek runs next to the Duraflake plant in Albany. In 1998 alo~e, emphasize that we at u two plants that have been close~. all Willamette feel very e po u e Korl'ine increased its volatile organic compounds and partic- particleboard productio~ by 20 million continued to violate the law until at proud of our environmental re~ord least December 1998. across the board. But at the same time ulates. square feet per year. This ~ew produc- we feel very frustrated at the approach WI's schemes were almost embar- tion yields a correspondingly lar~e ~ the EPA is taking concerning enforce• rassingly simple, yet striki~gly lu~ra- increase in air emissions of the toxic CO = Carbon monoxide ment actions on the Clean Air Act." He tive. The company would simply give "volatile organic compounds," like NOx = Nitrogen oxides the environmental protection agencies methyl ethyl ketone and forrnalde• said it "appears to us (th~ EPA) lo_st PM = Particulate matter sight of protecting the env1ro~menr_ m inaccurate information about how hyde, that are needed to manufacture VOCs = Volatile organic compounds favor of burdening companies with much pollution would be prod_uced by its products. Like formaldehyde, many onerous capital expenditures and ope:• their new and expanded factones. The of these compounds are recognized company would lowball the projected carcinogens. . . ating costs that will make do~e.st1c OREGON mills completely non-compeunve, emissions then never bother to correct The EPA claims that WI modified the record later on. The public, which the KorPine plane at least three times Foster Plywood plant and sawmilr with negligible improvement to the Modified: 19·97 and 1998, each with environment.'' has a right to know about contamina- without first obtaining the required air tion in the air they breathe, was never permits. The KorPine pla.nt had b~en net significant increases in projected But David Paul, a Portland lawyer voe emissions told about the pollution. illegally producing excessive pollution who has battled Willamette Industries Potential New Emissions: More than over its air pollution problems for Willamette Industries also alleged- since at least 1986. ly violated Clean Air ~ct req~ire~ents At KorPine, Willamette Industries 100 tons/year CO; 40 NOx, 40 VOCs, 25 years sees the EPA's case altogether 15 PM. diffe;ently. 11We're talking about 19 which ensure that air quality not claimed that its air emissions totaled degraded in areas whe.re national air only about 400 tons per year. That was EPA allegations: Failed to properly years of disrespect, not just ~or the law, identify voes; failed to comply wit~ but for the citizens who live around quality standards are bemg m~t. !_hese true once, but not after WI repeatedly are known as "prevention of significant expanded productio~ and added new state permitting requirements. In viola• there, and the environment of the state tion of the Clean Air Act since 1997. of Oregon." deterioration" requirements. The EPA equipment at KorPme. By the late So far, the public has not b~en says violations also occurred at two 1990s, air pollution at KorPme totaled mills in Lane County, Oregon, where 1600 tons per year. Sweet Home Plywood & lumber plant granted access to information spelhn.g air quality standards were not being In a perfect world, a law-ab_idin.g Modified: 1986, with net significant t' out the amounts and types of chemi• increase in voe and PM emissions; ~ cals. Neither has it been informed met. The case also alleges that WI vio- company that wanted to inc.rease 1ts.a1r laced state permitting regulations in pollution would go to an air pollution closed in 1994 ; about the severity of potential expo• Potential New Emissions: More than 40 ;: the four states. agency, and apply for a perm~t. The sures or the possible health damages tons/year NOx, 40 voes, 25 PM. -4 suffe;ed by the unknowing residents By Iowballing the emissions, WI agency would resp.ond by ~ellmg the benefited in at least four ways. It: company which air pollution-control EPA allegations: Failed to properly j of the towns where WI operates. identify voes; failed to comply wit~ oo • escaped state taxes based on the technology it should install. Then the Kory Tonouchi, an EPA official state permitting requirements. In viola- Z tonnage of pollution it emits; agency would hold public hearings. who has been involved with the nego• tion of the Clean Air Act after 1986. ~ tiations, said Willamette Industries' • escaped requirements to install The whole process could take a year or ~~~~~~-:-~~~~- ~ illegal emissions are in the. range. of expensive air· pollution equipment; mor~ver the last two decades, Oregon Springfield Plywood plant ~ those seen at Louisiana-Pacific mills. • saved vast amounts of time in the has not been such a perfect world. At Located in an area with unhealthy lev- ~ In 1993, L-P, another wood products els of airborne PM, CO and total sus- @ giant based in Portland, was fined process for obtaining air permits and KorPine and elsewhere, WI simply did constructing the factory; and not tell the state agency about the pended particulates. ~ $11.1 million in what the~ wa.s the Modified: 1985-86, 1988, 1995, each ~ • was able to use money it didn't increased production. They. insta~tly largest Clean Air Act fin~ in history. with net significant increases in CO, spend on correcting air pollution in cranked up their assembly Imes w1t~• After L-P installed pollution controls voe and PM ways that could be more profitable to out the proper permits, and their under a consent decree, its emissions Potential New Emissions: More than 25 were reduced by more than 22,500 the company. smokestacks churned additional toxins tons/year of PM. tons per year of carbon monoxide, In short, ignoring the Clean Air CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE EPA's allegations: Failed to comply 0 Specialll&J-, ......

