Whatever happens on the Snake, and ideally the Columbia will not be win-win. It will be win-lose. Keep the dams, lose salmon. Take them out, lose, for example, river transportation.

I would prefer rail transport for one big reason; it is private, pays taxes, and maintains its system. Highway and barge are subsidized (socialized???). We can replace the power; that's easy. Will it be cheaper? Who knows. We can replace the irrigation water with bigger pumps. Water's still there but costs go up.

I like the Congressman's ideas that we look at it holistically, but everybody has to come to the table and honestly lay out what they have now and what it will take to replace it. Do the folks who live along the rail lines want more trains or do they prefer the NIMBY solution of barges?

As was also pointed out, there is some flood control benefit of reservoirs; we willing to pay folks to leave the river-side?