23, T. C. P. O. (2019, October 23). In Our View: Removing dams would damn N.W. economy. Retrieved November 11, 2019, from https://www.columbian.com/news/2019/oct/23/in-our-view-removing-dams-would-damn-n-w-economy/.               

 

Dams provide inexpensive, reliable, clean, and renewable electricity. However, many protest them. Recently, Native American tribes have called for the removal of three Columbia River dams — Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day. They hope the removal of these dams would support salmon recovery and help dwindling populations of orcas that rely on salmon for food. These are valid concerns, but destroying dams would require the construction of additional power plants fueled by natural gas or coal or nuclear energy. It will take time to develop more wind and solar energy. Dams throughout the Northwest have been environmentally imperfect as they have played a role in diminishing salmon runs. But removal would be a radical step that would hurt the economy of the entire region. A balanced and incremental approach is needed. 

The article focusses on the connection between the economy and the environment. If dams were to be destroyed, jobs and money would be destroyed along with them. I believe that many dams should be removed, just not all at once. As dams age, it will stop being economically smart to remove them anyway because of mounting costs for repairs. When dams reach a point where extensive work is needed then they should simply be removed. However, this should be a slow process because, as this article mentions, just removing all dams would hurt the economy. Also, dams provide for a smoother transition into green energy sources. While scientists continue to advance solar and wind energy, dams provide a solid energy base. This relates to environmental science because the way we get energy significantly impacts ecosystems on Earth. For example, burning fossil fuels leads to climate change which negatively impacts many animals.