EPA's Case AgaiQ_St into the air breathed by their unsus• flattering explanation for why the Nor was KorPine the only Oregon pecting neighbors. The EPA is now DEQ failed to notice, on its own, that facility where the DEQ failed to Willamette Industries (con'd) saying they vastly underestimated the KorPine was emitting 16 times the notice, despite obvious evidence, that amount of new air pollution from the amount of its admitted pollutants. was flaunting the law, according to with permitting requirements in 1985- WI new equipment. "We've been complaining for IO the EPA's allegations. 86 and 1988. In violation of the Clean Again, in our perfect world, the years now and nothing has happened," For example, both the Northwest Air Act since 1986. agencies would require honest cornpa• Walters said. "(The DEQ) kept reject• Environmental Defense Center nies to study and test the plant's air ing our complaints, telling us we have Albany Duraffake particle board plant (NEDC) and the Plumber's Union had quality impacts for several months, by no business being involved. Now the told Oregon DEQ in writing in 1992 Modified:1983-84, with net significant conducting a panorama of expensive EPA is telling them they were wrong." that another WI plant, Custom increases in NOx emissions; 1991 and and time consuming analyses. After That's not to say Willamette Products near Albany, Oregon, had 1995, with net significant increases in two or more years, the honest company Industries did not expend considerable tripled its production (and its air pollu• voe emissions would have its permit. effort in disguising those emissions tion) without obtaining the required Potential New Emissions: Over 40 The DEQ required no such tests. from the DEQ. Records show that permits. Custom Products had been tons/year NOx, 40 VOC In failing to do so, it gave WI a huge sometimes when WI would install new, claiming to DEQ that its emissions EPA's allegations: Failed to comply competitive advantage. WI would not pollution emitting equipment, it would 58.4 with state permitting requirements in were tons per year. In truth, its be required to operate expensive cell the state agency all about it. Then emissions exceeded several hundreds 1984-85 and 1995; failed to properly scrubbers on its plane to reduce air pol• WI would conduct a "source test," to of cons per year. David Paul, Vice identify NOx and voe emissions. In lution. determine if the equipment, in truth, President for NEDC at the time of the violation of the Clean Air Act at least This narrative assumes there are emitted only the stated amount of air Custom Products violations, com• since 1984. actually some honest competi- plained co DEQ, "Such . tors of WI. That is not certain . Bend KorPine particle board plant pollution increases b.y Tonouchi said the EPA investi- Custom Products are vio• Modified: 1984, with net significant "We've been complaining for gated Willamette Industries, lations of the facility's per• increase in NOx, voe and PM emis• Weyerhaeuser and Georgia• ten years now and nothingh as mit and of Oregon Rules. sions; and 1997 and 1998, with net Pacific in the aftermath of the You condone a terrible significant increases in voe emissions happened. (The DEQ) kept rejecting Louisiana-Pacific settlement. precedent when you Potential New Emissions: Over 100 The EPA found that a major repeatedly allow indus• tons/year CO, 40 NOx, 40 Voe and 25 our complaints,telli~g us we have segment of the wood products tries to break the law and PM since 1982 industry was operating outside no business being involved.Now the then release their permit." EPA allegations: Repeated failures to the law. 11 Oregon DEQ did not properly identify NOx, voe and PM EPA is tellingthem they were wrong. "This is a continuing EPA fine Custom Produces for emissions. Several violations of permit• initiative, where L-P started it this violation, nor did EPA ting requirements. In violation of the all," Tonouchi said. "There was -Matt Walters, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 290 cite WI for any violations Clean Air Act since 1984. the discovery of a pattern of vio• at the Custom Products lations at L-P facilities, so EPA plant. The EPA's Eugene Particleboard plant looked ac other companies, Tonouchi said the agency Located in an area with unhealthy lev• including G-P (Georgia• did not take a close look at els of airborne PM, CO and total sus• Pacific), Weyerhaeuser, and that facility's records dur• pended particulates. now Willamette Industries. ing its investigation. Modified: 1985 and 1989 What triggered this was that At the time the Potential New Emissions: Over 100 tons EPA was noticing that the facil• Custom Products viola• /year CO, 40 NOx, 40 VOC and 25 PM ities under reporting, or improp• tions first came to light, EPA allegations: Repeated failures to erly characterizing emissions. the Plumbers Union was properly identify co, NOx and voe They weren't counting up their incensed by DEQ's inac• emissions. Several repeated violations emissions correctly." tion. "Our researchers of permitting requirements. In violation In its settlement, G-P established beyond any of the Clean Air Act at least since 1989. agreed to pay a $6 million fine doubt that Custom and install $25 million in pollu• Produces and other ARKANSAS tion control equipment at 11 Willamette Industries mills. In addition to its $11.1 plants in Oregon were Malvern Medium density fiberboard million fine, L-P was forced to grossly violating their air plant make $70 million in pollution permits. In our opinion, Modified: in 1987-88, 1989, 1991, 1994, control improvements. pollution. Bue these source tests, even they were making the air so dirty that 1997 In contrast, when Weyerhaeuser if witnessed by agency personnel, are no other industry could move co Potential New Emissions: Over 250 first discovered its facilities were vio• sometimes suspicrous. Company Oregon. WI was producing so much tons/year CO, NOx, PM and VOCs. lating the Clean Air Act, it began a self• mechanics can fine-tuning the equip• pollution that it was actually costing us EPA allegations: Failure to fully and review. Because it voluntarily ment for days in advance, to make sure jobs, in our analysis," Walters said. accurately identify voe, CO, PM and approached the states and the EPA and it will burn clean. The union also discovered air pol• NOx emissions, meet permitted emis• cook immediate action to comply, EPA In 1984, the WI KorPine facility lution violations at other WI facilities, sion limits and obtain appropriate per- chose not to pursue a federal action. failed an "source test" on the newly including KorPine, and the WI ~ mits. In violation of the Clean Air Act But not Willamette Industries, and installed "green dryer." That should "Duraflake" plant, across the street since 1983. ! now it may be WI's turn to pay a large have alerted the DEQ that the green from Custom Products. But the c fine. But if the amount is in the $10 dryer was churning out excessive pol• Union's written complaints to DEQ ci Emerson Plywood plant & lumber mill million range, that's not anywhere near lution. In 1993, the DEQ discovered were often ignored, Finally the union ~ Modified: 1987-88; 1992-93 and 1997 enough to cause any significant harm that the scrubber on the green dryer sued on behalf of one of its members, : Potential New Emissions: More than to its bottom line. In October, WI had been broken and not operating for Royce Clouse, who lived in Albany, c., 250 tons/year voes since 1980 announced its profits during the third over one month. In 1994 the DEQ dis• about 400 yards from the Custom ~ EPA allegations: On numerous occa• quarter of 1999 more than doubled. In covered that KorPine's boilers were Products plant. ~ sions since 1980 failed to properly three months, it made more than $81 exceeding their air pollution limits. In In her deposition, Clouse testified, identify voe and PM emissions, meet t million. 1995 the Plumber's Union complained "My son just went co the hospital for °E permitted emission limits and obtain The EPA's prosecution of WI rais• to DEQ in writing that KorPine's air lack of oxygen - he couldn't breathe. ~ appropriate permits for each modifica- es questions about Oregon's pollution was 1000 tons a year over its He had to have some kind of asthma." 