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State allocates $750K to study removal of Snake River dams

In this April 11, 2018 photo, water moves through a spillway of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Wash. The state budget approved this week includes $750,000 to study the impacts of the possible breaching of four Snake River dams to help salmon recovery. (Nicholas K. Geranios / AP)
Associated Press

SEATTLE – The state budget approved this week includes $750,000 to study the impacts of the possible breaching of four Snake River dams to help salmon recovery.

The Seattle Times reports the legislation calls for a neutral third party to develop a process for local, state, tribal, federal and other stakeholders to weigh in on issues that would surround a decision to breach the four federal dams.

Chinook salmon are prime food for the endangered orcas that frequent Puget Sound, and a statewide dialogue had been proposed last year by a task force that Gov. Jay Inslee established.

The two Republican members of Congress from eastern Washington, where the dams are located, oppose the state-financed effort as wasteful, saying the decision to remove the dams is up to the federal government.