(The Center Square) – A two-decade-long dispute over the lower Snake River dams is back in the headlines this month with a package of bills from U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., aimed at killing a December backroom deal between the Biden administration and a handful of stakeholders seeking to breach the four dams that provide hydropower to the region.
Last year’s deal between the Biden administration and the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Bonneville Power Administration and other government agencies that manage the dams has since become a formal memorandum of understanding.
Jason Mercier, vice president and director of research for the Mountain States Policy Center think tank, spoke with The Center Square about the fight over the dams’ fate.
“We have this consent decree that did not include all of the stakeholders, and as a result, you’re seeing a congressional backlash of hearings and now a package of nine
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