Stringer, G. (2023, November 16). Many residents say publicly they support maintaining hydropower at Willamette River dams. Oregoncapitcalchronicle. Retrieved January 26, 2024, from https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/11/16/many-residents-near-willamette-river-want-dams-to-produce-hydropower/
In Willamette Valley, Oregon, there has been a debate of whether or not to keep the hydroelectric dam in the area. Many argue for the dam because of clean energy production, but the problem is that it is heavily impacting an endangered salmon species population in this area. Public meetings have been being hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Opinions from the public are being taken into account for this decision of whether to keep the dam or not. Concerns come with both sides of the debate. Many people believe that even with the removal of the damn, the salmon will still not be able to make a comeback and then we will have less clean energy. People also worry that the removal of this dam will cause a spike in energy prices in the area. And of course, if we keep the dam the salmon population will stay endangered, declining until its inevitable extinction. The Corps is still waiting for more public feedback before passing the issue to congress who will have the most say in the matter.
The main problem with dams is the large environmental impact that most of them have. Whether it is directly on the land they are located in, species in the area, or water quality, dams are always have a bad affect on the environment. I think that taking the publics opinion is very important to know what will make the community happy, and to hear new ideas and thoughts on the matter that they may not have taken into consideration before. This is a very relevant topic today, because this is not just happening in this area in Oregon. There are thousansds of dams across the United States that are having the same, or very similar issues. I wonder why this was not accounted for when they were being created? If dams are still constructed in the future, what will we do to change them to make sure problems like these do not happen again. I think because we already have so many, it would be hard to restart what we have already done, but with new technology today im sure we could make much more environmental friendly and safe dams across the United States.