This week TCS released a letter to Congress supporting the Salmon Solutions and Planning Act. The legislation was introduced by Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Tom Petri (R-WI) on Friday. This legislation promotes restoring salmon in a fiscally responsible manner. Read our support letter below.
Billions Already Spent in Failing Salmon Recovery Efforts,
Time to Take Action That Makes Sense:
Cosponsor the Salmon Solutions and Planning Act
July 31, 2009
Dear Representative,
Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to cosponsor the Salmon Solutions and Planning Act. This bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Reps. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Tom Petri (R- WI), provides a safety net to prevent salmon extinction and protects taxpayers from continuing to spend billions on failing salmon recovery efforts.
Snake River salmon populations have been on a downward spiral for decades, and recent studies predict salmon extinction as early as 2016 for some populations. Yet, the current federal salmon plan for the Snake and Columbia Rivers focuses on expensive measures that are not working - boondoggles such as trucking and barging young salmon several hundred miles to the ocean.
If the plan continues to fail to lead to salmon recovery, it is imperative the government be ready to look at other options, including removal of the four Lower Snake River dams. More than 200 independent scientists, the American Fisheries Society, and the federal government’s own agencies have concluded that removal of the four Lower Snake River dams is the surest way to restore these fish.
The Salmon Solutions and Planning Act begins the process of information-gathering by calling for an independent scientific analysis of federal salmon recovery actions by the National Academy of Sciences, as well as studies by several federal agencies including DOE and the Army Corps of Engineers. Together, these studies will evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of all salmon recovery options, including dam removal.
By cosponsoring this bipartisan bill, you can help ensure that the federal government is prepared to meet its legal and moral obligation to restore Snake and Columbia River salmon in a fiscally responsible manner. Please call Livia Shmavonian in Rep. Jim McDermott’s office at (202) 225-3106 or Lindsay Punzenberger in Rep. Tom Petri’s office at (202) 225-2476 to add your name to the Salmon Solutions and Planning Act. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Ryan Alexander
President
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