[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 46 (Friday, March 29, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3187-S3188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PACIFIC NORTHWEST SALMON RESTORATION

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, the Columbia River is the crown jewel of 
our Pacific Northwest. Its waters passing through our dams light our 
cities and towns. Its waters held back at times by those dams have 
saved thousands of lives from destructive floods. Its waters spread on 
our dry land have made the desert bloom and provide food for millions 
of people around the world. At the same time, that magnificent Columbia 
River has been the home to the most munificent runs of salmon anywhere 
in the lower 48 States of the United States of America.
  Now that very civilization that has built those dams and used these 
waters so constructively threatens the future of these wonderful salmon 
runs. What should we do? How should we see to it that we both have the 
benefits of power and of irrigation and flood control and at the same 
time preserve and strengthen and restore these wonderful runs of 
salmon?
  I think it is becoming more and more evident what we should not do. 
In the last 5 years, Federal bureaucrats here in Washington, DC, have 
billed us in the Pacific Northwest $1.5 billion for salmon restoration, 
half a billion dollars last year alone, and we have not seen any 
positive results at all. In spite of this investment, an investment the 
people of the Pacific Northwest have not begrudged, the results are 
nothing. The results are a continued decline in our salmon runs. These 
costs are welcomed by the people of the Pacific Northwest, but the 
results are not.
  I am convinced that this failure of Washington, DC, bureaucrats means 
that we cannot succeed if we continue to do business in the same way 
that we are doing it at the present time. I believe, and I believe 
firmly, that we can do a far better job in the Pacific Northwest if we 
are allowed to make the decisions that affect our lives and affect our 
resources.
  Personally, I am totally committed to restoring an abundant salmon 
fishery in the Columbia and the Snake Rivers. Healthy and strong salmon

[[Page S3188]]

runs are vitally important to our economy, to thousands of people whose 
livelihoods rest on them. But there is something more important even 
than those who are professionals in these fields. Salmon are a distinct 
part of our society and of our culture. Everyone who grows up in 
the Pacific Northwest has his favorite stories--his or her own big 
catch, the thrill of the child catching that first salmon, or just of a 
summer cookout with the family with salmon on the grill. I would find 
it unacceptable that my grandchildren would not have in their lifetime 
the same opportunities that I have had.

  I have also to confess that my thinking, along with that of many in 
the Pacific Northwest, has grown and expanded over the years to 
emphasize the vital importance of native salmon runs. We have spent 
much of our time building hatcheries and creating artificial runs where 
native runs once existed. Those hatcheries are important. They are an 
important supplement. But we now recognize that it is vital that we 
strengthen the native runs and help restore them at the same time.
  I am convinced that the people of the Pacific Northwest are willing 
to pay money, money literally in the hundreds of millions and billions 
of dollars that has already been wasted, in order to restore these 
salmon runs, but at the same time the people of the Pacific Northwest 
want that money to be spent effectively. They also want the amount of 
money they are going to spend to be predictable, and they want it to be 
spent in a scientifically credible fashion.
  Last November, the National Academy of Sciences, the most prestigious 
institute of science in the free world, came up with a set of reports 
indicating what we know and what we do not know and suggesting some 
courses of action. That report has been almost totally ignored by the 
Federal bureaucrats who are in charge of spending our money and telling 
us what to do.
  So I believe we need a change. I think we need to change a system 
that has failed and come up with a system that will work. I believe 
that that system is most likely to be developed by the people who are 
going to pay the bills and benefit from any success and pay the penalty 
for any failure.
  Mr. President, do you not agree that the people of our region are 
better capable of answering these questions than the bureaucrats here 
in Washington, DC? Should not authority over how we deal with these 
runs be turned over to us, collectively--our sportsmen, our commercial 
fishermen, our citizens in cities and towns, our irrigators and 
farmers, our Indian tribes? Are they not going to be able to come up 
with a better answer to this question than we have gotten so far from 
Washington, DC?
  Mr. President, I am convinced that is the case. I am convinced that 
this Congress should require a significant amount of money to be spent 
on the restoration of our salmon runs, should allow our people to spend 
more, if they wish to do so, should allow us to come up with a 
predictable number of dollars for this effort, and then, most vitally, 
should allow us, using the best science we can possibly find through 
these wonderful national and international scientists, to decide how 
best to spend that money so that we, you and I and all of us from the 
Pacific Northwest, may be able to pass on to our children and 
grandchildren the wonderful heritage of an abundant fishery at the same 
time that we preserve power for our cities and towns, water for our 
farms, rivers for our recreation, and safety for our citizens.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Grams). The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in 
morning business for up to 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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