A group of House Republicans are introducing legislation that would prohibit the federal government from breaching, or tearing down, four hydroelectric dams in Washington state.
The five lawmakers, led by Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., unveiled the so-called Defending Against Manipulative Negotiators (DAMN) Act on Wednesday morning. The legislation would prohibit federal funds from allowing or studying the breach or alteration of the Lower Snake River dams which environmentalists have targeted, arguing they have led to declining salmon populations in the region.
GOP Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee; Cliff Bentz, R-Ore.; Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore.; and Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, joined Newhouse in introducing the legislation. The action comes a month after the White House entered into a legal settlement with environmental groups and tribes to study breaching, potentially paving the way for future breaching.
“The Biden Administration has crossed the line with its blatant, hypocritical assault on the Lower Snake River Dams,” Newhouse told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “This Administration, since its campaign, claims to advocate for green energy solutions, yet disregards that notion when told to by manipulative environmental activists who do not understand how critical the dams are to the Pacific Northwest and a clean energy future.”
Investigating the Biden Administration’s Attempts to Dismantle Important Power Source through Negotiations with Eco-Groups
“The Defending Against Manipulative Negotiators Act is the first of many pieces of legislation coming that combats this Administration’s radical, unfair, and unsubstantiated effort to destroy our dams and the livelihoods of the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on them,” said the Washington Republican.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality announced last month that the tribes and environmental organizations who had sued the federal government to forcefully breach the dams have agreed to pause their legal action until 2028. The agreement also includes a plan to develop new clean energy powered by tribes and $1 billion for the restoration of wild fish.
