I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1507 

To ensure that proper information gathering and planning are undertaken 

to secure the preservation and recovery of the salmon and steelhead 

of the Columbia River Basin in a manner that protects and enhances 

local communities, ensures effective expenditure of Federal resources, 

and maintains reasonably priced, reliable power, to direct the Secretary 

of Commerce to seek scientific analysis of Federal efforts to restore 

salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 13, 2007 

Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself, Mr. PETRI, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. SHAYS, 

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. WALSH of New York, Mr. 

PALLONE, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. MORAN of 

Virginia, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. WEINER, Mr. LIPINSKI, 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. STARK, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mrs. 

TAUSCHER, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. 

KENNEDY, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. HONDA, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. 

COSTELLO, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. COOPER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To ensure that proper information gathering and planning 

are undertaken to secure the preservation and recovery 

of the salmon and steelhead of the Columbia River Basin 

in a manner that protects and enhances local communities, ensures effective expenditure of Federal resources, 

and maintains reasonably priced, reliable power, to direct 

the Secretary of Commerce to seek scientific analysis 


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of Federal efforts to restore salmon and steelhead listed 

under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Salmon Economic 

5 Analysis and Planning Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds and declares the fol8 lowing: 

9 (1) Certain species of salmon and steelhead in 

10 the Columbia and Snake River Basin are on the 

11 brink of extinction as a consequence of various fac12 tors, including hydroelectric projects, harvest man13 agement practices, habitat degradation, altered in 

14 stream flow, and unsound hatchery practices. 

15 (2) These salmon and steelhead have major eco16 nomic, ecological, educational, recreational, sci17 entific, cultural, and spiritual significance to the Na18 tion and its people. 

19 (3) The Federal Government and ratepayers in 

20 the Pacific Northwest have spent more than 

21 $6,000,000,000 on salmon recovery efforts. 

22 (4) Thirteen salmon and steelhead species in 

23 the Columbia and Snake River Basin are listed for 


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1 protections under the Endangered Species Act of 

2 1973 (6 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

3 (5) Salmon and steelhead extinction could cost 

4 taxpayers billions of dollars. 

5 (6) Salmon and steelhead are symbols of the 

6 Pacific Northwest, support thousands of jobs in 

7 coastal and inland communities, and serve as an in8 dicator of the health of Northern California and Pa9 cific Northwest river ecosystems. 

10 (7) Salmon and steelhead of the Snake River 

11 are a vital economic resource to communities in 

12 Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California. 

13 Restoring Snake River salmon to healthy, self-sus14 taining, harvestable levels will have significant eco15 nomic benefits for these communities. Under16 standing these benefits is imperative to setting pub17 lic policy on salmon restoration efforts in the North18 west. 

19 (8) The original range of Snake River salmon 

20 included not only their existing habitat in central 

21 Idaho, northeast Oregon, southeast Washington, the 

22 lower Columbia River, and the coastal waters of 

23 Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington, but 

24 also currently inaccessible habitat in the upper 


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1 Snake River Basin, including southern Idaho, south2 east Oregon, and northern Nevada. 

3 (9) The United States Government has signed 

4 treaties with Indian tribes in Oregon, Washington, 

5 Montana, and Idaho and with the Government of 

6 Canada creating a legally enforceable trust responsi7 bility to restore salmon populations to sustainable, 

8 harvestable levels. 

9 (10) Since the construction of 4 Federal dams 

10 on the lower Snake River in Washington, salmon 

11 and steelhead populations in the Snake River have 

12 significantly declined, and all salmon and steelhead 

13 in the Snake River are extinct or listed as endan14 gered or threatened under the Endangered Species 

15 Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

16 (11) Recent studies indicate that the time re17 maining to protect remaining Snake River salmon 

18 and steelhead is short, with scientists estimating 

19 that, if changes do not occur, many if not all of the 

20 remaining Snake River salmon and steelhead popu21 lations will be extinct in our lifetime. 

