In times of average demand, those dams produce up to 17,500 megawatts, enough to power 17.5 million homes, at any given time. No regional issue has transfixed the Northwest in recent years more than the plight of salmon and the role dams play in complicating their survival. But until the power crunch this winter, tradeoffs between hydroelectric power and salmon were never as plain. Every year, salmon hatch upstream and swim hundreds of miles to the Pacific Ocean. After two to five years there, they return upriver to reproduce and die in the same place they hatched.
Dams block the path of salmon migration.
To help the fish get by the dams, federal and state agencies have spent millions of dollars on fish ladders, trucks and barges to carry them around the dams. In addition, during peak salmon migration, agencies usually unleash millions of gallons of extra water to speed the fish toward the ocean. This year, however, with the drought and power demands surging, there is little, if any, water to spare. BPA's Hansen says federal power and environmental agencies are meeting almost daily to negotiate the conflicting demands of people and fish. It's the drought.