8 tion. In violation of the Clean Air Act Department of Environmental Quality. previously declared limits. But DEQ WI's attorneys asked Clouse if he ~ since 1987. ..0 Although not cited in the EPA's notices did not take action to bring KorPine could smell the Custom Products plant. E of violations, the DEQ has acted like into compliance with the Clean Air Clouse replied, "There's so many SOUTH CAROLINA an unindicted co-conspirator. Matt Act. The EPA has cited the green dry• different smells in the air, I don't know l Walters, business manager of the er's pollution as one element in its which ones I'm smelling." Chester Plywood mill Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 290, Clean Air Act case against Willamette "That's Albany, isn't it," replied Modified: 1988-91, 1992 and 1996 said stunning inattention is the most Industries. the WI attorney. What the WI lawyer O Potential New Emissions: Over 250 acknowledged was that the area near from the sky around WI's plant, coat• "On numerous occasions since tons/year voes and PM Albany includes not only Wl's Custom ing any items that are left outside. The startup in 1983, Respondent (WI) has EPA allegations: Failure to obtain a Products furniture plant, but Wl's pulp "snow," which contains cancer-causing failed to properly identify voe permit for each modification. Failure to and paper mill, a WI-owned natural• formaldehyde, produced headaches (volatile organic compounds, including accurately and fully identify emissions. gas fired power plant, and WI's and sinus problems among Ray and her air toxins that can cause such things as In violation of the Clean Air Act since "Duraflake" particle board plant, along neighbors. One of her neighbors, birth defects and cancer), CO (carbon 1989 with other smokestack indusrries. Carolyn Freeman, said in a 1996 pub• monoxide) PM (particulates, or very Former Oregon Governor Tom McCall lished account, "I'm sitting here with fine dust) and NOx Emissions (oxides called the paper mill that WI now owns fiber pulp on my car right now, You of nitrogen), meet permitted emissions LOUISIANA in Albany "A stinking cancer in the could write in it with your finger." limits, and obtain appropriate permits, Dodson Plywood plant and sawmill heart of the Willamette Valley." As you Apparently, when Wl's pollution is as required by Arkansas and the feder• Modified: 1980-1983, 1986·87; 1989-91; drive on Interstate 5 through Albany, so grossly visible, state environmental al regulations." 1993; 1995; 1998 it's hard to pinpoint just what smoke• agencies can be prodded into limited What that dry language meant to Potential New Emissions: Over 250 stack is dumping which odors and action. Albany's Ouraflake plant was Gifford resident Carolyn Wright was tons/year co and voes fumes into one's lungs. eventually fined $65,040, and the that WI' s toxic air pollutants were dis• EPA allegations: Failure to fully and In some cases, WJ's air pollution Arkansas regulators have assessed a covered in her family's air conditioner. accurately identify voes, CO and PM actually included visible particles. A $60,000 fine against the WI plant in They were found in their urine sam• emissions; meet permitted emission reporter visited the WI Duraflake par• Gifford, among other actions. ples. An Arkansas jury ordered limits; obtain appropriate permits; and ticle board plant in Albany to scruti• The EPA's notice of violations cit• Willamette Industries to pay a estimate the extent to which emissions nize its waste water discharges co near• ed both planes. According co the EPA, $226,250 judgment to Carolyn Wright. from proposed facilities would affect air by Murder Creek. After searching in Duraflake has violated air pollution But overall the courts have reacted quality. In violation of the Clean Air Act vain for any fish in the creek, the laws for 15 years now. Duraflake added with hostility coward lawsuits against "on numerous occasions" since 1980. reporter returned to his car. In just a equipment in 1984 and did not report WI, both in Oregon and Arkansas. The few minutes, the car had become cov• an emissions increase, and again appeals court overturned Wright's Lillie Particle board plant ered with a black, oily soot from the increased production and pollution in award. The Oregon Supreme Court Modified: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, Duraflake plant. That's a too-common 1995, without reporting an emissions also dismissed the Plumber's Union's 1989, 1991, 1993 experience for neighbors of WI plants. increase. suit - remarkably on the grounds that Potential New Emissions: More than In Gifford, Arkansas, (Pop. 300, so The EPA also cited the Gifford no group of any kind had any right to 250 tons/year voes. small it is nor even on a Rand-McNally plant, charging that WI added equip• sue in Oregon on behalf of its mem• EPA allegations: Failed on numerous Atlas) Thelma Ray has complained co ment in 1987-88, and increased pro• bers. (In 1999, the Oregon Legislature occasions since 1984 to properly iden• her Arkansas Department of Pollution duction in 1997. As the word smiths at tify voe, co and PM emissions, meet Control about a snowy residue falling EPA described it: CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE permitted emission limits and obtain appropriate permits for each modlflca• tion. In violation of the Clean Air Act at least since 1985. "Ioxi[ snouJ''triggers lawsuits in Arkansas Ruston Plywood plant Modified: 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998 by Paul Koberstein of thousands of cons of particulate mat- erly identify emissions of volatile Potential New Emissions: Over 250 and John Paul Williams ter into the immediate environment organic compounds, carbon monoxide, tons/year CO and PM since che plant" started up," Slate says. particulate matter and nitrogen oxides EPA allegations: Exceeded particulate he EPA's case against "What chis iculate di s hang in (Nox). The company also failed to matter limits; failed to fully and accu• Willamette Industries is about a the air, an1:f 1 rain on people meet permitted emission limits and rately identify voe, CO and PM emis• corporation that has polluted and ~tay witlf them for da s. We could obtain appropriate permits. The EPA sions. In violation of the Clean Air Act the air around ics plants for findno study in the world that woutd identified similar violations at 14 other on numerous occasions since 1988. years and years. At its heart, it is ... · ·· ;th · h effect ·," ,Jhat1 . • lanes in Oregon, Arkansas, Louisiana about the health of people who live 0. <' ~do E ., ;) :nu South Carolina. Simsboro Sureplne particle board around chose plants. The particulates are so small t~ In court, Slate argued chat the plant Several years ago, a Little ey looge in the lung, they ta · formal hyde had damaged the health Modified: 1983 and 1987 lawyer named Buddy Slate deci <;iht,r~idence then.Li~[hat f .· ·•· ~ ms. "We had people with Potential New Emissions: Over 250 do something about it. He ed de te !'flatter is chemically impi . lad ,c:'ancer, lung problems," he tons/year VOCs and PM Willamette Industries on behalf ofJJO 11atea with formaldehyde, so what hap- said. A jury awarded a $226,000 judg- EPA allegations: Failed on numerous people who live in th. · pf 0 - is the particulate is losing ~~- rnenr ne f~1ity of five. Willamette occasions since 1981 to properly identi· Malvern, about 45 ····· ··~ fi , aldehyde io the:deep recesses ·ofr .Ingn, ,a,ppe~ fy voe, PM, co, and NOx, and failed Arkansas capitol. the lung. It goes directly into tissue · appeal, s company argued to obtain a permit for each modifica• Willamette Industries purchased and into che blood." char th,eJe were no studies that proved tion. In violation of the Clean Air Act the Malvern plant i ·· e; earl Os, To get a sense of what biological form~Jtffi_pyde-s · 'd particulate mat• since at least 1983. retooling it co manu .. re a 'duct process is occurring· in these victims, ccr carr::41arm he( ven when perma• known as "medium dens.fry fiberboard consider that formaldehyde is used as nently lodged in the lungs. On a 2-1 Taylor Plywood plant (l\lOf)." It's the stu · f cheap furni- an emb~lming:agent in ; rpses, Slate vote, the 8th U.S~ Circuit Court of Modified: 1982. 1985, 1986·92, (closed ture, mobile home · iors and the says. "It-is a q~J~wlcillcr a · xacer." Appeals in St. ljqµjs,.agreed. 1997) like. Willamette l series uses a ·when Wntifuet·rie 'cries dou- Slate refiledif¢cases as nuisance Potential New Emissions: More than number of chemicals in the manufac• bled the size of the Malvern plant in claims again t the :company. He could- 250 tons/yr CO . turing process, inclnding one that 1987, Slate says, "everybody went n't argue that anybody's health was EPA allegations: Failed on numerous became an issue · .,. . e litigation, Jc used to rain down several i endangered, bu ould say chat the occasions after 1980 to properly identi· -t formaldehyde. · that crap every day back in. 'plant was a . _1;1ce. He won an fy voe, PM and CO, meet permitted i To make ics fib earty

