Energy that comes at the cost of salmon extinction, such as that generated by the Bonneville Power Administration in the Columbia Basin, is not clean. BPA’s negative revenue projection adds to the costs of the status quo of maintaining an overreliance on hydropower.
BPA should modernize their energy services and support the full range of grid-connected clean energy sources by focusing on wind and solar generation, as well as energy storage. This would ensure reliable energy for customers during winter and summer demand peaks. Hydropower is increasingly negatively affected by reduced snowpacks, varied precipitation and hotter summers, making it even less effective for consumers than in past years.
Hydropower generation on the Columbia River is highest in spring and fall, the opposite seasons of energy demands. Additionally, some of this water is diverted from electricity generation to spillover to aid juvenile salmon migration. These factors, combined with the current drought impacts in Washington, show that we need diverse clean energy in a single, unified Western energy market to relieve pressure on the federal hydrosystem.