22 (12) A federally funded group of State, tribal, 

23 Federal, and independent scientists found that par24 tially removing the 4 lower Snake River dams in 


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1 Washington is the surest way to protect and recover 

2 Snake River salmon and steelhead. 

3 (13) Several communities that rely on the 4 

4 lower Snake River dams would be affected by partial 

5 dam removal. 

6 (14) A Federal court has found that the 4 

7 lower Snake River dams violate water quality stand8 ards under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

9 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.). 

10 (15) Energy production in the Northwest is 

11 heavily dependent upon hydropower and thus, the 

12 prospects for salmon recovery and hydropower man13 agement are inextricably linked. 

14 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

15 (1) to ensure the protection and recovery of Co16 lumbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead to 

17 self-sustaining, harvestable levels, while providing for 

18 reliable, reasonably priced energy in the Northwest 

19 and an economically sustainable salmon recovery 

20 program, and to maximize the potential economic 

21 benefits from potential dam removal while mitigating 

22 for its impacts; and 

23 (2) to ensure that the Northwest and the Na24 tion have completed the necessary planning and eval25 uation to efficiently manage salmon recovery, impleVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:48 Mar 15, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1507.IH H1507

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1 ment biologically effective measures, and respond 

2 rapidly if major new actions are necessary to protect 

3 and recover salmon and steelhead in the Columbia 

4 and Snake River Basin. 

5 SEC. 3. SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS OF FEDERAL SALMON RE6 COVERY EFFORTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 months after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce 

9 shall enter into an arrangement with the National Acad10 emy of Sciences providing for scientific analysis of Federal 

11 salmon protection, restoration, and recovery actions (here12 inafter ‘‘recovery actions’’) and submission of a report on 

13 the results of the analysis in accordance with subsection 

14 (c). 

15 (b) SUBJECTS OF ANALYSIS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 

17 scientific analysis shall include, at a minimum, re18 view of— 

19 (A) the biological effectiveness of— 

20 (i) current Federal recovery actions 

21 for Columbia and Snake River Basin salm22 on and steelhead populations; and 

23 (ii) anticipated Federal recovery ac24 tions for such populations, including those 

25 actions currently in the planning stage or 


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1 proposed in the most current Federal Co2 lumbia River Power System biological 

3 opinion; and 

4 (B) the timelines for, and feasibility of, im5 plementing those recovery actions. 

6 (2) COMPARISON OF EFFECTIVENESS.—In such 

7 review, the effectiveness of those actions— 

8 (A) shall be compared to the effectiveness 

9 of a Federal salmon recovery strategy that in10 cludes, but is not limited to, partial dam re11 moval; and 

12 (B) shall be evaluated and compared with 

13 respect to whether they are likely to achieve re14 covery to self-sustaining, harvestable population 

15 levels of naturally spawning, wild salmon and 

16 steelhead populations listed under section 4(c) 

17 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

18 U.S.C. 1533). 

19 (3) IDENTIFICATION OF LIMITING FACTORS.— 

20 The analysis shall also identify limiting factors to 

21 salmon and steelhead recovery including the impacts 

22 of tributary habitat degradation, salmon harvest, 

23 hatcheries, and hydropower dams. 

24 (4) GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE ANALYSIS.—The 

25 analysis shall also— 


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1 (A) identify the effect of global climate 

2 change on ocean conditions and on hydrological 

3 conditions in the Snake and Columbia Rivers 

4 and their salmon and steelhead-bearing tribu5 taries; and 

6 (B) examine how such global climate 

7 change effects might affect the Federal recovery 

8 actions necessary to achieve recovery of natu9 rally spawning, wild salmon and steelhead pop10 ulations to self-sustaining, harvestable levels. 

11 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 8 months after the date 

12 of enactment of this Act, the National Academy of 

13 Sciences shall submit a final report on the results of the 

14 scientific analysis conducted under this section to the Sec15 retary of Commerce and the Congress. 

