On Wednesday, Congress will consider a bill that would abruptly halt decades of momentum toward restoring the Columbia River Basin.

House Resolution 2073 , known as the “Defending our Dams Act,” proposes to permanently prohibit removal of the four dams on the Lower Snake River, despite ample evidence that doing so is essential to restoring wild salmon and steelhead populations. It would also outlaw the use of federal funds to even study how to replace the hydropower that dams generate, even though studies show promising options for backfilling that supply – which accounts for just 4% of the total power generated in the Northwest.

If passed, the bill would upend a brighter and healthier future for our children and grandchildren, one filled with free-flowing rivers, clean energy to meet

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