partially removed that law from the WI officers have had to "certify" annu• repomng in the United States takes appeared unannounced at a timber mill The Future is now for Salmon an the Four Lower Snake River Dams books. Groups can now sue over air vio• ally that they were paying the correct place solely by the voluntary effons of - a surprise, spot check on the plant 's lations, but not water violations.) amount, there may be some potential the polluters themselves. The state pollution - the company would proba• It is early October and Engineers' juvenile fish transport The EPA says that with this provi• tax problems ahead for the company It and federal agencies rarely possess bly be calling the state governor on the hills above the low• fleet. Miles of colored piping, bearing sion, the Oregon DEQ was violating also may be liable if it lied to govern• either the staff, the equipment, the speed-dial within seconds. The vigilant er Snake are a deep late a close architectural similarity to the not only EPA rules but the U.S. ment agencies. In any event, violating funding, the expertise, or rnost impor• enforcers would likely find themselves summer mustard yellow. Story & pltotos b1J Bil.abetlt 6~ossman. industrial decor of the exterior of rhe ~ Constitution. No other State bars its cit• the Clean Air Act was good for the bot• tantly, the political will to go out in the reassigned to inspecting septic tanks in Sumac and maples have Beaubourg museum in Paris, wind t' :!!!! izens from the courtroom when they tom line at Willamette Industries and field and stick a pollution snuffer in the hinterlands soon thereafter, or out begun to turn red. The flat water of the around what are described as juvenile ~ I- are seeking to challenge a state cnvi• at the facilities where it evaded the someone's smokestack. of a job. Buddy Slate, a Little Rock river reflects the solid blue sky. I have cry plan in early 2000. I wanted to get a supersaturation and generators are fish passage facilities. Fish ladders :; :! ronmenral decision. For the last four laws, at KorPine, Duraflake, Gifford, There are several reasons why pol• lawyer who helped a number of clients come to see the four lower Snake River sense of the landscape- literal and fig• diminished," reads an explanatory resembling steel washboards and • := years, EPA has been wringing its hands and at least 12 other facilities. lution laws are enforced in this haphaz• win settlements against Willamette dams- huge seemingly inviolable edi• urative - behind all the number placard at the Lower Granite Dam vis• amusement park waterslides zig-zag ...,t coo over whether this breach is serious Records obtained by Coscadia ard manner. State legislators are often Industries for pollution at a plant in fices of engineering, the breaching of crunching, PowerPoint presentations itors center. and loop alongside the dams' shoreline i U enough co cause it to strip Oregon of its Times indicate WI appears to have dominated hy business interests who Malvern, Ark., said an employee of the which is now being discussed by the and drafting of alternative scenarios At Little Goose Dam, steelhead structures. "Which is the dam with the : c, authority to enforce federal air and escaped prosecution for its permit vio• despise environmental laws, and are Arkansas Department of very government agencies which built that has gone on in the process of cir• fishermen have set up their campers, loop-de-loop?" jokes a friend who has z "'c, water pollution laws. In the meantime, lations at the Custom Products plant, loathe to fund the agencies that enforce Environmental Quality "lose his job for them just a generation ago. Under the cling around what should be done to RVs and lawn chairs on the shore along toured these dams. "Little Goose," I ~ 1... the Sierra Cluh, or any other group, and other facilities. !rs Lebanon, Ore., those statutes. In many cases, it is even raising too much Cain about it." Endangered Species Act, which now repair what our "control of nature" - the slackwater on either side of the say, recalling the hairpin turn of steel 3 li could not challenge any DEQ actions plant failed to tell Oregon DEQ about illegal for a pollution cop to show up and "It's politics," Slate sighed. "The protects what's left of Snake River to use John McPhee's phrase - on the runway that rises high over the visitors i E dam. A sign warns them not to entangle 7 ~ in court. 41.2 tons per year of voe emissions make a surprise inspection at a factory. head of the DEQ was a political salmon runs, the federal government Snake has wrought. their lines in the wires strung across the parking area. O u At some pomt, Willamette from its dry kilns until 1996. And EPA's action is a major advance for appointee of Jim Guy Tucker, our for• must ensure that the lower Snake River The possibility of dam breaching is @ 0 "Young salmon and steelhead are river, draped with what looks like - '• Industries' scheme to produce secret records show that \Vi's Albany pulp the long-suffering and long-complain• mer governor, and now he's a convicted dams do not put the salmon in jeopardy collected at Lower Granite Dam and Christmas tinsel, to deter birds from exhilarating to some, and threatening 3 .0" plumes of unregulated pollution and paper mill burned more tires in its ing neighbors ofWl's plants. Such EPA k~~· • of extinction. Drawdown, or removal of transported by fish truck to the preying on fish in the slow water. to many. The very fact that drawdowns li" E -r became a profit-making opportunity. boilers than its permits allowed, in action typically takes place only when a the earthen section of the four dams, is Columbia River below Bonneville Ahead of me on the highway is a and breaching are a daily subject of dis- 15 1988. DEQ's files do not show \VI was cussion for those concerned with rivers, :f: z Every year, WI was underpaying its state air pollution agency has chronical• one of the options being considered to Dam. Thus, their journey to the ocean pressurized steel tanker truck embla• -o annual assessments to state environ• fined one cent in either instance. ly failed to enforce environmental laws. recover the listed stocks. The federal is uninterrupted by the dams and the zoned with the legend, "Fish for the fish and the use of water in the Pacific mental agencies, figured on a payment It is important to note that the vast And as a practical matter, if a state government is due to release its recov- fish mortality problems of nitrogen Future." It is part of the Army Corps of Northwest, is in itself remarkable for for each ton of pollution emitted. Since majority of pollution monitoring and environmental enforcement officer COverB------what it represents in a change in think• press briefing in Juneau when asked by by Northwest Republicans who cake it resentatives have criticized the paper as ing. Millions of dollars have been reporters for his position on breaching to mean that dam breaching has been a delaying technique, as have che ISAB spent, countless hours of meetings the four Lower Snake River dams. taken off che cable, at least for now. who write they are "not comfortable attended and endless studies commis• "Governor Kitzhaber (0-0re.) has The CRI studies are based on a with the apparent drift toward delay of sioned by chose on all sides of the said it's a 'no brainer' that fish would model which uses one fish or less as che the actual decisions about the manage• issue. The actual progress toward a rather swim," says Knowles, "and that threshold for extinction. The study has ment decisions bearing on