There used to be a time when folks around here could lament that Democrats were only hard nosed dam breaching nuclear hating nut cases.  Well Democrats in this state just took at least one of those arguments away.  I got word that last weeks Democratic State Committee meeting defeated a resolution that called for the breaching of the 4 lower snake dams.  It wasn’t even a close call. 

I have been saying all along (I hate I told you so’s but… here goes), Democrats need to own these issues.  Breaching dams is a great idea on the surface when it comes to salmon, but consequences of breaching are equally threatening.  And while I don’t have any specific reliable scientific quotes to provide, science promoting breaching the dams weighed against the economics and potential and understudied consequences of doing so are at best iffy.  And I think Democrats are coming around.  Why?  Well, because we have a long term problem with a long term solution that isn’t going to be solved with a stick of dynamite. 

But politically, this is the first step to finding an end to the means and for a variety of reasons.  Democrats are recognizing the complexity of the issue both economically and environmentally.  Democrats also recognize the need for alternatives to the energy and transportation needs the dams provide need to be realized.  And lastly, Democrats have realized the politically important virtue of providing long term solutions to the pasts long term problems.  Something Eastern Washington voters will be able to identify with.

The resolution, from what I heard, was defeated with only 3 votes in the “yea” column.

What does this mean?  Not sure yet.  But there are things that Democrats in the Washington State Legislature (and our federal reps) can start doing now to change the implications for the long term. When those dams eventually come down it should be by simply making them an obsolete resource through long term planning.  By doing so, all the Eastern Washington Republican arguments are lost in the vast sea of desperation this one issue allows them to cling.