Eliminate fishing if you want to save Snake River salmon

Your recent editorials, commentaries and letters on the Lower Snake River dams were mostly evenhanded, which surprised me a little. Science says that the dams themselves don’t directly kill fish, as a comparison to the un-dammed Fraser River in British Columbia shows. But even with facts being on the side of the dams, our ecology department green-types won’t budge. They will always prioritize fish over peoples’ need for electricity; that’s how they got their jobs. They will always be against any artificial control of river flow for any reason including flood control. They’re reflexively against nuclear because they think it pushed aside solar. Environmental studies rarely figure in your job or your need for air conditioning.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for fish and the planet and I read Mother Jones. How about this: Stop all fishing for five years. Catch-and-release for recreational types. Compensate the Tribes with money. They also could catch and release to satisfy their culture.

Many greens are too doctrinaire. Before you kill “Big Oil” consider what roads are made from, what will replace plastic and wall paint, and what tires are from. Oil and dams have allowed the huge world population that we have. Don’t kiss them off too offhandedly.

Doug Grandpre

Lake Stevens