That do comedian Tim Allen and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell have in common? An abiding love for “More power!” For the comic, that’s the solution to every challenge that might arise in any home-improvement project. For the senator, boosting the Northwest’s hydropower capacity would be one of the most productive ways to accelerate a recovery from the lingering economic crisis.
She’s correct, of course, and what we like best about her Hydropower Improvement Act (introduced on Thursday) is that it takes a proven success — indeed, the pride of the Northwest — and makes it even better. And all of this would be accomplished without adding dams, just through upgrading current power-producing dams, bringing other dams online and enhancing conduit programs, pumped-storage facilities and other power sources. More than just a boost in power, the act would yield a significant increase in jobs. One study mentioned in Cantwell’s bill envisions the current national hydropower work force of 300,000 people bolstered by up to 1.4 million new jobs (direct and indirect) across the country.
Oh, but this proposal surely will become smothered in partisan bickering, you might argue. But consider the bipartisan thrust of the Hydropower Improvement Act. Cantwell chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy. Her primary co-sponsor on this bill is Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, ranking Republican on that same subcommittee. They are joined by seven other co-sponsors from both parties.
All nine sponsors are working across party lines because they know that hydropower is America’s largest source of clean, renewable energy, one that produces almost a third of the country’s energy. They also know that hydropower has stood the test of time with a track record of more than a century of generating affordable, emissions-free energy. Dams not only yield almost three-fourths of the energy consumed in our state, they also provide irrigation for Eastern Washington farms where apples, cherries, hops, wheat and other crops are grown.
