The Chehalis dam is only feasible if we choose the California prerogative of gravity, where water flows uphill, toward money. There is no way this dam makes economic sense, even if the natural environment and natural resources are valued at zero. No offense to Chehalis and Centralia, but there aren't enough key resources to protect that economically offsets the huge cost of the project. If this is a Corps project, the local sponsor mush cough up 25% of the cost. If Lewis Co. residents got to vote on it, they would vote it down just because they are against taxes more than they want to pay for flood control that won't benefit the vast majority of residents. This is one main reason they created the Chehalis basin-wide task force, so that they can spread the cost out to include Thurston and Grays Harbor Counties as well.

I continue to question why it's unacceptable to have I-5 closed for 5 days once every 10 years, on average, due to flooding. What is the loss? There are alternative routes for interstate commerce that may add a couple hours to total travel time. At some point, the notion that the control of nature is possible, let alone economically feasible, needs to be vetted.

The true costs versus benefits of this debacle needs to be objectively analyzed.

Sg