16 SEC. 4. STUDIES REGARDING REMOVAL OF LOWER SNAKE 

17 RIVER DAMS. 

18 (a) STUDY OF ASSESSMENTS OF EFFECTS AND

19 COSTS OF DAM REMOVAL.—The Comptroller General of 

20 the United States shall conduct a study reviewing the var21 ious assessments that have been conducted by Federal 

22 agencies and others regarding the potential effects and 

23 costs of partially and fully removing the 4 lower Snake 

24 River dams. The Comptroller General’s review shall in25 clude a comparison of the scope and methodologies used 


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1 in, findings of, and recommendations made in those stud2 ies that have addressed any or all of the following: 

3 (1) The economic effects of dam removal and 

4 recovered Snake River salmon and steelhead popu5 lations for communities near the dams, for commu6 nities upstream from the dams, and for downstream 

7 and coastal communities, including downstream and 

8 coastal communities located within the boundaries of 

9 Alaska, California, and Canada. This analysis should 

10 include the impacts on commercial fishing, sport 

11 fishing, and nonfishing recreation such as boating 

12 and camping, including employment gains or losses 

13 that would result from removing the lower Snake 

14 River dams and replacing their energy, navigation, 

15 and water supply benefits in the most cost-effective 

16 manner. 

17 (2) The effects of dam removal on freight 

18 transportation, including— 

19 (A) the feasibility, costs, and sufficiency of 

20 various alternative transportation configura21 tions utilizing existing or upgraded railroads, 

22 highways, Columbia River barges, or other 

23 means; 


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1 (B) the economic benefits and costs of var2 ious alternatives for replacing the dams’ freight 

3 transportation benefits; 

4 (C) the environmental impact of shifting to 

5 such alternatives; 

6 (D) the means for mitigating any environ7 mental harm that might be caused by the use 

8 of such alternatives; and 

9 (E) any development or expansion of such 

10 alternatives that would be required to continue 

11 transporting the same amount of cargo that is 

12 currently transported on the lower Snake River. 

13 (3) The effects of dam removal on irrigation, 

14 including the availability of alternatives to replace ir15 rigation water or to extend irrigation pumps. 

16 (4) The effects of dam removal on energy pro17 duction, including the regional effects of any 

18 changes in energy production, identification of alter19 native renewable energy sources or energy efficiency 

20 measures that could replace any loss in energy pro21 duction, and the benefits and costs of such energy 

22 alternatives. 

23 (5) The economic effects of extinction of the 

24 salmon and steelhead populations in the Snake 

25 River. 


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1 (b) REVIEW OF DAM REMOVAL ENGINEERING COST

2 DETERMINATIONS BY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.—The 

3 Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct 

4 a study reviewing and determining the accuracy of the en5 gineering costs associated with dam removal as deter6 mined by the February 2002 Army Corps of Engineers 

7 Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration Feasibility 

8 Report/Environmental Impact Statement. 

9 (c) REPORTS.—Not later than 12 months after the 

10 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

11 shall submit to the Congress final reports on both of the 

12 studies required under this section. 

13 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 

15 (1) FEDERAL SALMON RECOVERY ACTIONS.— 

16 The term ‘‘Federal salmon recovery actions’’ means 

17 Federal actions required to protect, recover, and re18 store salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and 

19 Snake River basin that are listed under section 4(c) 

20 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 

21 1533(c)). 

22 (2) LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS.—The term ‘‘4 

23 lower Snake River dams’’ means the following dams 

24 on the Snake River in Washington: 

25 (A) The Ice Harbor dam. 


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1 (B) The Lower Monumental dam. 

2 (C) The Little Goose dam. 

3 (D) The Lower Granite dam. 

4 (3) POPULATIONS.—The term ‘‘populations’’ 

5 means the 13 evolutionarily significant units of 

6 salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake 

7 River Basin that are listed under section 4(c) of the 

8 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 

9 1533(c)). 

10 (4) PARTIAL REMOVAL.—The terms ‘‘partially 

11 removing’’ and ‘‘partial dam removal’’ mean remov12 ing only the earthen portions of the lower Snake 

13 River dams and leaving the powerhouse and turbines 

14 in place. 

Æ 


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