Breaching hydropower dams carries collateral damage

Electric cooperatives across the Pacific Northwest have sounded the alarm in recent weeks about the consequences facing ratepayers if four Lower Snake River dams are breached.

Collectively, the federal dams in eastern Washington have the capacity to churn out about 3,000 megawatts of reliable, clean hydropower that is eventually fed into co-ops serving homes from California, Oregon and Washington to Utah, Wyoming and Montana. 

In Montana, co-ops receive nearly 330 megawatts from Columbia River Basin hydropower dams, which is enough to light up more than 100,000 households in the state.