Skookumchuck Dam

When the Centralia Steam Plant closes the dam/reservoir will be redundant, so why not remove it?

I think a small hydropower plant was added to the dam some years ago. I guess that might be used as reason and justification to keep the dam in place. But I think it makes sense to remove the dam if and when the steam plant is retired. I was surprised to learn that it stopped using local coal over 20 years ago and is burning coal imported from Utah. That doesn't appear to make economic sense. Most coal fired generation occurs near where the coal is mined, since it costs a lot of money to transport coal.

The dam in recent years is more about flood control and water for the plant. That river is one of those that in large events just goes crazy. The mitigation has worked ( after WDFW was forced to comply with the agreement ) even to the benefit of Springers and as long as the mit continues not much to bitch about. The dam also supplies water gravity fed to the hatchery which mostly produces Coho for the South Sound net pens directed toward tribal fisheries. No net pen fish for tribal = massive reductions for Puget Sound NT Coho fisheries all the way to the ocean. Always be careful what you ask for.