hydrosyscem decision was summed up by a recent it's our responsibility as decision mak• received serious criticism in the review operations, possible dam breaching, and cartoon in The Oregonian which pictured ers to resolve the issue - and answer process, and is causing disagreement ocher interventions as well." two officials with clipboards in hand, to history." between the federal agencies involved When queried for further inforrna• standing over a beached, dead fish. Knowles' comments come amidst in protecting and managing the threat• tion following the 4-H paper presenta• "They're easier to study this way," says the latest volley of reports, studies and ened species. Among other concerns, tion, the media contact for the one official co the other. statements debating the face the four the Independent Scientific Advisory Bonneville Power Administration It's impossible to predict now if the Lower Snake River dams and the fight Board reviewing CRI, cites the scudy's responded by saying, "What did you dams will be breached or not, and it's to save Pacific salmon, in what has the failure co consider the effects of think of that press conference? It made important to bear in mind that potential to develop into a showdown restoration involving both dam breach• me sick to my stomach." Congressional authorization is needed between federal agencies. Just months ing and habitat restoration, and co "The status of the fish in question co allocate the necessary funding and ago, as part of the PATH process, the incorporate many biological and envi• is pretty desperate," said Free Olney, that a number of those purse-strings National Marine Fisheries Service said ronmental factors into its analysis. Ecological Services Fisheries are now controlled by Northwestern the most likely way to recover the The study does not include an eco• Supervisor with the U.S. Fish and representatives. But, a potentially land• Snake's endangered runs of anadro• nomic analysis, nor does it outline how Wildlife Service office in Portland mark lawsuit challenging the legality of mous fish, is to breach the dams. In a the work of the federal agencies would when asked about the Four-H paper. the dams' effect on water quality has paper just released by NMFS, known be integrated with the local activities "Time is short," he said. "We need co been filed and may force the federal as the Four-H Working Paper, a whole on which its restoration plans depend. take some specific action pretty soon." government co act. And among the new sec of studies by a new team of sci• Preliminary estimates indicate that che In October, scientists with several recent barrage of reports is that entists in a process called the alternatives presented in the Four-H fish agencies made just that point in a released by a team of scientists from Cumulative Risk Initiative, secs Ollt an paper may well be more expensive paper chat was harshly critical of various federal agencies, states, tribes array of options that seems to concen• than dam breaching. NMFS' approach. The paper, signed and universities, known as PATH - trate efforts on restoration of the estu• "At the end of the day, I believe by biologists with the Fish and Wildlife Plan for Analyzing and Testing ary and of habitat in the river's tribu• we should probably end up with a dif• Service, Oregon Department of Fish Hypotheses - examining various taries where the fish spawn rather than ferent package than we have here and Wildlife, Idaho Department of options for recovery of Snake River in the mainstern where the dams are. today" said Will Stelle, N;\1FS Fish and Game, Columbia River salmon concluding that "only the While NMFS is careful to say they Regional Administrator adding yet Intertribal Fish Commission and breaching actions consistently resulted are not now recommending any one of more variables into the mix, at the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife in recovery." these alternatives, the emphasis is press conference presenting the Four• Authority, said: "Given the dangerously "The fact that it's safer to transfer clearly to show that by focusing on the H paper. "If we avoid making those low level of these (Snake River salmon them by truck than let them loose in tributaries, estuaries and harvest levels, choices," said Stelle, "the likelihood is and sceelhead) populations, we do not the rivers, says it all," responds recovery of Snake River salmon and that these stocks in the Snake would go believe it is prudent to make manage• Governor Tony Knowles (D-Alaska) steelhead is possible without dam extinct. That is a choice." ment decisions on the configuration discussing salmon at an October 25th breaching. The paper was welcomed Conservation groups and tribal rep- and operation of the Snake and

CANADA ------

\ \

' \ MONTANA \ Little: Goose , , ,I Lower Granite' ', \ WASHINGTON \ ' -1 " I

I DA HO ,, " "\ ' I ' I \ - .,. '

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L .oQ) E QJ u Q) 0 I!. OREGON .oQ) E ~ z0 lower Snake and ColumbiaHiuer Dams Columbia hydrosystem for the next 5 stage, and judgment from Judge Helen to 20 years based solely on one opti• Frye, is not expected for several months, mistic assumption (by NMFS) about perhaps not before early next year. the effectiveness of past and current hydrosystem operations." To extend the ping-pong game of Although scientists agency position statements, the Army• agree that· recovery of Corps of Engineers released its Draft the salmon cannot be Environmental Impact Statement in absolutely guaranteed December, assessing the effects of the by breaching and draw• hydropower system on Snake River downs, most concur that current prac• salmon and steelhead. A key appendix tices are threatening the species' sur• concludes that dam removal alone vival. And the ESA listings of Snake would 'be sufficient to recover Snake and Columbia River salmon continue, River stocks of fall chinook and steel- so that it is impossible for the region to . head, and that dam removal must be ignore chat it's facing the likely extinc• included in any plan to recover spring tion of a native wild species that is one and summer chinook, even if the mor• of the bases of its culture. tality rate of fish passing through the "If science suggests we remove dams is low. Clearly, scientific conclu• dams, it doesn't necessarily mean we sions are telling us that dam removal, as should do it. But we must be willing to American Rivers puts it, must "be a cor• put these issues on the table and put nerstone of any salmon recovery plan." the price tag on it," said Go~ernor Kitzhaber at a conference in the fall of 1998. "We are here today because While NMFS has their salmon are on the verge of extinction," Northwest Fisheries said tribal leader Antone Minchorne Science Center running later that morning. "Is it okay to allow new sets of fish num• the extinction of salmon?" he queried bers, the state of rhetorically. "We must make choices Oregon has filed an amicus brief in a that implicate moral and ethical val• lawsuit charging that the four lower ues." "I think we've heard from more Snake dams' elevation of water tem• Symbols of salmon culture panelists today than there may be fish perature and levels of dissolved gas in and politics are evident at left in the river," quipped Portland the river violate standards set by the Lower Monumental Dam. Metro Executive Mike Burton still lat• Clean Water Act. Sources indicate that above. and on the bumper er that afternoon, as the audience the state of Alaska may file an amicus sticker. right. laughed nervously. brief as well. The suit was filed in Other causes have contributed co Federal District Court in Oregon earli• the decline of Snake River salmon, but er this year by the National Wildlife "the principle factor leading to the Federation and a coalition of conserva• decline and subsequent listing of the tion groups, with the Nez Perce Tribe runs under the protection of the intervening on the plaintiff's side. Endangered Species Act was the con• Oregon's brief expresses the state's struction and operation of these dams," concern that the federal government write Michael Blumm, professor of law work to bring the four dams into com• at the Northwestern School of Law at pliance with the Clean Water Acc. Lewis & Clark College, and colleagues . Having federal