By 2021, the Northwest’s electricity supply will be inadequate. It gets worse in 2023.

That’s according to testimony from the NW Power and Conservation Council (NWPCC) before the legislature last week. Their presentation came to mind when I saw the Eastside Audubon Society’s latest newsletter about the Snake River Dams.

Unfortunately, the newsletter is little more than a series of talking points from those looking to destroy the dams. One claim, however, stands out as particularly ironic giving the NWPCC’s testimony only days before. Under a headline of “Dams No Longer Needed,” Eastside Audubon claims:

“they are no longer needed to produce hydroelectric power. Bonneville Power which runs the dams had been selling power to California for many years, but that state no longer needs it due to the expansion of wind and solar renewable energy sources there. Bonneville Power is now producing more hydroelectrical energy than it can sell.”

As we noted recently, this is false for a number of reasons. The NWPCC report, however, makes it clear that removing the dams would make a bad situation even worse.

The NWPCC analyst who presented to the legislature confirmed that “without these dams, LOLP [Loss of Load Probability] increases significantly.” He notes that even with the dams in place, “There remains, of course, a certain amount of uncertainty, for example we could have unexpected economic/load growth.”

Additionally, opponents of the dams argue that the electricity is simply sold to California, which makes them unnecessary. Admittedly, I understand where the animosity for Californians comes from, with their goat yoga and seemingly endless supply of Kardashians. However, the trade in electricity goes both ways, and the NWPCC notes that “an unexpected decline in available electricity market supply from California” could exacerbate the expected shortage of electricity in the Pacific Northwest. If dam opponents are upset that we sell electricity to California, imagine their rage when they find out we buy electricity from them!

Of course, this is the way electricity trade works. It flows in both directions and is a positive part of the system, ensuring we have energy when we need it.

I e-mailed Eastside Audubon to let them know the errors in their argument. Of course, they did not respond or correct the record. Such is the nature of the debate over the Snake River Dams. Rather than focus on the facts, activists resort to unfounded claims and weird divisive attacks on Californians to justify truly bad policy.