Andrus weighs in on salmon and protecting the Columbia Gorge
You may have seen the story about how former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus weighed in against the current Columbia-Snake salmon plan developed in the last years of the Bush Administration. He joined former Democratic governors John Kitzhaber of Oregon and Mike Lowry of Washington in a letter urging President Obama to reject the plan and instead embark on expanded talks.
“We believe the time has come, and is propitious, for settlement talks under the court’s aegis on law and science, and under your leadership for related economic and political issues,” The three Northwest Democrats wrote.
But that wasn’t the only issue Idaho’s former governor and the former Interior secretary got involved in this week. He is leading a coalition of 17 local and national groups urging the Obama administration to deny a casino to a tribe in the scenic Columbia Gorge.
Andrus hand-carried a letter to Washington D.C. addressed to current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and gave it to Larry EchoHawk, head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the former attorney general of Idaho.
"For me, protecting the Gorge is a professional passion," Andrus said in a news release.
Approving the casino in Cascade Locks within the designated national scenic area and a half mile from a protected wilderness boundary, “would destroy one of America’s most treasured landscapes,” Andrus said.
Andrus was born in nearby Hood River, Ore. and has kept his ties to the area.
The Idaho Democrat gave President Obama a boost when he really needed it in February of 2008, hosting him at the big rally at Boise State, endorsing him and taking on Clinton spokesmen who were dismissing Obama's support in Red states like Idaho. Andrus knows better than any politician that influence is not a zero sum game.
When you have it you have to use it. He has picked his causes carefully.
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Gorge
I'm afraid Andrus is a bit late in his efforts to try and save the Columbia River Gorge. That "most treasured landscape" has been lined with so many windmills it now looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
Wind Turbine Gorge on the Columbia
I agree. I used to drive the Gorge all the time, but hadn't driven upriver for several years before attending a family funeral in Idaho a few weeks ago. What a shock!
The windmills look like crap. "Something out of a science fiction movie" is exactly right. This is the face of "green science." That, and millions of acres of dead trees killed by bugs or fires.
What a shame. What a sham.
So, visible negative impacts are worse than invisible ones?
Last time I drove through the Gorge, I didn't notice the wind turbines as much as the massive federal dams and reservoirs lining the route, which decimate the fish and wildlife of the Columbia/Snake watershed. To see how a river can be killed, I invite all to drive the Boise R reach between Lucky Peak dam and Arrow Rock. We might as well have nuked the place.
I know we all use energy, including me at this keyboard - but it comes at a cost. Some find wind turbines "lovely" in comparison to some of the alternatives.
All you noticed was the lack of decent radio.
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There is no life in Idaho...it is a mirror site on god's server. You were dreaming but it is over. Go to your residence and await our commands and THEN we will restore control...
Its a desert!
Between Lucky Peak and Arrow Rock.
You mean the resevoir right? Nuked the place?
Let's try to imagine what it would be without Lucky Peak Dam... ahhhh, sagebrush, maybe? Ahhh a dam desert, maybe? A desert compared to a 'nuked place'? Not much different. As for not having the dam, imagine dowtown Boise River during the winter if there were not a dam. For someone with rivercityblue, you may love the river but are not considering what it would be like if it were truly 'wild'.
The resevoir brings A LOT of value to the Boise area including recreation and use of that specific area.
I agree with others that we need another Lucky Peak or Arrowrock. As the valley continues to grow our water demands will exceed capacity. Tons of water are flushed in the early spring that could just as easily be captured for use and returned to the water table.
My point is that most dams kill their rivers...
and few places show it more than the Boise River reach between Lucky Peak and Arrow Rock. Go up there anytime between now and springtime. See any ducks up there? birds or fish of any kind? The countryside above the river is certainly a desert - but the river and the shoreline is now a desert too, with literally nothing alive in it.
This isn't about the Boise River being wild ever again (not likely in my lifetime). With so much "city" now in place, a truly wild river flowing through Boise would damage too much private property.
But, with so much destruction right under our noses, in places like the Columbia Gorge or certain stretches of the Boise River, it's crazy to talk about how "unsightly" wind turbines might be. If I were offered a trade....
hmm.....
I fail to see what ducks have to do with it, THEY are abundant.
We saved their populations WITHOUT DAMS BEING BREACHED.
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There is no life in Idaho...it is a mirror site on god's server. You were dreaming but it is over. Go to your residence and await our commands and THEN we will restore control...
Talk about only looking at what you can see
I guess the thousands of tons of fish that live in that water that wouldn't be there if it were a free flowing river count for nothing. I know that for one thing, those endangered bulltrout simply love Arrowrcok reservoir. They just thrive there.
Truth is hard to come by
Maybe a breached dam nuked the way to Burns...
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There is no life in Idaho...it is a mirror site on god's server. You were dreaming but it is over. Go to your residence and await our commands and THEN we will restore control...
New Dam
We need to put in a monster dam at Twin Springs. Back that puppy up all the way to Atlanta.
Truth is hard to come by
GEORGIA. DEFINITELY G TO THE A.
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There is no life in Idaho...it is a mirror site on god's server. You were dreaming but it is over. Go to your residence and await our commands and THEN we will restore control...