Fighting for the Lower Snake River Dams

By Kris Polly

Congressman Dan Newhouse’s central Washington congressional district derives many benefits from the Lower Snake River dams: irrigation water; flood control; favorable conditions for barge traffic; and, perhaps most importantly, affordable renewable energy. That’s why he is concerned with looming threats to get rid of the dams—either to breach them outright or to burden them through bureaucratic regulations and operation requirements that would push them into unviability. In our cover interview this month, Congressman Newhouse tells us more about the package of legislation he recently introduced, which would protect the dams and make sure nothing is done to them without Congress’s consent.

Clean Currents 2024, the National Hydropower Association’s conference for the industry, by the industry, is coming up soon— it will be held October 7–10 in Portland, Oregon. In anticipation, we feature mini-interviews with four of the companies that will be exhibiting there, asking them about their recent work, the signals they see in the market, and why they’re excited to be going to Clean Currents.

The Utah Division of Water Rights regulates about 225 high-hazard dams and around 200 significant-hazard dams and other low-hazard dams. We interview Everett Taylor, the assistant state engineer and the head of the dam safety and stream alteration section, about the division’s work and how it successfully responded to a recent breach scare at a high-hazard dam.

Maine-based ORPC has developed marine energy devices that harvest renewable energy from the United States’ bounteous river and tidal energy resources. We speak with Nathan Johnson, ORPC’s vice president of development, about the RivGen and TidGen systems and learn about a project site in Alaska that ORPC is working to develop—which could potentially deliver hundreds of megawatts of power.

After it created a custom predictive maintenance software solution for a Norwegian hydropower producer, consulting and data analysis firm Elder Research realized that many utilities shared the same problems—and launched the software as a freestanding product. In our conversation with Ramon Perez, Elder Research’s AI solutions director, we learn more about the company’s AI-powered solutions.

Bearings may not make the world go round, but they definitely make the turbine go round. In our conversation with Ryan Edmonds, Thordon Bearings’ business development manager for hydropower and industrial goods for North America, we learn more about technical advances in this easy-to-overlook but critical component of hydropower facilities, as well as about shaft seals and other products.

From mechanical parts to software, many components make up a successful hydropower facility. However, we should not forget the importance of legislation and regulation in setting the framework in which these valuable renewable energy facilities operate. We are grateful for the leadership of Congressman Newhouse and those like him who are making sure that hydropower has an important role in the energy mix of the future.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Hydro Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.