Lower Snake River Dams: Benefit Replacement Report

The Challenge

Governor Jay Inslee and U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington state announced a process to examine whether there are reasonable means for replacing the benefits provided by the four Lower Snake River Dams (LSRD), sufficient that breaching of the dams could be part of a comprehensive salmon recovery strategy for the Pacific Northwest. All species of salmon that use the Snake River are currently listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Our Role

The Ross Strategic team designed and carried out an analysis of the current benefits provided by the four Lower Snake River Dams and the actions needed to replace those benefits if the dams were breached. This included review and analysis of information from more than 100 technical reports dealing with elements of dam benefits and potential replacement options and synthesis of that information into a report and executive summary for use by the Senator and Governor and their immediate staff. Research and analysis of previous studies was supplemented with tribal, stakeholder, and expert engagement to ensure that information from reports was put in proper context and differences in perspectives were understood and could be described to decision makers.