dams comply with in their article, "Saving Snake River the Clean Water Act is new, explains Water and Salmon Simultaneously." Nicole Cordan, Acting Director of the Numbers of Snake River salmon have National Wildlife Federation's of July, August and September. "The Engineers which operates the four been dwindling for well over a century Northwest Natural Resource Center in temperature standard for the 'Columbia Lower Snake dams, comply with CWA now due to the cumulative effect of Portland, Oregon. "Privately owned is 68 (degrees), and even if "you get standards and not be allowed co - as degraded habitat, overfishing at the dams have to comply with CWA stan• the tributaries down to 64," said an Bloch puts it - "self diagnose and self turn of the 20th century and changing dards and need a certificate of compli• expert at EPA, "you can't get the main• prescribe" che solution to the problem. ocean conditions, but they dipped pre• ance," says Cordan. Extraordinary as it stem temperature down to standard." He fears that if they do, the burden of cipitously in the 1970s after the last of may seem for an entity with access to "In general," the report says in the remedy will fall on the states and the four Lower Snake dams was built. so much concrete, federally built and summary, "the broad conclusion ... is private entities. "We've been working All Snake River salmon are now listed operated dams do not need to go that removal of the dams, as compared for years with ranchers, farmers and as threatened or endangered under the through chis permitting process. to increasing even the coolest water ocher private entities who are all con• Endangered Species Act. Snake River "We are looking for the federal inputs from tributaries, would be the tributors to pollution," he says. To have coho are extinct, and the few sockeye n government to be treated like all other most effective in bringing down tem• the federal government treated sepa• that survive are in a captive breeding : polluters," says Eric Bloch, one of peratures in the Columbia-Snake sys• rately and apart would "not be fair." program. : Oregon's two representatives on the tem ... removing the lower Snake River "We are in discussions with many "Oregon biologists estimated the ! Northwest Power Planning Council dams would significantly reduce aver• constituencies throughout the State, dams are responsible for up to 93 per- ...,. and adviser to Gov. John Kitzhaber on age temperatures along the lower including industry, municipalities, agri• cent of total mortality of Snake River i Columbia Basin issues. stretch of the Snake." There is simply culture and forestry exhorting them co fall chinook," wrote Alaska Governor ; A Columbia River water tempera• not enough water in the tributaries shoulder their share of the burden of Tony Knowles in an October 22nd let- z ture assessment developed for the alone to bring down the mainstern tem• returning our waters to standards com• ter to the Governors of Oregon and ~ Environmental Protection Agency, 1' perature adequately, explained a pliance. To have the federal govern• Washingcon. ... The National Marine 3 completed in August of this year, source at EPA. ment argue that it should not have to Fisheries Service," he continues, g• describes the "Snake River [as] ... the The details of this suit are shoulder its share would seriously prej• "allows the federal dams on the ii most significant tributary to the technical, but its principles are not. As udice our eff orts," wrote Governor Columbia and Snake Rivers to kill 62- ~ to Ci Columbia River, with the potential water is impounded behind the dams it Kitzhaber to Environmental Protection 99 percent of the juvenile Snake River ~ make the biggest difference in temper• heats up. When water comes crashing Agency administrator, Carol Browner in fall chi nook and nearly 40 percent- of g• ature modulation." It goes on to say over the dams'. spillways, it increases August. the adults. Instead of Safe Passage, · ~ that "measured results on the Snake the levels of dissolved gas in the waters "Taking out the dams is one way to these wild chinook salmon must sur- ~ River ... show that temperatures are below. The suit is asking chat the fed• comply," says Cordan almost slyly. vive a "killing field" of dams, turbines, -o above state temperature standards dur• eral government and the Army Corps of The case is now in the briefing and reservoirs." ing certain periods within the months "Are you saying that Washington G Coverg ...... ------

Fishladders at Little Goose Dam.

and Oregon have not done their part to vineyards give way to dryland crops of Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and ness for the region. They are run-of• restore salmon?" asked a reporter at wheat and legumes - soy and lentils. Yakima. They lie near "Where the Two the-river, hydroelectric dams which Knowles' press conference a few days After the huge industrial storage sheds Rivers Meet."" The plaque is dated also supply water for irrigation. They later. "I'm saying," Knowles respond• and processing plants along the mid• 1965. I squint in the sun and sketch the retain no drinking water, and perform ed, "that science shows us juvenile Columbia, the chip and pulp mills, and petroglyphs in my notebook. On anoth• no flood control. The four dams now [salmon] mortality is in cottonwood farms clustered at the con• er plaque I read, generate only about 5 percent of the freshwater .... The rehabilitation has to fluence of the Snake and Columbia ii Northwest's electricity. They provide be done in the Northwest rivers and the roads along the Snake, and winding irrigation for thirteen large farms, not streams." through the canyons, stretch out in rur• "A Memorial: Indians by storing water, but mainly by raising In a curious political twist, Sen. al isolation. · once came to the river the level of water in their slackwater Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, attached a rider Towns like Windust, Kahlotus, rapids to fish for salmon. pools to more easily pump water to to a Commerce appropriation bill that Almota, Dusty, Starbuck and here they met friends, trad• crop fields, orchards and vineyards. stresses recovery of Columbia and Washtucna are marked by little more ed, played games, danced That dams also kill salmon is a fact Snake River salmon by improving river than their grain elevators. It seems and sang. After drying their fish they moved that not even the Army Corps of conditions, ahead of reducing ocean clear that as the roads improved, the back to their villages. But some were not Engineers can deny. The dams alter harvest. distances between these small towns destined to return home. They lie in burial water temperatures as the river levels, While development, grazing, and cities of Kennewick, Richland, grounds along the river: Now they rest and rate of flow, are artificially con• industrial and agricultural run-off, log• Pasco, Clarkston, Lewiston, Walla ttndisturbed beneath the waters of Lake trolled. The dams' spillways elevate ging and water diversion have degraded Walla and Colefax shrunk, eventually Sacajawea. This great boulder carved with the levels of dissolved gasses in the riv• the quality of river habitat throughout eliminating the demand for local car petrogiyphs by earlier Indians was taken er water which can also seriously harm the Columbia and Snake River basin, dealerships and supermarkets. from near the river bank and here com• fish. The dams block the passage of the dams on the Columbia's largest trib• Pomeroy's storefronts sport signs memorates the flood burial sites. By this act young fish migrating to the ocean utary, the Snake, have, physically, announcing antiques and collectibles, we bind together the generations." where they will mature, and the return altered that environment the most. but the predominance of John Deere The flood refers to the rising of the of adult fish upstream to spawning Driving north from· Hermiston, and other heavy farm equipment deal• 32 mile Jong Lake Sacajawea created grounds in their native rivers and Oregon toward the Columbia, then east ers in the towns that still have viable when the dam was constructed. I won• steams. The slow water lakes also along the stretch of river canyon called commercial centers, indicate that der about the binding of generations. make