Washington state is weighing controversial proposal to breach four lower dams to boost recovery of threatened salmon populations, with potential cost in billions to replace their power generation.
A concept floated by Republican Mike Simpson, a U.S. congressman from Idaho, holds the potential to loosen the intractable logjam that has persisted for years among lawmakers, community members and federal officials to find a way to save the dwindling salmon population in the Columbia River Basin before it is too late.