Farmers, experts anticipate worst wheat harvest in years after extreme heat, drought By Nico Portuondo, The Spokesman-Review
Published: July 12, 2021, 6:23pm
Share: John Lindgren, export terminal director at United Grain, dips his hand into a conveyor belt transporting hard red winter wheat from a ship into storage containers at Port of Vancouver on Nov. 7, 2018. (The Columbian files)
SPOKANE At this time of year, Marci Green usually can expect her Fairfield farm to have rolling fields of green, thick and tall wheat just about ready to be dried up for harvest in late July.
But after weeks of extreme drought and heat, Green now walks out to see her wheat fields short, sparse and bluer than years past. Every indication, she said, points to wheat kernels that are tiny, dry and shriveled up little things.
May 19, 2021 Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, May 13, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) participated as a keynote speaker for the Andrus Center for Public Policy’s 2021 Environmental Conference at Boise State University. Titled “Energy, Salmon, Agriculture and Community: REVISITED,” the conference reprised the Andrus Center’s 2019 conference focusing on the diverse and interconnected factors related to salmon survival, energy production, and economic development throughout the Pacific Northwest.
River stakeholders and partners have since been applauding Rep. Newhouse’s remarks and his commitment to ensuring all voices are heard on this important issue:
“In every public debate, a moment occurs that shifts the tide. Rep. Newhouse’s comments at the Andrus Center conference created that moment for supporters of a clean, equitable energy future for the Pacific Northwest.”
Proposal to breach Snake River dams prompts praise, concern
Updated Feb 08, 2021;
Posted Feb 08, 2021
Water moves through a spillway of the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Almota, Washington.AP
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A new proposal to tear down the four Lower Snake River dams has people agreeing on one thing the dams’ value to the Northwest region.
But many of those who rely on the dams now to produce low-cost and reliable electricity, to barge farm products for export, to provide irrigation water and for recreation are dubious despite the plan’s attempts to make them economically whole.
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho has proposed breaching the dams and spending $33 billion to dismantle them, build new energy and transportation systems and address the economic impacts of their loss.