good fishing grounds for birds. ~ the Wallula Gap, I pass a series of irri• espresso-sipping tourists are a scarcity. The darns' turbines create a potentially ! gation pumps, a marina where some Construction of the dams changed lethal hazard for fish to negotiate. "The life and the lay of the land along the The four dams of the highest mortality en route to the ocean, c handsome sailboats are moored, and i5 rock outcrops so striking, it's hard to mid-Columbia and lower Snake dra• Lower Snake River are, in earlier times and now, happens "at c u remember that what I'm seeing is but a matically. But there is little evidence of in downstream to the concrete," as a result of passage 00 c remnant of what the river was. what was before, and it's difficult to upstream order - mov• through the turbines or elsewhere," u Above the river are great swooping imagine this broad flat stretch of river ing west to east: Ice reports the Columbia Basin Bulletin ~ hillside fields, planted or plowed for as one that surged with rapids and Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little citing National Marine Fisheries a- grain. As I drive east, the slopes steep waterfalls. Goose and Lower Granite, built in Service researcher Bill Muir. t become steeper and the soil darker as I At Ice Harbor, I follow a road 1962, 1969, 1970 and '75 respectively, E enter the Palouse, the rich deep soil uphill above the dam. It leads to a high by the Army Corps of Engineers. The ~ laid down eons ago in the wake of spot with a long view of the river, dams create a slackwater navigation In the parking lot on the [) retreating inland seas. Further east where a low brick and cement wall sur• channel inland from Lewiston, Idaho north side of Lower ~ along the Snake, old homestead farms rounds a large brick red chunk of what to the Columbia River, so the produce Monumental, is a pick• E are nestled in the clefts of hillside. must have been river canyon wall. The of the inland northwest can be trans• up 'with a "Save Our ~ Some of the hills are plowed at what rock is emblazoned with petroglyphs. ported by barge to Pacific coast ports, Dams" bumper sticker. z looks to be a precariously vertical pitch. This, a brass plaque tells me, is "A namelv Portland, Vancouver, Kalama In Clarkston, Washington I pass an Moving eastward, irrigated fields of Memorial t0 the Ancestors of the and Longview, Washington. These alley where a "Save Our Dams" dis• potatoes and vegetables, orchards and Indians Now Known as Colville, Nez ports represent a huge volume of busi- play, clearly designed for a parade float, is lodged. And in the "Comments" sec• "The biggest frustration is while tion of the visitors books in the visitors we discuss big 'hot political issues," centers at all the dams are messages Smith says referring to the question of from dozens of school children: "Save dam removal, "there are so many things our dams!" I wonder if they have been we could be doing for habitat and fish coached. recovery." The food processors repre• Over the past 35 years, the region's sent folks involved in the growing and economy has become accustomed co shipping of produce, chose who depend what the dams provide, and far from on the Lower Snake's shipping channel everyone is convinced that removing to barge their wares, and on the avail• the dams is the way to save salmon. ability of river water for irrigation. "It is simply irresponsible to call I ask Smith about water conserva• the dams 'a killing field' for salmon and tion. About "half as much water is focus the entire debate on dams when being used as was 15-20 years ago," ... there are myriad causes to this prob• even though the number of acres lem - including over fishing, possibly watered has increased, Smith tells me. by Alaskans," said Representative There are water conservation pro• George Nethercutt, R-Wash., in a press grams, such as one being cried in release responding to the debate over a Washington's Yakima Valley, Smith rider Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, says, that are "financing growers to be attached to the Commerce more water efficient." But he wonders Appropriations bill that would have how much water can be saved. waived ESA protection for salmon in Referring to the volume of water now Alaskan waters. Nethercurr's com• available for irrigation from the pools ments reflect the fear of change. and formed by the dams, Smith says, misinformation behind the views of "You're just not going to make up that many of those who oppose dam much water." Bue he admits that with removal. "There is an agriculture econ• capital - new hi-tech water-saving omy that would be destroyed by the methods are expensive - a significant destruction of the Lower Snake River volume of water could be saved, or dams," said Nethercutt speaking on used more efficiently. the House floor in October. "There is I ask about transportation. What recreation that would be destroyed. goes on the barges, Smith explains, is There is energy production that would almost entirely produce going west for be destroyed. There is flood control export to the Pacific rim and Asia. that would be destroyed." Shipping east is mainly by rail or truck. "Who's going to pay for all of these Much has been made of the cost-effec• changes?" asks irrigation consultant tiveness of barging. According to Smith, Fred Ziad. "What is the most cost one of the reasons for the savings is that effe~tive? Without direct involvement it's less expensive to load once into a of farmers and ranchers in the container that goes directly onto the Northwest there will not be any mean• ocean-going vessel, rather than re-load• ingful salmon recovery," he cautions. ing from truck or train. Like others who are wary of dam "Transportation," Smith says, "is impor• removal and of spending more money tant to our industry, but not as important on models and studies, Ziari points to as it is to pulp paper and wheat." habitat restoration projects in the According co the Columbia Snake Umatilla Basin and Okanagan valley River Marketing Group, the that are showing signs of success. "Columbia-Snake is the largest wheat Habitat restoration is indeed the transportation system in the U.S., han• key to salmon recovery, but it muse be dling 43 percent of all U.S. wheat looked at on a large watershed-wide, as exports and 23 percent of all U.S. grain well as very local basis. It is important, exports." Their estimate for total fisheries scientists such as Charles waterborne cargo value through this Dewberry and Jim Lichatowich have system in 1997 is $13.1 billion. This is written, to protect places where salmon big business. And while some in the are now thriving and make sure that region are researching alternatives conditions there do not deteriorate. At which could preserve economic viabili- the same time, unless all factors in the ty and recover salmon, ocher wheels are watershed are addressed, ultimately A steelhead fishery at Little Goose Dam. in motion (specifically the project to recovery cannot succeed. In the debate deepen the Columbia River shipping c, over Pacific salmon recovery, there has number of wild salmon in the was based on the belief that hatcheries channel to accommodate deeper draft :; much finger pointing and isolation of Columbia Basin declined," could make up for the destruction of vessels) to expand the existing system. ~ problems. ls the Caspian terns, the sea Lichatowich writes, "salmon from the wild fish. Trying to redirect the system (The channel deepening project - !! lions? Is it the fishing? The logging in hatchery program began to make up a is like trying to turn one of the super• whose draft EIS does not deal with -t the uplands, the grazing, agricultural larger and larger percentage of the total tankers docked at the rivers' mouth. possible effect of potential drawdowns ;: irrigation, industrial pollution, urban run. Today, as proof of their success, "The biggest risk is uncertainty," on the Snake River dams, and which ~ and suburban development? hatchery advocates note that artificially says Craig Smith, Vice President of the the EPA has criticized for insufficient z For a long time it was believed propagated salmon make up 80 percent Northwest Food Processors attention to restoration - also seems co o hatcheries with their industrial or more of the total