As a proven reliable and affordable source of baseload energy, hydroelectric dams supply the Pacific Northwest with nearly 90 percent of the region’s renewable energy. Here in Central Washington, these carbon-free sources are the key to our demand-driven grid and a variety of other benefits like transportation, barging, and irrigation.

For the last four years, American energy has been under attack by an administration whose goal was not to support the sector’s success, but to hinder our ability to generate power using the resources we have right here at home. Those of us in Central Washington particularly felt that pressure with the effort to breach the four Lower Snake River dams. Specifically, the Columbia River Taskforce and their reports outlining an operational breach of these critical pieces of infrastructure would threaten our livelihoods and ability to respond to increased power demand, and I’m proud to stand in opposition to their continued efforts.

This Congress, my colleagues and I in the House and Senate, along with the new administration, are focused on strengthening our energy sources and upholding our dams as critical pieces of energy infrastructure.

Last week, I reintroduced the Northwest Energy Security Act to ensure the Lower Snake River dams remain operational and intact. As expensive and politically driven Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) have targeted the dams over the years, this legislation would codify that the government will operate under the 2020 Columbia River System Operations EIS that found the dams should not be breached. This approach directs new efforts at finding ways to maintain and improve hydropower assets while simultaneously working to improve salmon passage through the dams.

While I am proud to lead this legislation again at such a crucial point, I am also very proud of the coalition we are building upon to help our dams thrive. In the House, I was proud to have Representatives Michael Baumgartner (WA-05), Cliff Bentz (OR-02), and Russ Fulcher (ID-01) join me in introducing the legislation. As a renewed effort in the Senate majority, I am thankful that Senator Jim Risch from Idaho introduced companion legislation alongside Senators Mike Crapo of Idaho, Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy of Montana, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.

With stakeholder input having been ignored in negotiations over the dams in recent years, we are fortunate to have the support of a plethora of local stakeholder groups like TRIDEC, Northwest RiverPartners, Public Power Council, and Washington Wheat Growers in our growing coalition.

The bottom line is we are leading the way in ensuring the Lower Snake River dams are here to stay. As we move into a new era of energy policy in Congress, I will be working with our coalition to elevate our dams as a prime example of clean, reliable, and affordable base-load power for other parts of the country to follow.