Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State.
In 1999, Pacific Power, environmental groups and the Yakama Nation reached a landmark agreement to remove the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River.
More than a decade later, the dam is still there.
The delays are frustrating the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, which recently warned members that time is running out if the dam is going to be removed this year.
And here’s what it says you can do to help.
If the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River is removed on schedule next year, it will mean the river will be free flowing for the first time in almost a century. Salmon and steelhead will regain access to more than 30 miles of upriver habitat and their populations will most likely increase.
And for people who fish the river? Here’s some good news. Removing the dam will mean lower mercury levels in the salmon and steelhead, perhaps making them safer to eat.
Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State.
That’s one of the conclusions in a new Environmental Impact Statement on removing the dam. This is the second time an EIS has been conducted on the project. The first one had to be tossed out because testing of the sediment that’s building up behind the dam found levels of mercury that were higher than anyone expected. The big question, what would happen if the dam was breached and all that mercury was sent down the river?
Washington’s Department of Ecology came up with this answer. In the short run, mercury levels in the White Salmon would spike to levels that are unsafe for aquatic life and humans for a period of roughly 20 to 50 days.
But over the long run, DOE says releasing all that sediment will make it less likely for the mercury to accumulate in fish in the river. A lot of it would be flushed out to the Columbia River where it would be too diluted to pose a threat. What remains behind would be deposited in areas where fish and other aquatic life don’t go.
The Condit Dam is scheduled to removed starting in October of 2010. It’s owned by Pacfic Power, which is still seeking the permits needed to take out the dam.
This new Environmental Impact Statement is still a draft. You can read the whole report on the Washington Department of Ecology website. The department is accepting public comments until July 20.
