Re: Oppose Rep. Simpson’s Disastrous “Energy and Salmon Concept”

On behalf of our organizations and our millions of members and supporters, we write to express our profound concerns with Rep. Simpson’s “energy and salmon concept” and to oppose his proposal in its current form. Each of our organizations strongly supports the removal of the four Lower Snake River dams to help restore the region’s culturally significant wild salmon and steelhead, and we fully support aiding every community impacted by the removal of the dams. However, this goal cannot be achieved by suspending the protections of our bedrock environmental laws for a generation or more, along with an unprecedented attack on environmental justice for millions of people that live across the Columbia River basin. The proposed suspension of core environmental laws is the most sweeping we have ever encountered and is unacceptable.