number of salmon Association, which represents the ~ call into question federal agencies' 3 strength propagation of fish could on the Columbia, but they fail to men• industry that, according to Smith, pro• commitment to improve conditions in g• make up for the loss of native fish runs. tion that the total run has crashed co duces - among many other fruits and the basin's estuaries. And because of tJ In his new book, Salmon Without Rivers less than 5 percent of its historical vegetables - "basically 80% of all the potential impacts on endangered ~ (See review on Page 17), Jim abundance." French fries made in the United salmon, NMFS has recently come out ~ Lichatowich describes the link While hatcheries will continue to States." Smith describes the current against the project.) g- between dams and hatcheries as "The play a role in salmon restoration, it is salmon recovery process as "a huge A report prepared for the non-prof- .., merger allowed the industrial develop• clear that what their champions hoped black hole. A lot of time and a lot of it groups American Rivers, Trout ::g ment of the water by substituting for has been a dismal failure. The effort have gone into it," he says, "and Unlimited and others, by Dr. G. Bonneville Dam." Steerage, I ~ Electric power, being invisible - would bring to the region. Still, the lat• And so political wrangling contin• think, and leave to find the fish view• ~ unlike barges, wheatfields and fish - est agency reports indicate dam ues over which vision of salmon ing room at the other end of the park• o- is not an easy concept for some of us to removal to be the least expensive restoration will prevail. Despite all the ing lot. g:,: grasp. It is explained to me that since recovery option, especially when the we have learned about the importance Inside the small concrete building 1-. the Lower Snake dams are "run-of-the• costs of basing recovery solely on habitat of considering the health of an entire the light is greenish., reflecting the Js river" projects that produce more ener• and harvest have yet to be calculated. watershed, the big question of restor• murky haze of water behind the glass. ~ gy in wet years than they do in dry. ing Columbia Basin salmon is still There are no shiny leaflets, education• ~ This means that the value of the ener• being dodged. Will it work to restore al exhibits or informational displays of ~ gy, like any ocher commodity, varies. When considering the the estuaries and upland tributaries any kind. The room looks to have been Js Analyses of the cost of producing elec• social implications of without returning any natural condi• cast aside in favor of the new facility E tricity from the Snake River dams show removing or altering tions co the rivers' main stems? Will the with its videos and fiberglass models. ~ - when taxpayer subsidies are figured current dam use on the politics be moved by the science? Behind the cloudy glass an eel and a Z in - that it is not competitive, and Lower Snake, it's also There are difficult decisions to be carp struggle by in the current. • actually costs the region money. If the worth remembering chat Lower made, and no absolute guarantees of ~ regional power system were co lose the Granite was finished in 1975, only 25 success, but the longer we wait, the ------Arts &ftMrn1R E S S A Y The Road to Extinction

by Eliz..abeth Grossman Lichatowich, "that by the turn of the century, farmers' claims to water n enlightening book which exceeded the natural flows of should be read by anyone inter• rivers ... As irrigated agriculture spread Aested in salmon recovery and through the Northwest, massive num• restoration, is Jim Lichatowich's new bers of juvenile salmon were killed ... ". book, Salmon Without Rivers. which pre• By the time of the great public sents an eloquent history and analysis works projects of the New Deal, and the current Pacific salmon crisis. the construction of the Bonneville and From the perspective of his nearly Grand Coulee Dams, settlement, 30 years as a fisheries scientist in the development and the extraction of nat• Pacific Northwest, Lichatowich draws ural resources had taken a devastating on an array of absorbing historical mate• toll on Pacific salmon. "Massive devel• rial to show how and why salmon runs opment of the Columbia's hydroelec• have declined, an account which sheds tric and irrigation potential would elim• much light on the current predicament inate the river's mainstem habitat," in which the region now finds itself writes.Lichatowich. with regard to its signature species. Hatcheries, he explained were The first Europeans in the used as an attempt to mitigate dams Northwest were amazed by the wealth such as the Elwha, · on Washington's of salmon coursing through the region's Olympic Peninsula which was built rivers. Early on they recognized how without a fish ladder, but with a hatch• lucrative the harvest of these rich fish ery to make up for the loss of the could be. While the first Northwest can• salmon passage. The Elwha, writes neries were processing - and wasting Lichatowich, "set a critical precedent - record numbers of fish, New that linked dams and hatcheries .... The England salmon runs were dwindling. merger allowed the industrial develop• Enter hatcheries, or fish culture, as it ment of the water by substituting was then known. Hatcheries first used hatcheries for wild fish and reservoirs eggs from Canadian salmon. But the for free-flowing rivers." Canadians objected and raised the price. "The Road -to Extinction," so \v-ichou'r knowing what the result Lichatowich 's description of Pacific would be, Pacific salmon eggs were sub• salmon's current path, is the result of stituted. Reluctant to fund a program over a century of flawed assumptions that would benefit only one region, and understanding. "Until we carefully Congress was persuaded to · establish examine our core beliefs ... about nature, hatcheries throughout the country. our rivers, and our salmon, and change The life cycle of salmon was not ful• our deeper motivations, salmon manage• ly understood when hatcheries first ment efforts and their institutional Lords went into operation. But faith in man's of Yesterday, ... will continue to threaten ability to improve on nature was the pre• the existence of the species they are sup• vailing philosophy, so hatcheries prolif• posed to protect," he writes. ''We simply erated while little was known about how cannot have salmon without healthy they would effect native fish runs. rivers. But it's not just the salmon that "It does not make much difference need healthy rivers. We do too." • what [is done] with the salmon eggs," wrote Spencer Baird, head of the U.S. Elizabeth Grossman is a senior editor for Fish Commission in 1871. "The object Cascadia Times. She writes from Portland. is to introduce them into as many states -as possible and have credit with Congress accordingly." "Thus," writes Lichatowich, "the first plan co restock SupportInvestigative America's rivers with artificially propa• ci, :a gated fish was essentially political." OI Journalism n By the turn of the 20th century, :Ill Pacific salmon runs had declined ;;= markedly. Among the contributing fac• The Cascadia Times Research Fund supports tors was the damming of rivers and the work of independent journalists by providing -4 research grants enabling in-depth journalistic i streams despite laws in Oregon and ffl projects to flourish. OI Washington preventing the blockage of salmon passage. Mining and logging Our work is made possible by the generous sup• z destroyed fish habitat as "dredges port of individuals and foundations ~ ' concerned about the future of the 3 physically devoured whole rivers," and O" Pacific Northwest. The Fund is a (I) rivers were used to transport timber. jl non-profit, donations to which are 0 With the influx of settlers came (I) tax deductible to the full extent (\ increased grazing which damaged ripar• (I) provided by law. 3 ian zones "that once helped to nurture er (D millions of salmon in ... desert > streams ... ", Agricultural irrigation in Checks should be made "the arid high plains of eastern payable to the Cascadia Times Research Fund Washington and Oregon and Idaho ... spread so rapidly," recounts Cascadia Resource Directory

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