Dams are good scapegoats.
These concrete monoliths serve as tributes to a technocratic age. They cannot talk, and they weather the abuse heaped on them while continuing to slave for those of us who benefit from their power. No news outlet ever picked it up. The individuals involved were censured. The Walla Walla office of the Corps was so badly bruised by this and other experiences that friendly sources in the Corps who would reveal information about the Great Salmon Hoax told us they were afraid their phone calls were tapped in the office, and would speak only at home.