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Gorton, Babbitt build a wall on dam issue
Conditions for Elwha removal still in dispute
Friday, April 23, 1999
By MICHAEL PAULSON
WASHINGTON -- The likelihood of a dam being removed on the Elwha River seemed to diminish significantly yesterday when Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Sen. Slade Gorton made it clear there is no room for compromise between them.
Environmentalists have long pushed to remove the two dams on the Olympic Peninsula's Elwha River in an effort to restore salmon runs. Last year, all interests, including the city of Port Angeles, elected officials from both parties and the dams' private owner agreed to removal.
But funding fell through when Gorton, R-Wash., insisted that a provision be included stating that no dam on the Columbia or Snake rivers could be removed without congressional permission. Environmentalists are pushing to breach four federal dams on the lower Snake River in an effort to restore salmon runs, but they have won no support from elected officials of either political party.
Current law requires congressional approval for the removal of federal dams, and after a testy hearing before Gorton's subcommittee, Babbitt told reporters that he would never agree to also grant Congress veto power over the removal of privately owned dams. That is the price Gorton is demanding before he will agree to grant federal money for the acquisition and removal of the Elwha River dams.
Babbitt and Gorton have dug in their heels as each nears the end of his term. Babbitt is expected to leave office by January 2001, when President Clinton's second term ends, and Gorton must win re-election if he is to avoid leaving at the same time.
The two have conflicting desires in their remaining months. Babbitt has made the restoration of free-flowing rivers a goal of his tenure, while Gorton has made defending the dams on the Snake and Columbia a central element of his re-election campaign strategy.
"Are we going to be able to reach any agreement that will allow us to go forward on the Elwha . . . and provide a degree of protection and public consent with respect to major decisions on the Columbia and Snake rivers?" Gorton asked Babbitt yesterday, during a hearing before the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee which Gorton chairs.
The answer was no.
"Senator, I've given this a lot of thought since . . . last year, and I'm not prepared to support or advocate a linkage," Babbitt said.
Babbitt has argued that Congress already has the right to approve or reject the removal of federal dams, but that private parties should be able to negotiate with regulators the removal of non-federal dams. As an example, he cited the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River, which is expected to be breached as a result of an agreement now being negotiated.
"I just think it is inappropriate to freeze a (dam licensing) system that is working over apprehensions that I think are entirely unjustified," Babbitt said. "History and reality argue for using the existing system. It has never led to an inappropriate result and I don't think it's going to."
In interviews after the hearing, Babbitt and Gorton each expressed hope that the Elwha dams might yet be removed, but offered no suggestion as to how that might be accomplished given their rift.
"We'll continue to advocate and try to persuade the Congress to give us the funding necessary to get the dams down, provide a water supply for Port Angeles, and restore the fish, but I cannot acquiesce in having it held hostage to a whole range of other issues," Babbitt said. "This dam and the town of Port Angeles can not be held hostage to a back door rewrite of federal hydro(power) policy that would apply nationwide."
Gorton said he was "gravely disappointed" by Babbitt's comments, but that he will continue to try to find a solution.
"I wouldn't jump to any conclusions," he said. "If one road turns out to be a dead end, you just try another road. But one road did seem to turn out to be a dead end. There's no question about that with his response."
Democrats and environmentalists are upset at Gorton's insistence on linking the Elwha and Columbia/Snake river dams, which they view as a politically driven attempt to position Gorton as the lone champion of eastern Washington interests against a threatening federal government. They point to statements such as one Gorton included in a news release yesterday, in which the senator said "the Pacific Northwest's economic foundation is still at risk of being destroyed by the Clinton-Gore administration."
"There is no intent in Congress to take down the Columbia or Snake River dams, and we should not . . . try to make this into some hot-button event," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "There is no reason to do that, and I really hope Sen. Gorton backs down and we can move forward."
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash, said he will use his position as ranking Democrat on the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to push for funds to remove the Elwha dams, and then attempt to persuade Gorton to back down in conference committee.
"I just hope we can break this impasse," he said. "As (former Secretary of State) George Shultz used to say, nothing in this town is ever over. We'll just keep working on this thing and see if hopefully we can't find a way to go forward."
P-I reporter Michael Paulson
can be reached at 202-943-9229 or michaelpaulson@seattle-pi.com
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