[hellotomyrars]

The calculus doesn’t stop at the maintenance costs, though I agree that altruism isn’t the goal. Salmon are big business. The positive effects of helping build the population has a (pardon the pun) downstream benefit, economically.

I don’t think people who are familiar with the PNW have an understanding on how these issues have real impact day to day. The fishing has gotten worse and the attempts to help the salmon populations, like salmon ladders, is a tiny boost, if at all. And everything has a cost, including all of that infrastructure.

Put simply: The dams cost too much, provide too little, and the fish are more valuable.

This is a slam dunk no-brainer for everyone involved.

If they generated a meaningful amount of power things would be different, but they’re not even a drop in the bucket at this point.